A Lion's Tale

This video was shown on The View recently (I don't watch The View, but I saw this) and I thought it was pretty amazing, and sweet. So here's the TRUE back story. In 1969, two friends (John Rendall and Ace Berg) happened into a Harrod's Dept. store in London where they lived, and to their surprise, found that the store had a lion cub for sale and were quite keen to get rid of him. He was living in a tiny cage and looked extremely sad and pathetic. So the men adopted the cub and brought him to live in the basement of their furniture shop. During the next year, the cub (named Christian) grew from 35lbs to 185lbs and they knew they couldn't keep him. As it happened, Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna (stars of the 1966 film 'Born Free') came into the store one day looking for a desk. When they found out about Christian's predicament, they suggested that George Adamson, the conservationist about whose real life experiences the book Born Free was written, may be able to help them relocate Christian to a proper home.

So the men fly with Christian to Kenya, where they were able to get him integrated into living on the Kora Reserve. Ace and John made several sporadic visits to Nairobi throughout the years to observe Christian's life from afar. In 1974, George Adamson informed the men that Christian had established his own completely self sufficient pride and that he had a mate and a litter of cubs. He had finally adapted to the wild. John and Ace decided to make one final trip to Kora to say goodbye, in spite of Adamson's warning that he was now wild, and that their trip would most likely be a disappointment and a waste of time. This video documents their final reunion. The video itself (music and all) is a bit cheesy, but the footage is definitely cool. I told the back story here so you don't have to read along with the video, plus that version isn't completely accurate. Enjoy!

Traffic Jam Discovery & Favs

This morning's commute was simply awful. A disabled bus was blocking 2 lanes of traffic on the I-15 turning my 20 minute morning drive into an hour and 15. However, I did have something interesting to look at while at a standstill on the freeway. The vehicle next to me was something I had never seen before. My first thought was that a jet ski and a motorcycle hooked up and had a deformed child.
Meet the Can-Am Spyder Roadster. With gas prices the way they are, I'm seeing more and more "alternative" vehicles on the road. I guess this is just newest addition!

Layne and I had a busy weekend starting with me getting back from camp Thursday afternoon. After a long day of work Friday, Layne and went to my cousin McKenna's wedding reception. First thing Saturday morning we had the annual ward breakfast at Murray park. Layne volunteered to cook and I volunteered to help with the relay races. The turnout wasn't too bad for a Saturday morning at 8:30, and it seemed like people had a good time. Afterward I got my hair cut and spent several hours preparing my lesson for combined YWs on Sunday and baking brownies. Layne and I went to a matinee showing of the new X-Files movie, which was ok. That evening I met up with the 1st counselor and her daughter and another laurel for Cafe Rio and an Anne of Green Gables marathon. We had a great time. Its always fun to watch with someone who has never seen it before.

So I haven't done any product pushing of my favorite things in a while. Here are a few that come to mind at the moment.

Venus Breeze Razor
I shave a lot. You may be thinking, "well so do I" but trust me on this, I win. As soon as we have some extra cash to throw around (I'm not holding my breath) I'm going to finish the job I started about 6 years ago and complete the laser hair removal treatments. Until that sweet day comes however, I'll be sticking with my Venus Breeze. I've tried just about every razor on the market, and this is the clear winner. It's got the soapy moisture strips built in and I'm a big fan. We all have to do it (though some more than others) and as one who has tried them all, I recommend the Venus Breeze.

Wells Fargo Bill Pay
Ok, I know that this isn't really a "product" per se, but I love it none the less, and most banks offer a similar feature. I'm glad I live in the day of debit cards and online banking. I DESPISE checkbooks and balancing them. Frankly, there is no need anymore because it's all available online! Once I set up my account online and added all my payees, it made paying all my monthly bills a breeze. If your bank offers this feature and you don't use it, you should. It rocks. I haven't mailed a payment somewhere in over a year. Get with the times!

Luigi's Italian Ice
Layne and I adore these things. Our favorite is the box of Mango and Pina Colada. They're great fat free tasty treats for a summer's eve...or any eve...or afternoon...

