Duckworth Family

Budget Spreadsheet

2009-05-17T03:12:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been distributing my budget spreadsheet to those interested. It is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, so you will need that program installed on your computer in order to use it. Instead of walking you through it in person or over the phone, I've written instructions to go along with it. The instructions give you the basics, but in order for you to use it, you will have to customize it according to your specific circumstances. This can be difficult if you don't know much about Excel. I can help you add/remove categories, link other accounts, etc. if you need. I have also created a separate spreadsheet for those of you receiving Survivor's Benefits and need to complete the annual report. It is based on a fiscal year Jul-Jun. This can also be customized to your needs. I hope this will be of benefit to you and your family, and help create a sense of peace when it comes to managing your money. If you download this, please make a comment so I know who may be benefiting from the program. Thank you.

Demo Budget Instructions

Demo Budget

Survivors Demo Budget Instructions

Survivors Demo Budget

Whats New

2008-12-06T06:14:00.000-08:00

Hey all! Sorry for keeping this site empty. The past few months have been very busy and hectic. There has been a lot of new things that have happened. I am now in high school going to Copper Hills High School. I'm on the varsity swim team and am loving it.   I recently got my driving permit and have about six logged hours of driving. I am also taking two A.P. classes and two Honors classes, so I don't have a lot of time on my hands.

Spencer is now taking karate classes and is quickly improving. He still tries to wrestle me to the ground but my strength still beats his cool techniques, so he ends up on the ground instead. Don't you just love sibling rivalry?   He is two merit badges and a project away from getting his Eagle. He is so close, but says that it will all be done by his birthday.

Kaylee is having so much fun with her dancing. Today she performed at the Festival of Trees. She started taking dance about three months ago and is catching on really fast. In my oppinion, she was one of the best in her class to perform.   She is starting to babysit our neighbors for short amounts of time while their mom cuts hair.

Jonathan is a little bookworm. Even after many times of being told, he still reads without telling anyone so they can time him. He tried karate but didn't like it very much so he only advanced one belt. He also got to the top level of swim lessons and decided to take a break before passing the level.

Sarah is our Little Miss Talk-a-Lot. She is very excited to start pre-school next year. She has learned all of her letters and sounds. She loves going over to the neighbors house every Wednesday while Mom works. She calls it her "nap day". She likes to play with her dolls in her spare time. That is, after she bugs mom to go play with her friends.

Nathan is so mobile its amazing. He gets into the weirdest places. The other day, after the other kids had taken all the blankets out of the closet and taken them into Mom's room, I found him on the bottom shelf (not the floor) lay ing there like he was going to sleep there. I closed the door and hoped that he would go to sleep but to no avail he started to bang on the door wanting out. He also climbs every where. His favorite activity though, is to look at pictues of Dad with Mom.

Mom has been doing better the past few weeks. From what she says, the last two Sundays have been great! (no tears) I guess. She is always doing something and when she isn't we try to get her out of the house to go do something 'fun'. She is still as stubborn as ever and doesn't like to be 'special' but I know that she needs the love. So if any of you see her or are thinking about her give her a call or just say "Hi", and talk with her.  I know she will appreciate it.

I want to say thanks to all of those who have helped us the last six months and four days. I know that it was out of love and that each and everyone of you love us. Thank you all again. Until my next post, Talk to you L8er. Ducky

Funeral Details

2008-06-04T10:44:00.000-07:00

Location:
LDS Church
6270 W. 7000 S.

Viewings:
Friday evening, June 6, 2008 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Sat. morning from 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Funeral:
11 a.m. Saturday, June 7, 2008 at the church.

Obituary

What to say...

2008-06-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

I am David Muncey, one of the Duckworth's friends and neighbors. I host this site for Ken and his family.

Many of you may have already heard or seen the news. We are all in various stages of grief at this point.

I'm creating this post specifically for any of you to include thoughts and messages for Ken's family.

Thanks.

More concerns!!

2008-04-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Over the last week I have meet with many teachers who teach at some of the schools that serve the children of our district. They had many questions and concerns. Some of the things that we discussed were also of great concern to me.

1) Resource- We have some of the greatest resource teacehers in our district but they are far too overloaded. I am told they average 50 to 60 kids per case load where their counterparts in other districts have 12 to 20. this is a problem that needs to be addressed. Those with special needs need to get the best help posible. We can not do this by overloading those teachers who have specially prepared to serve our children.

