Thursday, May 29, 2008

Boom-boom-boom-boom

We heard the baby's heartbeat for the first time today. It was AWESOME! At first, the doctor located mine, which was steady and even. Then, she found the baby's, and it was rapid--which is a good thing; if it's less than 120 bpm, that's bad. But Baby's was 160! AWESOME! She even encouraged us to call anyone we wanted, so we called my family, where Mom, Dad, and Julia were able to hear. Then we called Chris's mom and she heard it. AWESOME!
The doctor said she thinks it's a girl because the beat was staying pretty much in the same place. In her experience, boys tend to move around more and she has to search everywhere for their heartbeat. When my mom heard it, she changed her mind (she's been saying it is a girl) and now believes Baby Killion to be a boy. We shall see!
I go see the doctor in a month and I am scheduled for a sonogram--we'll find out whether Baby Killion is a boy or girl!

Thursday, May 22, 2008

HUSBAND TAG!

I couldn't resist! I borrowed this application from Heather Matthews from my ward here in TX. Enjoy!

What is his name? Christopher Mikel Killion
How long have you been married? It will be one year on June 2nd! We are newbies!
How long did you date? Hmm. We began dating in early September 2006...we were engaged on November 30, 2006...and we married on June 2, 2007. So I suppose we "dated" for eight months. SIX MONTHS OF TORTURE (after we became engaged)!
How old is he? 27 this October. My sweet old man! (I'll be 21 in August).
Who eats more sweets? Chris. I'm big on salty snacks, like pretzels. But then again, sometimes I'll eat sweets with Chris too! He's got me hooked on Mike and Ike's.
Who said I love you first? Chris. That was a big night...we took a walk around the Provo temple where he told me his mom had suggested that I come to Texas for Thanksgiving (keep in mind this was only a week before Thanksgiving). I flipped out--"Why didn't you ask me!!?" Well, he replied, I didn't want to scare you away or anything. "Good point." We walked back to U Hall, talked more, got kicked out at midnight, where he told me he loved me. *My reply: "I think I love you too." Chris teases me about that! And, better yet--he got the tickets to Texas and we spent Thanksgiving here with his family.
Who is taller? Chris is taller. (Which I have always wanted, my husband to be taller than I am.)
Who can sing better? Bah. I do, but only by a slim amount. I'm more of a clarinet/piano person. My sister Katie and brother Joe are the singers!
Who is smarter? Chris by far. The man kept a 3.93 GPA--at BYU! In the School of Accounting! But I will venture to say that each of us is more knowledgeable where the other is not.
Who does the laundry? I do, but as of late, Chris has been generously helping me fold.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? When looking at the bed, that would be Chris.
Who mows the lawn? Bah. We have no lawn. Maybe one day...
Who cooks dinner? I do. But as of late, I have been so exhausted (thank you Baby Killion)so Chris will help wash dishes.
Who drives? Chris usually does. If I feel a need, I will.
Who is more stubborn? I think we are equally stubborn, just about different things, and sometimes about the same things!
Who kissed who first? Oh, Chris kissed me first. We went to the big dance on the Heber Creeper the night on a Friday night, and at one point the lights went out on the train. We waited quietly next to each other, and I was so sure he was going to kiss me. But he didn't! Well, the next night I happened to be on duty, so he walked me back to U Hall. As I'm walking through the door, he grabs my arm and pulls me back into a kiss. I was so taken aback that I could only stare and wave as he left. When I got into the office (blinds closed), I started to scream and jump up and down and go crazy. I was so excited!
Who asked who out first? Chris did. It took some prodding from my close RA friends, because he was kind of intimidated by me. (I knew this; whenever I came around, he would say something really silly or go quiet. It was so cute!)
Who proposed? Chris. Read the story in the post below!
Who has more siblings? We each have four siblings and we're each the oldest child. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters, and Chris has three brothers and one sister.
Who wears the pants? We each wear one leg. (I liked that answer, Sis. Matthews!)

Well. I'm going to tag YOU, and you do this if you wish! ;)

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Remembering..."Here's to you: The Story"

I was reading through Russ and Adri's engagement story, which made me think about my own engagement story...I got all reminiscent and I've decided to post it so you can read it. I wrote this way back when (December 1, 2006), so take a ride with me along Mary's Memory Lane...

