“So you want to be happy? Then stop letting the smallest things ruin your entire day. If you’re feeling stressed, ask yourself: Will this matter in a year from now? If YES, then do something about it. If NO, then let it go. If you’re bored with your daily routine, do something unexpected, be spontaneous. […]
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 […]
Back in 2011, as a Christmas gift, my son Dalton who was a freshman in college at the time, decided to write a blog for me one night so I could take a night off from writing. It was posted back when my blog was only for my employees so none of you got to […]
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 […]
When we surround ourselves with people of Integrity our lives are always made better. And by that same token, when we associate with people who lack integrity our lives will always be made worse. I refer to people who lack integrity as Blessing Blockers. Throughout my career I have had the blessing of associating with many great people of integrity. […]
The Analogy of the Orange If you squeeze an orange you will get orange juice. It doesn’t matter who squeezes it, where or when this is done, or what kind of implement is used. If you squeeze an orange, what comes out is orange juice. The same holds true for each of us. When the […]
Years ago when my daughter Ashley was in high school she tore her ACL playing basketball and had to have surgery. We rented a hospital bed for her recovery so she could be out in the family room where everyone hung out and watched TV together. One day my husband and I came in the […]
“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 […]
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 […]
“I realized this week that I just cannot do it all. So I will choose to do what I can FABULOUSLY.” –Clinton Kelly Some weeks you have so much to do that you have to admit to yourself that you are never going to be able to get it all done…so this is me admitting […]
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. 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.” – 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!), […]
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 […]
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 […]
I have always had an incredible drive to work hard. When I am at work I genuinely work my tail off. I am motivated and driven and focused on getting a tremendous amount done, and all of that is positive, but my problem lies in that I often don’t know how to put things down […]
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 […]
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 […]
IF I HAD MY LIFE TO LIVE OVER (by Erma Bombeck) I would have talked less and listened more. I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded. I would have eaten the popcorn in the “good” living room and worried much less about the dirt […]
“Life is an echo. What you send out, comes back. What you sow, you reap. What you give, you get. What you see in others, exists in you.” -Zig Ziglar I want to share a story with you called “The Mountain Story.” A son and his father were walking in the mountains. Suddenly, his son […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Oyster Story There once was an oyster whose story I tell, Who found that some sand had got into his shell. It was only a grain, but it gave him great pain. For oysters have feelings although they’re so plain. Now, did he berate the harsh working of fate Which had brought him to […]
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 […]
Over the weekend my husband and I went and picked up our first batch of flowers to plant in our yard. I say the first batch because it typically takes us five or six truckloads of flowers to get enough to cover the yard. Every year I try to talk him into hiring someone else […]
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 […]
Today I had the opportunity to interview someone about their professional and personal journey as an entrepreneur. Having the chance to hear other people’s stories is such a blessing because you can learn from their life lessons without having to go through the actual experiences yourself. It happened that the entrepreneur I interviewed today has […]
I woke up this morning so excited to go out into the warm spring sunshine…I put on my short sleeved shirt and sandals, and I opened my door to find ridiculously cold wind and rain! NOOOOOO!!!…. Back inside I went to change my sandals for winter shoes and put on my warmest sweater. I was […]
