Reasons to Celebrate
December is upon us already, and there will be no shortage of reasons to celebrate. At the end of the month, three holidays align this…
December is upon us already, and there will be no shortage of reasons to celebrate. At the end of the month, three holidays align this…
On Thursday, as you sit around the dinner table and dish up more food than your appetite calls for, think about applying that mentality another…
We’re all familiar with the fairytale of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” The expression of being an ostrich with their head in the sand is also…
This week, I’m going to share the words of others in a short Pink Elephants playlist: Pink Elephants Playlist Everyone can benefit from the words of…
Exercising is important to me. Training and being physically prepared for whatever adventure comes my way is why I work out. I run now and…
Once upon a time, there was a bored child. To alleviate his boredom, he began spying on his neighbors. He knew what he witnessed wasn’t…
The Junior-Senior T.P. Wars are a part of the Homecoming traditions at my daughter’s high school. Every evening during homecoming week, the 11th and 12th…
Not all, but most of you reading this will remember learning to drive a stick shift. Switching gears takes patience. It’s hard to forget the…
Tomorrow marks a day in American history that no American will ever forget. Most people cannot recall what they ate for breakfast, but on 9/11,…
Indulge me for a moment. Picture yourself in the mountains on a dirt hiking trail. There is blue sky above, a river flowing below, and…
Friends are the people you choose to surround yourself with. They are individuals that grab and hold your attention and make you curious to know…
Being in 4-H, my daughters compete in the county fair. No county fair experience is complete without a visit to the rodeo. At a time…
How is it that the older one gets, the faster time passes? When you’re a kid, time moves at a snail’s pace. Waiting for summer…
They say, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” If this is true, then a memory must be worth a million. No photograph can capture…
What did the horse say after it tripped? I can’t giddyup! What do you call an angry carrot? A steamed veggie! These aren’t stage-worthy jokes,…
Much of my happiness comes from the outdoors, either being outside or bringing parts of it inside. Nature fascinates me to the point of referring…
Fantasizing about what life will be like as grown-ups is part of childhood. Children’s imaginations continually bloom with thoughts of careers, houses, spouses, and the…
Monumental events leave a lasting impression. Some years roll over into one another with no distinct variation. You go through the motions without noteworthy happenings.…
Most people equate luck to winning the lottery or something similar. However, due to several experiences, my family’s take on luck is different. We call…
Many will agree that mothers are notorious for endlessly giving to others. What we’re not guilty of giving is enough grace to ourselves. As mothers,…
Spring has announced its arrival. If you don’t stop and admire, you’ll miss the awesomeness of the season. In addition to the lawns turning green,…
Once upon a time, there was a fisherman. He was very successful at fishing but wondered if there was more to life than what the…
Let’s take a page from the book of any Native American tribe’s philosophy and learn from their example of waste not, want not. Indigenous peoples…
Art museums display weird, shocking, pleasing, and beautiful works. The mediums and messages from one piece to the next vary, even among works from the…
Many words begin with the prefix “un.” Those two letters at the beginning of a word usually carry a negative connotation. Think about it. The…
In 1930, Watty Piper wrote “The Little Engine That Could.” The most famous line in the book is, “I think I can. I know I…
Fort Collins is home to the only lowland Nordic ski team in Colorado, the Poudre School District Prairie Dogs. In 2017, Kyle Steitz, the coach,…
I’m sure you’ve met them, but I want to introduce you to my friends, Will and Way. I met them years ago. They met at…
It takes grit to make it through life. Grit is more than an idea. It’s a practice that can be applied every day, especially the…
Each month, a full moon hangs in the night sky. To most, this monthly occurrence isn’t noteworthy. Moons wax and wane without much acknowledgment. At…
On a shelf above my desk sits a jar of hearts. I have collected these hearts of different sizes, colors, and materials for many years.…
When my daughter was about three years old, she pooped in the bathtub. You read that right, she left a turd in the tub. I…
We’re all familiar with the little, rotating circle in the center of our screens, which signifies a device is processing. Our patience gets tested when…
While loading a Teflon pan into the dishwasher the other day, I noticed the label “Dishwasher Safe, Handwashing Recommended.” It got me thinking about how…
