Kory's Address

Sister Kory Williams
MTC Mailbox #320
CHI-CON 0119
2005 N 900E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

GEE! Life has been busy!

What a week! Birthdays, baptisms and blubbering! Devyn had her 8th birthday, Jamie had her 25th, Kory turned 22 in the MTC, and Kris had her 21st again.

Saturday and Sunday were very busy. Kory went to the temple, had her farewell, Birthday Party at Grandma Thomas', then Devyn was baptized. Right after that, President Barr came to the baptism and set Kory apart as a full-time missionary.

Monday we left for Provo. We spent most of the day Tuesday running around Orem and Provo looking for Kory's missionary goodies Then on Wednesday Kory officially began her year-and-a-half adventure in Chile.

Halloween Time!

Hey everyone!! Well it's been awhile! But here are a few of the pictures from our Halloween! Hope you enjoy them!!

Kory had three different Halloween costumes this year...for the ward "Trunk or Treat" she was Mario and her friend Erin dressed up as Luigi!


Then for her young single adult activity her and her friends were the Jamaican Bobsled team!


Then for her actual Halloween party the same group of girls dressed up as the Ninja Turtles! I guess you could say that she fit enough into this Halloween to make up for the one she will miss next year!

This is at the ward "Trunk or Treat" again. Here is Devyn with a some of her best friends Jacy and Madison.

Still at the ward "Trunk or Treat"! Austin was Robin and his friend Mason was Batman!! What a coincidence! I honestly didn't even catch on to that until I was typing it out. :)


Austin and Devyn before they went out Trick or Treating on Halloween!


Lane, Devyn, and Austin carved some pretty awesome pumpkins!!


Mom and Dad both dressed up as doctors! Well maybe dad is the doctor and mom is the nurse??

And last but not least...JoAnna dressed up like Vinny for Halloween! Haha!!

Last Volleyball Game Of The Season

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Here's what we know...

So here is the latest and greatest from Ryan! He seems to be doing great! We don't really get to hear a lot of stories so there aren't many to share. Just a weekly update on the fact that he is doing great! He told us in the last email that he wasn't going to be sharing stories anymore. That we could just read about them in his journal. He is over half way through his current journal so we are expecting it in the mail sometime soon. Once we get it we'll share as many stories as possible!

"Thanks for the pictures, birthday cupcakes, and La Jara t-shirt. I didn't even know that they made those. I can't believe everything that is happening out here and at home. I love pictures and letters and packages. They are just so great. Lately I have really been feeling at home here in New York, but it still cannot compare to the SLV. I was walking down the street the other day and I said, 'Wow, that was strange. I just felt like I was walking down the street in Alamosa.' I really did. I felt like I was that close to home. Many times I do."
We aren't sure what he is looking at here. But we can tell you that it's in New York! :)
"...we went to the temple this morning. It was awesome and really cool. It just comes out of the ground in the middle of the city. It was really strange, we come out of the subway, oh yeah, I rode the subway for the first time today too, into Lincoln Center, right next to the temple, and walking out just felt right. It is kinda hard to explain. Something seemed right. Right is the only word I can think of. It was a pretty cool feeling."

Another picture that we wish we could explain...

"I got my new companion today. Elder Hardy. I hope I can grow to love him as much as I love Elder Harbertson."

Kory's Call!!!

Well Kory received her mission call this past weekend(Saturday)! It came in the mail Saturday morning but her nerves were too high all day to open it. So it was on her desk. If she had it her way it's quite possible that it would still be sitting there today. However, her father threatened to open in on his own if she wouldn't. So we sat her down around 7pm and wouldn't let her leave until she opened it. She was so nervous! In fact the most common phrase out of her mouth was "I'm going to puke!" But she made it through without her fear coming true! However, she was shaking enough to about drop the phone. She read it line by line and just about passed out when she saw where she was going and when she was leaving. She got called to the Chile Concepción Mission and will report to the Provo MTC on November 19th (3 days before her 22nd birthday). She will be speaking Spanish and can't wait! Most of her free time is spent online looking at pictures and reading up about the area.

