Skip the fall; let's go straight into WINTER

Chris and I woke up yesterday morning to see snow falling gently onto the streets of Provo. I guess I shouldn't be terribly surprised, since I'm a senior and I've experienced this before...but the first bit of snow gets me every time. There was no transition this year! Summer ended; the temperature dropped a little, and then all of a sudden, SNOW. Where did fall go?
I'll drop a shout-out to East Coast falls. Wow. Where to begin? Bottom line, they are spectacular. Thousands of trees means tens of thousands of leaves, all of which turn delightful shades of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, and muted browns. The air is crisp, crisp, crisp--a benefit of being next to an ocean. Sunny skies with strong winds means you find yourself wearing jeans and a hoodie with your Rainbows, a cup of Wawa hot chocolate in hand, watching some high school soccer. Or perhaps you're visiting a pumpkin patch, with a mug of hot apple cider in your hand and a handful of ginger snaps in the other. I appreciate (and miss) falls a lot more now that I haven't been around a Jersey fall for a solid four years while I have been here at school. Love the Fall, my friends!
This week, as usual, was both busy and fun. We had a Cherry Hill NJ Stake Reunion at the Wilk on Monday night--always a pleasure to see President and Sister Corbitt, to be with the Jersey crowd, and to LAUGH. Naturally, we bring the husbands/wives, fiancees, and girlfriends/boyfriends to become more indoctrinated into the Jersey ways :DFriday night was awesome: BYUSA sponsored a married student catered dinner in the Wilk Ballroom, complete with Mindy Gledhill playing the piano during our meal and Comedy Sportz providing the entertainment afterward. The best part--it was free!
The Stapley's

The Holden's
The Lee's
The Killion'sThey really had us laughing! Then we went to the Holden's to watch Iron Man--if you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. Here we are, the group!

Saturday was jammed packed. We stopped by the Holden's again, this time for the men to watch Texas vs. Oklahoma and other important football games happening around the country. BYU played New Mexico yesterday afternoon and the Lee's came to our place to watch with us. We won, 21-3 and we are #9 in the AP poll: Go Cougars! Kung Fu Panda was playing at the Varsity Theater on campus so we went with the Stapley's (another movie I recommend you should see if you haven't). And finally, Ashley and Chris came over and we watched The Skeleton Key--creepy! but good. We were so happy to have these two over because we have so much fun together! All in all, we had a wonderful yesterday. :)
Today brought a calling for Chris--say hello to the newest Scout Master of the Pleasant View 2nd Ward! Chris's extensive background in scouting will really be beneficial here. He is very excited to take the boys out on some camping trips! Well, that's all from our end--have a great week!

Welcome to October!

This week with school was fine. ...Nothing too exciting to report. Although I must say I feel bad for the people who sit directly behind me in my classes. Liz bounces all over the place, which makes me really fidgety. I feel like I'm never sitting still, so I'm sure it can get frustrating for the people who sit behind me and who get to watch me move into 153 positions during a fifty-minute class...Oh well ;)
Friday night brought some Jersey people into town, from Rexburg, Idaho (where BYU-Idaho is located). Dawnelle and Jonathan Sarlo came down with Dawnelle's younger sister Hannah and Alex hosted a 18th birthday party for Hannah. It was amazing to be around Jersey people--it always is! Here's a picture of the girls:
We were very excited for Saturday morning, because our friends Rob and Jamie were AWESOME enough to give us tickets to the Saturday morning session of General Conference. We made it just in time, had great seats in the balcony, and were ready for some words of inspiration. Imagine my surprise when President Monson announced five new temples to be built: including one in PHILADELPHIA! I almost fell out of my seat! Ask Chris, tears were coming out my eyes because I was simply and completely overjoyed at this wonderful news. A temple in Philly! That will cut our (when I say our, I mean Cape May New Jerseyites) temple trip time: rather than a three and a half hour drive, it will be less than two for the Cape May crowd! Man, I can't stop smiling when I think about a temple in the City of Brotherly Love :D Chris turned to me (while we were still in the session) and whispered, "So I'm guessing we'll be out there for the dedication?" Oh yes, Husband--you got it! We took some pictures outside (in the rain) after the session ended.
*On a side note, my brother Elder Jett sang with the MTC Choir, who performed during the Priesthood session of the Conference. His face appeared on the screen three or four times, so I'm told! :D
After the session, we left Salt Lake and headed north to Clearfield to visit my Aunt Tawna and Uncle Dan. As usual, we drove up I-15 through Chris's mission areas! I love it when we go up there because I feel like I am right there with Chris, when he was there...if that makes any sense. We always have a great time when we go to Clearfield. Bottom line, my aunt and uncle are the best! They won't let us lift a finger during our stay, and their grandkids are always a joy to see. I've seen most of them grow older! Naturally, Sunday afternoon today arrived too quickly. Tawna and Dan were nice enough to send us some with soup and french bread. On our way back down, we made a stop in West Jordan to say hello to Grandma and Grandpa Carter, who gave us some homemade jam to take back to Provo with us (yum!). Chris said we'll have to have some bread and jam for breakfast tomorrow--I'm fine with that!
Well, I still have some homework to complete before class tomorrow--I couldn't do ALL of my homework while on the mini-vacation in Clearfield! ;) Have a wonderful week!

