Tag Archives: family

My Christmas Wish For You

I cannot believe that tomorrow is Christmas! I am SO EXCITED!! But not because of any presents I will get…I’m excited because tomorrow I get to talk on Skype to my daughter Ashley who is away serving her 18 month mission for the LDS Church. We only get to talk to her once on Mother’s Day […]

“Maybe Christmas…Perhaps…Means a Little Bit More.”

Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit, He rode with his load to the tiptop to dump it! “Pooh-Pooh to the Whos!” he was grinch-ish-ly humming. “They’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming! “They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do! “Their mouths will hang open a minute […]

Angels We Have Heard On High

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend the most INCREDIBLE Christmas Concert! I was able to go and hear the world famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s annual Christmas Concert. At tonight’s concert they performed The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. It was the first time I have ever heard that sng performed in person and it […]

A Letter To Santa From Mom

I came across this today (no idea who wrote this but it is genius!) and decided it should be shared in honor of all the parents dealing with little children this holiday season: Dear Santa, I’ve been a good mom all year. I’ve fed, cleaned and cuddled my two children on demand, visited the doctor’s […]

Our Perception Is Our Choice

This statement is something all of us should really stop and think long and hard about…Our perception is our choice…There are many things in our life that ARE NOT our choice, for example – how the weather will be, or whether a person will fall in love with us or not, or whether we will […]

It’s Thanksgiving and I say “Thank heaven for stretchy pants!”

Each Thanksgiving we go around the dinner table and share what we are grateful for that year. It is a tradition we never miss doing. And every year in the back of my mind there is something I am truly grateful for on Thanksgiving, but I’m always too embarrassed to say it out loud, but […]

“The highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them”

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”   ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy I love Thanksgiving because it is such an amazing reminder for all of us to focus on our blessings and to remember to appreciate all that we have in […]

Gracias, Merci, Shukran, Danke, Mahalo, Dhanyayad, Grazie, Domo, THANK YOU!

Thank You! Two simple words that are said to be the most powerful words in the universe. “Thank You” is an acknowledgement that you appreciate the other person’s time, kindness, and talents they devoted to doing something. Saying “Thank You” is an expression to of love and kind thoughts. It`s the best way to say […]

Bust Out Those Holiday Traditions!

Last week was a rough one. I was down sick the entire week and then Friday I had to haul myself out of bed and get down to Bryce Canyon Utah to attend the Open House for my son and his new bride. I made it through the evening and then crashed again, sick as […]

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action

I can’t believe that Thanksgiving is only a week away!  Time has flown this season!  As I laid in bed super sick again today (grrrr…..) it hit me that I hadn’t even taken one moment to think about Thanksgiving yet. I have been so wrapped up in my son’s recent wedding that the holidays had […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

What Kind Of Trails Do You Leave

We all walk through life leaving a trail in our wake that has been created by each choice we have made. Every person who follows in our footsteps is impacted by the trail we leave. Whether it’s our children, or a family member, or a business associate, or someone who is watching our example, we […]

You Never Know the Impact You Can Have On Someone

I have to start tonight’s blog off by saying I am the luckiest mom in the world and here’s why – Today I was asked to give two keynote presentations for two different groups down at Brigham Young University. The groups I spoke to were both awesome and amazing and I loved every minute of […]

Ordinary Miracles

Life is full of ordinary miracles. Sometimes we recognize them and sometimes we don’t even realize they have happened until much later. Back in July of 2011 my family was headed down to Lake Powell when we experienced some pretty cool ordinary miracles happened to us. I shared the experience in a blog I wrote […]

Put a little love in your heart!

So last week I had a crazy week full of meetings where I had to get up super early each day and then I was up late each night. Thursday afternoon as I was battling to get through the traffic on the ridiculously crowded freeway with all the construction going on, I was definitely feeling the […]

Divine Intervention

Today I was at a meeting where I ran into a very dear friend and mentor of mine who is someone I admire and care about very much. A few months ago he had a major heart attack and went through serious heart surgery. It came as a shock to all of us when he […]

Labor Day, the day we celebrate work by not working

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you all had a fantastic holiday away from work today…you gotta love that we celebrate work by not working today – PERFECT! Today I was able to spend time with good friends and their families and it was a very welcome break from all the madness the last few […]

Those Words A Parent Never Expected to Hear

As those of you who follow my blog know, my son Dalton recently got engaged to his sweetheart and we are now in full blown wedding preparation mode. Because they want a short engagement it is like wedding planning central at our house with invitation selections, picking colors for the reception, figuring out venues, booking […]

Express and Live A Life of Gratitude

“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” – William Arthur Ward Tonight I have been thinking a lot about Gratitude. My life has been a huge whirlwind the last several months. Some things I have experienced have been amazing and some things I have experienced have been […]

“Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.”

“Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Take the moment and make it perfect.” This last week was a truly momentous week in my life. My son Dalton proposed marriage to his girlfriend and she said YES! In the weeks leading up to the proposal my son and I spent a ton of time planning out […]

Don’t put off living

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We dream of some magical rose garden over the horizon – instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our window today.”    -Dale Carnegie I totally agree that too often we put off […]

I was really here and I really lived

“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there […]

Life’s Tug of War

Life’s Tug Of War  Life can seem ungrateful and not always kind. Life can pull at your heartstrings and play with your mind. Life can be blissful and happy and free. Life can put beauty in the things that you see. Life can place challenges right at your feet. Life can make good of the […]

Schedule a Clean-Up Day

Every now and then you just have to schedule a Clean-Up Day! A Clean-Up Day is a day where you literally spend an entire day cleaning up all the things that have been piling up for far too long and that have managed to make your space feel like total chaos. To begin your clean-up […]

The Feeling of Home

We have traveled extensively over this summer. On a European front we have been to London, Paris, Belgium, Germany, other parts of France, Switzerland, and Amsterdam. Then back in the states we have been to Lake Powell three different times and now Idaho for my husband’s family reunion….Where we haven’t been much this summer is […]