The last year...

IT SURE HAS BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE WE POSTED ANYTHING. HERE IS A LOOK AT WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO FOR THE LAST YEAR...

September 2010 - Ryan took me to one of my favorite places...Park City. We walked Main Street and looked in all of the fun shops. I have always loved Park City. My favorite shop to go to is the Christmas shop.

October 2010 - Ryan planned a great trip to San Francisco. We stayed near Fisherman's Wharf and could walk all over the city. It was perfect!

Fisherman's Wharf our first night in town

The beautiful Temple

Lombard Street

We even got to see Lacey play two volleyball games. She is amazing. We are so glad we got to see her play and we even snuck over to her hotel to hang out with her in her down time!

It was so fun.

October 2010 - Adam and Jess threw a Murder Mystery party and gave us all characters. It was set in the south and was a Mardi Gras themed party. Ryan's character was the deceased person's lawyer while I was the Gothic vampire author. It was a hoot. One of the girls had a perfect French accent, and one of the guys there had a perfect swamp idiot accent. We laughed and laughed for days about that party.

After the party, I had to try on Jess' wig. Naomi thought it was extra hilarious

when Ryan tried it on though.

October 2010 - We had a bunch of friends come over for a Halloween party. It was fun to have friends come and dress up so great. We ended up being the only couple who didn't dress as a couple. Oops.

October 31, 2010 - Trick-or-Treaters...These were some of the boys we taught in Primary last year. They also helped us do a spook ally in the back yard. It was fun, and Ryan actually passed a kidney stone that morning. Phfew. Good thing it came out before the fun started!

OCTOBER WAS ALSO A SPECIAL MONTH BECAUSE WE FOUND OUT THAT WE WERE EXPECTING OUR FIRST LITTLE BABY. WE COULDN'T BE HAPPIER!

November 2010 - Cory came to Utah with the Seasiders to play against BYU. Cory started and played awesome. After the game all the kids at the game were down asking for his autograph. It was so cool to see him play at the Marriott Center. Way to be man!

December 2010 - Ryan was asked to "be in the Ward Christmas Play". I for sure thought he would say no, but he was actually really excited to join. When we got to the first rehearsal they informed Ryan that he was the lead, he had a solo song, and that he would be the King! He was fabulous! It was a beautiful play and we couldn't stop singing, "Bring me something new for Christmas" for about 2 months after it was over. Merry Christmas!

December 2010 - Our great friends Marion and Justin Bramwell got married in the San Diego Temple. We were so lucky...once again, Ryan planned a fabulous trip and we got to go be there for their wedding. They look so happy! They are our great friends. Justin served his mission in Brazil with Ryan and they were companions. Justin has been so good to Ryan.

We love these guys!

December 2010 - One of my very favorite things to do at Christmas time is to go to Temple Square in Salt Lake and walk through the grounds to see all of the beautiful lights. It makes me miss my parents and Landon OH SO MUCH! While I grew up, we had a tradition to go to Temple Square every December 21st to see the lights and take a carriage ride while we sang Christmas Carols. Oh how I miss them. I am glad we still got to go to see the lights,

we had a blast with the whole Chase Clan.

December 2010 - On Christmas Eve, we did a Christmas Nativity play with the Chase Fam. It was fun because Naomi wanted to be all of the animals in the stable. She did a great job too.

January 2011 - We got to babysit Naomi and McKay while Jess and Adam went to Fiji to visit his mission. We had a blast at Grum and Gump's house feeding Gump's horses. McKay LOVED it.

Ryan also thought it would be fun to go to Chuck-E-Cheese...We are trying to bribe our way to favorite aunt and uncle! Shhh. Don't tell anyone.

February 2011 (4 months along) - We took our first family of 3 shots today. My aunt Kim did the pictures. She is amazing. These are our last family shots before Baby comes in July. They are also our first family shots of all 3 of us. We can't wait to meet the little guy.

March 2011 - We get to see Naomi and Mckay, our niece and nephew often. Naomi likes Uncle Ry Ry because she can get him to do just about anything. Here they are doing "Bibbity-Bobbity Botique" He is going to be such a great Dad.

Still March 2011 - We drove up the canyon to see the gorgeous snow and beauty all around. Ok we really went up so we could roast marshmallows and make s'mores, but somehow we forgot that it is still March...Still WINTER!

Ryan and I got called to be in the YW and YM at church. Ryan was invited on the YW retreat to be one of the priesthood holders on-site at the Jardine cabin. It was such a beautiful place and beautiful cabin. We had a blast! I think this is all of the girls who were there. They are great girls.

March 2011 - We took a last minute trip out to Massachusetts to watch Cory play basketball for the NCAA Division II Championship! We had so much fun watching him play! He is our hero. The Seasiders ended in 2nd place in the whole NCAA Division II. Way to go CORY!!