...Where did September go?

Man, I feel like we just got back to Provo and that everything is getting under way. In reality, we've been back for nearly two months and we've fallen into a great routine. (I love schedules and routines; I just feel better knowing what I have to do and when I have to do it.)
This week's excursions went well! I got a 91% on my Elang test--gotta love that. I believe I did fairly well on my Spanish test but I won't find out that score until Wednesday when my professor comes back from vacation. The girl at the Testing Center told me I was the first person to take the Spanish test--I thought that was pretty cool. I'm not a procrastinator (when it comes to tests, anyway) but I never imagined I'd be the first in a class to take one. So there I go! My Jane Austen paper and criticism notebook were both handed in on Friday...the school life ended well this week. Let's hope this week will be just as good or even better!
On Monday night we went to the Holden's apartment to celebrate Steve's birthday. Britney made some ridiculously good angel food ice cream cake and we loved it. And as always, the laughs never cease when we are all together!
Don't the cakes look amazing? Good job Brit!
Steve is making his wish...
The Stapley's
The Lee's
The Killion's
On Friday night, the Lee's stopped by and naturally, we made a Beto's run. Chris says that's one of the things he missed about being here in Provo. But now we're back and we can enjoy it once more! For those of you who are unfamiliar with Beto's, it's a fast-food Mexican restaurant (I use the term "restaurant" loosely here). It's kinda sketchy inside, but MAN are the burritos AMAZING! Chris will get a cheese, potato, bacon, and egg burrito and they are to die for! I'll sometimes get one of those, but this time I got a bean and cheese--also very tasty. Beto's is known for their midnight visits by the college students; a lot of people go at midnight on Sunday, so it's technically Monday night haha.
Saturday was great because it was full of football and full of spirit! We girls (Britney, Brianna, Adri, me) got together at Bri's stake center to watch the General Relief Society Broadcast because they had a humanitarian project and dinner before the broadcast (okay, let's be honest--we went for the food ;D). We had a terrific time and all the speakers were wonderful. Afterwards, we went back to the Holden's where we glorified in all the top 10 upsets...and BYU's current #8 ranking!
Today was also a fantastic day; we had our home teachers over for the very first time and they are really cool. My visiting teachers also stopped by and I can tell that we will have some good times. We topped the night by going to Molly Adams's house in Lehi for dinner. Chris and I ran into Carrie and her husband yesterday and they invited us over for today's dinner. GREAT food, GREAT people. It was essentially a Linwood fest, with some Cape May flavor provided by Chris and me haha. We had a marvelous time being with the Jersey crowd.
I decided it was time for a haircut (see previous picture above). When it gets too long, it gets too heavy; since my hair is so fine, heavy just doesn't work. So I went to Paul Mitchell where I had my girl Britney Smith, formerly of Moorestown, take care of my problem. What do you think? :)
We are looking forward to General Conference this weekend--we will be up in Clearfield visiting Aunt Tawna and Uncle Dan, in addition to going to the Saturday morning session with our friends, the Chaffin's. Have a wonderful week!

