OREM -- Jeanette Herbert, wife of Lt. Governor Gary Herbert, and the soon-to-be first lady of Utah says she will always be a Utah County girl. Although she will be living in the Governor's Mansion weekdays you will find her at her Orem home on the weekends spending time with family.

Between cleaning a vacated rental apartment and attending the Freedom Festival Awards Gala Thursday, Herbert, alongside women from the community, spent a few hours at a Colonial Tea Party sponsored by the Colonial Heritage Foundation. All of them dressed in Colonial period clothing and discussed issues of today and heroines of the past.

The topics of discussion ranged from the economy to the infamous pajama ad the lieutenant governor's office did for the Slow the Flow campaign. It shows Gary Herbert getting ready for work in the morning.

"I was actually in the bed next to him," Herbert said. "But I got cut from the ad."

Advertisement aside, Herbert had some important things to say about her new role in the State and about life. She is still amazed at her new title.

"Every morning I look in the mirror and say, 'Oh my goodness,' " Hebert said. "We didn't suspect this at all. We found out three hours before the public. You don't know how to feel. I just got up put my arms around Gary and we both began crying."

She knew life had immediately changed for her and her family with the amount of beefed-up security the family is dealing with.

"The morning after the announcement we found out, they [security agents] were sitting in the driveway," Herbert said. And added they had been sleeping in the car.

When she will actually move into the Governor's Mansion is another matter. "They have finished all of the background checks [on Gov. Huntsman and his family]. Now it goes to the subcommittee and on. If it is not done by the end of this month it won't be until September," Herbert said.

While talking about the women of the past, Herbert says she gets her strength from their courage and patriotism.

Commenting on the state of the nation, Herbert referenced Dolly Madison's hope that posterity will appreciate what the founding fathers (and mothers) had done. "I don't think they do. The children [in our country] today don't have the same fire in their bellies for patriotism," she said.

Herbert has a lot to say about children, about their education, about abuse, about drinking and drugs. While she says she hasn't picked out a pet project or cause when she becomes first lady, you can be certain it will have something to do with children she said.

"Definitely children's literacy is something I want to be involved with," Herbert said.

To help earn money for her family and be with her six children at the same time, Herbert started the Kid Connection Day Care Center and owned it for 23 years.

Family is very important to Herbert and that began with her own childhood. She was born in Preston, Idaho, to Bish and Bonnie Snelson, but spent most of her life in Springville. She was a cheerleader at Springville High School and was Miss Springville 1968.

"There were four girls and two boys in my family, I was number three, the peacemaker," Herbert said. "I grew up in pretty humble circumstances. We had to work if we wanted anything. I'm very thrifty and I'm a sucker for a sale."

Herbert's mother concurs with the hard work. "Jeanette was always busy doing something," Bonnie Snelson said. "If I want something done, I call Jeanette. She is capable of the job of First Lady. We are very proud of her."

Snelson said that all four of her daughters got the mechanical talent and that her daughters all own power tools. Herbert says she didn't know there was such a thing as a fix-it man until she was in her teens.

"I rebuilt the carburetor on my car just before Gary came over for our first date," Herbert said. "I'm known as Miss Fix It."

Some other things Herbert would like to fix is the serious problem with child abuse. "That's one of the things that broke my heart at the day care center was seeing children suffering from child abuse," Herbert said.

While the economy is a serious concern, Herbert says there are worse things to worry about.

"What I fear more than the economy is the loss of our liberties in just a short time." Hebert said.

She is also concerned that children aren't being taught the value of work and that parents should take a hand in teaching their children responsibility.

Taking a beat from her father-in-law, Duane Herbert, she recited the Herbert family motto. "Work will win, when wishy-washy wishing won't."

In honoring the work ethic she received from her ancestors and parents, Herbert shed light on the woman that had given her great inner-strength.

"My great-great grandmother Mary Soar Taylor came across the plains with the Martin Handcart Company. She lost all of her toes during the trip. She's what keeps me strong."

Related

• Herbert inauguration speech to set tone for tenure
• Huntsman resigns, Herbert becomes Utah’s governor