Learning our ABCs is the beginning of learning how to communicate. They are the foundational building blocks upon which languages are built. Once the alphabet…
We all say it, “Next year’s gonna be…” The adjective placed at the end of the sentence depends on the person speaking. For some, saying…
Saying what you mean to say requires intention and attention. Choose your words carefully, for they can be spoken wrong or received wrong. Thinking before…
It’s easy to forget to show ample appreciation to those closest to us. The people we interact with daily and share the minutia of our…
Not long ago, my friend gave me a greeting card. The card reads, “Your crazy is showing… you may want to tuck that sh*t back…
Evergreen forests are home to a variety of pines. These needled trees retain their beautiful shades of green year-round. Their never-changing color makes them appear…
Cornucopias are always depicted as overflowing with a colorful bounty of goods spilling out of their container. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and berries spread across the…
Safety instructions offered by flight attendants before take-off are, for the most part, ignored. Their words are heard but not really listened to. The directions…
We have choices in how we cope with the curve balls life throws our way. The options are accepting or taking. Acceptance is the ability…
Have you ever noticed sand in your suitcase? No matter how much you brush it off, leftover bits of travel hitchhike their way into luggage…
Lifting the lid off a cookie jar only to discover nothing more than crumbs is disappointing. We expect the good stuff that was there the…
“The world is round” are the words my husband is most known for saying. More than just a phrase; it’s a way of life for…
No matter how ugly life gets, a bounty of beauty is nearby. You need not look further than out a window. Better yet, step outside…
Ensuring you have the right words when saying goodbye isn’t easy. When dropping my daughter off at college, this was the challenge I faced. There…
One would think a babysitter would be the one to teach kids lessons in inappropriate things, not the other way around. My daughter received an…
Technology is great, but one thing that can’t be improved upon is a good, old-fashioned note. Remember the excitement you felt as a kid when…
Gratitude and guilt are emotional enemies. So are joy and jealousy. These emotional enemies make playing the game of life difficult to enjoy. They are…
Life hits you when you least expect it to. Holding it all together during those times is challenging. When emotional challenges overwhelm me, I’m learning…
Light and sound travel swiftly, much quicker than time, but the speed of life has its own pace. Days, weeks, and months pass in the…
Jane and Michael Banks had to take medicine each day. What the medicine was for, I haven’t a clue. It is beside the point. What…
The delayed flight from Denver to Boston made all the passengers impatient for take-off. Everyone, including the pilot, was anxious to get in the air…
New cars come with lots of bells and whistles. Drivers have options to put more and more control in the vehicle itself. Cameras and sensors…
Traveling is great, and I’m blessed to do a good deal of it, but I always look forward to coming home. Dorothy said it best…
My daughter and I have just returned from her college orientation. The time to spread her wings is coming, but not until September. In the…
Happy 4th of July! On this day, may our hearts be filled with gratitude for our country and the freedoms we have. May the symbolism…
Playgrounds are a childhood right of passage. My childhood would’ve been incomplete if it weren’t for park playgrounds. Parenting my daughters would’ve been very different…
Patience and acceptance are lessons I thought I’d learned. Life doesn’t seem to agree with me. That or I need more practice. Situations involving both…
Sunday is Father’s Day, making it a good day to say thank you. Thank you to all the dads who have done their best without…
Walking passed an elementary school the other day, I overheard part of a conversation between two young girls. Matter of factly, the first girl said,…
New parents wonder how they’re going to survive keeping a child alive. They blink, and before they know it, graduation caps are being tossed into…
Do you see the dog howling? Or the snail head? Does something else catch your attention? Cloud formations are fascinating. Depending on a person’s imagination,…
There is a song from the late 1980s by David Wilcox called “Leave It Like It Is.” https://www.google.com/search?q=leave+it+like+it+is+lyrics&rlzThe song is about a jar of blue…
There’s no end to the many hats of motherhood. Mothers must be part chameleons or magicians. How else could we change our demeanor or adapt…
“The brass ring only comes around once” is a saying I’ve always loved. The phrase was designed to attract people to ride carousels long ago.…
April is National Donate Life Month, and National Pediatric Transplant Week is April 23-29, 2023. Donate Life is the national registry for matching organ, eye,…
