Tag Archives: thankful

The Importance Of Saying Thank You

My two year old grandson came barreling in the door of the house calling out “Grandma…Grandma” as he ran over to me to give me a hug.  I’m telling ya….that is seriously just about THE GREATEST thing in the entire world! As I sat with him playing it made me long for the days when […]

Never Take Anything For Granted

As I was leaving work on a Wednesday night back in October of 2011, I received a phone call that my mother had slipped and fallen down in the rain and she was being taken by ambulance to the hospital.  She had broken her femur and her hip and was going to be taken into […]

What Would Your Wordle Reflect?

“Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill.” -Buddha Words are such a powerful thing. Especially the words we speak. They can build up or tear down, hurt or heal, uplift or destroy. I personally believe that words, when unkind, can […]

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing…

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Victor Frankel Sitting in a hospital all day today while my father-in-law was getting surgery I watched as families would bring a […]

The Big Difference A Little Kindness Can Make

To say it has been a rough week this week wouldn’t quite do it justice. We’ve spent the week in hospitals with a very sick little grandbaby. We are all going on almost no sleep this week and we’ve been sick with worry, but through all of it there has been something truly amazing that […]

My Christmas Gift To Each Of You

I wish it was possible to give every single person reading this blog a beautifully wrapped Christmas present from me to you.  It would be impossible for me to put into words how grateful I feel for all of you who take time out of your busy lives to read the things I write in […]

What Matters Most

“They do not love that do not show their love.” – William Shakespeare I can hardly believe that it is Thanksgiving this week!  I feel like the past few months have been a bit of a blur in which time has both stood still and yet been flying by. As odd as that description is, […]

It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful

“Ordinary happiness depends on happenstance. Joy is that extraordinary happiness that is independent of what happens to us. Good luck can make us happy, but it cannot give us lasting joy. The root of joy is gratefulness. We tend to misunderstand the link between joy and gratefulness. We notice that joyful people are grateful and […]

The Lessons We Teach Our Children

I often have people tell me how impressed they are with the character of my son and daughter, and that compliment is often followed with the question – how did you do it? How did you raise those kids to be such great people? Well as much as I would love to take credit for […]

Everything Can Change In A Single Second

Saturday morning I awoke to a phone call alerting me that my son Dalton and his pregnant wife Alexis had been in a car accident on the freeway. Getting that phone call was one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I rushed to the Hospital Emergency Room where I spent the rest of […]

A Lifetime In A Day

“A funeral is not a day in a lifetime, it’s a lifetime in a day.” One thing in life is certain, and that is that each of us will eventually pass on from this life. When that day comes for each of us, the best we can hope for is to have words spoken about […]

It’s not the What or the Where – It’s the Who

There is little better in life than spending time with the people we love. And this year we were especially lucky because we had an extended Christmas holiday break off from the kids colleges – they had an extra week off this year because of the way the holiday dates fell so they were off […]

Anything Can Happen, Anything Can Be

Listen to the mustn’ts child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts, Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, CHILD. ANYTHING CAN BE. -Shel Silverstein First I have to say that I LOVE Shel Silverstein’s poetry!  He teaches so many incredible lessons through his […]

Look to the Light

36 years ago today one of the greatest Christmas movies of all time was released. The movie stars one of my favorite actors of all time – Jimmy Stewart, which alone tells you the movie is amazing. The movie is called Mr. Krueger’s Christmas. For me Christmas isn’t Christmas if I don’t watch this movie […]

#LIGHTtheWORLD In 25 Ways. Over 25 Days.

Today I learned about an awesome challenge for all of us to “light the world” in 25 ways over 25 days as we lead up to Christmas. It’s a challenge meant to help us focus on incorporating more Christ-like attitudes and behaviors in honor of this Christmas season and over 800,000 people have already joined […]

A Gift of 86,400 Seconds Today. Have you used one to say Thank You?

