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."
When I was growing up I had seen people on television doing the swing, waltz, cha cha, et al. I never imagined doing them myself. In fact, I had not given the idea much notice at all.
That all changed during the summer after I turned 16. I was given the opportunity to be in a dance festival that was held during that summer. The festival was held on the football field of a local high school. By the time we arrived at this performance we had practiced quite a number of times and I was hooked on doing the swing.
One of the guys I liked, at the time, was also in this festival. So, at church youth dances we decided to show off. One of the fanciest moves we had learned was the 'Octopus' (see below). Soon after the festival, at one of the youth dances, they held a dance contest. There was no doubt that we were gonna be in it together.
Anyone who wanted to be in the dance contest just had to dance during the preliminary round. Then the judges went around holding their hands above the heads of those who would go onto the next and final round. As they prepared for the next round we thought we hadn't been picked...until the judges inticated that they had one more couple and motioned for us to come to the center of the dance floor.
We danced our hearts out in that final round. At the end of the final round the judges held their hands over each dance couple's heads one by one as they had everyone vote by noise level as to their favorite. In the end we had won with the loudest noise coming from the rest of our peers. My interest in the swing was now complete. I wanted to do it all the time.
Several years later I found a ballroom dance class offered at the University of Utah as part of the PE requirements. It was a beginning ballroom dance class. In it I learned not only how to do the swing correctly, but how to waltz and cha cha.
I later took country swing, intermediate ballroom and advanced ballroom. Now I don't claim to be very good at it, but I sure have a lot of fun doing it.
During the term that I was taking the advanced ballroom class I met the guy I would marry. No, we did not meet in the class, but on another dance floor. It was because he knew how to dance the swing that I gave him a second look.
They now teach 'social dancing' as a PE credit in the high school my boys attend. My oldest has learned how to do the swing. This mom is proud.
Isn't it supposed to be warm for baseball games?? Apparantly, not here in Utah this year. Standard equipment for enduring these little league baseball games has been coats, blankets, propane heaters, hot chocolate, two pairs of socks and gloves. I kid you not.
Not only has it been in the 30s and 40s for these games, but it has been windy and snowy.
Because of this strangely cooler-than-normal weather we have a few die-hards who show up to watch the boys play. There was one game that was held on an evening that was warm enough to bring out everyone else. The very next game was held during another cold one. Those same die-hard parents were there as before.
This evening I plan to wear two pairs of socks, legwarmers, a coat (with a hood), gloves and I will take a blanket (the warmest, fuzziest one I can find.)
As you may know, my blog and website have the name of Paperclippings. Originally I wanted to call the website, The Paperclip. Since that domain was not available, I came up with Paperclippings instead.
My website, Paperclippings.com, turns 5 years old this week. According to my server records, April 18th is the day. Prior to that time I had a website posted on one of those freebie servers that put their adds where they wanted to put them.
Though the site is not necessarily about paperclips, I do have a section on them. My fascination (not really the word I want, but it will do) with the paperclip started when I was a university student many eons ago. I was getting paid to type papers for a senior who couldn't type to save his life. He would bind his hand written papers with a plastic-coated paperclip...each time in a different color.
One day I looked at one of those paperclips and thought...that thing will fit as an earring. I currently have blue shiney paperclips as my earrings...plastic-coated, of course.
Since the onset of my website I have researched all I could on the history of this tiny little tool. I learned some amazing things.
The paperclip was first invented, according to most sources, in Norway. This little bit of trivia actually became a big deal during WWII.
During the five year long Nazi occupation of Norway, in World War II, the paperclip became a symbol of national unity. It was worn with pride even though these simple show of loyalty risked wearers being arrested, deported, or even executed. BBC
During World War II, Norwegians were prohibited from wearing any buttons with the likeness or initials of their king on them. In protest they started wearing paperclips, because paperclips were a Norwegian invention whose original function was to bind together. This was a protest against the Nazi occupation and wearing a paperclip could sometimes have gotten you arrested. Everything2.com
So, now, as I celebrate the birthday of Paperclippings.com, I pay tribute to a little tiny piece of metal that made a difference to a whole country...to the country of my childrens' great grandpa.
In a previous blog entry [I am NOT a hard core gamer] I discussed how I had become hooked on a particularly fun computer game.
A few weeks ago my husband convinced me that I ought to play City of Heroes. I have resisted the idea of playing any MMORPGs. For those who don't know, an MMORPG is an online game where you get to wander around with a bunch of other people, interacting, and beating the snot out of creatures and bad guys...or rather getting the snot beat out of your character.
Along comes this invitation/arm twisting/gentle prodding to play the game. Before the week was over I was hooked. I have to play the game on my kids computer, however, because mine....ahem...does not have the wherewithall to run the game.
Well, since that time, my computer has been upgraded and I can run the game on my own system. This has allowed me a bit more flexibility in when I can play. Because of this I have now advanced one of my characters (heroes) to the final level (50).
This is no small task, mind you. In July 2007 I started a new character that I named Cho Leigh. Cho is a martial arts kick and punch type of hero. It is Cho who took me along from one adventure to another and from one team to another as she advanced in abilities and levels to reach this final capstone.
Though I resisted the idea of playing this game, initially, I must say that this is ONE FUN GAME!! And now my friends are ribbing me about how much I play. Ah, but tis such great entertainment.
Now, to pull myself away from my game to clean the house....sigh...