Suzy Mei Mei's Magnetic Earrings

For those of you who don't know, I have never been able to have my ears pierced because I have what is called a keloid in my left earlobe. It's an overgrowth of tissue at the site of a healed injury, often from a chicken pox scar. Anyway, its benign, but if its ever punctured it can ulcerate into something like this. Gross huh? There is no good treatment for it and surgical removal most often results in its return bigger than it was before. I'd rather not take my chances with piercing thank you very much. HOWEVER, I do have a desire to look extra purty sometimes and most clip ons are really ugly or look worse than wearing nothing at all. A few months ago I ran into Suzy Mei Mei's store on ebay where she sells magnetic earrings of all kinds like these that I bought. They're great! No one can tell the difference when I wear them and I don't even notice that they're there. Most of you don't have my problem, but if your holes ever close or you need an answer for a young child who wants to wear earrings but you think may be too young, Suzy Mei Mei is your girl!

Speaking of looking purty, my sister just sent me this email (titled: Guurl, I jus' got my nails done!) and I got a big kick out of it. Looking at these pictures reminded me of some people I met in North Carolina. GROSS! Props for creativity and a steady hand though!

Girls Camp, Skating Pics & The Heber Creeper

I returned home from stake girls camp yesterday and while I had a great time, it was really nice to get back to where there is a bathroom that isn't a quarter mile walk, electricity, my own bed, and a snorer who I can control. I didn't get any sleep, but the girls had a great time so mission accomplished! The stake theme this year was 'Steadfast and Immovable' and the stake leaders did a fabulous job planning activities along those lines. Here are a few pictures:

Goofing around

Dinner preparation

The BEAUTIFUL hike we went on. I know what you're thinking right now, "The hills are alive, with the sound of music..." Don't think we didn't sing that the whole way.

Kimi, Moses & myself.
The top!

Going down is always a little easier, and a little more fun.

Bishop Van Tienderen inspecting his cabob.

The testimony fire. It was COLD that night, but we had our testimonies to keep us warm. I know, I know that was intentionally cheesy.

Dani and I trying to stay warm...and sane.

I'm so proud of all my girls. They are a stellar bunch and were all really good sports about camping.

While I was camping, Layne was doing something else...

Here are some pictures his skate buddy took of him during their last "session". Looks to me like he's still got it. I've been wanting to go watch him myself one of these days, which would make me a "skate Betty". I suppose I'd have to sit off to the side along with all the "Groms" (little kids who are just learning to skate). I'm learning the lingo as I go here...




And now, for the BEST bad date story I have EVER heard, HANDS DOWN! This story is called 'The Heber Creeper' and is much better told in person, but because I can't call each one of you to tell it, I'm going to do my best to recreate it in print. First of all, this is a true story as told to me by a friend of the main character. Ok here goes.
A young man (we'll call him Steve) from Salt Lake City served his mission in South America. Upon returning home, he mustered up the courage to ask out a girl (we'll call her Jane) he really liked on a date. Steve decided it would be fun to take Jane up for a ride on the 'Heber Creeper' aka the Heber Valley Railroad. This train is so named because it doesn't go very fast and is actually infamous in Utah for being extraordinarily lame. We'll cut Steve some slack though because he was fresh off the mission. So fresh in fact that he hadn't yet shaken the parasite he brought home from South America. This parasite was of the variety that once you felt the urge to use the restroom, you had about 2 minutes tops before you exploded involuntarily.

Steve picked up Jane on a Saturday afternoon and began the hour drive up to the Heber Creeper station. As they neared the station, Steve began feeling the urge to go. Before even making it out of the parking lot however, Steve lost the battle with the parasite and COMPLETELY filled his britches. Not wanting to alert his date to the situation, Steve devised a plan to tell his date that he had promised some friends that he would bring them back some souvenirs from the gift shop. Steve picked out several items in the gift shop such as some post cards, magnets, a sweatshirt and a pair of shorts (which he intended to change into the first chance he got). He took his items to the counter, and when Jane wasn't looking, he told the cashier that he really only needed the shorts and that she could put the other items back. So the cashier rang him up, and he and Jane boarded the train.

Once aboard, Steve excused himself to the restroom with his souvenir bag. He stripped off his pants and garments that had been completely mucked and immediately threw them out the window of the train. After cleaning himself up as best he could, Steve opened the gift shop bag only to find to his utter horror, that that cashier had given him the sweatshirt and kept the shorts! Panic stricken, Steve tried his best to put his legs through the arms of the sweatshirt, but to no avail. Not only could he not get his feet through the arms of the sweatshirt, but his poop filled underwear and pants were somewhere in the woods at least a mile behind them! At this point, poor Steve could think of only one option, so climbed up to the window and jumped out of the train. Half naked, he walked the distance back to his car, got in, and drove home, leaving poor Jane alone on the train, wondering what had happened. Upon arrival back at the station, the confused Jane found Steve's car gone and had no choice but to call a friend for a ride home.

