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."
Since the passing of LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley I have read many articles and seen many pictures in tribute to this great man. But today I listened to a tribute that brought tears to my eyes. I share that with you now.
I wish I had had the opportunity to shake President Hinckley's hand as well though I did get some pictures of him. I was attending a Relief Society (LDS Women's organization) Conference in the LDS Conference Center when I remembered I had my camera in my purse. I pulled it out in time to capture this cherished picture.
Gordon B. Hinckley was indeed an influence for good in my own life.
On January 27, 2008 Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died at the age of 97. As members of that church we had expected he would not be with us much longer. At each LDS General Conference we wondered if this would be his last. In April 2007 he said, in one of his addresses:
"My beloved brothers and sisters, I am pleased with the opportunity to speak to you. I thank each of you for your prayers in my behalf. I am so very deeply grateful to you. In my 49 years as a General Authority, I have spoken well over 200 times in general conference. I am now in my 97th year. The wind is blowing, and I feel like the last leaf on the tree.
Actually my health is quite good, despite all the rumors to the contrary. Skillful doctors and nurses keep me on the right track. Some of you may go before I do. However, with my age in mind, I wish to give you my testimony of the basic truths of this work."
The following Conference in October, 2007 he said:
"We look forward to seeing you again next April. I’m 97, but I hope I’m going to make it."
In June 2004 President Hinckley was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President George W. Bush. He was among a handful of others to recieve such honor that year. Others receiving this honor in 2004 include: Other 2004 honorees include journalist Robert Bartley, politician Edward Brooke, historian Vartan Gregorian, National Geographic Society Chairman Gilbert Grosvenor, cosmetics mogul Estee Lauder, actress Rita Moreno, ophthalmology researcher Arnall Patz, journalist Norman Podhoretz and economist and banker Walter Writon as well as actress Doris Day, golfer Arnold Palmer, Pope John Paul II .
"As the 15th president of the Church, leader of more than 12 million members, Gordon B. Hinckley met and greeted heads of state abroad or at home. And he ventured where no other church president had, on the national media scene.
'Mike Wallace of "60 Minutes" said he asked, "President Hinckley, would you, is it conceivable that you might be persuaded to do a profile for 60 Minutes, of yourself? He said, 'I see no reason why not, Mike.'" 'A couple of years later he was the guest on "Larry King Live."
'"We never speak negatively of other churches. We say to people, you bring all the good that you have and let us see if we can add to it," President Hinckley said." KSL.com
I will miss our dear Prophet. Through the years of his service to the LDS Church I join millions who have grown to love and admire this man of God. We will also miss him greatly. But he has been reunited with his dear wife, Marjorie Hinckley.
For the last several months I have had two candidates in the top slot for my vote for the Republican Presidential candidate. I liked both of them. They were Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney. Initially I had been solely in favor of Mitt.
Mitt Romney had been a favorite of mine after he rescued the scandal ridden Salt Lake 2002 Olympics from financial ruin to become one of the best Winter Olympics ever. But as I learned more about Fred I realized he had a lot going for him as far as I was concerned. At this point I had the two in a tie for my endorsement.
While I am sad to see Thompson drop from the race I am heartened to know that Romney is still in the fight. My sentiments are echoed by many others across the blogosphere.
I was an ardent supporter of Fred Thompson until he unfortunately quit. He represented everything that I believe in politically. Romney does not stand 100% for my most cherished beliefs - maybe 90% but that's good enough for me.However, in the bigger scheme of things, Romney is our best bet. Thompson spoke the language of an America which has long since disappeared but for which I still pine. Romney speaks the language of the global market; of a world much bigger than our fifty states.
Jennifer at Now for Something Different posts: My Endorsement
Anyway, if my vote did count I would go out and vote for Mitt Romney. Governor Romney is the only candidate on the Republican side that is prepared and has the stamina to go against the Clinton attack machine.
You kept the faith Jennifer and now Romney may emerge as the antidote to McCain/Huckabee idiocy... Mike's America
Mike also posted the entry: MITT WINS MICHIGAN That was all that was said. That was all that needed to be said.
Gayle at My Republican Blog posts a big picture of Romney "ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT" on her side bar.
The 2008 election is for president, not pastor. We want a president who shares our political and moral values and priorities, can win in 2008, and can govern effectively thereafter by articulating and implementing a values-based governing strategy. This is just what Mitt Romney did as governor and will do as president.
This is just a sample of the blogs or bloggers that I have come across who are in support or leaning in the direction of Romney.
I love snow! This is a good thing since I live in Utah and we get a fair amount. But today it got to me. I had to take a couple of kids to the dentist which should generally take 45 minutes. It took TWO hours. There were times when traffic was flowing at a whopping 7 mph. If I had known it was going to be this bad I would have called the dentist and resceduled. As it was I was well on my way before I realized that I-15 was at a crawl.
