Tag Archives: family

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 […]

The Secret of Discipline is Motivation

“The secret of discipline is motivation. When a man is sufficiently motivated, discipline will take care of itself.” – Sir Alexander Paterson Last week I spent the entire week out of town down at Lake Powell with a group of business associates and their families along with my own family. It was gorgeous as always […]

“If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live a lot differently.”

“If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I’ll bet they’d live a lot differently.” – Bill Waterson I LOVE that quote! My son, who is a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan, sent it to me once right before we were heading on a trip to Lake Powell (our favorite place on earth!), […]

Things happen around us, but it’s what happens within us that matters most

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 […]

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 […]

The best thing about Memories is making them

We are just two days away from a holiday weekend. And one thing I have found in life is that if you don’t make a plan in advance to do something fun, an incredible holiday weekend can come and go and you’ll find you didn’t make any great memories at all! And that would be […]

Spring is the Perfect Time to Take Out All Of The Trash In Our Lives

It is finally starting to feel like spring outside with sunshine and warm weather and blossoms and flowers cropping up everywhere. I LOVE it!  And with Spring comes Spring Cleaning. Yep, it’s time for all of us to wash our windows so the sunlight can come through. And it’s finally warm enough to open those […]

I wouldn’t trade it for a thing

“Your best stories will come from your struggles. The seeds of your success are in your failures. You praises will be birthed from your pains. Keep standing. I have never seen a storm last forever. Seasons change. BE ENCOURAGED!” This past week my son and his wife decided to take a trip to Mississippi to […]

The Perfect Way To Spend A Day

Today was AWESOME! First of all it was Mother’s Day! And as the Mother of two of my own and one daughter-in-law, I want to say that I love being a Mom! It’s the most amazing blessing ever, but let’s admit it, sometimes it can feel like all the effort and sacrifice goes unnoticed. So […]

Successful Mothers (and Happy Mother’s Day!)

“Successful Mothers are not the ones that have never struggled, they are the ones that never give up, despite the struggles.” This weekend we will be celebrating Mother’s Day. It’s a time we all take a moment to think about all the things our Mothers do for us in life. It’s also a time when […]

This feels like a great week to be HAPPY!

The desire to be happy. It’s a desire shared universally. It is one thing in life we all have in common – the desire for happiness. Some people wait for happiness to find them, only to learn that this kind of happiness is temporary and it goes as quickly as it comes. Other people have […]

Our life tomorrow is the result of our attitudes and the choices we make today

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 […]

The Impact of One Kind Word

Drop a Pebble in the Water Drop a pebble in the water: just a splash, and it is gone; But there’s half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on, Spreading, spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea. And there is no way of telling where the end is going to be. Drop […]

I don’t know about you, but I am SO READY for the weekend!

Perhaps my love for the weekends started when I was a child. Every Saturday morning we awoke to the smell of Mom’s pancakes….oh how I miss those Saturday morning pancakes being cooked by someone else! Somehow everything smells and tastes better when you don’t have to cook it yourself. And then you add to that […]

Don’t think of it as a Sacrifice, think of it as an Investment

Sacrifice – the act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy. Sacrificing isn’t easy and it sure as heck isn’t always a whole lot of fun. But we make sacrifices because deep down in our hearts we recognize that there is a greater cause at […]

Striving for balance in your life

Balance…it’s a word that makes me crazy because I feel like it’s dang near impossible to achieve in life. Nonetheless, I find myself constantly seeking out articles with advice on how we can gain better balance in our lives. Tonight a dear friend sent me this article below. It is apparently a speech that was […]

If you want truth then go to the source

“A lot of problems in the world would disappear if people talk to each other instead of about each other.” All of us have made the mistake of believing gossip to be true at one time or another. I know there was a time many years ago when I myselft got sucked into believing gossip […]

Your Biggest Haters Are Really Your Biggest Fans

Haters, bullies, mean people…they all have one thing in common…they all suffer from one of the following: 1.  They hate themselves, 2.  They want to be you, or 3.  They see you as a threat Think about it – “Have you ever met a hater doing better than you? Me Neither….” There are far too many […]

Heroes will always outshine the villains. Addressing today’s tragedy in Belgium.

Waking up this morning to the horrific news of the bombings in Belgium was heartbreaking. Hearing that three of the people injured were from Utah (one from my same town) and were missionaries for the LDS Church serving in Belgium was even more devastating. As a mother of a daughter who is currently away serving […]

It’s the first day of Spring AND it’s International Day of Happiness…coincidence…I think not!

I love that there is an international day dedicated to being happy! And the fact it falls on the first day of Spring is perfect because Springtime makes me happy! In honor of the holiday I felt it only appropriate to talk about being happy. Did you know that research has shown that happy people: […]

Remember the old days when Apple was just a fruit?

Can you even remember what life was like before you had your Apple iPhone or some other brand of smartphone? Can you imagine for a second going back to that life? Let’s look at the pros and cons. Pros:  On the positive side we can be accessed real time, all the time, every day and […]

It could be that a small miracle is at play

At the end of last week I was invited by my friend Spencer Eccles to attend an Economic Conference out at Stanford University with a small group going out together. It was a fantastic event and I was so grateful I was able to attend it because I learned a tremendous amount and I met […]

Amazing blessings, tender mercies, little miracles…

I had the coolest experience last Sunday night and I just couldn’t help but share it. So the story started on the Friday before. My son Dalton called to let me know that he and his wife wanted to come over to our house for Sunday dinner. I, of course, was thrilled because as an […]

Great Advice on Building Relationships and a Great Reminder To Make A Difference

Today attended the Peak Awards hosted by the Greater Sandy Area Chamber of Commerce. During the event I was asked to introduce the keynote speaker, David Bradford who is a dear friend of mine, a great business leader, and a published author. Dave shared some of the principles taught in his book, “Up Your Game: […]

6 Top Companies Battled It Out To Claim The Grand Prize At The RootsTech’s Innovator Showdown (Forbes Article)

Last Friday over 25,000 attendees from all over the world (all 50 U.S States were represented and over 30 countries) to attend RootsTech, the world’s largest Family History technology conference. People of all backgrounds and all ages were in attendance. As I walked through the exhibit hall of the convention center I saw everything from […]

When you get to the end of your rope…

Growing up there was a poster on one of my siblings bedroom wall that they got for free when they ordered books from the scholastic book order forms we used to get back in elementary school (ps. I loved those book orders!). The poster had a picture of a kitten that was barely hanging onto […]

Rediscover the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in

As we age we grow wiser from life experience, which is a good thing. But sometimes as we grow older we also become a little bit jaded…almost too realistic…we often lose that sense of wonder and excitement we had as a child, and that is a not such a good thing… Now that I am […]

They CAN DO Hard Things IF you will let them

I was watching something the other day where s a mother to a teenage boy was busy doing her son’s laundry while her son was busy playing on his Xbox. The more I observed the situation the more I wanted to scream out “If your child is capable of conquering level 15 of their video […]

January Is The Perfect Time To Start Some Non-Holiday Traditions

January can sometimes feel like a little bit of a “let-down” month after coming off all the exciting holiday bliss of December. The decorations are all put away, the vacation time came to an end, there aren’t as many exciting holiday parties and family gatherings to be excited about, and what used to seem like […]

The Traits I Admire Most

Today I have been thinking a lot about the character traits that I admire most in people. I sat down to make a list of traits I see in a person I very much look up to in my life and here was the list that came to mind: Integrity – does the right thing, […]