Blog
“All great changes are preceded by chaos”
Chaos is exactly the word I would use to describe my surroundings right now, so when I heard the quote by Deepak Chopra “All great changes are preceded by chaos” I knew exactly where the chaos was leading as this weekend will be one of great change for my family as we come to the final […]
Tagged after all you can do, alexis, attitude, breath, breathe, brothers and sisters, change, chaos, chaotic, children, comfort, congratutations, control, craziness, crazy, Dalton, dalton and alexis, do everything in your power, do your best, effort, enjoy the moment, everything comes together, excel spreadsheets, family, full house, give 100%, great change, happy couple, insanity, love, madness, marriage, mayhem, Microsoft office, organization, organize, organized, out of town, outcome, outlook, perspective, powerpoint, REES, relax, service, siblings, support, take everything in, take solace in knowing, ten kids, travel, trust it will go as it should, turn it over to God, visualize, we are family, wedding, wedding planning
You Set The Tone
I was talking with someone the other day who was sharing how much fun they had at a Halloween party our family threw in our driveway. I was thanking them for coming to the party and I agreed with them that it was a really fun time. They then made a comment that really stuck with me […]
Tagged appreciate, ashley, attitude inhibitions, awkward, be fun, be silly, be the first person, best friends, CEO, character, characteristics, confidence, costume, courage, crazy, dance floor, dancing, dj, don't worry what people think, ease the tension, Employees, example, family, fun, gift, good employee, guests, halloween, halloween party, happy, hire, hiring, inclusive, invited, judging, karaoke, laugh, lead the pack, make it fun, music, party, permission, qualities, set the tone, setting the tone, snide remarks, start having fun, step up, stop feeling awkward, talent, uncomfortable, value, volunteer, you set the tone
Life Is Better With Friends
I have learned through the years that family isn’t just made up of blood…it is made up of those people in your life who build you up while giving you input on how you can improve, those who help put a smile on your face, those who pick you up when you’re feeling down, those […]
Tagged a friend to be silly with, amazing, appreciate, appreciation, attention, blessed, blood, care, caring, CEO, family, feedback, friend, friendship, generosity, imagine, improve, invest in friendships, invest in people, joy, kindness, laugh louder, live better, love, never take friendship for granted, pick us up, pick you up when you're down, psychatric terapist, quality, ralph waldo emerson, sacrifice, service, smile brighter, sngle mom, stand by you, support, supportive, surrounded by greatness, thank you for being a friend, thankful, thanks, time, to have a friend be a friend, unconditional, unconditional love
What more can we ask for than that?
I received an email from a gentleman I have never met before, but he reads my blogs and was letting me know he appreciated some particular thoughts I had shared. As we were emailing back and forth we were discussing our shared view on the fact that we don’t believe there are coincidences in life. We both believe that everything happens for […]
Tagged accident, alone, answer to prayer, appreciate, appreciation, assist, attitude, balance, blessings, blog, Christ, coincidence, courage, crew, crying, culture, email, experience, God, good times and bad, grateful, happens for a reason, help, hospital, inspire, intersate, life saver, lineman, motivate, no such thing as coincidence, nothing happens by accident, prayer, presence of God, relate, relentless, rescue, saved, savior, self-improvement, serve, shared, snow, story, success, thankful, thoughts, tired, uplift
“We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.”