....We're driving back from LDS hospital, after visiting Havalah. Chris and I are in back seat, and he tells me he has to get a book at the library tonight; he'll pick me up at 10:50 so we can walk over there. "Hmmm, awfully late to be getting a book," I reply, but, "sure, I'll go."
When 10:50 rolls around, he calls me to tell me he'll pick me up at ten after eleven. Okay. He finally arrives at U Hall, complete with a duffel bag. "What's up with the duffel bag?" I ask. He replies that my present is in there; earlier he had mentioned that his family sent him a present for me--you know, thanks for coming to Texas, we really enjoyed having you over, that type of thing. This makes me excited because of the mere fact that it is a present for me! hehe
He goes to the bathroom real quick, then we head over in the frigid cold to the library. Now, his friend had this book that he needed, called "Operation Management in Today's Society," something of that nature! His friend was to then leave it at the front desk in the HBLL for Chris to pick up.
We arrive at the front desk, and Chris asks the guy with the nametag about the book, if his friend had left it, etc. "He dropped it off around 5 ish," Chris explains. The dude behind the counter is searching top to bottom, but he can't find the book. He apologizes profusely, and I turn to Chris: "Well, do you know what section the book is in? Do you want to find it now, because you'll need it for your report?" "No," Chris sighs, "I'll get it in the morning."
We start to leave, but instead of going out the door we came in (the one closest to our dorms), he heads in the opposite direction, towards the Talmage building.
"Um...where are we going?" I question.
"We're going to open your present," Chris smiles.
"Okay...can we open it here in the library?" I suggest.
"NO," he replies emphatically.
"Okay," I say, somewhat surprised. We continue to walk.
"How bout...here?" Once again, I receive an emphatic NO. All right...
By this point, we're headed towards the JFSB, the most glorious building on campus, my personal favorite, and I say this to him. "I know," he grins. Still slightly confused, I follow him into the JFSB courtyard, one of my favorite places in the entire world. (Keep in mind that this is the spot where we first held hands.)
So, finally, we are in front of the beautiful fountain in the west end of the courtyard, shadows dancing all over the place--the lights in the fountain were shimmering everywhere. He places the duffel bag on the stone bench that surrounds the fountain.
"Now," he begins, "my family knows how much you love the Philadelphia Eagles, so--" he lifts a magnificent Eagles shirt out of the bag. "Yesss!" I'm elated. I had needed a new Eagles shirt! Chris then reaches into his pocket and retrieves a small, folded piece of paper. "I wrote this myself," he says as he hands it to me-- (let me preface this by saying he calls me Miss Jett and I call him Mr. Killion)
"Dear Miss Jett,
I love you with all my heart. I want you to know that. I want you to also know that--
"Love lifts us up where we belong
Where EAGLES fly on a mountain high"
Recognize that verse? From one of your favorites.
Love, your handsome old man, Chris"

Here I smiled because Chris, as always, is right on the money--this lyric is from "Elephant Love Medley" from Moulin Rouge, one of my favorite movies, and it is one of my favorite songs in the movie as well. I also had to laugh because he emphasized EAGLES, word play right there with the shirt! He continues--
"My family also knows how much you love English, since you're an English major and you love your grammar, so this is for you, too." He pulls a book out of the bag and hands it to me, titled "The New English Dictionary."
I laugh again; yep, it's true, I love my dictionaries because I am totally into the etymology of words and things like that. Right again! It's a beautiful book, really--hard-bound, dark brown leather cover with gilded gold pages. "Turn to the first page," Chris directs me.
I give him a questionable look, as to say "I'm getting there, buddy!" but I follow his directions and I am then startled to see it's not even a book at all--it's a locked box! A safe box, so to speak, and there's a lock for a key to open it. At the top, there is a post-it note that says, "Let's start a new chapter in our lives." (Here he goes again--word play, with the book! LOVES it!)
So, I peer around, there's no key, how do I open it, I wonder. After I verbally asked him that, he tells me I don't even need a key; I can pull up the side.
And, that's what I do, I open the box, and there, to my complete and utter happy astonishment, is perfect bliss.
The bottom of the box is covered by a simply gorgeous picture of the Washington D.C. Temple, MY temple! And at the top of the inside of this box are three red roses, posititioned in such a way as to be sticking right-side-up in the box.
And on top of this beautiful cluster of roses lies THE RING.
At this point, I'm pretty much hyperventilating, and I'm just crazily happy with anxious excitement that seems to last for ten hours, but in reality only truly lasts for a mere two seconds.
Chris takes the ring and fondly remarks, "This is where we first held hands, but now I want to take your hand in marriage." He gets down on one knee, takes my hand, and says, "Mary Cheronne Jett, will you marry me?"
"I WILL! YES! YES! I WILL MARRY YOU!" I'm now jumping up and down with total joy, smiling from ear to ear, all the cold gone from me. He slides the ring onto my left ring finger, and there it remains right now, as I type.

So, this is my story. Let me tell you three things: one, the fact that it had been a present from his family--FALSE! It was totally there for the element of confusion, and it worked! two, the book at the library that his friend was supposed to have left there--NON-EXISTENT! He just needed an excuse to get to that side of campus!! And three, we were supposed to have dinner together earlier that evening, at 5pm. He called to say he couldn't make it; he had to take care of something--WHAT? He was picking up the ring itself!! hahahahaha
As of 11:47 pm, on November 30, 2006, we have been engaged! We're looking at a late May, early June 2007 wedding, in the Washington D.C. temple (of course!) ....

All right, flash forward to the present. I just thought of this: do you know what I was wearing that night? I had no idea this would happen, so I dressed warmly, as it was freezing outside. Chris still teases me about this glorious outfit: my big pink marshmallow coat, my gray, tattered NWBP sweats, my hand-knit pink and green Indian patterned boots (which were not made for outside walking), and to top it off, my baby blue ski cap that looks like a bunch of dredlocks, complete with jingle bells at the ends.
You know he loved me then, and he still does! ;)

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Not all accountants are square

Say hello...to the newest BYU MAcc (Master's of Accountancy) student: Christopher Mikel Killion!