“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today.  Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’”  ~William A. Ward There are many ways to say “thank you” to others. One of those ways is to give people compliments. Someone once told me that holding in a compliment that someone else deserves is like buying […]

The Language of Gratitude

“If you’ve forgotten the language of gratitude, you’ll never be on speaking terms with happiness.” Over the years there have been numerous studies conducted which have shown that the expression of gratitude has profound positive effects on our health and our moods. One study performed by Robert Emmons, PhD and Mike McCullough randomly assigned participants […]

The more you recognize it, the more you will have of it

I love a great motivational speaker. Zig Ziglar has always been a personal favorite because he is always so amazingly positive, so when I came across this excerpt from the book “Attitude is Everything: 10 Rules For Staying Positive” by author Vicki Hitzges, which shares a story about Zig I had to share it with […]

There Is Something Better…Be Patient…Live Life…

Disappointments are just God’s way of saying “I’ve got something better”  Be patient…live life… I love that quote because all of us have had those moments of disappointment…those moments when we had things all planned out in our heads so perfectly as to how they should go and then something unexpected happens and our perfect […]

We can feel JOY regardless of what is happening, or not happening, in our lives

“We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!   …We can feel joy regardless of what is happening—or not happening—in our lives.” – Russell M. Nelson I love that quote because it reminds me that it is absolutely possible to feel joy whenever we choose to, […]

The Kindness of Strangers

Late Friday night my husband and I began our drive home from Idaho where we had attended our Aunt’s funeral, back home in Utah. We had intended to get an earlier start home but we had spent the day scanning in all of our Aunt’s photos and papers so the family members could have digital […]

Learning the Hard Way

The older we get the more we realize how much better life is if we are just willing to learn things the easy way – like by listening to those who have been there and done it and who have the experience to give us advice on avoiding pitfalls we will face. In the early […]

Life Is A Gift

“Today before you think of saying an unkind word– think of someone who can’t speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food– think of someone who has nothing to eat. Before you complain about your husband or wife– think of someone who is crying out to God for a companion. Today before you […]

A Harrowing Experience and My Gratitude For Those Who Got Me Through It

Last week my family and I went down to Lake Powell for the week to host our kids and their college friends for a welcome home celebration trip for our daughter Ashley. We knew she had missed Lake Powell vacations tremendously while she had been serving her mission for 18 months so we made it […]

Overcome Gratitude Deficit Disorder

Gratitude Deficit Disorder is an ailment that far too many people suffer from. I don’t personally think that people intentionally catch this ailment…I think people catch it as a result of getting too busy and letting life drive them instead of them driving their life. It’s an easy trap to fall into, but the good […]

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave (Happy Fourth of July!)

In 1776, after the Second Continental Congress adopted the Lee Resolution that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent,” John Adams wrote the following to his wife: “You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure […]

Because That’s Who You Are

“She’s banged up, mentally and emotionally. Literally and metaphorically. But every day she walks outside with a smile on her face because that’s who she is.” I cannot tell you how much that quote has inspired me during times in my life that I have been struggling. Part of the reason I love it is […]

Thank heaven for Guardian Angels

Today when my weekly email arrived from my daughter Ashley who is out serving a mission the subject line “I GOT HIT BY A CAR”. My heart dropped! I opened the email to find that she had been riding her bike with her companion and as she crossed the road an elderly man was entering […]

HOORAY FOR HOLIDAYS! Happy Memorial Day to All!

So let’s just say it – HOLIDAYS ARE AWESOME! Right?!  I mean what could be better than getting a day off from life when everyone else is taking a day off too! I LOVE HOLIDAYS!  And I love that we had the entire day today to be with the people we love. This Memorial Day […]

Let’s Start A Smile Epidemic

Have you smiled yet today?  We don’t have to have a perfect life to have a reason to smile. Smiling is just a way to show God that we appreciate all He has given us. And each of us reading this has at least one thing to be appreciative of because the very fact we […]