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 […]
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. […]
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. […]
Somedays you have to be your own cheerleader. Some days you have to look in the mirror just like the little girl in this AWESOME video clip and say out loud, “I like myself, I like my hair, I can do anything!” Watch this short little video clip and see exactly what I am talking about […]
If you could do anything you wanted with your life, what would you do? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Just for a minute take away all restrictions or limitations that typically exist and the barriers that scare you or deter you. Take away all worries of being able to fulfill your financial obligations […]
I came across a poem that has a great message and wanted to share it with all of you: What a great poem to read, especially at Christmas time? It reminds us that life is short so why waste a moment of it being unhappy? No matter what goes wrong, life is going to go […]
“How much shopping can one person do?!?”, my husband called out as my fingers clicked madly away on the keyboard jumping from one cyber-deal to another as quickly as I could. “It’s almost midnight! Don’t distract me! I am working against the clock here! Just wait til you hear how much money I saved us”, […]
It was a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. We went to visit my husband’s family in Idaho on their family farm. There is very little as fitting as celebrating Thanksgiving on the farm. We had amazing food (all homemade of course!), my daughter learned to drive the front loader tractor, and they went shooting clay pigeons. […]
T’was the night of Thanksgiving, But I just couldn’t sleep. I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep. The leftovers beckoned, The dark meat and white. But I fought the temptation, With all of my might. Tossing and turning, with anticipation. The thought of a snack became infatuation. So I raced to the kitchen, Flung […]
And there is no better week to take the action of giving thanks and showing gratitude than Thanksgiving week. This is the perfect week to extend a helping hand to someone in need. And we can always find someone out there who is in greater need than we are. It’s so easy to get sucked […]
Relationships are a tricky thing. Men and women are so drastically different in so many ways that it is a serious miracle that we actually end up together in many ways. We communicate differently, we show love differently, we have different expectations, we have different emotional responses…we are just plain different. And is if our […]
Today started out rough. I had to deal with a situation related to someone from the past that I once considered to be a friend, but who turned out to be an incredibly dishonest person who did a lot of horrible things that caused a lot of damage to a lot of people. Not exactly […]
“Pride is to relationships as cyanide is to health.” I came across an amazing article today about pride and there was a section that was so powerful I had to share it. “A pride contest has no winner because nobody likes the winner. Humans don’t respond well to being put down, and pride gives others that […]
Today I spoke to a large group of students at BYU. I love speaking to the students. They have so much energy and enthusiasm and joy for the future. They are so young and full of promise for their life ahead. In preparing to speak to them I really tried to consider the messages I […]
Today I heard about one of the coolest ideas ever so I couldn’t help but share it with all of you. In 2012, a woman decided that for her birthday, rather than having anyone give her gifts, she instead challenged all her friends to perform a random act of kindness for someone else on her […]
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it.” -Victor Hugo Do you remember back to when you were a kid? When you blew out the birthday candles to make a wish with the belief that it would actually come true? Or when you pinned a towel to your shoulders and played […]
It is a fact of life that we cannot control what other people do. We can’t make someone else act with integrity, or make someone else do the right thing, and we can’t make someone else be a good person. All we can really control in life is ourselves. When someone else does something bad […]
Several weeks ago I was sitting with a group of male friends who are all married and we were discussing their frustration with not being able to understand women very well. One of the men had been in a disagreement with his wife and he was explaining to me why his wife’s side of the […]
I was down sick again today, but I wanted to share a story with you that I came across a few years ago that touched my life in a major way. I shared the story years ago in a company blog, but I am reposting it again today for all of you to read as […]
Yesterday was my 42nd birthday, which means that today is the first day of the rest of my life! And if you think about it, for every one of your reading this blog, today is the first day of the rest of your life as well – and you didn’t even have to have a […]
Today was an exciting, whirlwind of a day. First I attended my board meeting for the Governor’s Economic Development Board that I serve on for the State of Utah, and then I ran over to attend the Women’s Tech Awards where I was humbled to receive their Impact Award at a large luncheon. Next I […]
I first read the saying “Handsome is as handsome does” in a book I was reading during my teenage years. For some reason the phrase impacted me and stuck with me over the years. It was a reminder that true beauty is something that emulates from the inside out… To prove this fact one can […]
So those of you up on the daily reading of my blog know I got hurt a few days ago when my face and a board met up at my new construction site. The sweetest person sent me a really cute email to cheer me up and the story she shared in the email had […]
We all have a finite number of hours in a day – 24 to be exact. What we choose to do with those hours is of the utmost importance. We can waste our time, or we can use our time to improve ourselves and our lives. I have always felt passionate about the importance of […]
I am sitting in a chair wrapped up in a blanket and watching an amazing rainstorm through my window. Lightning is shooting through the sky every few seconds followed by the constant cracking of thunder. I have to say that there is something really magical about watching a storm like this. Perhaps it’s the beauty […]
No matter what ups and downs we have experienced in our lives, there have always been a million blessings. Sometimes we forget to acknowledge or even recognize those blessings because there are so many other things to easily get distracted by. And when you have always had certain blessings in your life, it’s easy to take […]
“Make Just One Someone Happy. And You Will Be Happy To.” – Jimmy Durante. I love that song btw. If you haven’t listened to it in a while you totally should listen to it again. It’s fabulous. This last week I have been so grateful to all of my daughter’s dear friends who have come by […]
As I sit here at the hospital tonight, following my daughters second ACL surgery that took place earlier today, I am trying to reflect on what lessons I have learned in my life today so I can share those thoughts with all of you. It’s funny how just sitting around in a hospital waiting room […]
All of us have worries and concerns in life. Things we are scared of. Things we are dreading. Worries about what “might” happen or what “might not” happen. It seems that there is a truly endless supply of things to spend our time being worried about. Yet, at the end of the day does the […]