The next day, a beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived for Jane with a note that simply said,

"Dear Jane, I'm so sorry about yesterday. I hope you can forgive me.

-Steve"

And that was it. Jane never received any explanation for Steve's disappearance. When Steve arrived home half naked and was questioned by his room mate, Steve told him about what had happened in the strictest of confidence. As most people would do with a hilarious story like that, Steve's room mate blabbed, brining this sad but hilarious tale to us today. I hope this makes you think back with different eyes on your worst date stories! I'm pretty sure Steve wins the award!

Mr. Mayer & Destination Camp Piuta

Last night Layne and I went to the John Mayer concert opened by Colbie Caillat and had a great time. John Mayer is an AMAZING musician and most of the concert was him jamming on guitar. It was the most chill/relaxing concert I've ever been to. If you get the chance I HIGHLY recommend him! Here's a little taste of what we got:

I LOVED his cover of this song! It was a great show and we didn't come away smelling like smoke or beer so that was an added bonus to our usual concert going experience. :) We could tell he just loved to play music and was VERY gracious to his fans. Two thumbs up John! If you like this, he's putting out a DVD of his performance live in LA called Where the Light Is which has this and more. There are more songs on YouTube like this one (which I LOVE) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-e1FHJkVoFE, but due to restrictions I couldn't embed it on my blog. Anyway, great artist, great show.

This afternoon I'm packing up and heading to camp Piuta in the Uinta mountains for stake girls camp. Even though I've been in YW's for a few years now it's been AGES since I've made the trek to girls camp so wish me luck. Thanks to a wonderful Utah holiday (July 24th) I'm able to take one day off work and make the trip this time. Catch you on the flip side!

Commercial Parodies & a YouTube Discovery

Layne and I had a really nice weekend and Layne enjoyed his birthday on Friday. We went and saw the new Batman movie. Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was both amazing and disturbing. If you're going to see it, you're in for an Oscar performance, but prepare yourself to be a little creeped out and to remain seated for a solid 2.5 hours.
So I finally read the Twilight series (books 1 & 2 so far) at the urgent request of one of my young women. She gave me the books and texted me every day until I convinced her that I was reading them. I was a little let down after all the hype, but overall enjoyed reading them. They're no Harry Potter, but fun and interesting reads. So at the theater this weekend I saw previews to the movie 'Twilight' and was thoroughly disappointed by the actor they chose to portray Edward. This guy who is supposed to be the epitome of strength and masculine beauty looked a little scrawny and feminine to me. Does anyone else who has read the books share my sentiment?

In addition to the movies, we went to Best Buy to use the gift card Layne's parents sent him which is always fun. We stay as far away from that store as possible unless we have a gift card or extra money to blow, and lets face it, it's been a LONG time since we've had any of that! Among the items we picked out was the DVD of the best of SNL commercial parodies. We had a good time watching and remembering some of our favorites (such as: Mom Jeans, Dissing Your Dog, The Love Toilet, Buh-Weet Sings, Happy Fun Ball, Bad Idea Jeans, Colon Blow Bran Flakes, Taco Town, Old Glory Insurance, Litter Critters, Dog Laywer, Swiffer Sleepers, Woomba, Homocil, Eterna-Rest and Oops, I Crapped My Pants). There were some that I was disappointed didn't make the cut such as Chess for Girls & Cookie Dough Sport. Since we had so much fun watching them, I thought I'd share a few.

Swiffer Sleepers


Homocil

Old Glory Insurance

Cookie Dough Sport


Chess for Girls


Oops, I Crapped My Pants

Ah, classic! There are plenty more where those came from! Now for some other videos. Its amazing what one can stumble across when they're on YouTube. Someone posted these videos of the ECU Chamber Singers' first performance at the National ACDA Convention in Miami in March of '07. Oh the memories. I'm posting these mostly for my mom who never got to see my choir perform and would have loved to have been there. I wouldn't post these for general audience viewing. In fact I'm actually quite embarrassed by them. I look awful!! We had to be up at 5am the morning of this performance (which was at 8am). The night before, half the choir ate bad seafood and my room mate among others was up all night with the worst vomiting and diarrhea I've ever witnessed. Of course, in the middle of the night when our toilet clogged, I was the one who had to clean up after her and get maintenance to come fix it. Anyway, it was a miracle we were able to take the stage at all missing as many people as we were. The sound quality of these videos is pretty bad, and we didn't know we were being video taped, so bare with it. The other 2 songs of the performance haven't been posted yet.