“We cannot become what we want to be by remaining what we are.” – Max DePree Change is hard because it stretches us. It pulls us out of our comfort zone. It forces us to come out of the known and head into the unknown, and that is always a little unnerving. But the fact […]
Tagged #1, adult, adulthood, alexis, amazing, ashley, backpack, beautiful, boy, caring, change, changing roles, children, college, comfort zone, crying alone, Dalton, education, embrace, emotion, emotional, emotions, eternal marriage, eternity, everything we want to see happen, father, father daughter, first day of school, God, god first, gratitude, growing up, grown man, handsome, happy, holding on, importance, importance in the life of a child, important, intelligent, kind, known, lds church, letting go, life is beautiful, little booy, marriage, missionary, Mormon, mother son, never be the same, parenting, proud, raise a family, raising chlidren, relationships, sadness, spiritual, stretches us, strong, tears, tears of joy and tears of sadness, temple marriage, toy story, unknown, waterproof mascara, wedding, woody, worthy
Some of God’s Greatest Gifts are Unanswered Prayers
Last week my husband and I were invited to the Garth Brooks concert in Utah and we were given the special opportunity to meet Garth Brooks and his wife Trisha Yearwood. I have to say that they were both so kind and so down to earth that it was really a pleasure meeting them. I […]
Tagged answer, Belief, believe, business, career, concert, control, crying, disappointment, discouraged, don’t go your way, down to earth, dream, encourage, entrepreneur, faith, garth brooks, gift, goal, God, greatest gift, heartbroken, inspire, job, leadership, limited view, love, masterpiece, motivate, outcome, path, perspective, plan, pleasure, power, pray, prayer, program, reality, sadness, trisha Yearwood, trust, unanswered prayer, unanswered prayers, Utah
Witnessing A Tender Mercy
Tonight something amazing happened but I have to back up so it will all make sense. Yesterday a dear friend of mine came to me crying because she had found out that her Mother, who has a tumor growing on the side of her head, had taken a turn for the worse and the tumor […]
Tagged acknowledge, ambulence, answer to prayer, assistance, brain bleed, cancer, coincidence, contact, cry, death, died, dire, discern, doctor, emergency, emotional, family, father, friend, friendship, grateful, gratitude, health insurance, help, insurance, life, lord, love, mercy, mexico, mexico city, mother, neurosurgery, oncology, overwhelmed, physician, pra, pray, prayers, public healthcare, sad, service, surgery, tender mercies, tender mercy, thankful, tumor, Utah
51 Days Til Christmas!
Holiday season has officially begun!!! Which also means tis the season for awesome online sales!!! That’s what I’m talkin’ about baby 🙂 I love, love, love the holiday season and I love the month of November because it’s the official kickoff to the season – it is time to bust out the apple cider, the […]
Tagged amazon, attitude, blanket, blessings, carols, Celebrate, christmas, days til christmas, discounts, dream, excited, future, gift, God, good cheer, grateful, gratitude, happiness, happy, ho ho ho, holiday season, holidays, hot chocolate, inspiration, joyous, lights, magic happens, music, new years, online sales, pumpkin, retailers, sales, season, service, shopping days, sledding, songs, sparkly, target, thanks, thanksful, Thanksgiving, tis the season, walmart, whipped cream, wishes come true
A Little Appreciation Goes A Long Way. Why Gratitude Is The Gift That Keeps On Giving. (Forbes Article)
Appreciation is one of life’s greatest motivators, so when we take the time to let people know that we value them, it inspires them to continue doing even more. That is precisely why gratitude is the ultimate gift that keeps on giving. “A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected.” […]
Tagged Amy Rees Anderson, appreciate, appreciated, appreciation, attitude, behavior, blessings, boss, career, confidence, courage, disposition, effective, Employees, employment, encourage, feel good, forbes, glassdoor, glassdoor.com, grateful, gratitude, health, inspiration, inspire, job, law of reciprocity, loyalty, manager, motivate, motivation, motivator, organizational behavior, research, say thank you, self image, self worth, self-esteem, showing appreciation, smart business, stanford, study, success, survey, thank you, thankful, thanks, the gift that keeps on giving, valued, well being, work
If we gained an extra hour of sleep why are we still so tired?!
