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 […]
Since my daughter Ashley has gotten home from her mission she constantly says the word “Retweet” whenever we say anything she agrees with. So today, in honor of her, I thought I would “Retweet” a blog she wrote for me back when she was only 17 years old. It was such a great blog that […]
“She[/he} was never meant to be a common creature – extraordinary takes time.” Can I just say how much I love that quote – do you want to know why? Because it is so easy to go through life being so hard on yourself for not being perfect right this second, when the reality is […]
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” –Michelangelo Talk about a man who didn’t aim low in his life! Michelangelo was only 25 years old when he finished carving the statue known as […]
I happen to have two of the most adorable dogs in the universe. They are super tiny and so so cute and our family loves those two dogs tremendously. Not only are they adorable, but if you observe dogs in general them they will teach you so many great life lessons. I found this list […]
“Laugh. Laugh as much as you can. Laugh until you cry. Cry until you laugh. Keep doing it even if people are passing you on the street saying, “I can’t tell if that person is laughing or crying, but either way they seem crazy, let’s walk faster.” Emote. It’s okay. It shows you are thinking […]
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 […]
I LOVE McDonald’s. Yep it’s true…so there…I’ve said it…and I will not feel any shame for having admitted it because as far as I am concerned a McDonald’s Happy Meal is truly the happiest meal in the world. Perhaps its because it not only comes with the perfect size meal to fill you up wihtout […]
Last week I shared five blogs that each gave clips from different emails we had received from our daughter during her 18 month mission. I hope you all enjoyed hearing the life lessons she shared in those emails. Today was the final event of her 18 month journey – she gave a homecoming talk at […]
In a recent blog I wrote about how we need to stop being so hard on ourselves and how we need to like ourselves if we ever want to succeed in life. On that same note I wanted to share the words of a darling children’s book that is written by Karen Beaumont called “I Like […]
Last week my family and I were at the lake with our friends and my husband and I offered to teach those who had never surfed behind a ski boat before how to surf. Several people’s first response was to voice “I can’t do that”. However, it wasn’t because they were incapable of doing it […]
“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 […]
“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”-Edmund Burke I have been thinking about that quote a lot as of late. I think we sometimes let ourselves think that if we aren’t doing anything bad, that we are therefore, good enough. But in this world where so many […]
We’ve all experienced times where we’ve had a false sense of security, but we’ve also experienced times were we’ve had a false sense of insecurity…in ourselves. Too often we are our own worst critics. When circumstances of life don’t go the way we hoped for, we often allow them to make us think less of […]
My daughter-in-law came across a story I hadn’t heard before. When I first saw the title of the story I almost didn’t read it because I couldn’t imagine how a story with that title would be interesting, but I am really glad I decided to keep reading because the message it conveys is just plain […]
“Change is not a four letter word…but often your reaction to it is!” – Jeffrey Gitomer Change is scary..it’s trading the known for the unknown. It’s leaving something behind without knowing if what lies ahead. It’s wondering “Will I like it as much?” “Will it ever be as good as it was?” “What if it’s […]
“The ability to speak does not make you intelligent.”- Master Qui-Gon Jin I remember growing up thinking that all adults were so intelligent. After all, they used really big words and they talked with such confidence on so many topics. But then I grew up and started figuring out that just because someone knew a […]
I recently have been dealing with a situation where I became aware that someone has been doing things under false pretenses in an attempt to get personal gain. When I brought these activities to light to those in authority to rectify the situation the person in charge seemed resistant to confront it. He agreed that […]
As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they […]
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 […]
Do you ever have one of those days when you come across something that totally inspires you and makes you want to just be AMAZING?! Well today that happened to me. I came across this quote/poem written by someone named Robin Sharma and I LOVED IT! Just reading it made me want to go out […]
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 […]
Do you ever have days where you wake up feeling blah? Where every outfit looks terrible, and your hair just won’t go right, and you can’t find your keys, and you are late for work…we’ve all been through days like that. Sometimes we endure them and pray they will quickly be over. Other times we […]
“The fruits of today are always the seeds of yesterday. Each day of your life you are sowing seeds that one-day you must harvest.” –U.S. Anderson The choices we are making today and the actions we are taking are all helping dictate what our lives will be in the future. My little brother wrote a […]
When I was young I used to get frustrated that my Father always saw everything as black and white – there was never any grey as far as he was concerned. As a little kid I would always try to explain to him why the grey sometimes existed and without fail I would end up […]
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” -Albert Einstein There is so much truth to that. When we look for miracles in life we can find them everywhere. Some miracles manifest as a mere “coincidence” when […]
For years and years I worked on drawing a floor plan for my dream home and then a few years ago I was able to build that house and see those drawings become a reality. It was really exciting to see something you had worked so hard on come to fruition. We are the architects […]
I’m sure everyone reading the title of today’s blog has to be wondering what the heck I could possibly mean when I say that some days you just need to go to the Pooh tent? I’ll explain: Years ago I shared in a blog how when my children were young and they were acting badly […]
Each day we go through life making choices. Sometimes they are carefully thought through choices and sometimes they are impulsive. Sometimes we make them based on what we want for the future and sometimes we make them based on what we want right now. And while we all get to make our own choices, we […]
We are all familiar with the quote “Decisions determine destiny” and I genuinely believe that is the case. That is why it can be especially hard to make big decisions that come up in our lives. Anytime I have a big decision to make in life I think to myself “It would be so much […]
