Three weeks and counting! Exactly three weeks from today my whole world will change. I will not longer be Kathryn Gilmore, but Kathryn Page. It's so weird typing that after all these years of typing my normal name. At least it won't take as much time signing receipts as it does now, lol. There are still lots of things to be done, but it's nothing too major and it's all coming together.


Excitement is in the air! The kids at school are way excited too. All of my volleyball girls are starting to countdown the days and weeks. It's actually a little funny. Sometimes I think they are more excited than I am. I would look at it in a bad way that they are more excited than I am and it made me worry and think. "Shouldn't I have that same level of excitement? I mean I have been waiting for this day my whole life that I can remember. I should be way more excited than what I am", but then I started thinking they don't have the worry and fear that goes along with it. They just see everything from the fun, oh-how-cute perspective of it all. They don't have to think about combining two separate lives into one, or what to do with all the stuff, or how much the daily activities are going to change, and so on. Don't worry, they will feel the stress someday when they start going through all of this.



One chapter of my life is about close and another one open. As I think back to what my life has been to up until this point I see the joys, pains, struggles, and experiences that I have gained from it all. As I look to the preview of the next chapter I see more joys, pains, struggles and experiences. This time I see another person that will experience those things with me and we can learn from them together as a family. I am really looking forward to this next chapter and can't wait to see what happens, yay!

One of My Faves

Last night I was thinking about one of my favorite memories from past Christmases and came across on f my faves. I was about eight years old when my Grandpa Smith came for Christmas. He lived in SA and my family lived in Tulsa so I didn't get to see him much when I was growing up and we rarely spent the holidays together so it was a special Christmas. Well, my Grandpa made the BEST cherry cheesecake I have ever tasted, not even Cheesecake Factory can come close to what Grandpa made. Grandpa and I were up really early on Christmas Eve morning (I guess I have always been a morning person) and he wanted to make the cheesecake for my brother because that was my bros favorite treat. We didn't have the ingredients at home so Grandpa and I went to the store. Since my Grandpa did not have access to any car keys, or a car for that matter, we walked to the store. Grandpa asked me which store we should go to. Since I didn't know there was a store about a half mile from the house in one direction I told him we should go to Price-Mart about a mile and a half from our house. That was the only store I remember so we headed out. There we were and eight-year-old redhead and a 70 year old grandpa with a cowboy hat and boots walking down one of the busiest roads in Tulsa at the time. Thankfully it was still really early so there weren't as many cars on the road. We made it to the store and back without problems and I sat in the kitchen watching as Grandpa made his cheesecake. Great morning! Grandpa got into a little bit of trouble for that one though. Mom and Dad weren't so happy about Grandpa walking me to the store and back. Grandpa is Grandpa and didn't listen to what they had to say. The next morning was Christmas morning and I got a brand new pair of roller skates. These weren't just any roller skates though. These were my very first real pair of skates, white with teal colored wheels. I was ecstatic to get these skates! My school usually had a monthly skate night at the local skating arena and I would always have to rent skates, now I didn't have to rent skates anymore, sweet! I wanted to go out skating that morning so Grandpa took me out again. This time it was to Hick's Park to skate on the tennis courts. Again, out on the busy road, but this time I had on my skates which is a little more dangerous than walking, but I digress. It was a wonderful Christmas that year in 1990, almost 20 years ago (boy time sure does fly!). That, my friends is one of my faves.

The window in my gym still has not been repaired. It is 34 degrees outside now and 55 degrees inside the gym. The temps are suppose to drop to frezzing or below between tonight and tomorrow and I don't want to be in a gym when it is that cold without heat. How long is it going to take to get this window fixed? Anyone wanna place a bet?

A Week to be Thankful!

This morning I get to work and what do I find? A window in my gym has been busted out! Glass all over the stairs and even on the floor below. Sad that people have to break windows like that. I wonder if someone was trying to get into the gym for some reason and thought, "hey, let me break a window that is about 20-30 feet off the ground. That will definitely make it easier to get in." Whatever, stupid people do stupid things.

This past week was a great one. I went home for Thanksgiving and had a blast. I was able to show Leland around the EP. The silence after the question "What do you think about EP?" said a thousand words. Not that impressed with the whole thing. It was fun going to the shoppes at the outlet and seeing friends. Ke'Flauta was great as usual and all my old soccer friends are still amazing. I love seeing those girls and catching up on life and everything in between. We always have good time when we are together, and the time flies by! We met for breakfast at 8:30am and didn't leave VI until 11:30am. What a great time we had!

Thanksgiving day was busy, but very fun. I woke up early to run in the Turkey Trot and found out that I have cut two minutes from my 5K time since July, sweetness! Then I went home to relax for a little but then it was on to the parade fro clean-up. Every year that I am in EP I go help with the clean-up afterwards. It's become a little tradition for my fam. Mom stays home and cooks while Dad and I go clean-up. This year Leland was there to help so it was a little easier. After the clean-up we went back to my parents, I made the mashed potatoes and masked sweet potatoes and it was time to eat the yumminess that is the Thanksgiving Feast! The only problem this year was the turkey. Poor turkey, my mom took it out of the freezer Tuesday night and it was still frozen Thursday morning. Mom waited as long as possible before cooking it but it was still a little frozen when she had to put it in the oven so she left it in for and extra 30 minutes. She didn't have to do that because the turkey would have been just fine with normal timing. Lots of gravy and good stuff mixed with the turkey and you couldn't even tell. Afterwards it was the traditional falling asleep during the football games. Later in the evening Mom wanted to go to the outlet shoppes for the 10pm openings and deals. That was a major bust. All the stores that I normally go to had lines around the buildings and I wasn't waiting for those lines to save an extra 10%. We left pretty quickly. All in all it was a great Thanksgiving day.