We got the letter yesterday and couldn't be more happy! Of course, this adds a new twist to our plans, but you know what? We've had many twists added to our near future and we gladly welcome this!
My husband, a graduate student! This means I'll find him in the Great and Spacious building. Oh excuse me, the Tanner Building. ;) It's so weird to see him register for Accounting and Business classes in the 500 level. I'm just scraping the 400 level in my English world!

* For those of you who may be confused as to what a MAcc is, it's essentially an MBA, just in the Accounting world!

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Wild Weather!

On a humid afternoon, shortly after we first arrived in Texas last June, we were watching TV when suddenly the TV show stopped and the news came on (whichever channel we were on). The weatherman rushes on to say that Tarrant County (our county), among others, is currently under a tornado watch. Serious stuff, right? Next thing he tells us is to go to the nearest closet and bundle up with blankets. I pretty much fall off the couch at this, but we (Chris, Millie, and I) go to the closet in the master bedroom and wait it out. After the coast was clear, I call my mom to tell her what happened--"What was Chrees theenking, taking you to this Texas?!?"That was my first experience with tornado watches and warnings. I had not known that our lovely metroplex of DFW rests at the bottom of Tornado Alley...a fact (had I known earlier) which would have made me think long and hard about living in this part of the country. "Well," Chris replies, "I've lived in different areas of Tornado Alley nearly my entire life and I've never seen a tornado...although I did see the sky turn green once." Great. ;)

But then Chris said, "You've grown up next to hurricanes and nor'easters your whole life; what makes this worse?" Good point. However, I will take a hurricane and a nor'easter ANY DAY, EVERY DAY, before I will take a tornado. I find it interesting how living in different parts of the country make you immune to certain natural disasters, and the thought of a different natural disaster than the one you are accustomed to makes you quake (no pun intended). Perhaps Californians don't blink an eye at a tremor, but that would be enough to make me go crazy! (I must add that Texas thunderstorms are right up there with Jersey thunderstorms=this is exciting. I do like this. Thunderstorms don't bother me.)
After my first tornado scare, that summer proved to be relatively quiet. This spring, however, is a completely different story, and it seems that the summer is turning out to be the same...

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Elder Jett,

You have been called to serve in the COLOMBIA BARRANQUILLA mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You report to the MTC on August 20th, 2008!

We are so excited for my brother! Bill...a missionary: Elder Jett! He's going to come back speaking Spanish wayyyyyyyy better than I ever have!

Check out Barranquilla, on the northeast corner of the country--ON THE COAST! Lucky Elder. (Not like he can go swimming in the ocean though.) Coincidently, our uncle Jimmy served in the same mission! How cool is that? And most of you know my parents served in the Ecuador Quito mission (bottom left corner of map), so it seems that this portion of South America loves us!



Chris and I are so proud of Bill! :D We have decided we will conveniently "forget" to tell Baby Killion about his uncle Bill until he returns to the U.S. Then he'll look at Bill and think, Who in the heck are YOU? bahaha Nah, just kidding. We'll keep Baby updated on his querido tio Bill.

Monday, May 5, 2008

For love of New Jersey

A week in New Jersey is almost not enough time to fully experience (or to remember) the place. We hadn't been back to North Wildwood since our wedding last June, so this was a momentous occasion. When we arrived, some friends asked us if we were spending the summer there--WE WISH, was my hasty reply. However, Chris and I have already decided that we're moving back up there someday...someday we will live there permanently. Housing prices need to continue to slide... :D
Well, I felt like we hardly slept while we were there but that's fine because we did so much! We went everywhere important (NW beach, MMS, the Seawall, the boardwalk, Cape May, Philly, Sikahema's house, Women's Conference (the girls and me, not Chris!), etc.), we ate everything we wanted to eat (Italian hoagies; meatball sandwiches; cheesesteaks; my father's seafood delights: scallops, flounder, mussels; anything Wawa related, including pretzels, ciabatta melts, and milkshakes; my mom's homemade salsa and rice; SCRAPPLE; etc.) and we loved every second of our time spent in lovely North Wildwood! There is nothing quite like the feeing of sitting in the living room, laughing hysterically, surrounded by my family. *Technically, the living room was replaced by Kate's room, where Bill decided to set up his Guitar Hero and his 80's StarSing. Good times, good times!
Here are some pictures of the trip--ENJOY!
At 2nd Avenue and JFK Blvd. The Seawall in NW
Joe, Danielle, and Julia during our seawall adventure
Chris and me on the world-famous Wildwoods boardwalk, overlooking the Atlantic Julia's Baptism Day! The Jett family, with Killion additions :)

My father on Guitar Hero! (Sorry Father, couldn't resist!)
Chris decidedly concentrating on Guitar Hero
My bullseye on the family dartboard in the dining room!
We didn't want to leave!
The end of the boardwalk, Cresse Ave. Our bike ride morning!
The "children" ...We are so old now that I hardly consider any of us KIDS!
The Jett Sisters: Mary, Katie, Julia