What do you do when you've been caught red-handed and know you're guilty? Do you lie? Do you get defensive? Or do you admit you were wrong and tell the truth? In this week's episode, we talk about telling the truth. We talk about an experience I had when I got pulled over by a police officer and how I chose to tell the truth. We have the opportunity to model honesty and truth-telling to our children, families, and coworkers, and this toolkit will help us. In the Truth Talk Toolkit, we discuss th...
Jul 04, 2025•13 min•Season 5Ep. 270
Food is a central part of celebrating! It is a way we show love, how we like to gather, how we enjoy each other's company, and such an integral part of gathering! However, when dealing with dietary restrictions or just trying to observe what you are eating, it can feel isolating and a big frustration. To the point that you may just want to stay home! Don't do it! In this podcast episode, we discuss making our celebrations for the 4th of July and other holidays more than just about food, using th...
Jun 27, 2025•14 min•Season 5Ep. 269
Jarred gave me a carwash pass for Mother’s Day, and after lots of lugging, shuttling, and adventuring, one day I noticed how bad my car needed to be washed, specifically the windshield. It was so dirty! So I pulled through the carwash, and when I got out, it was like a breath of fresh air! Being able to see through that dirty window, it was like a whole new world was opened up! It reminded me of the same experience I’d had when I put a new screen protector on my phone after the previous one had ...
Jun 20, 2025•14 min•Season 5Ep. 268
I love a good, tight pattern. I love to see straight lines, uniform paterns, and regularities. My eye doesn't just love a good pattern, but my brain does too! Brains love patterns because they create safety, control, ease, and comfort. With summer underway, are you creating a good summer pattern, or are you still struggling to get a good one going? Well, if so, this podcast is for you! In today's podcast, we discuss why patterns are helpful, why some of our patterns are not so helpful, and how t...
Jun 13, 2025•16 min•Season 5Ep. 267
Do you remember your 5th-grade science classes, where we learned about rocks, weathering, and erosion? Where there is molding and shaping, weathering, and change? This week, I took a journey back to those classes as I recalled the processes and related them to Jarred and my marriage. We celebrated 25 years this week, and it has been a ride for sure! There has been molding and shaping and building during those 25 years, and they have come through our life together, the family we have created, the...
Jun 06, 2025•15 min•Season 5Ep. 266
It's that time of year when graduations are happening in every corner, and it's exciting! The graduates of 2025 are giving commencement speeches and spreading their wings to take on their next adventure! We celebrated Meg's graduation last week, and I have been overwhelmed by the support she's had throughout her life that has molded and shaped who she is. While I hope I've been an influence for good in her life, I recognize that Jarred and I are not the only ones who have been on her journey! It...
May 30, 2025•12 min•Season 5Ep. 265
You’ve heard the term: Take a chill pill! Or take a chill pill and call me in the morning! What does that even mean?! Well, to put it simply, it means to relax! There are, in fact, pills that we can take to relax, but that’s not always the most healthy or beneficial. There are other solutions to help us manage our stress because It is inevitable. We all have stressful situations, relationships, and circumstances. It isn’t really something that we can get away from. How do you cope with stress? S...
May 16, 2025•13 min•Season 5Ep. 264
Mom Guilt. This is a real thing. A day doesn't go by that we don't experience this phsycological phenomenon. All of the should have dones, could have dones, the mistakes we've made that we'd like to change. The times we did show up as our best, or show up at all. We all have an expectation of what a "good mom" looks like, and spend a lot of time feeling guilt for these expectations. These persistent feelings of guilt can lead to stress, anxiety, depression, or just a flat grumpy mom! And if they...
May 09, 2025•14 min•Season 5Ep. 263
These past few weeks I’ve been working on my golf game, again… it seems as if that is a never ending battle. Once you get something going good, there’s another issue that arises. I have a golf coach who is amazing and so patient with me. She came and we worked on a few things and when I went and played a few rounds, the things we worked on worked! I was hitting straighter and more consistently. Then, something happened, and I started hit to the right. The far right. Not just a little. So our eff...
May 02, 2025•12 min•Season 5Ep. 262
Have you ever considered adding pondering to your day-to-day? Pondering is a time to reflect, think, and meditate. In our fast-paced, go go-go-go, hurried world, it seems counterintuitive to slow down, ponder, and reflect. Slow down to speed up? Yep! That's exactly right. There is great power in pondering. And the benefits are pretty remarkable. Improved decision-making: Pondering allows for thoroughly weighing options and potential consequences, leading to more informed and rational decisions. ...