Awhile back I posted an entry about the moat in our backyard. Well, we have progressed with that project. We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel on this one. My husband will finally be able to stretch out his power tools and make things without bumping into walls.
Some people marry for money. I married for tech support. At least, that is what I tell my hubby, when he comes to my rescue and fixes things on my computer.
The truth of the matter is, I had no idea what tech support was when I married him. But I did know that he knew a thing or two about computers. He is, afterall, a computer programmer. He has worked for Word Perfect AND Microsoft. He has worked in both computer game companies and "regular" companies. He has helped write games for the Playstation and the Xbox.
Through the years I have learned a few things about the computer. I can get around one fairly well. I know enough not to be afraid to adjust a few settings and do a little troubleshooting myself. I have written and designed a few websites, made fancy graphics in Photoshop, and a myriad of other things.
I once bought and installed a writable CDROM drive on this computer...ALL BY MYSELF! And it still works.
But when it came to running games on this computer I was at a loss. The thing was JUST TOO SLOW! We talked about a solution but didn't know if it would work. We put it off and I was left to play my games on other computers...including the KIDS computer. Can you believe that??? The kids computer was FASTER than mine.
Well, that is no more. Yesterday, my dearest, sweetest, most awesomest hubby updated my computer. He installed a new graphics card AND doubled its RAM.
So, now I am playing City of Heroes on my computer rather than the kids and I can finally get Civilization IV to run on it.
Oh, and if you all think that I still just married him for his tech support, he also writes poetry...and HOW!!!
When asked how he comes up with such amazing poetry he says, "It's a mixture of angst and bunny fluff, stirred with a thesaurus."
A few weeks ago my husband convinced me that I ought to play City of Heros. I have resisted the idea of playing any MMORPGs. For those who don't know, an MMORPG is an online game where you get to wander around with a bunch of other people, interacting, and beating the snot out of creatures and bad guys...or rather getting the snot beat out of your character.
Along comes this invitation/arm twisting/gentle prodding to play the game. Before the week was over I was hooked. I have to play the game on my kids computer, however, because mine....ahem...does not have the wherewithall to run the game.
I was expressing this frustration to a friend saying that I wished I could have it on MY computer. He joked that if I had it on my computer it would be TOTAL neglect at my house. Yeah! I am that hooked....well almost.
Until this evening.
I was playing with a group of superheros when my game crashed on me. I was having a difficult time getting into the team I had been with so I joined another team doing much the same thing. I was 2 minutes into that team mission when not only did my game crash, but the whole computer crashed. Mind you, this is my KIDS computer. This is the one that is supposed to run computer games.
Another frustration is that I would really like to hang out with some of my friends in some adventures/missions, but they need my character to be a little bit higher level, say 14th level instead of 12th. Sigh...I am trying to get there...but with the computer crashing and not getting enough time to play the game, I am reminded why I play more casual games than this.
Perhaps I will feel better in the morning....after the city parade, the eye doctor appointments, the house cleaning, the extended family get together and the RPG game night with friends.
MUST get kids to bed sooner!
BTW...my characters, if you should see them are golden starmage and cho leigh...so far...oh and blaze ryder.
In a walk-in closet in my craft/sewing room I have fabric--a lot of fabric. Some of it had been given to me a year or so ago. I have it hanging from hangers so I can see what I have. This helps with the creative juices.
The other day I got into a mood to make something. I haven't made dresses for the girls in ages. The last time I made dresses there was only one girl to sew for. Now I have 4 girls. If I made something for one I would have to make for all.
In all this I had to unpick all the zippers to get them to come out right. I once put the wrong lower band on the wrong skirt. Had to unpick and resew that one on the right skirt. But over all it has been a success.
Two weeks later I have four dresses nearly complete. I didn't tell them I was making them until I needed to see if they fit. When I pulled them out last night the girls got all excited. The draw back is they have to wait until Easter to wear them. The youngest one was sure I would change my mind and let her wear it sooner.
Now I need to make ties for the boys...don't worry they won't be made with the flower print.
I used to joke that I had married my husband for his 'tech support'. He was always there whenever my computer was in need of some attention. His mother would call whenever hers needed the same. It seemed everyone had his number. Sometimes I still joke about it, but my need for such support is getting to be rare.
Case in point: Ever since he upgraded my computer to Windows XP a few years ago I have not been able to play my favorite game, TriTryst, because of compatibility issues. I would attempt to install it on my computer only to face an error message. I finally just gave up the idea of ever playing it again.
That was, until the other day, when I noticed it sitting on the shelf near my computer. I decided to see what I could find out about the game...perhaps I could get an upgrade of the game. I typed the word TriTryst into a search engine. No upgrade available, however, before long I had a printout telling me how to manually install the game on an XP system.
In between taking care of the kids and doing laundry I worked on getting the game installed and working. At first it didn't work. I kept getting another error message. Then I found a free download of the same game...and followed the directions I had located earlier and followed them to the letter.
After copying all the files into the correct folder and then clicking the install.exe icon, typing the correct path into a dos prompt window and then pulling up pulling up properties on the shortcut icon to tell the game to be windows NT compatible I had a working running game :) :)
Many happy hours of game play are ahead of me and I didn't have to wait for my sweet other half to come to my rescue. I think I will keep him around, anyway...even if he is becoming obsolete....at least when it comes to tech support. ;)
