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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
I knew when I went to bed last night that I was in trouble. I had pushed my body way too hard the last few weeks leading up to my son’s wedding and especially this past weekend, getting almost no sleep at all. After seeing off the last of our extended family that had come […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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.” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t. We only have so much energy to expend each day and every second we waste focusing on things we have absolutely no control over we are wasting that energy and our time. Instead we need to put our entire attention toward focusing on the things […]
Within any given week we are going to have good days, and bad ones. Rarely is an entire week perfect…at least I’ve never had a week like that myself. There are up days, and down days…there are stressful days and fun days…there are monotonous tasks that have to get done and there are new and […]
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 […]
How could I have been so naïve? Here I have been thinking that the older our children get, the easier it is to parent them… FALSE! Sure when they were babies they kept you up all night and barfed on every nice outfit you owned, and then as toddlers they threw themselves on the ground […]
Today I was fortunate enough to be invited by President Holland to attend a lunch and sit at the table with Sir Christopher John Greenwood, a Judge for the International Court of Justice and his lovely wife Susan at UVU’s Constitutional Conference for Constitutional Studies. Both of them went up from our table to speak at the lunch event […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Over the weekend I thought quite a bit about gratitude and our ability to completely change our thinking and perspective of situations that would be easy to be upset about or frustrated about to instead see a situation where there is something to feel truly grateful for. I realize that as easy as it sounds for me to say […]
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 […]
Late last night I was sitting on the couch trying to finish up some work when my little dog Roxy came running into the house and jumped right up on my beautiful couch in my great room. Suddenly the room began to fill with the most pungent, disgusting, putrid smell I have ever smelled – it was […]
“Learn to be satisfied. It is just as easy as being dissatisfied – and much more pleasant.” -Jacob de Jager For over five years now I have been writing a daily blog. The topic of each blog typically stems from something I went through or experienced during that particular day that stuck in my mind […]
“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.” So often in life we get so sucked into thinking about every little thing we still want that we totally lose sight of just how blessed we […]
I cannot believe that summer is coming to an end and fall is beginning. Our summer vacations have come to an end, most everyone’s kids are back to school at this point, and we all have to get back into our normal routines again. In some ways it’s sad to have summer playtime behind us […]
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 […]
Some days things happen that throw us for a total loop. When that happens it often causes you to feel totally out of sorts. You can find yourself questioning things that you used to feel certain about. You notice let fear and doubt creeping in. The picture in your head seems suddenly erased and you’re […]