2) GATE - This is a program that has for far too long been to limited. I personally have known kids who qualify but are not able to because it becomes the parents job to get them to a school that is out of their area. I believe that there should be a way for our schools to develop ways to have these programs in every school putting it in reach of every child that would qualify.

3) Teacher Retirement - We must make sure that our teachers do not get the short end of the stick with the split. I think this simple statement places where I stand.

Again I stand with all who are in my district. For our students, us as parents, the teachers who teach our children and all of those who will be touched by the actions of the board.

I hope you will stand with me June 24th as we together we work to give our children the tools they need to succeed.

Ken

Upcoming Events

2008-04-06T02:16:00.000-07:00

Monday April 7th Ken will be meeting with the teachers of Sunset Ridge Middle School at 3:00pm.

Tuesday April 8th Ken will be at the Jordan School Board meeting at 7:00 pm. (I will be glad to meet with anyone right after.)

Thrusday April 10th Ken will be at the Jordan District Transition Team meeting at 9:00 am. (I will be glad to meet with anyone right after.)

Friday April 11th Ken will be at Oakcrest Elementry to meet with teachers at 8:00 am.

Monday April 14th Ken will be at the Sunset Ridge Middle School PTSA Board Meeting at 9:30 am.

Monday April 21st Ken will be at the "Meet the School Board Candidate" night being sponsored by the Jordan Education Association and the Jordan Classified Professional Association. This event is at 7:00 pm.

Ken

ON JUNE 24TH REMEMBER TO VOTE FOR KEN DUCKWORTH FOR JORDAN SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICT 6!!!!!

Lets Talk!!!

2008-04-06T01:46:00.000-07:00

I am looking for people to host some meet the candidate get togethers. I am trying to set up times and places in the various areas of our district. I would love the chance to share my thoughts with you and have the chance to explain who I am and why I am running for the school board.

Please contact me if you would like to set up a time to meet. (ken@duckworthfamily.org or 801-635-4593)

I am more than glad to come out and meet with individuals, families, neighborhoods, businesses, clubs or any other interested party.

Ken

Where I Stand.

2008-03-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

I have been asked by several people why I am running for the school board and what my platform is. So I thought that I would use this form to put out a little information about me and my stance.

First off I am running because I feel that there needs to be more direct parent involvement. We need common sense solutions to the problems facing our district. For too long there has been a dividing wall between all of the parties involved in serving and educating our children. The battles and the turf wars of the past need to stop and the needs of our children placed as the highest priority.

Recently during an interview I was asked by a reporter what I thought of the split in the Jordan School District. My answer was simple. We can not dwell on the past. What has been done is done. Now we need to move on work with what we have to make sure that our children have what they need to succeed.

I believe that in order to do this correctly we must set priorities. The first and foremost is that we must always put the needs and safety of our children ahead of all else. This fundamental principle should be our first concern with all issues. Secondly we need to protect our teachers. While serving in the PTSA the last few years I have had the chance to talk with many teachers and they are concerned that with the split they will get short changed and lose some of their benefits. I feel it is vital that we do all we can to keep their benefits the same if not better. I know this is not an easy task but next to our children our teachers are very important and they need to know that we believe that.

All issues that the board must look at should be compared to the the same two questions. The first is " How does this affect our children?" If this question yields a positive response then we must ask, "How does this affect our teachers?" If the answer to this question is still positive we then ask about its affect on the district as a whole. We can take the gathered information and make sensible decisions.

Communication is another area that I believe is vital. As a school board we are your representatives and we need to be available to those we serve. We need to be in regular contact with the parents, the local city officials, the county officials, area businesses and the students we serve. Working closely with all these groups will have a positive affect on the service provided to our children.

I hope this helps and answers your questions. I would love to visit with all of those in my district and answer any questions you may have.

I hope you will consider me the right choice as your representative on the school board.

Vote Ken Duckworth for Jordan School Board Dist. 6

Signs are ordered!!!

2008-03-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

I have ordered the yard signs and should have them by the end of next week. If you are willing to put one in your yard let me know.

It's Official!!!

2008-03-07T03:43:00.000-08:00

Well as of today I am officially a candidate for the Jordan School District (West) Pct. 6.

It was an interseting experience. I had to swear (with my right hand raised) that I was a US citizen, registered to vote, live in the area that I would be electd from and plan to continue living there during my term.

I now will start organizing my committee and preparing flyers and signs. The first sign of course will go in my yard. That will be weird to see my name on signs in people's yards. I hope to be able to draw on support from other families who are tired of lip service and want to do what ever is best for our children. I have a vision of a school board that is very responsive to the needs of our consituents. One that cares more about our kids than egos. I plan to talk plainly and directly. I want to be a voice of a parent who is in the trenches not one who was there 10 plus years ago.