Winston Churchill described Daylight Savings by saying: “An extra yawn one morning in the springtime, an extra snooze one night in the autumn… We borrow an hour one night in April; we pay it back with golden interest five months later.” Sounds easy enough, right? Apparently it’s not that easy…in fact, according to Dr. Yvonne […]
Tagged adventure, appreciation, attitude, autumn, body, brisk walk, change, clocks, daylight saving time, daylight savings time, energy, excited, exercise, expert, fall, groggy, health, hearty breakfast, holiday season, holiday shopping, katie, leadership, november, one hour, protein, self-improvement, shift, sister-in-law, sleep, sleep clocks, sleep cycle, sleep medicine review, sleepy, springtime, success, sunlight, time, tip, tired, turn clocks back, welcome to November, whole grans, why are we so tired, winston churchill, yawn
Weekend Forecast: Gain an Hour and a Few Pounds
Happy Halloween Weekend Ahead! Not only do we gain an entire hour of extra sleep Saturday night when the clocks fall back (yay, more sleep!….I am so happy about that!), but we get to look forward to gaining a few pounds from eating candy, candy, candy!!! Dang that candy… We really love Halloween at our […]
Tagged activity, bikes, boilng pot, BYU, candy, dance party, dancing, decorate, decorate our yard, decorations, disco, dj, eat, eat candy, elaborate, enjoy, extra hour, fall back, family time, family tradition, food, football, friends, friendships, fun, gain a few pounds, halloween, halloween tradition, Happy Halloween, kayaking, laugh, laughter, more candy, music, neighborhood, neighbors, Rollin, rotten, scarecrows, scary, sleep in, spin table, sports, stay safe, sugar, surfing, theme, time, time change, tradition, Utah, wakeboarding, wedding, witches, yearly tradition, zombie
Don’t Forget To Laugh!
“Laughter is one of the most amazing things in life. It is more contagious that any disease and it brings people together very quickly. Not only does it spread like wildfire, it is proven that laughter can have a positive effect on your body as well as your mind.“ It is really easy to get […]
Tagged adrenaline, anxiety, apologize, attitude, benefits, blood flow, body, bogged down, brain studies, children, chocolate, contagious, daily mood, disease, domino effect, don't forget to laugh, emotional state, emotions, energy boost, express yourself, fear, friends, fun facts, good health, heart, hopeful, hormones, humor, immune system, improve your mood, instant bond, laugh, laughing, laughter, mental benefits, mind, muscles, pain, perspective, physical benefits, positive effect, powerful tool, prevent heart disease, proof, proven, recharge, relationships, relax, resolving conflict, sense of humor, share it, social benefits, source data, spontaneous, spread lke wildfire, stress, stress hormones, stress relief, too serious, work out
Life has many ways of testing a person’s will…
Why is it that time seems to go slowly when you have nothing important to do, but then when you have an overwhelming number of things to do time speeds by at a ridiculous rate?! It’s incredible how fast time flies in a day when you are scrambling to get things done, and it is […]
Tagged anxiety, anxious, ask for help, busy day, capable, credit, deadline, deadlines, discouraged, discouragement, don't quit, drown, everything happens at once, frustrating, get things done, give up, giving up, God, head above water, i can't do it, important, impossible, knees, move forward, negative, nothing hapen, overwhelm, overwhelmed, positive thinking, possible, pray, prayer, progress, quote, recognize progress, step back, stress, stressed out, the voice, time flies, to do, will, worn out
BALL is Life!
I am not even going to give much of an intro to this blog other than to say that I received this in a letter from my daughter Ashley today: This week I realized how playing sports has prepared me incredibly well for life!!! There are so many different analogies and tie-ins… But here are […]
Tagged Ashley Lewis, attitude, ball is life, change, diligent, don't give up, don't waste time, effctive, ethic, expectations, faith, goals, hard work, humble, inspiration, lazy, loser, mental game, michael jordan, mind over matter, miracles, motivation, muscle memory, obedient, on the clock, opponent, out of bounds, practice, productive, pump up the team, respectful, safety gear, satan, set goals, sister lewis, sister wakolo, sore loser, sports, stand, sweet is the work, teach, teamwork, true, trust the coach, understand, vision, win the prize, winner, work hard
Invest in your relationships.