Apr 25, 2025•10 min•Season 5Ep. 261
There was a queen once.... Do we look in the mirror and see that we are the queens and kings? Do we see that? Or do we see the person that could be better, isn't good enough, has no value, talents, or worth? In this podcast we talk about an experience Megan had with a little girl who handed her a Burger King crown after a loss at a pageant. This crown reminded us both, we are queens even withouth the "title." Do we act that way? Do we see ourselves in a way that we put our best foot forward and ...
Apr 11, 2025•15 min•Season 5Ep. 260
It seem’s like we can find conflicting information in everything. Politics, for sure. Health, for sure. Parenting. Education. You name it. So how in the world are we supposed to navigate all of that? How in the world are we to know who’s right and who’s wrong? It feels like we are in the weeds a lot of the time! Sorting and just looking for the “right” answer! One quote said, "I'm more confused than a chameleon in a bag of Skittles!" We live in a world where we can have access to information any...
Apr 04, 2025•13 min•Season 5Ep. 259
It's March Madness! And, we’re all rooting for our college basketball teams and brackets! We’ve all been following our teams, watching games and highlight reels of upsets, wins, victories, and celebrations. It’s easy to just breeze on by and not pay much attention to the other team. The losers of the games. One morning I had the TV on watching ESPN and the highlights of the winners, but then they switched to a reel of the teams that had upsets and losses. They did press conferences with many, an...
Mar 28, 2025•14 min•Season 5Ep. 258
In this episode we talk about how to handle any hard. There is hard all around us. It is supposed to be that way. We are meant to be here to struggle, work through challenges, learn and grow. But, it can be gruelling sometimes! The way to handle ANY hard is to look beyond today. Look toward the future, get a bigger picture, a better perspective, and that is through focusing on something bigger than we are. I focus on Jesus Christ, the atonement, and the Plan of Happiness. When I do so, I feel pe...
Mar 21, 2025•14 min•Season 5Ep. 257
When we go out to the cold, we layer. I love layers. I put on thermals, hoodies, coats, jackets, hats and gloves. I love layers in seven layer dip and I love layers in lasagna. Sometimes, layers aren't helpful. Sometimes, we layer emotions, only to amplify the emotions and make them worse. We get frustrated over being frustrated. Mad about being mad. Irritated about being irritated. In these scenarios, layering isn't helpful. In today's podcast, we talk about our emotional layers and how to stop...
Mar 14, 2025•15 min•Season 5Ep. 256
Jason Hunt is a human physiology professor at BYU Idaho, a husband, father, and lover of motorcycles! Besides teaching in the classroom, Jason also speaks to audiences about managing and overcoming weaknesses through deliberate actions of humility, self-love, and love for others. He uses his knowledge of the human body and human behavior and the gospel of Jesus Christ to help others understand emotions and coping mechanisms we use to find relief. We learn about the "room" that we enter when we a...
Mar 07, 2025•47 min•Season 4Ep. 255
The zoo is one of the funnest places to go as a kid. I remember taking a trip to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City one summer as a kid and observing the monkeys! It's crazy how much they resemble humans sometimes! We all have a part of our brains that are monkey like. This is the part of our brain that wants to keep us safe, have fun, and conserve energy. This monkey part, although it is very helpful when in actual danger, sometimes isn't very helpful and can create problems. In this podcast we talk a...
Feb 28, 2025•26 min•Season 4Ep. 254
When shopping for a used car we always look for one that has had regular oil changes, good tires, good breaks, the interior is clean, and it’s been maintained. When you think about all the places our cars take us, you need them to work! We drive them to school, to work, to activities. Our baseball games are just about to get started and we’ll be on the road many of the weekends from March until July and we need to be confident our vehicles will get us there. Our cars drive through many different...
Feb 21, 2025•15 min•Season 4Ep. 253
Weight, weight loss, the scale, food—all of these can be very tricky and touchy topics for some of us, especially women. Many of us want to maintain a healthy weight but don't know how to do so. Or, maybe you've tried for years and are tired of the battle. In today's podcast I share two simple tips to help you maintaintain a healthy weight. Yes, there are a million tips, tricks, and other things, but today, just two. Weigh yourself regularly. Hold on, hold on, don't leave me yet! I promise the s...
Feb 14, 2025•14 min•Season 4Ep. 252
Traveling is one of our family's favorite things to do. We love to get away, to experience something new, and to take a break from our day-to-day, but it can also be stressful! Today's podcast discusses 10 tips that can help you have a perfectly planned getaway! Consider your top priorities! What is most important, weather, accommodations, activities, what's the biggest priority on your list? Do your research! Start asking questions, reading reviews, and looking at a variety of different options...
