Kelly is the mother of 5 adorable kids--4 boys and a girl. The girl came in a package with a boy (twins).
Kelly is married to a charming young man who lives and breathes computers. They are also guardians for three nieces and a nephew.
She is active in the community having served as PTA President of a local elementary school,
on the board of the Salt Lake Mothers of Twins, as a district round-table trainer with the Cub Scouts, as a volunteer for Sidelines (a support network for Women on bed rest during pregnancy) and she and her husband are active in the LDS Church.
Salt Lake LDS Temple Centennial with a full 3D model of the building in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah.
This Single Image Stereogram was done at the 100 year anniversary of the building's completion.
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer,
who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea,
his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to
drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation,
a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
My hubby has a work shop in our back yard. It is equiped with various power tools and sundry pieces of wood.
I recently gave him a wood lathe as a birthday present. Since then he has spent some quality time out in his shop. Yesterday I went out there to see if he was ready to go, as we were meeting with friends that evening. I saw that he was covered in sawdust. His reply to my inquiry was that he was just about ready.
I pointed out that he would need to get a shower before going. He said that he would be ok and pulled out a hose--not a water hose, but an air hose attached to an air compressor. He then proceeded to "shower" himself with this hose.
In the end, he did go into the house and change his clothes.
Last night while watching and listening to some music videos on Youtube I was taken back, as I often am, to some place in the past. I have been accused of being nostalgic and even hopelessly romantic. I am likely guilty of such. There are previous blog entries right here on Paperclippings as evidence--especially when music is involved.
Such was the case last night--as I listened to John Denver's Take Me Home, Country Roads. I was transported to a hill in the midst of the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia--a mere rocks throw from West Virginia. It was the summer of 1988 and I was among a small gathering of people in the backyard of some local folks when someone pulled out a guitar and began to play. As the lyrics filled the air, I was swept up in the moment.
Almost heaven, West Virginia Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River Life is old there, older than the trees Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze
All around me were those mountains and I could feel the antiquity of the land as the wind blew gently through my hair. I felt like I belonged to this place.
Country roads, take me home To the place, I belong West Virginia, mountain momma Take me home, Country Roads
One of my middle school age sons rates his school day on how many of certain words he hears on a given day. The less he hears, the better he rates his day. As he hops in the van for his ride home from school he gives me his tally for the day. On particularly bad days he is near tears as he tells me the tally for the day.
My niece, who is the same age, complains to me that the words spoken while she stands at her locker make her ears hurt.
My oldest son was given an assignment in his high school English class to read a certain book. Within this book appeared many of these same words. He told the teacher he would not read the rest of the book. It caused no small stir with the teacher. Even with the threat of a failing grade he held his ground. Eventually, with the help of the administration's involvement was able to get another book assigned to him and then transfered out after the end of that term.
Another son was given an assignment to read a book that contained different sort of words, but equally offensive. These words were racial slurs. It was an historical book that looked at the civil rights movement in the United States. Yet, my son still refused to read it, even after we explained the context of the words.
What is it about these words that bring such a response? Words are just words...or are they?
What is it about certain words that makes them so offensive?
They are words that carry very unpleasant meanings and messages. But it is beyond merely being unpleasant. There are many things we say that carry such meanings yet they are not considered swearing, cursing, vulgar or profain.
1: Has an emotional impact
People learning a new language often learn its swearwords first or learn and use swearwords from a variety of languages. Anyone who learns through immersion rather than in a classroom tends to use more swearwords and colloquialisms. People who speak more than one language often use swearwords from different languages, but feel that the words from their primary language have the most emotional impact. For this reason, some multilingual speakers will switch to a second language to express taboo subjects.How Swearing Works
2: Is considered by some to be unfit for polite conversation
The degree to which a profanity is offensive relies upon how the use of the word affects an individual. Some will consider the original meaning of a word (for example, the sexual act) to be offensive or a subject not fit for polite conversation while others will have no objection to these subject matters. Some will feel that certain words, having an established social taboo are simply offensive, regardless of any context; others will find profanities offensive mainly when used in a way deliberately intended to offend. Wikipedia
3: Is considered blasphemous
Profanities may cause offense, regardless of context, if they have some religious meaning which may cause their use to offend those who follow a particular religion. The original meaning of the term was restricted to blasphemy, sacrilege or saying the Abrahamic God's name (or an identifier such as Lord or God) in vain, such as "Jesus Christ, that was close!". Such religious profanity is referred to as blasphemy. Wikipedia
These are just a few of the examples of why such words are considered taboo and why they elicit such responses like those I have listed..
We discovered that we have a nut dispenser in our freezer. Actually, we had a nut dispenser. It all started when I was defrosting our upright freezer to make room for some meat we had ordered. I was putting everything I could inside our freezer that is part of our refridgerator unit. I put things where ever I could...including on top of the ice in the ice maker.
After I defrosted the freezer I put everything back in the upright freezer...well, almost everything. Everything except one bag of nuts and dried fruit that that had been put atop the ice maker.
This ice maker is one of those that allows us to get the ice by pushing a lever on the door. It has a setting for crushing the ice as it comes out.
The forgotten bag was still there when my oldest son woke up the next morning and got himself a drink of ice water. He put water in his cup and then set the ice to come out crushed. As he started to take a drink from his cup he discovered something foreign in his drink.
"Mom, " he said, "there is something wrong with the ice maker. It is putting something funny in my drink."
It was then that I remembered the bag of nuts in the freezer. I spent the next half an hour cleaning bits of plastic, nuts and fruit from the coils of the ice maker.
NOTE to self: This would make a great April Fools joke....or maybe not.
The following was previously posted on a facebook page by John Killough Wangel of Texas.
