So this week I am learning patience.... what do you do when a baby won't stop crying and you have a massive migraine but all that baby wants is to be held? I tried everything in the book and I finally decided to get in the car and drive. It did wonders for the both of us. He fell asleep in the matter of ten minutes and I got to listen to some soothing music to soothe my frustration. It was only about a twenty minute drive before we returned back home and he was  dead asleep and  I got him out of his car seat just for him to fall back asleep in my arms. It was a tender moment even though he's not my baby. Kids are really amazing and teach you so much about yourself, and what type of person you are. I learn everyday that I'm with them that I am nowhere near ready but it is a good goal to have for the future.

Final Countdown

Thanksgiving has ended and alan and I were reminded by Black Fridays Sales at Cricket and a Basketball Tournament at SLCC, both working over twelve hours days both Friday and Saturday, and now its that time of year when things start getting a little crazy and when you have to take one day at a time. Finals time. With a full time job and school, studying NEVER sounds appealing. Back in Cedar it was a lot easier to study without a full time job and when I just had to worry about what I was eating that day. Now I have a home, husband,and stresses of work outside of the office to worry about, and not to mention that Christmas is just around the corner. Wahoo! I don't know how I am going to get through the next couple of weeks... I have absolutely no motivation. I'm so exhausted when I wake up until the time I collapse at night, and just to get up and do it all over. Only six more days of classes!We live for the weekends and sometimes like last weekend we don't get them. This weekend we do and thank heavens for that. I'm thinking we need a vacation!

It's Been Too Long

So I have set a new goal for myself to try and blog more, not really for other people, because heck I have like two followers but, for myself. I keep a journal and write regularly, there is just something about seeing it up on a screen that makes it more real. So I'm going to try and write chapters updating my life and just writing on random topics... Alan and I have been married for almost five months now and I can say that it is the hardest, most wonderful things to ever happen to me.  People say that after six months I won't be as happy. Every time I hear this statement, I know that our marriage will never be the case. Nothing is better than going to sleep with someone and waking up next to them in the morning, knowing that they'll always be by your side. I'm not by any means saying that our life is a fairytale because it is far from it, we both work and go to school full time. Most of our nights consist of studying for about three hours and we're almost always exhausted, but it's worth it because we're together. We both have 7 A.M. classes... For me this is very early especially because before now the earliest college class I have had is probably ten and there was a reason for that and it's because I am a GRUMP in the morning. I don't talk because I know that anything that comes out of my mouth before nine o' clock isn't going to be so nice. Alan is always cheery and upbeat in the morning being way too nice to me and sometimes makes me even grumpier. haha. Most days Alan doesn't get home until eight or nine which puts us without seeing each other for over fourteen hours. It may not seem long but to me it is forever. I will always await his return in anxiousness, no matter how old we get. I can never get enough of him. He's my addiction and a healthy one too. Every day I see another quality that he has that I want to portray in my own life. He has done extremely well in school and works nearly 50 hours every week. Never once have I heard him complain about it. To me this is amazing because I like to wine about things because I like him to baby him. Lately though, I have tried to be better at that because I know that my schooling and work isn't near as intense as his. If you don't already know my husband is an incredible man and I'm confident that he is the only man that could handle this Kathleen all the time so if you see him anytime soon you should give him a round of applause for being even that more impressive. Every day that I spend with him is a day that I wouldn’t trade fir anything. He is my life, my love, and my everything. I can’t wait to grow old with him and then spend eternity afterward being together.

I love the new home we have together and his support in letting me do what I want with the décor. He has helped so much with all the hanging of the pictures and he even painted the kitchen with me with my choice of colors( red and yellow). It doesn’t look like it’s from a magazine but, it’s a place that we have made OUR home and that to me is one of the most beautiful words in the English language. It won’t be one that we are in long but I know that wherever life takes us that we will make the next place a new place for us and our future children to call home.

