MWU Float

We did a float in the Kaysville 4th of July parade! It was pretty fun. The parade theme was “Proud to be an American” and we wanted to do something catchy with that song, so we made banners that read: Proud to be an America, where there’s just a-bil-i-ty!

All three titleholders rode with 362 kids. It was fun.

I went to Atlanta last weekend to visit two of my college roommates and we had so much fun! However, it has been quite a long time since I have flown on an airline other than Southwest. I forgot that with other airlines, you don't always get to preboard. On my way out to Georgia, I got caught in traffic in Las Vegas and got to the plane 20 minutes before takeoff. I was the last one on the plane and had to ride the lovely aisle chair to the BACK of the plane. I kept awkwardly elbowing people and touching them. To top it off, my seat was in the middle so the poor man who was sitting on the aisle had to get up so that I could lunge into my seat. Looking back though it was really funny. People don't know how to react to me half the time so I find it easiest to crack jokes from the beginning. Despite the hassle of traveling, the trip was so worth it!

I am excited for this next week because I have a school presentation out in Delta which should be fun. I'll let you know how it goes!

- Kim

Fundraiser

For sure we'll do a parade! Those are super fun.

We have a fundraiser scheduled for April 11 in Cedar City! Anone who wants to participate, lemme know! If you do you'll get a percentage of the profits to use toward your application fee or whatever. We'll be set up outside of Walmart and be selling aprons and onesies printed with the MWU logo. I'm really excited!

24th of July

I think it would be good to enter the Bountiful 24th of July parade. What do you all think? We would need a float.. any feedback? Becky

finnaly it is working

hi everybody i finally got my blog to let me in. let see i have been busy at work planning a luau
i am also on committee planning a leadership conference. and selling calenders misty!

kid questions...

I love those questions from kids that Kim wrote! I just had some little girls ask me a good one, too. Three girls (age 8-ish) all huddled around me and were leaning on my lap asking me a bunch of stuff. One kept patting my legs and asking if I could feel it. I told her that I couldn't feel me legs at all and all their eyes got wide as they stared at me in disbelief. I smiled. But then one brazen little girl broke the silence and asked, "Well, what if we stabbed them?"

Latest and greatest!

Hi everyone! I've been having a lot of fun lately doing presentations on my platform at schools around the state. For those who don't know what my platform is about, let me explain. In life, we as a society, often spend more time focusing on what we can't do versus what we can. Utah's Disability Law Center has a program called "Everyone Can" that I have been working with to talk about this issue with school children all over the state. With "Everyone Can," I use children's books and my own experiences to create a dialogue about how everyone has something to contribute, whether they have a disability or not. It is our job to not only figure out what is great about us, but to help other people see what is great about them. We can often see attributes in people that they cannot see themselves. Kids are sometimes better at that then adults but it is a lot of fun to see their reactions to the characters in books with disabilities.

I always give the kids the chance to ask questions about me so they can learn and perhaps not be as intimidated by people with disabilities in the future. I have gotten asked every question under the sun including: "How do you put your pants on?" "Are you married?" (When I tell them no, they look so sad because to them, 23 is way to old to get married now!)"What is your favorite type of penguin?" My personal favorite was from a little boy in a town that obviously likes to hunt. He asked me this after discussing how much feeling I have in my legs. "If I shot you in the leg with my gun, could you feel that?" I tried not to laugh as I explained we probably shouldn't try.

I have definitely had so much fun at the schools I have visited so far and I know I will have many more interesting stories to share in the future! Hope everyone who reads this is having a fantastic day!

-Kim

I always ask someone at the gas station to pump my gas; they almost always say yes and it's such a time saver. I asked this guy the other day and he ran my card, but there was something wrong with the transaction and he didn't try again with my card, he just used one of his and bought me my gas. At first I was mad because that's not what I wanted (why do wheelchair people always have to be considered "needy"?)and I insisted that he take my cash, but he wouldn't. I kept insisting and he finally sighed and just told me to "pay it forward." I was satisfied with that (I mean, my whole life consists of charitable causes, right?) so I bought our little MWU organization a book of stamps (which cost almost as much as the gas it took to fill my tank!). And we really needed some stamps.

We had the Hill Air Force Base Honor Guard post the colors at our pageant and I sent them a DVD and pictures with our thank you note. I wanted to make sure they'd gotten it, so I emailed SSgt. Caballero and asked. This was his reply:

Sure did ma'am! IT WAS AWESOME THANK YOU AND YOUR STAFF SOOO MUCH!
Please be sure to invite us out every year. It would be an honor to post the colors for you whenever possible. Thank you again ma'am.

Titleholders...

I think that the titleholders from this year were so, so excited. It makes my heart bling when I see the pix from this year.

2008 Pageant

The 2008 pageant was our best one yet. We got to hob-knob with local celebrities and government officials. The Salt Lake Fire Dept. Honor Guard were so awesome, and so was the HAFB Honor Guard. We had so many more volunteers this year. One part I liked is when Mark Shurtleff, Attorney General for the state of Utah, lifted up his pant leg on stage to reveal his leg halo after surgery.

To the left is a picture of our new 2009 MWU Royalty with Park and Dallan from 101.9 The End.

the meeting...

at our super professional first MWU meeting of 2009, we have determined that canned mushrooms are super gross.