NOTE FROM DAD: KORY HAS BEEN BUSY CREATING A SHRINE FOR US TO WORSHIP HER WHILE SHE IS GONE. IT'S PRETTY PATHETIC!

BEFORE

IN THE PROCESS

AFTER
(I'd say she looks a little lost in this picture)

Update on Ryan!

Well Ryan is doing great so far!! He absolutely loves getting letters and things in the mail. So if you have a chance send a hello his way! He will be grateful! We get a few pictures in emails once a week. Here are some that we have received this far!

Ryan and Thomas Hostetter were in the MTC together for a week! Here they are showing us their homes for the next 2 years!!

This is one of the first pictures we got of Ryan out in New York! This is his companion/trainer Elder Harbertson. According to Ryan, "he is awesome".
(note the amount of hair on Ryan's head from the previous picture to this one...high quality MTC haircuts! Kory has decided that she will be getting a haircut BEFORE she enters the MTC! haha)

Ryan's roof fell down this past week. We're not really sure how...but he does live in New York so there many possibilities as to how or why this may have happened!

Labor Day Weekend

Jamie, Keith, Conner, and Dallyn came down for the long weekend and we were all so happy to see them! We love when they come down to visit and being all together. We always have a good time and lots of laughing. Sitting around the campfire and telling jokes was a favorite part of the weekend!

Kory and JoAnna made us all some delicious "Bananas Flambe" in the dutch oven!!

This was Conner's favorite part! He loves this truck and is pretty much unstoppable when he gets behind the wheel!

The "best buds" having some fun on the trampoline!

Summer vacation is over and the kids went back to school today.


Where did it go? Oh yeah, June was full of ball camps, Ryan and Kory working in Alamosa and getting things ready for Ry's mission. July...was there a July in this last summer? I'm pretty sure that July didn't have all 31 days in it this year. August has been busy getting wood for the winter and school clothes for the school year.

The sun is bright in the San Luis Valley,

Austin is pretty excited to go to school. He was a little nervous walking in to class, but when he found his seat and saw McKay it pretty well faded.

Austin sitting at his desk, waiting for the day to begin

Devyn, well it's just not cool to be excited when you're an old hat at it, but she couldn't hide it when she found out that she got the teacher she wanted.

Devyn with her usual smile, at the door of her classroom. She is in your 1st grade classroom, Ry.

Jo, well you can see, she is on the go as always. She doesn't have Ryan here to prod her off to seminary each morning, but the keys are feeling pretty good in her hands this year, even if they do belong to a '92 Aerostar.

Jo doesn't have time to stand still and wouldn't let Lane out of the car for a before school photo so.....we got him after.....

Huh....already looking smarter.
Lane...what can I say about Lane. He has noticed girls. We're just praying the social doesn't interfere with the academic part of school, 'cause he doesn't know that we control the shut off valve to the social.

This is the first time is 25 years (except for the 2 1/2 months before Devyn was born) that I (Kris) have had no little ones at home during the school day. Wow, what will I do?

Let's see:

I don't have to watch Spongebob or Hanna Montana (I think I'll watch Lifetime);

I can have an entire Mountain Dew to myself (I can feel the pants getting tight);

The house might get clean (might not);

I can run to Alamosa at will (no fights over Happy Meals).

I don't know, I think I feel a tear welling up in my eye.

Hey there! The family went to the mountains last week to cut some wood and while dad was busy cuttin'...the rest of the family did other things to "help".


Now this could be considered helpful...

...and so could this...

...uh and this too...


...kory's idea of "help" turned into keeping the kids entertained...

Lane...what are you doing??

Devyn and Austin takin' a Gator Break...

Can you spell DIVA?

...everyone's showin' off the muscles...

All in all we had a great time and even brought home a good load of wood.