Donny at his best

2008-03-05T03:19:00.000-08:00

I think this is better than the real video. Donny has me crackin up

Ken Decides

2008-03-04T23:35:00.000-08:00

Well it will be official Friday. I have decided to throw my hat in the ring. I will be running for the Jordan School District School Board. I am setting up my campaign committee very soon. If any of you are interested in helping out please contact me by commenting to this post or emailing me at ken@duckworthfamily.org.

Politcs and Ken

2008-03-04T00:48:00.000-08:00

Well as many of you know politics has been a long time passion for Ken. After years of behind the scene work the time is comming for me to step up and practice what I preach to the scouts in my Citizenship merit badge classes. I am going to run for office so that I can hopefully make a difference. I have resigned my seats on the SRMS PTSA executive board so that I can focus on area where I can benefit our neighborhoods and children better. I am currently looking into exactly which way I can best serve so stay tuned.

Family Photo Request

2008-03-04T00:35:00.000-08:00

I have had several request for a family picture, so here it is.

The UofU Gymnastics Meet

2008-03-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

We had a great time as a family last week at the UofU gymnastics meet. Kaylee and J even got to meet Swoop, the Utes mascot. Sarah would have nothing to do with Swoop. She prefered to stay as far away as she could get.

Sarah the Clown

2008-03-03T12:51:00.000-08:00

As you all can see life is fun with Sarah. She can light up the room and cheer up the most blue person out there. We love to watch for what zaney thing she is going to do next.

Jonathan's Holidays

2008-01-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

"J" is in the middle of a nice long break from school. He is off track and loving all his free time. now that Christmas and New Years are over he is loving the pool again. He started his swimming lesson agai and is in level 3. He love to play in the water as do the rest of his brothers and sisters. He has enjoyed playing with his cousins who are visitng from North Carolina. He is really enjoying the snow on the hill across the street.

He has become a little daredevil, trying to jump on or off anything he can. He likes to scare his Mom and Dad with his stunts.

Eventhough he is enjoying his vacation he still love school. He practices his reading daily and love to learn new things.

Turkey Day is over.

2007-11-23T02:36:00.000-08:00

Yet another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I just can't believe how fast time flies anymore. This year we had a simple family thanksgiving. Just us, My parents and Dawn's sister Kimmy. It was a somewhat laid back day. We didn't do much but cook and eat (2 of my favorite things).

We turned on the outside Christmas lights (much to Sarah's delight) last night. Sarah has been bugging me for a week to turn them on. She loves them.

The boy are very gung ho to set up the tree. they got all of the Christmas decorations out this morning. as Dawn and I are taking care of our morning stuff around the house I can hear them pulling out the tree and trying to set it up.

Christmas music is OKed to be played in the house so the cd player is loaded and jamming out Donny Osmond's "Christmas at Home". We are looking for a good wassil recipie. If anyone has one please send it to me at ken@duckworthfamily.org.

For the first time in several years I did not go out for the day after sales. It was a nice peacefull morning.

We hope all is well for all of you this CHRISTmas season.

Spencer breaks the barrier

2007-11-19T09:32:00.000-08:00

For the first time in a long time if ever, Spencer has made the Honor Role at School. To top that he has done it in his most challenging courses that he has ever taken (and we thought that he might have a stuggle getting use to middle school). We are so proud of him and hopes that he keeps it going. I think he has finally proven to himself that he can do it.

Michael is in the news again

2007-11-18T17:27:00.000-08:00

Saturday we were looking through the latest edition of the West Jordan Journal (the local city newspaper put out monthly) and we were suprised to find Michael'sname in another article. This time it was about the Copper Hills High School swim team and not his Eagle project. We are so proud of him. Swimming Vasity for the high school while still in Middle School (middle school is 7th - 9th grade). http://www.valleyjournals.com/onlineed/WJJ.pdf Then go to page 12. It is the right side top article.

Another Duckworth Mile Stone

2007-11-18T16:30:00.000-08:00

Today was another reminder that our family is growing up. Michael was ordained a Teacher today. WOW! We have a 14 year old in the house. It means dances, cooler activities at scouts and going home teaching with dad. He is excited about the first 2 and skeptical on the last, but we will make it through.

Under Construction

2007-11-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

Hi all, this site is soon to be the formost authority on the life of the Duckworth Family. It should be in full operation soon. Pleasecheck back often.