Hip-hip Hooray! This Saturday, April 22nd, is Earth Day. I don’t think of myself as a tree-hugging hippy, but I value the Earth and its…
Oreo cookies in our house are more than a cookie. Those little round cream-filled treats are a small and special sign of my affection for…
Over Spring Break, my daughter’s friends decided to take a road trip. They were in search of a chuckwalla. With little money and an equal…
Snorkeling in the ocean fascinates me, not just the visual beauty of marine life, but the whole experience. In the underwater world there is a…
On a hike last summer, I came across abandoned railroad tracks previously used by miners. Their abrupt end got me thinking. There are times when…
Do you remember laying in bed, frozen with fear as your imagination conjured up monsters under the bed? It didn’t matter that you couldn’t actually…
“Hazards Exist” signs warn of obstacles on ski runs, but life is no different with its unforeseeable challenges. The “Hazards Exist” signs make me laugh…
There are only two options to a couple things in life. Size and age are topics that fall into this logic. Over time our body…
Lucy the Golden Doodle puppy, and Twix the rescue kitten are the newest additions to my brother’s family. At first glance one might think them…
Love is an insatiable human need. When we give a gift we strive to make it the “perfect” gift, so why not strive for the…
The choice to change ourselves isn’t an easy decision, and the action required of oneself is even more daunting. Choosing change requires us to love…
Once upon a time, life gave me what most would call a nightmare. At the encouragement of others, I turned the nightmare into a dream…
I’ve been volunteering in my friend’s first grade classroom. At times the group of six and seven year old’s can get a little too rambunctious.…
Why is saying “no” so difficult? I’m as guilty as anyone for not using this word enough. Thinking I can fit in one more appointment,…
Pinned to my office bulletin board are several of my daughter’s drawings. To Emily they’re nothing more than doodles whipped out during math or English…
I think it’s safe to say we’re all feeling the holiday hangover. I don’t even mean the overindulgence of cocktails. I’m talking specifically about the…
This week I’m taking a break from blogging to break in my ski legs. For those of you looking forward to my mental meanderings, I…
Of all your holiday memories what do you most recall? If I had to guess it isn’t the “perfect” ones. It’s the holiday mishaps that…
In my opinion there’s not a more important skill than communication. Communication is key to identifying and expressing our personal needs and wants. To be…
Viewing life as a glass half full or a glass half empty seems to be a limiting approach in my opinion. The options are left…
Alcoholics Anonymous defines insanity as “doing the same thing and expecting different results.” You don’t have to be in the program to see the logic…
This fall in Colorado has been unlike any I can remember despite being a native of the state. The variety of vibrant colors of the…
As Thanksgiving approaches gratitude is on the forefront of my mind. When I think of gratitude I also think of happiness. In my opinion the…
When I was in high school a friend from Spain came to visit for the summer. Her English was very good but she couldn’t remember…
Meet Malucca my eleven year old Portuguese Water Dog. In Portuguese his name means crazy. He does an excellent job of living up to his…
My seventeen-year-old daughter knows how to own it. She used to be the mascot for her middle school, but set it aside during high school,…
It’s my belief that the majority of people are good. Why then do bad things happen to good people? The truth is, life happens to…
Not many people are willing to put the needs of others before their own, but my friend Angela is that kind of person. In the…
There’s no doubt that fresh squeezed orange juice is better than any store bought kind. Sure there’s something to be said about the convenience of…
Flowers fascinate me. They are beautiful at every stage of their life. What seems fragile is remarkably strong. It’s amazing how blossoms know when to…
The EVVY Awards are the like the Emmys but for self-published books. Several months ago I submitted my book Pink Elephants to the Colorado Independent Publishers…
In high school I used to love weightlifting, specifically the bench press. Seeing my name on the “100 lb+ Club” was my goal. It would…
The other day my four-year-old neighbor approached me with an outstretched hand. On her palm lay a large, listless grasshopper. Lucy said, “Look what I…
Recently, I was asked what I think it means to have grace. My answer was that grace and kindness are much the same. Both are…
Life can be incredibly disappointing at times. People work hard for what they think they deserve only to be left wanting more. The want for…
On our first anniversary I started a tradition of giving my husband a penny. It has become a penny of many. The idea was that…
Deep down we all want something to believe in. The only way to know that our beliefs are not foolish is to question them. Take…