Now to go out and play in the snow. We love building forts, snowmen and other scupltures with this great fluffy white stuff.
This blog is run by none other than my favorite guy in the whole world. Our friends hope that when he takes over the world that they will be included as his minions. I remind them that I will be head minion.
The guy running this blog is another good friend who will soon marry another good friend of mine. He writes about an number of things that come to his head.
Another good friend keeps this blog going. She is the friend who won the heart of Tungsten above. J~ often writes reviews for games and articles here and there for game magazines and the like.
In the words of his own blog, this good friend writes, "Intemperate rantings from a passionate developer, sometimes manager, and general all-round techno-geek." His blog is peppered with tidbits from his personal life
This is a somewhat professional blog that often has tidbits of from his personal life. The Rampant Coyote is a good friend who is married to our social director--see above. He writes mostly about his experiences of being a full time game developer/part time indie game writer.
This blog is run by one of my favorite sisters. I have 3 favorite sisters. She and her family are traveling the country in a HUGE RV teaching their kids as they go from one historic site to another.
This blog is actually run by a couple of guys. One of them is a good friend. They may seem a little crazy on the surface, but I know better. Of course, they would not want me to tell you that.
This blog cannot be left from my list. Right after I started my own blog a few years back I stumbled on this political blog and have never left. From his blog I have met many others whose blogs I visit regularly
.
There are many other great blogs out there. But I wanted to give these my thumbs up.
In the Jan 8, 2008 edition of The Escapist Magazine there is an article about my local group of friends and me. It was written by one of our own at the request of the Magazine. In the article I am one of the friends who came along later. These are the friends I mentioned in my blog entry "The good things in life." The picture to the right is the cake mentioned in the article. Yes, that is a cake.
"The opportunities created by the internet and advances in multiplayer games have increased the number of nights we're together again, and we've played everything from StarCraft to EverQuest and most recently City of Heroes, where every Tuesday we patrol the streets of Paragon City and bring safety to the unwashed masses."
"...John is crafting plans for world domination, which requires minions and a machine with lots of buttons and levers. Kelly claims the position of head minion, and the rest of us are the staff. We figure world domination should be simple as compared to planning a raid or running a task force. Now we just have to figure out which mobs to camp."Read more...
Now that Christmas and the New Year celebrations have come and gone I would like to voice some thoughts I have had over the last couple weeks.
Our family was the recipient of some anonymous Christmas giving. First of all someone did a variation of the 12 days of Christmas for us. Each day a bag was left by our door or mailbox with a note explaining how it applied along with an ornament to match the day and something to go with that day.
Day 1: "On the first day of Christmas a friend left for me...the pears, but no partridge or tree..." (In the bag was a bunch of pears.)
Day 2: "On the second day of Christmas a friend gave to me...turtles and doves of course :)" (In the bag was found a bag of turtle chocolates and dove chocolates.)
Day 3: "On the third day of Christmas a friend gave to me... well... what the French Hens are drinking this time of year." (The bag had three bottles of sparkling grape juice.)
Day 4: "On the fourth day of Christmas a friend gave to me... Calling Birds??" (The bag included a very noisy toy bird that sang some Christmas song.)
Day 5: "On the fifth day of Christmas a friend gave to me... Golden Rings." (It was two boxes of Cheerios.)
Day 6: "On the sixth day of Christmas a friend gave to me Six geese a-laying." (This was a nice fuzzy warm blanket.)
Day 7: "On the seventh day of Christmas a friend gave to you "swans" swimming." (The bag included these funny 'rubber' ducks that lit up when we pressed on them.)
Day 8: "On the eighth day of Christmas a friend gave to you something for your milk." (We got some chocolate milk mix.)
Day 9: "On the ninth day of Christmas a friend gave to you some music to dance to." (It was a CD of Christmas music.)
Day 10: "On the tenth day of Christmas a friend gave to me the thing that scared the lords into leaping." (We got a toy Christmas monster from the Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer movie.)
Day 11: "On the eleventh day of Christmas a friend gave to me what the pipers were piping." (The bag included several recorders for the kids to play.)
Day 12: "On the twelfth day of Christmas a friend gave to me...well.. ok..so drummers are guys..and you know how much guys like "fart" jokes...so ...Merry Christmas." (In the bag was 'noise putty'.)
Then on Christmas eve another neighbor left a bag of presents...one for each child in our home. We have suspicions about who may have left these things on our doorstep. But we are letting them have their reward of doing these things for us anonymously. To them I say, "THANK-YOU!!"
Other things that have been on my mind...
As I contemplated the new year and what the previous year has brought me I am found with mixed emotions. Though a old friend has fallen by the way-side (with much sadness) I have gained new ones. There is no way the new ones can replace the old...however...I am EVER so grateful for the new as I have come to care about them as I did the old.
So, to all those I call a friend, here is a toast to friendship.
PS: and that toast includes all those who have continued to be a friend....from the past on into the future.
