I finished my day off today after going a million miles an hour non-stop from the moment I jumped out of bed (okay “jumped” might be a bit of an exaggeration, it was more of a begrudging stagger if I am totally truthful). I was trying to respond to a hundred emails, answer a constant […]
Let me start by saying Happy St. Patrick’s Day! And what better day to talk about the subject of Good Luck and Good Fortune? Back to the question I posed in the title of today’s blog – Do we make our own luck? I am a firm believer that we do! The times I have […]
Every summer when I was a kid, my family would make the long drive from Washington State where we lived at the time out to Utah to visit our grandparents who lived here. That drive was a brutal 14 hour drive if you didn’t add on all the time for every potty stop we had […]
A few days ago I posted a blog about a young girl who was being bullied. Then today my son sent me the link to a video and he asked me to watch it – he said it is a video that would change people’s lives because it hits the viewer in such a powerful […]
Growing up in a family of ten kids led to some awesome memories. One memory in particular that I thought about today was the following story: We were sitting around our massive dinner table (it took a huge table to hold all 12 of us!). We were preparing to sing Happy Birthday to one of the […]
Making money while making the world a better place – what could possibly be better than that? That is exactly the goal of impact investors. James Lee Sorenson, successful entrepreneur and philanthropist, calls it the “double bottom line,” and achieving that double bottom line is something he is incredibly passionate about. Impact investing is “doing […]
Figuring out who your ancestors are is one of the coolest things in the world. I was lucky to have Grandparents who were big into doing genealogy research when they were still alive and they provided me life history books for their own lives as well as providing me life histories written by my great-grandparents […]
Tonight I attended a dinner following my board meeting for the University of Utah National Advisory Board. A man I know and respect greatly, Mike Murray, gave the keynote address during our dinner. Mike Murray has had an amazing career. He went to school at Stanford, then went to work directly reporting to Steve Jobs […]
“Above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.” -Ronald Daw I believe in magic…I believe we actually make our own magic by the way we think, the dreams we dream, […]
“If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, how will you ever have time to do it over.” That has always been one of my favorite quotes because it makes such a good point! Seriously, if you can’t take the time to do it right you sure as heck don’t have […]
“If people are trying to bring you down it only means that you are above them.” I spent time tonight talking to a close friend who has a teenager daughter who is being horribly bullied in school. Her daughter, like many teenage girls, suffers from low self-esteem. She thinks her body isn’t thin enough, she […]
Today I was able to see a video someone had taken of my 20 year old son who is out serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (The LDS Church). It did my heart good to see his amazing smile as he was talking to families throughout the Jackson, […]
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, except for bears. Bears will kill you.” Some days you need a good quote like that to make you laugh. Today was one of those days for me and it’s amazing what a good quote, that you can relate to, can do to lift your spirits. I thought […]
“Genius is the ability to reduce the complicated to the simple.” C. W. Ceran I consider myself to be a somewhat intelligent person, but when someone explains a new concept to me in terms that are overly complex and unfamiliar, I struggle to easily grasp it. To learn a new concept, I need things described […]
Anytime you come home from vacation it feels like you pay a major price for having been away. For me that is one of the things that causes conflicting feelings about getting excited to go on vacation in the first place. It’s knowing that you will have to face the punishment for having been away […]
Every year the BYU Founders Board gathers together from different parts of the country to meet in a location for a week-long adventure. Last year we went to the Dominican Republic. This year we went to Brazil to embark on a cruise that left from Sao Paulo, Brazil. For the last week my husband and […]
How does one go about being a good friend? We all have friends, and we all are a friend to someone else. But how often do we stop and take note of whether we ourselves are being a good friend to those we love? I would admit that I don’t do it often enough. And […]
I’ll be happy when ____ happens. I’ll be happy when I have ______. I’ll be happy when _____ loves me. I’ll be happy when I look like _____. The “I’ll be happy when” trap is one of the easiest to fall into. I know because I have fallen into myself far too many times. For […]
Things Work Out -By Edgar A. Guest Because it rains when we wish it wouldn’t, Because men do what they often shouldn’t, Because crops fail, and plans go wrong Some of us grumble all day long. But somehow, in spite of the care and doubt, It seems at last that things work out. […]
“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson We live in a world full of peer pressure to look like this or act like that. There is a constant bombardment of pressure to join the crowd or do what everyone […]
My name is Amy and without a doubt, I am a workaholic. There, I said it. I admit it fully. I have a problem and I am taking the first step toward recovery, which they say is to admit it. Step one down, only eleven more steps to go :)…. I finally discovered I had […]
On the wall of my friends office hung a princess mirror. It wasn’t just any princess mirror, it was a Disney princess mirror that talked to you when you looked into the mirror, stating things like “that color looks lovely on you” and “you are so pretty”. It had to be my FAVORITE mirror ever! […]
With Valentines Day almost upon us I decided to search for creative Group Date Ideas that would help spurn my creativity as I attempt to plan a fun Valentine weekend. I came across multiple websites such as www.niftydateideas.com and several others that had great date ideas. I pulled my favorites from several of the sites to share in today’s blog. Hopefully these will […]
Choices. We make them almost every second of every day. Some matter, some don’t. Some have lasting consequences, some have next to no impact on our life. The most important choices we make are the choices between right and wrong. I also think those are the easiest ones to make if you know your values. […]
Here are some fun date ideas to help you plan ahead for the holiday weekend of LOVE! And a yummy recipe for a super easy dessert you can make. Valentine’s Date Night Ideas The Cozy Concert: Check out local venues and find what up-and-coming concerts or bands are playing. Nothing sends love waves out like […]
For the last four years I have had the privilege of teaching an amazing group of young women every Sunday at church and then attending weekly fun activity nights with them on Wednesday evenings. Four years ago I was assigned to teach the 14 and 15 year old girls in a class and then after […]
To grow and improve is a desire that most all of us share. Yet, in order to grow and improve we must first be willing to acknowledge our areas of weakness; we must accept who we are in order to become something better. So how can we best recognize our weaknesses? We can stop defending […]
That is the inscription on the back cover of my Grandmother’s life history book. My grandmother passed away back in November of 2007. She was one of my dearest friends. And I am forever grateful that she left behind her written life history for me and for my children, and their children, and so on. […]
Too much time and energy in life gets spent trying to fit in…trying to be seen as “normal”. I personally think that normal is pretty boring. After all, why be normal when you can be exceptional?! When something simply “fits in” it is too easy to blend in, to go completely unnoticed. But when something […]
Starting the IPOP Foundation was a dream I had for many years. IPOP is an acronym for “In Pursuit of Perfection” which has been a personal mantra of mine for a very long time. Long ago I came to realize that living a successful life isn’t about achieving perfection; rather it was about living life […]