Ever since my daughter Ashley left on her mission I am constantly being told by people how my daughter Ashley sent them a birthday card in the mail, or how Ashley sent them a sweet letter about a special occasion in their life, or how Ashley sent them a random card just to say she […]
Tagged actions, appreciation, approach, ashley, attitude, balance, beautiful, birthdays, blessings, card, children, example, family, feelings, forget, friend, friendship, grateful, gratitude, handwritten note, importance, important, inspiration, invest, invest in the relationship, investment, its about time, leadership, let them know they matter, letter, love, mail, Maya Angelou, mission, motivation, note, parents, random act of kindness, relationships, say I love you, self-improvement, siblings, special events, the way you make them feel, value, valued, words
We Are Not Human Doings, We Are Human Beings
Today I was involved in the President’s Leadership Council board meeting down at Brigham Young University. As part of the program a great speaker named Brad Wilcox gave an inspiring talk. There were a few comments he shared that really stood out to me and I couldn’t wait to share them with you. First he […]
Tagged appreciate, appreciation, attitude, balance, beautiful, become, being, blessed, blessing, blessings, brad wilcox, bragging, Brigham Young University, BYU, capable, dependent, friend, gift, God, god's help, grace, grace of god, grateful, gratitude, horse race, human beings, human doings, inspiration, inspire, jockey, kindness, motivate, motivation, opportuntities, parent, pay attention, plc, presence, president's leadership council, program, self-improvement, service, smile, success, talk, weekend, win the race, wisdom, worker
You Reap What You Sow
I am a big believer in the fact that we reap what we sow. Not always do we get to sow our rewards as quickly as we would like, and by the same token other people who do bad things often don’t sow the punishments as quickly as we wish they would. But regardless of […]
Tagged attitude, Belief, bitterness, confidence, consideration, courage, destruction, dishonesty, distrust, enemie, envy, experience, faith, forgiveness, friends, future, gift, goal, goodness, gossip, gratitude, greatness, greed, guilt, happiness, hard work, harmony, honesty, hope, humility, improvements, in the end, isolation, laziness, loneliness, miracles, openness, perseverance, poem, pride, reconciliation, sacrifice, selfishness, sin, success, trouble, victory, what you want most, worries, worth it, wrinkles, you reap what you sow
Don’t Disappoint the Man (or Woman) in the Glass
If you had to choose just one virtue to uphold in your life – choose integrity. It will always be your most valuable asset. It is worth more than money or power or fame. You have complete control of this asset and no one else can ever take it away from you. It is yours […]
Tagged #worthit, accountability, accountable, asset, avoid, choice, choose integrity, control, copy, don't, don't lie, earth, emulate, exchange, fame, give up, goodness, happiness, heaven, help, honesty, honor, integrity, it is yours, joy, judment, king for a day, look up to, lose, mandatory, mimic, money, optional, power, responsible, Rewarding, staring back from the glass, stay away from, struggle, take it away, tempting to meet them where they're at, the man in the glass, valuable asset, value, verdict, virtue
Not My Circus. Not My Monkeys.
I don’t know about you, but I have always been what I would call a “fix it” kinda girl. I see a problem, so I fix it. In many ways it is what led me to become successful in my business life, but in my personal life it often led me to getting sucked in […]
Tagged abuser, amazing, anxiety, attitude, balance, best interest, business, capable, distractions, drama, emergency, fix it, fixing, fixing other people's problems, friend, goals, good friend, happiness, helper, helpful, independent, interest, leadership, lifelessons, my monkeys fly, nonsense, not my circus, not my monkeys, on your plate, personal life, problem, ringmaster, self worth, self-esteem, self-improvement, service, shoulder, situations, sterss, success, successful, take advantage, time, use
To Succeed in Life, You Need Two Things: Ignorance and Confidence
“To succeed in life, you need two things: Ignorance and Confidence.” – Mark Twain When I read this quote I couldn’t help but laugh because so much of my life I lived by those two things – ignorance in that I always underestimated just how hard I would have to work to pull off the […]
Tagged accomplish, achieve it, adversity, apples, attempt, attitude, believe, caretaker, challenges, confidence, courage, difficult, exciting, faith, fear, figure it out along the way, flowers, fruit trees, goal setting, goals, God, hard times, hope, ignorance, ignorant, impossible, make things happen, mark twain, not possible, obsess, Optimism, optimistic, pollinate, possible, projects, prun, prune, risk, Rollin, succeed, success, thoughts, tree, trials, trust, try, underestimate
It’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring!
