Over the last two weeks my husband and I and our son Dalton and his wife Alexis and our daughter Ashley all went together on a European Family Adventure! We planned this trip to be our first family trip of just our own family because we wanted our daughter Ashley to get to know her […]
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 […]
“Today before you think of saying an unkind word– think of someone who can’t speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food– think of someone who has nothing to eat. Before you complain about your husband or wife– think of someone who is crying out to God for a companion. Today before you […]
Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was really good and so was the work condition. For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he […]
A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They […]
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 […]
Yesterday I wrote about something called Gratitude Deficit Disorder and I shared a few ideas on how to overcome the disorder and increase your feelings of Gratitude each day in order to become happier. The next step toward being EVEN HAPPIER is to express our gratitude to others! “Thank You” – that is one of […]
Gratitude Deficit Disorder is an ailment that far too many people suffer from. I don’t personally think that people intentionally catch this ailment…I think people catch it as a result of getting too busy and letting life drive them instead of them driving their life. It’s an easy trap to fall into, but the good […]
“If you want to appreciate what you have, imagine your life without it.” It’s an unfortunate thing, but it is all too often the case – In life it is so easy to fall into the trap of not appreciating all that we have. Whether it’s a person, or an experience, or a material possession, […]
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 […]
STOP BEING SO HARD ON YOURSELF! Yes I’m yelling with the all caps because we all need to have someone yell that at us once in a while. We all tend to be our own worst critics in life. And for those of us who are women, we are our own worst critic times ten! […]
“Try and keep on trying until that which seems difficult becomes possible and that which seems only possible becomes habit and a real part of you.” -Dieter F. Uchtdorf The first step to fixing anything is to TRY. We have to try to believe we can do it, try to learn how to do it, […]
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 […]
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 […]
“Follow your passion, stay true to yourself, never follow someone else’s path unless you’re in the woods and you’re lost and you see a path then by all means you should follow that.”- Ellen Degeneres First off all Ellen Degeneres cracks me up. Her humor can’t help but make you smile. And I love that […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