Week Tres

We all know that the week drags on and the weekend flies by way too fast.
This weekend was no exception. Friday night, we had my great friend Ashley Walters come over with her boyfriend, Chris Jensen. We watched Stay Alive--pretty freaky! It was a good story and thankfully, it wasn't cheesy. On Saturday, Chris and I had the Lee's and Brianna over to watch the BYU Cougars KILL the Wyoming Cowboys, 44-0. (Steve was feeling under the weather and used the game time to get some sleep!) The boys ran to Macey's during halftime and brought us some snacks for the second half. The game was phenomenal; there is nothing better than watching your team in its glory.
Later that night, we met up with our Texas friends, Rob and Jamie. (We were in the PG 1st ward in TX together and they moved to American Fork a month before we came up to Provo!) We went to a busy Applebee's for dinner; after we left Applebee's, we were good to go to Trafalga in Orem. Trafalga is a combination of mini golf (indoor and outdoor), go-karts, batting cages, arcade, etc. They have a date package that includes everything I just mentioned, plus some Dippin' Dots, so we went ahead and bought it! We did the indoor mini golf course, which was pretty spectacular--everything glow-in-the-dark. The go-karts were so much fun--Chris must have sped past me five times; apparently I was going slow! haha Unfortunately, only two of the seven batting cages were working, and the line for those two cages were long. Instead, we went to the arcade and asked if we could substitute tokens for the cages. The answer was yes so we went to work! I won the jackpot on one of the games and I got 549 tickets in one shot! Chris loved the basketball game and did very well with it! The Chaffin's got a lot of tickets too, and they were kind enough to give them to us. We ended up getting a baby Big Bird for Liz's room (most of the other prizes were kind of boring). We all then enjoyed our Dippin' Dots. What a great night!Today was a very happy day in the Killion household. In addition to a wonderful morning at church, both the Eagles and the Broncos won this afternoon! (Eagles beat Steelers, 15-6; Broncos beat Saints, 34-32.)
This week is busy: two exams, Spanish speaking lab, Jane Austen paper...keeps me going! We love you and miss you and we hope you have an awesome week!

What a week in Provo!

School is great. I'm enjoying what I'm learning and I hope that continues! I don't know what else to say about it, besides the fact that it is going well...but if you're interested in English Grammar or Jane Austen, etc., I'd be happy to tell you about it ;)
This weekend was awesome. On Friday night, Chris and I went to the Utah State Fair, as a tribute to our very first date! This is us, two years ago, after our first date to the Fair...
And this was us on Friday night!Even though I couldn't go on any rides (for the obvious reason), we still had a great time. We watched an illusionist show, checked out some huge anacondas/boa constrictors, and looked at art and photography displays. We even ate an elephant ear (fry bread) and Chris won me a teddy bear. As we were leaving, we stopped by some vendors, and we found the cutest sundress for Liz, which was made in Ecuador! It will be perfect for summer time...maybe it will get an appearance in North Wildwood this upcoming summer (we hope, we hope!).
Saturday was busy as usual, but I wouldn't have it any other way. President Sikahema is THE man who got us tickets for the BYU vs. UCLA game. He even invited us into the Cougar Club, where he was a guest speaker. We then grabbed some food and headed up to our seats, where we watched UCLA absolutely crumble underneath BYU and where they lost 59-0 (worst loss for UCLA since 1929). It was SO hot outside, but it was a great game! BYU should gain some more respect for this win, and we should move up in the AP Poll...we shall see tomorrow. After the game, President Sikahema treated a group of us to dinner at the Pizza Factory. We had quite a crowd there and we had a marvelous time.
I have a new calling in our ward--I'm the Service Coordinator. We have a lot of activities coming up in the Stake, including a Free for All (bring things you don't use anymore to give away to someone who will use them) and a Blood Drive, so I'm helping out at those and I'll be getting people to volunteer, too. I'm excited for it because it will help me to get to know more people in the ward. :)
Well, that's all from here. Hope to hear from you soon. I'll talk to you next week!