Wondrous Love

Der Geist Hilft Unser Schwahheit Auf - Bach motet for double chorus that took FOREVER to learn and even longer to memorize!

El Hambo - This piece is written in Swedish gibberish (think the chef from the muppets) and drove us all nuts.

Daniel, Servant of the Lord- Good ole spiritual that brought the house down everytime.

29 and Feeling Fine!

Today I'd like to wish a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my best friend and E.C. Layne Michael Nelson who is now 29! I shudder to imagine just how drab and incomplete my life would be without this fun, intelligent, passionate, loving man in it! I hope you have a wonderful day, and enjoy your new skateboard! I love you babe!

Whats Up Doc?

Yesterday morning I got called into my boss's office for a private meeting. I haven't seen him in months because he's always somewhere doing something (conference in Tokyo, convention in China, meeting with clients in Germany, that kind of thing). Anyway, I was surprised to see him at all much less at my desk requesting a meeting with me. The sudden butterflies I got in my stomach reminded me of a time in 4th grade when I was summoned to the principal's office. I agonized the whole way there about what I could have possibly done wrong and what kind of punishment would be handed down. I still remember all the kids in my class making that sound kids make when someone is in trouble. You all know what I'm talking about. Anyway, that meeting with the principal actually turned out to be a request for me to allow a newspaper reporter to follow me around for a day at school. I had been recommended by my teachers for my good behavior and academic standing. Needless to say I was incredibly relieved that I wasn't going to be horse whipped and expelled from school, and quite pleasantly surprised!

...ANYWAY back to my meeting with my boss. Much like my 4th grade experience, I had gotten myself worked up over nothing. He started by offering sincere praise of my work on the project over the last year, and making some small talk about how I felt about it. Then he came to his point. He expressed a desire for me to begin a PhD program under his direction, and continue to work on this project. He said he had already reviewed my GPA and my overall body of work and with a decent GRE score, he would ensure my acceptance. He also made it very clear that if I decided to become one of his doctoral students, he would commit on the spot to fund the entire thing in addition to paying me a small salary for my work on the project as a PhD researcher. I was so thrown by this left field request that I had no idea what to say.
He continued to sell me on the idea by citing that the UofU's Biomedical Engineering program is ranked in the nation's top 10, and by telling me about all the grants he has secured to ensure funding for my degree and the project for years to come. I don't remember much else except that I said "thank you" and "I'll look into it". I have long had a desire to get my PhD, but have never expressed it to anyone outside my immediate family, which made his request all the more strange. I'm flattered that someone with such an outstanding International reputation as his would hand pick me to become one of his few Doctoral students and on top of everything would commit to fund my entire education (which would easily cost me $50,000)!
Men and women from all over the world apply to become one of his students. This man is a genius! He's the kind of German Doogie Howser who probably played with a "Tickle-Me-Tolstoy" doll or the "Playskool Particle Accelerator" as a kid, while I was still banging pots and pans together and being completely captivated by Bert and Ernie. Anyway, he's not one that is used to hearing the word 'no', and frankly thats a pretty difficult thing to say no to.

While I was extremely surprised and flattered, its highly unlikely at this time that I will accept (though I will GLADLY accept the 5% raise I was just offered). Layne is in the middle of preparing for grad school (which is more important than me furthering my education right now) and even if we were going to remain in Salt Lake for 4 more years, it would be nearly impossible for us both to be in graduate school, make enough money to support ourselves AND have children that we want so desperately, without any family support nearby. I had all but decided not to tell anyone about my little meeting since it was unlikely that I'd accept. However, when I told Layne, he insisted that we celebrate the little triumphs in life no matter how small. I'm so grateful for a husband who has always encouraged me to go after my dreams, who has pushed me to achieve my goals and who is constantly giving me wings to "be Kelly" as he puts it. He has already sacrificed so much to allow me to find personal fulfillment in my education, employment and other pursuits. I certainly feel like a very lucky woman, who hopefully someday will become "Dr. Lucky Woman".