Everyone has a story to tell about a traumatic experience because there’s no escaping trauma. Trauma is a thread that connects people, as no human…
Rainbows have always stopped me in my tracks, even as an adult. The riches of a rainbow exist with or without a pot of gold…
A diamond is considered by many to be the most precious of all gemstones. The untrained eye isn’t able to see the beauty of diamonds…
I don’t pay much attention to “pop-up holidays” as I call them, but I think this Thursday is one worth noting. Thursday is National Chocolate…
Living in Northern Colorado means that every now and then my family has reason to drive through Wyoming. Often when we do so it’s at…
To be a father is an honor. Good fathers are men who choose to live up to the title. They are men willing to care…
As the curtains closed on my Gramma’s life she had one request, “take me with you.” Those were the some of the most important words…
Ridding a garden of weeds is a never ending task. Removing them before they get too big or out of control is important. Mowing over…
Snails and humans are vastly different from one another but there are a couple of key similarities. For starters both species have comfort zones. These…
So many people are constantly in search of measuring up. Rather than finding satisfaction in what they already have, they look for validation outside of…
Zelda Fitzgerald said, “No one has ever measured, even poets how much a heart can hold.” I think Zelda was talking about a mother’s heart,…
Join me as I speak with fellow author and podcaster Kris Clink. We discuss how my family survived the life-threatening illness of our daughter, why…
In a couple of weeks, it will have been four years since I was involved in a serious car accident. Going 75mph, I was in…
Did you know that April 22nd marks the 52nd Earth Day? This is a day to enjoy our planet and consider ways to better take…
My dog and I walk almost everyday. Bad weather or Malucca’s stubbornness are the only reasons a walk gets skipped. He’s only willing to walk…
We have all heard of the windows and doors of opportunity. There are windows of opportunity. When one door closes another opens. Opportunity knocks, is…
Bring on the temporary distractions from life. Pull up the curtain and strike up the band. Let the shows begin. Theatres, stages, concerts, and comedy…
Every day is a beautiful day in my neighborhood because I’m blessed to have incredible neighbors. Though Mr. Rogers and Tony Danza don’t come by,…
These days dinner reservations are practically a must. Lately, my house is no exception. Connecting over the dinner table has always been a priority in…
For the first time in a long time the world seems to be on the same page. What is happening in Ukraine is not okay.…
At three-years-old and not more than three-feet tall, my sweet, little Emily blurted out a statement I didn’t understand. With one hand on her hips…
“Mom are we rich?” was a question my brother and I occasionally asked our mother when we were little. She always offered the same answer,…
I have learned not to begrudge my hardships, because of the insight they provide later. Each experience of life is preparing me for whatever is…
The simple beauty of life is not so different from that of a kaleidoscope. With every turn of a kaleidoscope the pieces fall into place…
After living together only a few months, my husband and I were still getting used to one another’s habits. We were learning what was worth…
We could all use a boost to our spirits lately. Tensions are high, tolerance is low, patience is next to nothing. A collective sense of…
Surprisingly, the most common question I have received after the publication of Pink Elephants, has been, “How did you and Tyler manage to stay married?”…
This week I would like to enlighten you with different kinds of thought provoking messages of positivity. For some time now I have been collecting…
Move the “S” at the beginning of SWORD to the end and you have WORDS. Completely different in their meanings, but surprisingly similar in how…
Though the presents are all unwrapped there is one more. Since it can’t be put under the tree, placed in your hands, or delivered to…
Whether your beliefs were born in a manger, celebrated by lighting a menorah, or took flight beside a jolly man in a red suit, they…
There’s not a direct line in life connecting Point A to Point B. Instead, the road of life lays before us with turns, twists, and…
Not long after I released my first book Pink Elephants, a fellow author approached me with the idea that we exchange reviews for one another.…
This week I invite you to join me for a podcast interview instead of a blog post. Hannah Hopkins Walton is the host of Hannah’s…
It is unfortunate to me that all four-letter-words get such a bad rap, since there are two categories of them. There are the words that…
During a recent drive through the mountains, I spotted two large moose standing in a field. I pulled over to watch them for a moment.…
Living in Colorado I have the privilege of experiencing the gifts of all four seasons. Each abounds with its own abundance of wonder and joy.…