Marriage Is What Brings Us Together Today

So...I don't know if this whole blog thing is working out... I'm not very good or consistent at it.I actually wrote this post close to two weeks ago and now I'm finally going to post it. So much of this might not make entire sense since it happened a bit ago. But I'm not a quitter therefore I will just try harder from this point on. So again a lot has happened in my life since my last post! Alan and I got married just over a month ago in the Salt Lake Temple. Nothing is more amazing than promising someone your  heart, whole life, and eternity and not being the slightest bit afraid that they are going to crush it. Alan is the most incredible and intriguing person I know and I love unfolding each new day with him. He is so patient and kind to me always even though I know with me it isn't easy...He listens to me and remembers things that I don't recall ever telling him. He is always doing what's right and is never the one to be lazy. He has taught me to be more proactive. I could really go on all day about him. After we were sealed in the temple we were greeted by friends and family outside and took hours of pictures. People never tell you that your marriage day isn't happy every second because I was running on three hours of sleep( I had a sibling sleepover the night before at the parents house) and I was tired and it was hot.All those pictures of newly wed couples smiling..most of them are forced.  Of course cute Alan was encouraging and held my dress up as we walked around the grounds. We were both STARVING but pushed ourselves through because we knew we'd regret not taking the pictures in the future. Our photographer and videographer were wonderful and nudged us through it all. We got done with pictures at about two thirty, we got married at TEN.  So I think that is a bit longer than average but what do I know? We hustled and went straight to my favorite restaurant Olive Garden. Unlimited bread sticks and cheese plus my Alfredo chicken pizza. After that meal we were both good to go for the reception. It's true when they tell you that you don't eat the food at your own wedding.We kept on getting compliments on the cookies and other goodies and all we could say is "yeah they are delicious aren't they?". My sisters Megan and Ash were angels and went and got me a diet coke that they would bring by every so often for me to sip on. The last hour was dancing and our favorite part. The CD we'd burned didn't work for the music so my brother, Ben was the dj. I was really stressed at the start but nothing ever goes perfectly and it's how one deals with the imperfection that you remember. My sister KayCee even choreographed a dance to  Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" song that started out as the "sister dance" but then we taught the guests the moves that were just a repeat (kind of like the macerana idea). The night went by so fast and before we knew it we were driving away on our riding lawn mower and getting into our limo for a night at the Anniversary Inn. Alan's sister, Holly(my new sis) picked us up and drove us to the airport.Both Alan and I thought that having either set of parents pick us up from our "first night" together may be slightly awkward. Then we had a full day of travel to Puerto Rico. While there we toured the old San Juan and old forts from the wars, we went on a rain forest adventure(highlight of the trip), and of course lounged on the beach. While we were there we learned quite a bit. Puerto Rico is owned by the U.S. but by no means are they patriotic...and they shouldn't be. Yet they still celebrate the fourth of July with a three minute firework show and eighty percent of the people know english pretty well, although Alan's spanish came in very handy numerous times. It just makes me sad that the U.S. owns places...it's weird to me. When they applied for statehood they got rejected even when there are Puerto Ricans in the service...kind of odd? Soldiers fighting for a country that they are owned by? Anyway, the country is beautiful and one benefit is that you don't need a passport to go there. The trip of course was too short, the week went by so fast. I can say that I was excited to come home and start a "reality life" with Alan. Our first week of marriage was quite a test and pretty welcoming to the world of marriage. It all started with our broken water heater which consisted of two minutes of warm water and then transitioned to the shower from hell. It was so cold. We couldn't do our wash and so we had to turn to the charity of our parents... the very same day Alan's car starter broke and so we had to share my car in getting to both our jobs and running errands. What a blessing it is to have two cars. Then mid week I became sick and found out after going to the doctor that I had laryngitis. I sounded like I had been a chain smoker for years and was infected with lung cancer. In short I just sounded ugly. So my first week back from a week vacation I had to take half of the week off. haha. As I was getting better Alan started to get sick so I combated whatever was infecting him with some vitamin c and lots of meds. It has been really fun starting our new little home together and cooking dinner for Alan, and explaining home decor to him. We just bought our comforter for our bed and it took me about twenty minutes to educate him on a pillow sham. He didn't understand why there was a pillow on the bed that he didn't use. Before we got married he had a pillowcase on his pillow and then put the pillow sham over it and slept on that. His pillow was as flat as a board and had never really slept on anything different. we got him a "big boy" pillow that he loves and now he is a pro when it comes to making a bed pretty. We've loved having visitors over that have been mostly our family so far who have helped us through our married life very nicely so far. Chad, my brother in law, fixed Al's car and then his uncle Dave and cousin Tyler installed a new water heater. It's nice to have handy men in the family...  That's all I have for now but I'll be checking in again soon.
xoxo Kathlen H.Harris
p.s. here are some pics!