Boulder, Arsenic & The Chosen One turns 16

As promised, I finally uploaded all my pictures from our family trip. I won't go into a lot of exposition about the trip since I'd rather look at pictures than read a narrative myself, but warned, there are a lot of pictures (though not half as many as were taken)! For those who don't know where Boulder, UT is, you're certainly not alone. About 90% of native Utahans don't know where it is either, which is why its so special to us. In fact, the only people in Boulder have either lived there all their lives, or are tourists from Europe who have been lured by tales of the unparalleled vistas, hiking, hunting & fishing, mountain biking and more.
We go because my grandpa Church worked summers in high school carrying mail to Boulder from his home town of Escalante by mule train (actual picture). In 1963, he bought a summer home there where he ran a cattle ranch, raised horses and enjoyed the place he had become so fond of as a youth. That ranch house and land has been in our family ever since and his vast posterity enjoys it to this day.

John gleaned some new found courage from that ridiculous Mic Dundee hat he found in a closet and boarded this less than reliable vessel in the pond out back where we made a fire and had s'mores. Ask him how long it took for his boots to dry after that incident.

Let the horse shoes tourney begin! A Boulder tradition.

Notice the concentration and follow through here. I think this was the game where Dane and I beat dad and John 21 to 1.

Just being lazy.
Our first hike of the trip up to the toad stool. See it?
The last time I did that hike was 12 years ago as you can see by my name (Kelly F '96) carved into the sandstone at the top.

Fast Sunday dinner.
The 4th of July festivities began with the 5 minute parade. This small town parade made the weekly arrival of the garbage truck seem like Thanksgiving Day in New York. The highlight of the parade (aside from the Garfield county ambulance and the pickup truck full of kids spraying people with a hose) was the "freedom dragon". We knew it was called the freedom dragon because of the girl walking ahead of it shouting, "Feel the power of the freedom dragon!" Oh, we felt it alright. Sweet.
After the y'all come BBQ at the town hall, there was a town talent show open to all. The talent included a mime show, local bands, harmonica performances, a one man Monty Python show, and a little girl named Willow who recited 'The Highway Man'. There was 3 hours worth of such "talent". My dad actually entered and recited a cowboy poem he wrote and won $50! Way to go dad!
Let the stream fishing begin. I caught 5 fish in an hour and a half using one worm. Here is the Bono approach to fishing. Unfortunately for Layne, wearing cool shades and urging the fish to do their part to help fight AIDS in Africa was not enough to coax them out of the water.

The great Risk game of the trip (which Dane won) interrupted by a little early birthday celebration (for Dane) with a cake I made.

Our second hike up sugar loaf mountain.



Swimming and playing catch at calf creek.
The Moqui cave dwelling.
A local
We did a LOT of this on the trip.
Here I am killing everyone at Scrabble.

It was a great trip! Too bad coming back to work wasn't so great. In part of the lab where I work, an engineer was working with sodium arsenide years ago and part of the duct work got contaminated with arsenic. That duct work was closed off and quarantined, but not removed because of the danger and expense of having it cleaned out. Since then it hasn't been a problem...until the arsenide alarm went off on Friday as I was undressing in the entryway. They locked it down and had environmental health and safety come down with the nuclear holocaust masks on to run tests in the lab. Boy, arsenic poisoning really would be the icing on the cake of my 3 days back from vacation!
Saturday was a very special day because it was the 16th birthday of 'The Chosen One' aka my little brother Dane Addison Flaherty. Dane is 10 years my junior and I often felt like a 2nd mother to the boy when he was little. We've been close ever since the days when I'd sing him to sleep at night, and watching him grow up has been an absolute pleasure for me. To this day, Dane is one of my best buds!

(A surprise party for Dane at the Gilbert theater where they saw a 3D movie)

Some things you may not know about Dane:

1. He has the most nicknames of anyone I know. Some examples: The Chosen One, Boy, Squeege (short for Squeegie) and Booger.
2. Dane is a music stud. He plays the piano, the jazz saxaphone, the guitar and has in recent years developed into a true bass (I couldn't be more excited about that).
3. Dane has often been called John's mini-me, but don't be fooled, there is nothing mini about this kid. Mark my words, before Dane's mission, he WILL have outgrown his older brother in both height and girth. Buckle up John, its coming.
4. Dane is a gaming fool. My dad (the English major turned poet, author, playwrite and journalist) hasn't been able to beat this boy at Scrabble in ages.
5. Dane is relatively mild mannered, but he's a competetor! This Christmas during our family basketball game, he established himself as a force to be reconned with. Dane is also a budding volleyball stud.
I'm so proud of the incredible and upstanding guy that my little brother has become. Happy birthday boy! I love you!