Feb 07, 2025•21 min•Season 4Ep. 251
Family life is exhausting, tricky, and at times very hard, but it is also very rewarding and full of joy. It has ups and downs all along the way—I feel like we're on a roller coaster ride many days! Some days we feel like we are successful and some days, we don't. In today's podcast, I interview guest Leah Davidson. She is a Nervous System Resilience Coach, a Speech and Language Pathologist, a wife, a mom, and more! She teaches about the Nervous System, regulation, what that means, how to do it,...
Jan 31, 2025•38 min•Season 4Ep. 250
Failing. That's a pretty big term that we use. We avoid the F on report cards as kids, avoid taking risks to avoid failure, and every single day, we experience failure. I can't tell ou the amount of times I hear: "I failed that one." "Epic Failure." "Mom Fail" But we forget, failure is just part of the journey. We think in our minds that it is the opposite of success, but it's not! In today's podcast we discuss Failure is part of the success equation. There are different types of failure. Fail i...
Jan 24, 2025•13 min•Season 4Ep. 249
Success. This is something we all crave and are trying to attain. Success personally and professionally, but what is it exactly? Can any one person define what success means for everyone? The answer is no. Success is in the eye of the beholder. Og Mandino said: "What is success other than a state of mind? Which two, among a thousand wise men, will define success in the same words;" Success is determined by each and every one of us. So what does success in family life look like? What does it mean...
Jan 17, 2025•17 min•Season 4Ep. 248
Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and just stopped with one word they said? It either stopped you in your tracks, caused you to pause or think a little, gave you a reason to ask more questions, or taught you something. One word can make all the difference in the trajectory of a conversation, decisions, and day. When one of our kids went running into the parking lot at the grocery store with incoming cars…One word….Stop When we went to Olive Garden this weekend the waitress asked ...
Jan 10, 2025•15 min•Season 4Ep. 247
Happy New Year!!! 2025 is under way! If you took a minute to reflect on the past year, what do you see? Do you see a year of Gaps or a year of Gains? When we are in the gap, we see where we didn't measure up. Where we missed the mark and didn't reach the ideal or the perfect scenario. The problem is, is it ever "just right?" Did we ever see the ideal or the perfect scenario? Gap thinking leaves us deflated, unmotivated, and unhappy. If we see a year of gains, we measure backward and see the prog...
Jan 03, 2025•16 min•Season 4Ep. 246
As we have just celebrated Christmas, the decorations will come down, the carols change to regular music, and family will go home, but Christ will still be there. He is in each and every one of our stories. He's in the thick things and the thin things. Do we see Him? In this podcast, I tell you a story about how we saw Crhist in our story and how we still see him. We talk about how he delivers, heals, changes, and provides miracles for each of us! Listen in and identify where you see Christ in y...
Dec 27, 2024•13 min•Season 4Ep. 245
New. This is the word I’d use to sum up 2024. We had a whole lot of new experiences, changes, surprises, challenges, and blessings come our way! When a package arrives on our doorstep we love to see what new thing the UPS man has delivered, but when it comes to life experiences, the Rydalch family loves to know what’s going on, loves to have a plan, and doesn’t necessarily love “new surprises” in the beginning, but we eventually warm up and see that “new” allows us to learn, grow, change, and bl...
Dec 20, 2024•12 min•Season 4Ep. 244
This time of year can get a bit overwhelming and stressful with activities, social gatherings, gifts, and parties. I have the best of intentions to enjoy the holidays, but sometimes it is difficult to manage it all! So in today's podcast, we are going to talk about 10 Holiday Hacks to help with the stress! Make meal times easy! Make a list of what's on your mind. De-clutter a space or a room for projects or planning. Make time for you to "rest" and that doesn't necessarily mean sleep! Prioritize...
Dec 13, 2024•14 min•Season 4Ep. 43
Whenever we travel, we love to come HOME. After a long day of school, work, and errands....HOME is the place we all want to be! At home is a place we can relax, let our gaurds down, feel safe, comfortable, and at peace. Maybe it's not necessarily your "home" that you feel this place, but if you have a "happy place" those feelings are the same. You feel safe. Sometimes going home, or to our happy place, isn't always possible, but the good news is we can access those feelings of home by a few simp...
Dec 06, 2024•13 min•Season 4Ep. 242
Christmas is around the corner! This year Thanksgiving was a little late so Christmas will be here before we know it! As we set into motion our plans for holiday shopping and traditions, sometimes we can get lost in the shuffle and forget the reason for all of it.! Join in this episode as we discuss some gift-giving ideas and traditions, what they mean, and some of my favorite ideas to help you create and give some meaningful gifts and traditions with your loved ones! New Era: Gold, Frankincense...
Nov 29, 2024•23 min•Season 4Ep. 241