“It is a curious thought, but it’s only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realize just how much you love them.” – Agatha Christie Holy cow, how true is that statement?! Seriously when you stop and think about it there is just no denying that when someone let’s their guard down and is […]
Tagged absolutely boring, absolutely ridiculous, adventure, agatha christie, anxiety, be fun, be happy, be ridiculous, be silly, be spontaneous, be the first person, blood pressure, boring, brave, confidence, contagious, courage, crazy, dance, dance floor, embrace, enjoy, far too serious, fear, fun, Goofy, happiness, happy, immune system, inhibitions, joy, let down your guard, lowers blood pressure, marilyn monroe, natinal institute for play, no fear, out of your shell, put yourself out there, resilient, ridiculous, ripple, serious, set fears aside, shyness, silliness, silly, spontaneous, start it, stop worrying, stress, stuart brown, try something new, way too serious, weekend
Keep Calm And Live In The Moment
“You can’t turn back time, so remember to live and love in the moment, before the moment is gone.” – Cece Fortune One of the mistakes I regret most from my life, and unfortunately it’s a mistake I continue to make even today, is the mistake of not living in the moment enough. As I […]
Tagged admit, attitude, believe, caught up, Dalton, details, disaster, emergency, enough, every moment counts, every moment matters, faith, fun, go go go, happiness, happy, hope, joy, keep calm, laughing, live in the moment, love, mirror, missing, mistake, moment, moments, perfect, photograph, photographs, playing, project, quote, reality, regret, regretful, remember, resolved, soak it in, the future, the past, the present, time, treasure, treasured, urgency, urgent, wedding vide, wedding video, wish, worried
“Do or do not. There is no try.” -Yoda
Star Wars is a pretty big deal at our house because our 22 year old son is OBSESSED with it! Like seriously obsessed. He has been collecting the entire Star Wars lego collection for years with one of his life goals being that he wants to reenact episode 1-6 with his Legos….way to dream big… […]
Tagged advice, alexis, alternate road, attitude, Dalton, destination, determination, direction, disney, disneyland, disneyworld, don't give up, don't quit, dream big, fail, find another way, give up, goal setting, goals, happiest place on earth, happy, journey, joy, legos, life goals, may the force be with you, milk, obsessed, obstacles, oreo cookies, persevere, perspective, quit, quote, registry, road, son, star wars, star wars legos, stop, succeed, success, try, wedding, yoda
I’m Not Saying I’m Wonder Woman…Or Am I?
“I’m not saying I’m Wonder Woman, I’m just saying that I’m a princess with indestructible bracelets and an invisible plane.” Anyone who knows me knows that I have a serious love of all things Wonder Woman. My love for Wonder Woman started when I was a young entrepreneur just starting out in business. I was only […]
Tagged adversity, anxiety, attitude, blessings, collectibles, collection, confidence, courage, culture, DC comics, diana prince, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, hero, in over my head, indestructible bracelets, insecure, inspiration, intimidated, investor, invisible plane, leadership, make believe, motivation, pretend, princess, public speaking, scared, self worth, self-esteem, self-improvement, Speak, speaking engagements, startup, success, super, superhero, superheroes, superman, wonder woman
A Child Who Treats Their Parents With Respect Is An Employee Any Boss Would Be Thrilled To Hire (Forbes Article)
As a child I was taught the importance of respect – we were taught showing respect for other people, showing respect for other’s cultures, showing respect for people’s position of authority, showing respect for a venue, showing respect for an event, etc. This principle was emphasized greatly in my home and it is something I […]
Tagged achievements, advice, advise, Amy Rees Anderson, apologize, appreciate, boss, business, children, communicate, company, complain, confidence, dress code, excuse me, extra mile, fear, fears, follow through, forbes, goals, grateful, gratitude, humble, humility, i'm sorry, ignore, input, life experience, listen, look in the eye, manager, parenting, parents, polite, pride, prideful, Recruit, respect, responsible, retain, roll your eyes, rude comments, sacrifice, share goals, share problems, succeed, success, take for granted, talent, thank you, trash talk, value, worries, worry, young people
Fall in love all over again
This afternoon I went with my son and his fiancé for them to have their bridal photos taken and he got to see her for the first time in her wedding dress. It was such an amazing moment as a mom to be there and see him turn around and see the girl he loves […]
Tagged adult, alexis, believe, best friends, bridal gown, bridal shots, cap on toothpaste, child, completely, couples, Dalton, eternity, falling in love, falls in love, families, families can be together forever, fear, fell in love, fiance, forever, friendship, gorgeous, gray hair, growing up, happiness, happy, heart, i love you, in love, irritated, joy, kind, losing, love, loving, marriage, mom, negative, only the good, photographer, photography, Photos, positive, reminder, romance, stay in love, surreal, sweethearts, take for granted, toilet seat up, twinkle in their eye, veil, wedding, wedding day, wedding dress, wrinkles
DARE TO BE!
