Kelli was born and raised on a farm in Filer, Idaho. Filer is located near Twin Falls in Southern Idaho. Her Dad was Catholic and her mom was Mormon but only in name. She was baptized into the church but attended so infrequently that when they did, everyone would always ask if they were visitors. She is the youngest of 3 children.
During her growing up years Kelli didn't have a lot of time for social life. In addition to working she did rodeo, and played basketball and volleyball. When she did « play » it was with her brother. They would ride their horses out on their acreage and let their imaginations run wild. Being so close in age, they were even in the same grade so all the way through high school they were best friends.
When Kelli was in high school, she started attending seminary. It was here that she gained a testimony of the gospel. She also had a devout friend who would invite her over. Kelli loved the way it felt in their home and knew someday she wanted to have that for herself. She says even though she still wasn't super great about attending church, she felt that nagging in the back of her mind that she should be there. Over time she became more and more active as her testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints grew.
After high school, Kelli got a scholarship for volleyball to College of Southern Idaho. She started off as a pre-med major, but after taking and excelling in a couple of Math classes, her professor recommended she consider a career in engineering. He explained that companies were looking more and more for women engineers and that it could really open up some options for her. So after careful consideration and study she decided she would pursue a career in metallurgical engineering (the engineering of metals).
After graduating with her associates degree, Kelli decided the best place for her to attend was South Dakota Tech. They excelled in their engineering department. They also offered her 3 scholarships, one for volleyball, one for basketball and one for engineering. With her three scholarships Kelli was able to completely pay for her schooling. She was able to graduate completely debt free.
While attending SDT, Kelli's grandma who lived in Burley, Idaho told her about their home teacher(Travis Smith) who would soon also be attending SDT. She told Kelli that she was going to marry him. She also asked Travis to look Kelli up once he got there so he did. They met and became friends running in the same group of friends. It was a good thing because once again Kelli was so busy she really didn't have time for a social life. The whole time they attended school they didn't date. Unfortunately it didn't stop Kelli's grandmother from telling Travis that he was going to marry Kelli.
After graduating from SDT, Kelli accepted a job in Beaumont, Texas just Northeast of Houston. Kelli was working for a Steel Mill and doing consulting. She would move to the city and state she was consulting for. During the 4 years she worked for the company, she moved 4 times. She lived in Kansas City Kansas, Morton Illinois, Knoxville Tennessee and finally settled in Atlanta, Georgia.
While living in Atlanta, she ran into a friend from college who had recently seen Travis. The friend told her she should give Travis a call, so she did. Travis was living in Las Vegas and getting ready to move back to Idaho. They started talking every night on the phone. They flew to see each other a few times but they never really dated. In fact, their first official date was at a restaurant where Travis gave her the engagement ring she had picked out. They decided before they ever dated they would be getting married.
With being engaged, Kelli quit consulting and moved back home to Idaho. She and Travis bought a residential cleaning business. (In fact, they signed the final papers for buying the business the day they got married.) They ran it together and found they really enjoyed working together. They had their first son, Parker and he was able to come to work with Kelli. In about 2008 they noticed that across the country all the other cleaning franchises were having their business drop off. At that time, they decided it was a good time to sell their business before the recession hit Idaho. They were able to sell their business for a profit.
From there, Kelli was able to take a job as the district manager for Honeywell where she oversaw operations in the 16 Western states not including California. It was a great job but very demanding of her time. She decided she needed a change when she gave birth to her 2nd son, Hunter. While in the hospital, shortly after giving birth she was on her computer working. She had Hunter on Monday and she was back working on Wednesday. As soon as she hit the 6 week mark she had to start traveling again for business.
Kelli started looking for a better, more family friendly opportunity when she was led to look into opening and owning a Chick-fil-A. After going through an 8 month process, she was able to start up and own the Chick-fil-A in Centerville. Their family moved to Centerville and lived there while they built their current home on Thoroughbred Circle.
Since moving here, Kelli says she loves many things about Kaysville. She loves that this is finally the place they feel that they want to settle down in. She loves that their are so many kids for her boys to play with (their cul-de-sac alone has 23 kids in it ages 18-0). She also loves the ward and that the people seem very down to earth and not judgmental.
What an amazing woman Kelli is. The quality of hard work her early upbringing instilled within her has served her well and provided her with many opportunities. We are so fortunate to have her in our ward.
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