Fun Utah Facts

The name Utah comes from the Native American Ute Tribe and means people of the mountain. Utah has five national parks: Arches, Canyonlands, Zion, Bryce and Capitol Reef. Utah has seven national monuments: Cedar Breaks, Natural Bridges, Dinosaur, Rainbow Bridge, Grand Staircase-Escalante, Timpanogos Cave and Hovenweep. Utah has six national forests: Ashley, Dixie, Fishlake, Manti-Lasal, Uinta, and Wasatch-Cache. Utah has two national recreational areas: Flaming Gorge and Glen Canyon. Utah covers 84,900 square miles of land and is ranked 11th largest state. The Great Salt Lake, which is about 75 miles long and 35 miles wide, covers more than a million acres. Of the 50 states, Utah has the youngest population; one of the highest birth rates; the second lowest death rate; the heathiest population; the hightest literacy rate; the highest percent of high school graduates; and the highest number of people with a college education.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

A birthday blog



Great mind think alike, if anyone else had this idea brewing.
My Amanda Mayberry is a year older today. 1981 . My long
walker Wendy and I used to fight over her. Wendy usually
won. The first time Amanda ever got sick was when she was
6 months old. Wendy brought that baby sprite and crayons ?
She can't have sprite and she will just eat the crayons, I
said. Wendy gave me the "look" and she got the sprite and
ate the crayons.

All ( yes, every single one ) of her school teachers said
at parent teacher confrences, just pack her bags and let
me take her home with me. One gal that took care of her
after school in Sandy said, she is the perfect child. I hope
mine are half as great as she is.

Sooo, I could write all day about her virtue's, but to
sum her up: She is down to earth, and non-judgemental.
She is calm and relaxed, she sings when she picks
up one of her kids, she is happy and always makes me
laugh.

It was hard to pick just one short story of her, but here
is my favorite. We were taking her to her dads out her
in the basin and we were driving a brand new shiney red
truck. Christmas was a few short days behind us. We gased
up at a station and got a bonus free car wash . SWEET, lets
use it before we hit the road. Great idea, she agrees. While
in this high powered, brush spinning wash, we here a terrible
loud noise! What...... all her christmas loot was in the
BACK of the truck !!!! I am a self described air head. New
rollerblades and clothes etc......... She could have been mad
or sooo sad, but no, we laughed all the way to Roosevelt and
still laugh at the memory today. I have lots of thoose stories.

I choose two picks of her and wish I had thought of one other.
We went to the Mayan for her birthday one year and they made
her wear a ballon hat. She just has a great smile.

Picture # 1 - She and my sis and baby Connor (which is exactly
how I remeber him) on my wedding day. I choose this picture as
one of my favorites but also because Aunt Jodi is VERY special
and very good to Amanda.

Picture # 2 - One of our crazy rock hounding trips. There were
so many fun trips it was also hard to pick just one.

See you friday My Mayberry !

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for the great post and picks Babs. I happen to be quite of fan of Amanda Kukins. I have always been impressed with her attitude and courage. I hope you had a great B-day doing nothing!

    Brian

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  2. Mom you are so funny. The whole carwash thing is one of my favorite memories as well , I still cannot believe that neither of us realized that would happen. Wow. You guys all really now how to make a person feel pretty good about themselves. Thanks guys!

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  3. Amanda is simply amazing. I have no other words for such a wonderful niece. Happy Birthday Kukins.

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