Friday was Great Grandma Aurea's 102nd birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY G-G MA! LOVE YOU!

Saturday we went to White Sands, NM to take my bridal portraits. It was a cloudy evening, but it made fro great lighting and beautiful contrast. We were so lucky too. After the pics were finished we went into Alamogordo, NM for dinner and as we were getting ready to leave to go back home the heavens opened and it was pouring rain! We left the sands just in time because with the timing of everything if we had stayed for even five minutes more my dress would have been ruined from the rain and sand. Perfect timing! Saturday was also Daddio's birthday so a "Happy Birthday Shoutout is in order", HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!

It turned out to be a wonderful week full of fun activities and Leland getting to know my family a little better. He must really love me because in order to meet my brother and spend a week with my family and still want to marry me, it would have to be love.

Today in Sacrament meeting the topic was "gratitude". What else would it be the Sunday before Thanksgiving? One of the speakers really got me thinking. He said, "Everyday we pray and say that we are thankful for the day, but what about the day are we thankful for?" That got me to thinking, what about today am I thankful for? Today I am thankful for friends who love and support me and want me to be happy. I thankful for a loving family that is going to drive me crazy over the next five weeks, but then will be okay after that. I am thankful for the gospel and the restoration. I am thankful for inspired leaders. I am thankful for personal revelation. I am thankful for the Savior and the sacrifice that he made for me. I am thankful for a loving fiance that will support me in whatever decisions I make and my goals in life. I am thankful for Temples and the opportunity to be sealed to my family for eternity. I am thankful for technology because I don't think I could do math without it. I am thankful for a roof over my head and food in my cupboards. I am thankful for so many things today there is not enough time to write them all down. I guess, most importantly, I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who has blessed me so much recently. I am thankful!

I am also in the Christmas mood now. The past couple of years I have not been all that into Christmas. It just hasn't felt like Christmas but after going to the mall yesterday and walking around a Christmas store looking for my mom's Christmas gift and seeing all the nativities, I am in the mood. I needed the reminder of the nativities about what the season is all about. It's not about the gifts or the sales, or the materialism. It's about the birth of Christ and I hope I will be able to remember that as the stress of the season comes upon me. It is my goal to remember what the time is really about and not worry about the other stuff that the world thinks the season about. This year is really turning out to be a great one! One more month and the year will end. Another year down, another year of experience and wisdom.

I have never been so happy for it to be a school break! I am only hours away from Thanksgiving break. I think I am looking forward to this break more than even the kids. I don't even care that I have to go to some meetings on Monday. I am just happy to not worry about anything for a week, especially crazy, disresepctful kiddos. All I have to worry about is dying trying to run in altitude again, making some yummylicious desserts and potatoes for Thanksgiving, and not eating too much so I can fit into my dress. I soooo need this break right now. This semester has been the highest of high stress for me. I am grateful I have someone that is helping comfort me and take away the stress if only for a couple of hours a day. When I get back I know there will be no rest but at least I can prepare a little better for it instead of being thrown straight into it.
I am so happy to be able to spend some time with my family doing the traditional things. Me waking up early on Thanksgiving morning to run in the Turkey Trot. Mom cooking in the kitchen starting Wednesday and going all the way through meal time. Dad and me going to do the parade clean-up. Going back home and cooking frantically until te potatoes and desserts are done. Trying to find spaces on the table for all the food that Mom and I have made. Getting a plate full of everything and sitting on the couch to eat. Oh, and how can I forget the traditional "I am thankful for..." This year two things will be added to the mix. One, midnight shopping at the outlet mall and two, Leland trying to keep up with it all. It's not really going to be a restful week, but it will be fun! And i will get to see all my friends from college that I miss dearly. We have all started lives of our own all over the world and it's nice that we are able to still get together every now and then to update our going ons and enjoy in one another's friendship.
My thoughts of gratitude are starting. Thanksgiving has become the overlooked holiday between Halloween and Christmas, but I will write about that another time. Only seven more hours until freedom from crazy!

The fundraiser, like predicted, was a bust. The "pie the teacher" was a huge success. The homeroom that was running the event made almost $300! Congrats to that homeroom on all of their hard work and dedication to getting this thing done. I had a great time getting pied then having cool whip and chocolate syrup literally all over me for the rest of the night. I have heard there are tons of videos out there right now of me and my collegues getting pied. Good times, good times. Cool whip and chocoate syrup are not, repeat, not good for the eyes. Boy does it sting when that stuff hits the eye!

My dress should be arriving sometime today!! Exactly six more weeks! Still a little scary, a lot crazy, and majorly (sp?) exciting!