Waiting at the Airport after and exhausting night(take that as you will).

Pina Coladas on Carlos, our bell hop.

 

 San Cristobal

tunnel

This was located in the prisoner cell and Alan says "oh at least they had a view" my response was "Alan, darling, that is for  ventilation.

One of Al's awesome pics he got! (take in mind these were all taken on my phone)

One of Puerto Rico's land marks.

My hot husband.

Some awesome houses in Old San Juan

El Morro. Has sort of a vintage look...

We climbed steps.

This is how much it costs to get around in Puerto Rico (once again take it as you will).

This lady manned the bus and plays a significant role in my life. I don't know her name...

He's stretching alright?

We climbed Water Falls.

We were cold.

For most awkward picture of the year.

The end of our hike. Next was zip lining down!

Another awkward pic. Hector and Diego will show ya a good time (last time..take it as you will).

Pool at our resort.

View from the balcony :)

Tell the World I'm Comin Home...

Well... Many things have happened in the last few months and I really have no idea where to start... My life has completely changed and nothing is the same as it used to be. Some of the change is bad but most of it is GOOD! To start off..
1.  I moved back to Salt Lake on February 22 because of some health issues I was having. I hated living by myself when I was going through these problems and my doctor advised me to go back to Salt Lake to live with my parents. It is the hardest thing I have ever done. I've never quit at anything but I had to drop school and be selfish in nothing thinking about education or how it would affect others I only thought of me. I have come to the point in my life where I realize and understand that I can't always go at everyone else's pace and that I shouldn't be comparing myself to others. Sometimes I am just going to have to go at my own speed and do what is best for ME. Life is not a race. Sure people will judge me for it... they already have but that is their problem, not mine. I know who I am and that is all that matters. A lady questioned me on coming home and said "Well, that is a waste of a semester..."I could see her perspective but I was so grateful that I knew better. It is through trials and failures in our life that we are strengthened. How many times have you heard someone say " Oh yeah that job promotion was so hard, and I hated it, but I'm glad I went through it!" I would have to say NEVER. It is through the stepping stones and mountains that we have to climb that make everything worth it so when that job offer comes around we can handle it with ease. To be honest I don't see this as a wasted semester I see it as a life changing experience that I could never receive in education.
2. I'M ENGAGED! Yup that's right Alan purposed on March 12, 2011. We were at the airport on our way to see my brother Ben and his wife KayCee and right before we went through security he got on one knee and asked me to marry him. Some of you may be thinking well that is a weird way to go about doing it but to me it was PERFECT. He knows me too well! That is exactly what I wanted. How many people can say that right after that got engaged they left on a plane to go on vacation for five days?! It was like a dream! We're sealing the deal in the Salt Lake Temple on July 1st! I am so excited to spend eternity with him! It's funny reading this over because I used to make fun of people like me who get married so young. In my plan I didn't want marriage until around 27. Be careful of what you plan for because it hardly ever goes your way, most of the time if not all the time it will go God's way. Heavenly Father's plan is always better than our own because he knows us better than we know ourselves. It is through the faith we put in him that we will grow.

my shocked look right after!

Kissing my fiance!!

Though I am very glad to be back in SLC where I belong Cedar City will hold a place in my heart always. It is where I belonged for awhile but as time passes people change and their needs do too. I have so many memories and great victories that I will always remember and many people that I will never forget. There is one in paticular that I wanted to talk about real quick. I was going to do a whole section dedicated to him while I was in school at SUU but never got around to it. So although its old news, I will never forget Bob. So this is me blogging about Bob.
So there was this man in my Chemistry class named Bob. He is 48 years old and a hero in every aspect. These are the reasons why...
1. He wears bandanas in class after he works out.
2. He brings treats of some kind every day and hands them out to the class
3. He is currently enrolled in a modern dance class at the University
4. He brings extras of everything you could possibly need ( calculators, double a batteries,scantrons)

He entertained me everyday. He was constantly talking out in class yelling the answers when 99% of the time they are wrong. But Bob doesn't care because Bob is great. He consumes 5000 calories a day because he can. He lost 28 pounds and then put it all back on in muscle. How do I know this? Bob told me. He tells me everything. He can bench 280 pounds and is pursuing a career in body building to make some money on the side. Why? because Bob can. Here are some snap shots I have got... I wish the quality was better but I took it on my phone but you get the picture!

teaching to the class before our Professor shows up

A study group Bob planned. I was one of the two that showed.