2000-2001: One-loss teams Miami and Washington are left out of the championship game while one-loss Florida State goes on to lose undefeated Oklahoma. Victims of the BCS: Oklahoma, Miami, and Washington.
2001-2002: Despite being blown out by Colorado (who also won the Big 12 Championship) 62-36, Nebraska goes on to get routed by Miami in the national championship while the human poll favorite Oregon and field proven Buffaloes watch. Victims of the BCS: Miami, Colorado, and Oregon.
2003-2004: LSU, USC, and Oklahoma finish the season with one loss resulting in USC being named AP National Champion and LSU being named the Coaches poll champion. Victims of the BCS: USC and LSU.
2004-2005: Oklahoma goes on to get destroyed by USC 55-19, while three undefeated teams (Utah, Boise State, and Auburn) played in less significant games. Auburn, who convincingly won their bowl game and the SEC that year, along with Utah finished the season undefeated with no championship. Victims of the BCS: USC, Auburn, and Utah.
2005-2006: The only year the stars aligned for a perfect BCS championship, undefeated USC and Texas played for the National Championship. Victims of the BCS: None (surprisingly)
2006-2007: Undefeated Ohio State is automatically in the championship game while undefeated Boise State along with 4 one loss teams (Louisville, Wisconsin, Florida, and Michigan) all bid for the one remaining spot. Florida goes on to beat Ohio State for the championship title while Louisville and Boise State also win their games. Boise State finishes their second undefeated season in three years with no title. Victims of the BCS: Florida, Boise State, and Louisville.
2007-2008: LSU jumps three teams in the final week for a spot in the Championship game against one Ohio State, despite having two losses. One loss Kansas and undefeated Hawaii, along with six other legitimate two loss teams are left out of the championship picture. Victims of the BCS: Kansas, Hawaii, Virginia Tech, Georgia, USC, Oklahoma, Arizona State, West Virginia, and Missouri.
2008-2009: In the closing weeks of the season, OU jumps the team they lost to (Texas) by beating a team they (Texas) had already beaten. This led to a Big 12 title and national championship game for OU while Texas was left out of the national championship picture. Other teams, such as UNDEFEATED Boise State and one-loss Texas Tech have two great seasons and are left out of the BCS bowl games because Cincinnati and Virginia Tech get automatic bids despite having multiple losses.
ONCE AGAIN, the BCS proves it doesn't like settling matters on the field. Texas beat one of the teams head to head who is in the national championship game. Texas Tech beat Texas head to head and isn't in a BCS bowl game. BOISE STATE WAS UNDEFEATED AND DIDN'T GET A SNIFF
You may have noticed that I mentioned the Champion as a victim in some years. In each of these years, the question of "What if..?" will always remain and could tarnish their championship.
This is not just about UTAH. The argument that the BSC plays harder or more difficult schedules just doesn't hold water. They are afraid to play the other teams for fear that they will get kicked out of their own game.
Besides winning the 75th anniversary Sugar Bowl, Friday night's 31-17 win over Alabama in the Louisiana Superdome capped a 13-0 season for the Utes. They finished the season as the only undefeated team in the nation.
I am a Utah man, sir and I live across the green. Our gang it is the jolliest that you have ever seen. Our coeds are the fairest and each one's a shining star. Our yell, you hear it ringing through the mountains near and far.
Chorus: Who am I, sir, a Utah man am I: A Utah man, sir, and will be till I die: Ki! Ki! We're up to snuff: we never bluff. We're game for any fuss.
No other gang of college men dare meet us in the muss. So fill your lungs and sing it out shout it to the sky. We'll fight for dear old crimson for.....
Chorus:
And when we prom the avenue, all lined up in a row. And arm in arm and step in time as down the street we go. No matter if a freshman green, or in a senior's gown, The people all admit we are the warmest gang in town.
Chorus:
We may not live forever on this jolly good old sphere, But while we do we'll live a life of merriment and cheer. And when our college days are o'er and night is drawing nigh, With parting breath we'll sing that song:
What do you say to someone who says that you may write one last time but that they will not respond? For a year and a half I contemplated this very subject because I was given that directive as a long time friend had walked away.
I knew that I could not waste words. I knew that I had one chance. Then I heard a song that I had heard many times before. But this time I really heard it.
The following are from The Living Years by Mike and the Mechanics:
Crumpled bits of paper Filled with imperfect thoughts Stilted conversations I'm afraid thats all we've got.
You say you just don't see it He says it's perfect sense You just can't get agreement In this present tense We all talk a different language Talking in defense.
Say it loud, say it clear You can listen as well as you hear It's too late when we die To admit we don't see eye to eye.
So we open up a quarrel Between the present and the past We only sacrifice the future It's the bitterness that lasts.
So don't yield to the fortunes You sometimes see as fate It may have a new perspective On a different day And if you don't give up, and don't give in You may just be okay.
Say it loud, say it clear You can listen as well as you hear It's too late when we die To admit we don't see eye to eye.
When I heard these words I realized that I no longer held any hard or ill feelings toward my friend. I knew what I had to say.
This past November I penned the words from my heart and sent them off. I wondered if they would even be read or if they would be tossed to the side without a look. But I knew that I had to send them anyway.
This last Saturday I got a Christmas card in the mail. It didn't say much. But is spoke volumes. It didn't even say how they were doing. But as I think more and more about that card I realize that my sadness has also gone away. My friend had read my words. My friend had responded.
I may not get more than a Christmas card in the years to come, but I have not completely lost my friend.
I have learned that with a little bit of forgiveness it is not the bitterness that lasts.
sawdust. His reply to my inquiry was that he was just about ready. 
sawdust. His reply to my inquiry was that he was just about ready. 
