Mother’s Day used to really bug me as a young mother. I remember one particularly poignant Mother’s Day when my first child was 2 or 3....

(Originally published in The Millennial Instructor, Vol. 1, 2017) Imagine waking up in the morning and having someone ask you this...

In 2008 Stephen Covey began a speech at the University of Cumberlands with this story: “It was a dark and stormy night. Crewmember:...

One of the most memorable movies of my childhood is Shenandoah - filmed in 1965 and starring Jimmy Stewart. The thing that made it...

(Original post April 30, 2022) I was the burnt waffle. Erma Bombeck wrote that it’s too bad we can’t do children the way we do a batch of...

Friday morning, long hike day. Dale's been doing it since retirement, except for the long months of my illness, hospitalization, and recovery. He craves his hike days like oxygen or chocolate chippers, his finely-honed cookie recipe, which he sometimes takes on his hikes. We say prayers together, and like most hiking days, there are two prayers going on in my head: the one I am saying out loud, and the one I am saying in my head. The one out loud: "Father - please bless us wi

(Originally given as a talk in sacrament meeting June 12, 2022) I need to give you three images for the story I'm about to tell. The...

(Original post January 2023) It's just an ordinary plate from a Mexican shop in Ensenada. Probably didn’t even cost $20. I bought it on a...

[Originally published May 25, 2022] (Original Facebook Post March 3, 2022) I think it's time to tell you a story. I still can't go into...

[Originally published June 8, 2020] I spent much of Sunday afternoon weeping. I’d come downstairs from studying and intermittent dozing...

[Originally published December 8, 2019] The Salt Lake Temple is about to close for 4 years. I didn’t think I felt as deeply about the...

[Originally published November 1, 2019] In spite of the natural ebb and flow of living, seasons of waves can still catch you by surprise....

[Originally published October 7, 2019] We got a new furnace last week. It was relatively painless on my part, until the last hour and a...

[Originally published March 17, 2018] As we embrace our divine roles as mothers, it’s natural that we will suddenly find ourselves in...

[Originally published March 17, 2017] I was privileged to share this essay with UN delegates at the annual Commission on the Status of...

[Originally published November 7, 2015] I had the wonderful experience to speak to a young single adult stake of women this morning. A...

[Originally published August 25, 2015] Five years ago, on an August afternoon, I saw a quilt like this hanging in one of my favorite...

[Originally published January 4, 2014] It's taken quite a while to figure out what I want to do with this blog, but I was so happy to get...

[Originally published October 11, 2011] Six months ago, in the thro's of bleak mid-winter (yes, it was April, and yet, this particular...

[Originally published April 9, 2008] I was talking to my friend Melanee on the phone the other day about the challenge of too much on a...