Dare to Be When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully. When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light. When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it. When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway. When life seems to beat you down, dare to […]
Tagged adversity, appreciate, appreciation, at all times, attitude, be the best you can, be tougher, beat you down, blessings, confidence, courage, dare to be, dare to be the best, darkness, difficult, do it anyway, do your best, exciting, extend a hand, faith, feel great, fight back, find some, find the way, friend, future, goal, goals, grateful, gratitude, help others, hope, hurt, injustice, keep going, lost, love, passive, poem, self-improvement, service, shine a light, smile, Steve Maraboli, success, tired, tough
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
When we look back at our lives, what do you think we will remember the most – the best of times or the worst of times? I was looking through old blogs I had posted for my employees before the blog became public and I came across a posting that answered that question for me – in […]
Tagged airport, alone, ashley, attitude, bad times, best of times, Dalton, dance in the rain, embarrassed, enjoy, errors, facebook, fail, failure, families, family, family trip, firework, flight, fun, funny, good times, grumpy, hardship, Hawaii, hotel, I wouldn’t trade it for a thing, joke, joy, laugh, look back, lost, memories, memory, mistake, mistakes, outlook, parking garage, perspective, quality time, remember, rental car, Rollin, smile, storms, time, together, trip, vacation, vacay, wedding ring, what can go wrong, worst of times, xbox
Service Your Way? Say WHAT?!!!
Great Customer Service – we’ve all heard of it, but nowadays actually getting it is as rare as spotting a Yeti laying out on a beach getting a tan! #realtalk Today I was drowning in wedding planning and I had called ahead to some rental companies that rent wedding chairs and dance floors to see […]
Tagged 1800flowers, accountable, annoyed, apologize, attitude, be kind, bon qui qui, burger king, business, card, chair rental, customer, customer service, dance floor, discouraged, employee, employer, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, example, first impression, flowers, funny, garcia, impact, impression, judge, judgment, kindness, king burger, lousy attitude, lousy service, meeting, memory, negative, negativity, own it, positive, positively, reservation, respect, service, spreads, system, treat others well, wedding, wedding planning, you tube
WE CAN DO IT, WE WILL DO IT, WE ARE GOING TO DO IT!
What if we were to all wake up each morning with an: I CAN, I WILL, I DO attitude? Can you even begin to imagine the incredible things we could accomplish if we really embraced that “can, will, do” mentality going into each new day? I CAN is us keeping a positive attitude and a […]
Tagged adventurous, afraid, approach, attempt, attitude, Belief, believing, can, can will do, courageous, daring, determination, determined, Do, encourage, encouragement, failure, faith, fear, fun, future, gifts, goals, happy, hope, imagination, imagine, incredible, inspiration, intelligent, joyful, limitless possibility, mentality, mirror, motivation, nothing can stop us, obstacles, persistent, perspective, positive attitude, power, powerful, problems, silly, success, trust, try, unstoppable, will, worth it
