Rorie Gilmore

Rorie was born at Lakeview hospital in Bountiful while her parents were residing in the city of Centerville. She was the second child of 4 and the only girl (she cried when she found out her mother had a boy for the last child, but still loves her brother). Shortly after she was born her parents moved to the city of Woods Cross. This was a very fun place to be a child.

The train ran right behind their back yard. Only a chain link fence separated their house from the train. Rorie said they just got used to the chandelier shaking every time the train passed by. In fact, the train provided hours of entertainment for Rorie and her brothers. They loved waving to the conductor and watching the train go by. Their mom didn't know it, in fact, she still doesn't know it until this day, but sometimes Rorie and her brothers would slip out to the train side of the fence and play on the train tracks. The danger of it was exhilarating.

When Rorie was 13 their family moved to Kaysville. They bought a brand new home in the new development on the West side of the freeway. It was the first of the farm land to be subdivided and made available for families to build on. Their home was literally South of Barnes Park. You would cross 200 North at Barnes Drive and there was their house (her parents still live there). At this time, however, Kaysville was still very much a farming community. With theirs being the only neighborhood in West Kaysville and the rest being farm land.

Rorie and her family loved the rural feel. Almost all of West Kaysville was in their ward. All around them were onions and corn growing. Rorie sometimes would ride her bike over to Shepard Lane to babysit for a friend of her mother's. The family loved the slower, more laid back pace of the rural community and they loved how friendly everyone was.

Rorie and her family loved spending time together. Rorie says her parents were just about perfect. Her dad was so patient and she hopes so much to be just like them. The whole family loved spending time together on family fishing vacations. They were avid fishermen and with Rorie being the only girl, she could bait and tackle her own line without any help. She was always the first one to catch a fish.

Their vacations mainly were to Lake Powell, Fish Lake, Flaming Gorge and other fishing venues. However, Rorie's favorite family vacation happened one year when they went to Lake Powell. The day they were leaving for home her dad surprised them all with a spontaneous day at Disneyland. It came out of nowhere for the kids. It was one day down and home the next day. They had been camping so they didn't have any clean clothes. They spent the evening before Disneyland washing clothes out in the sink at the hotel. She loved that surprise.

Once Rorie entered high school, her time was pretty much occupied with being in theater and choir. She participated in school musicals. She preferred however to be a background character so people wouldn't notice her too much. This busy schedule didn't allow her much time to socialize so Rorie did the logical thing and got a job at the Training Table in Layton (her older brother was also working there). This job provided her with friends to hang out with in her limited time.

When Rorie was a Junior, a young man by the name of Steve Gilmore started working at the Training Table to save money for his mission to Italy. One day while Rorie was up front, Steve said to other coworkers in the back, « Who's that cute blond working up front? There was a bit of an awkward pause then her brother said, « That's my sister. » Followed by a bit more of an awkward moment. They all took it in good stride though and Rorie and Steve started dating. However, it was only for a couple of weeks before Steve left on his mission.

While Steve was on his mission Rorie wrote (Steve teases her that the letters were pretty sparse while she had a boyfriend for a while) and graduated from high school. She then started college up at Weber State University. When Steve came home from his mission Rorie went to the airport to welcome him home. When he stepped off the plane she thought, « I forgot how cute he is. » 9 months later they were married in the Bountiful Temple.

When Rorie had just started her 4^th semester of College she found out she was pregnant with their oldest child Katie. She was so sick that she would go to class and think the whole time, please hurry up and quit talking. As soon as the class was over she would rush to the bathroom and throw up. She realized this was not a workable situation and so she withdrew from school at that time. She ended up becoming a substitute teacher. She says she was the «mean substitute. » The kids would complain, « It's Mrs. Gilmore. » She's sure she was so grouchy (very counter to her nature) because she was so sick.

After having Katie she became a stay-at-home mom while Steve finished up his degree in business. He also entered the ROTC at the University of Utah. Another child, Rylan was born to them. After Steve completed his degree he started his military career. There first assignment, as luck would have it, was Hill Air Force Base. They lived on base for 1 ½ years and then bought a brand new home off of Angel Street. The new home thing kind of backfired for Rorie. She got pregnant with her second daughter, Kylie and was again so sick the smell of the home made her want to throw up constantly.

Their next military assignment was to Shriever Air Force Base in Southern Colorado. The Gilmores LOVED Colorado. They loved how religious it was there. They loved that there was a different church on every corner. They loved how kind the people were. They loved that their ward really became their ward family and that you were cool just because you showed up at church. But what they may have loved the most was that they had sunshine 300 days out of the year.

While living here and being in the military they had their last two children, Josh and Shelby. Rorie does not recommend having babies in a military hospital. She said she would meet the delivering doctor the day before giving birth because all her babies were C-Section. The last time she had a baby the doctor berated her for having this child telling her she could die because of too many C-Sections. She thought quietly, « well why don't we just send it back then, » but was too nice to say it to his face.

After 4 years, the military was cutting back. It was looking for people to voluntarily leave the service. So Steve got out and started working for himself. They lived there 5 more years very content to stay there forever. However, as always happens in life, the Lord had other plans. In October of 2014 they were traveling back to Utah for a wedding. Out of nowhere and at the same time both Rorie and Steve looked at each other said they needed to move back to Utah. It hadn't even been a blip on the radar.

That week they started looking for houses. For some reason the real-estate agent on the house they now live in wouldn't let them see the house. They couldn't believe it. But they did see the pictures on the internet and really liked it. They loved how each kid would have their own bedroom and the yard was fantastic. Finally, they made an offer without even seeing the house in person, but the agents weren't even going to take their offer. Through divine intervention, they finally made the offer and had it accepted.

Rorie and Steve really like living here. Rorie loves gardening, so having such a large yard is a dream come true for her.

I asked Rorie if she had any advice she would give to her younger self what would it be. She said she would tell younger Rorie not to worry so much about what other people think. Just be yourself because life is so much more fun when your being yourself.

I also asked her what words of wisdom she would pass on to others and she said. Be patient. Learn what fights are worth fighting and don't try and change everything all at once. Just work on one thing and let things happen.

Great words of wisdom. Rorie is such a warm and real person. She is very down to earth. I hope you all get the opportunity to get to know her!