Bob talking to me with his eyes closed.

 Well that is all I have for now but I am sure I'll be blogging again soon!

So here I am sitting in my kitchen in the early hours of the morning knowing that I need to go to bed but, I just started this blog so I now can't... I am back in the Cedar of cities and I'm liking school so far. BIG NEWS. I brought one of my family's cars down this semester so I can go to the store to by my milk all by myself and start acting a bit more grown up. I will probably be getting my own car in the next month or two and cross your fingers that its one that I will love and will be good to me in the years to come. The semester so far has been pretty quiet. One of my roommates, Steph, graduated in the fall so she didn't come back in the Spring so that is a bummer but she is on doing big stuff. I have only been down here for two weeks and already I am learning more life lessons that will help me in the future... hopefully. This is just a side note but, has anyone ever felt like they learn the same life lesson more than once and they just feel stupider each time they make the same mistake? I'm not saying I have or anything... I mean who does that? Anyway, I just have come to the conclusion that forgiveness is truly divine. I seriously don't know how people hold onto grudges for people... to me it takes so much effort to be angry at someone for more than an hour. I tend to forget a lot of the time that I should be angry at someone... Some people would say that is weak but, I find it to be a strength. If you can't even remember you're angry at someone than you must love that person a great deal right? My favorite though is when two people hate each other and you ask them why and they don't even remember the argument or disagreement that broke their relationship. I think that is weak. It kind of reminds me of the quote that says "Hate is easy but, Love takes courage". I think sometimes we put a wall up so we don't get hurt but most of the time that wall is doing nothing but crumbling down on us and we become our own enemy. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that I'm perfect because I am very far from it... My mind is just going at a mile a minute. Something that I can say is that I've asked forgiveness from everyone that I feel I have wronged in anyway and that is pretty satisfying. If you are reading this blog and I have been mean to you or something let me know and I will make you a card with cookies and be at your house in a flash. To me, being on good terms with everyone I'm around is a big deal to me. Even if I have a little tiff with one of my homies I get super bummed out and have to talk to them before I feel alright about it again. Something else that I have been discovering is that if you feel iffy about something confront it and if it doesn't go your way then you have to look at it in the perspective that you've done all you can and that you have to let things be sometimes. If it's meant to be , it's meant to be.Do all you can do and then go on your way. Now that I have got all my philosophical thoughts out of my head let me just close with something happier.
 I am now ready to go to bed...it's two days until the weekend and Alan is comin to town.

Get Me Outta Cedar City

Finals are coming up and I'm going insane... All I do is study...eat and pee occasionally...and sometimes sleep. I forget sometimes what its like to talk with human beings because I study with my ipod and don't talk to anyone while I study. I have had a lot of alone time which I love but, I know now that I like talking to people and coming home and talking to my roomies, especially Steph. I am beginning to get super bummed because she is going to be moving back to Salt Lake in about six days... I am really going to miss her. She is my soul mate...Cedar City is such a cute little town but I am getting claustrophobic. Something that I have definitely figured out this semester is that I'm a city person all the way.I was once stamped as a cookie cutter by some random guy and I didn't even care. Anyway, something else that I have learned is that I lack full independence without a car... which by the way I'm going nuts without. Cedar is small enough as it is but without a car it's even smaller. The only places I go are campus, church, and my house. If I go anywhere besides those places I have to be accompanied by a driver with an automobile.It gets annoying but none the less I am grateful for what I have. It just sucks being a college student with no money for a car. So if anyone wants to donate to the Kathleen is poor fund I would be most grateful. I will pay you back one day soon when I become rich. So that is what is going through my head this Saturday night as I sit by myself, in my room being a loser. I can't wait for Winter Break and being home with my family for a month plus the Vegas Bowl! I need a break from this small town thing!!