April 2011(almost 7 months along) - Our latest adventure was a trip to Hawaii, our old and first home together. We could not believe the smells and sounds and feel of going back to our first home. We miss it so much!

Our Temple...the newly renovated Laie, HI temple. WOW!

We got to spend time with Lacey, Cory and Logan while we were there. It was heavenly.

We even got to see Lacey graduate from Brigham Young University Hawaii!

We are so proud of her! Way to go SIS!!

Baby had a great first Hawaiian Vacation as well.

Camping at Fish Lake with the Cowboys

The people: Ryan, Larissa, Kaden, Kenyon, Grum, Gump and Lance.

The view...

The Cowboys...

The Joy... and the COLD!

The Residence.

The best camping trip all summer!

Gump, Lance and Grum took us camping this last week at Fish Lake. We had such a blast. It was so fun to learn from the BEST and to have a good time, fishing, roasting, talking story, cooking, eating, laughing and camping together. We have some of the greatest family there ever was!

What a precious blessing.

Time to Blog Again...

Well, I have definitely SLACKED on my blogging responsibilities.

I think it is high time I get in gear again....

And here is a perfect reason to start back to it.

Ryan took me to the Johnson Mill, a beautiful Bed and Breakfast in Heber last week.

Ryan is the most romantic husband ever! This is the exact same room we stayed in on our Honeymoon.

He surprised me with the whole thing. We stayed over night, ate a wonderful dinner at a steakhouse, and then woke up in the morning for crepes and a beautiful drive through the canyon!

What a sweetie!

Thanks Love!

Earthquakes and Miracles

Many of you have seen or heard of the letter that my mom wrote to our family about the earthquake in Chile. It was published in Meridian Magazine and was in the Church News. Here is a copy in case you didn't get to read it. I love my family, and I am so glad that they follow the promptings of the Spirit.

She wrote this email to us the day after the earthquake hit Concepcion.

Dear Everyone,

I am writing to let you all know how very grateful we are for your prayers, concern, and love. Please keep praying! We need the Lord's help and guidance in order to do all He would have us do to learn what He would have us learn from this earth quake tragedy, and to minister in the way He would have us minister. During the past few days, we have witnessed many events which serve to remind us that the Lord is in charge and that as missionaries and members of His church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are performing His work, and as President Monson teaches, "When we are on the Lord's errand, we are entitled to His help." I want to share with you a few miracles that will help you to understand our profound feelings of gratitude.

When we were set apart for this calling, Elder Scott of the counsel of the twelve apostles taught us many important lessons. He spoke from personal experience when he was a Mission President in Argentina. One message that he shared with us is this: "At times, during your mission, you will be awakened in the middle of the night or the early morning hours with thoughts of specific things you should do for certain missionaries. Do not ignore these thoughts. They are promptings from the Holy Ghost who will communicate with you in the stillness of the night or the peace of the early morning hours. He will speak to you then because that is when you are still enough to hear." Elder Scott further instructed us to keep a notebook beside our bed so that we could record these precious promptings. He said that by the next morning, we would be likely to forget the promptings if we didn't write them down.

We have been astonished at the fulfillment of Elder Scott's prophetic words. We have received many promptings in the exact manner that Elder Scott described. We are so thankful that Elder Scott taught us how to recognize and act upon these precious promptings. Had he not taught us, we may not have given these promptings the attention they require.

Nearly two and one half weeks ago, I was awakened at around 4:00 AM by just such a prompting. I did not hear a voice, but the thought was as clear as if it had been in the form of spoken words: "There is going to be an earthquake. Prepare your missionaries." I sat up in bed and immediately remembered Elder Scott's counsel. That morning I told Larry what had happened. He immediately set to work organizing our missionaries to prepare for an earthquake.

In talking with our office missionaries to arrange for them to put together a list of everything we would need to prepare...in both Spanish and English...we discovered that the Lord had also let two of our office missionaries know of the possibility of an earthquake (in the form of dreams) and the need to prepare our mission. We set a goal and arranged our schedule so that we could visit every apartment in the mission to check for safety and to review with our missionaries what to do in case of an earth quake. What a wonderful experience we have had as we have met with them and shared scriptures with them about being spiritually and physically prepared. "...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" (D&C 38:30). We instructed every missionary to have a "go-bag" (36 hour kit). We reviewed our emergency action plan with them of where to go and what to do if they had phone service and in case they did not. We gave everyone a paper with all instructions in English and Spanish, and we reminded them that "this life is the time to prepare to meet God" (Alma 34:32-34). We shared with them our thoughts and feelings about the need for spiritual and physical safety. Some of them became frightened and asked us if we knew something they didn't know. We smiled and repeated "...if ye are prepared, ye shall not fear." We didn't want to unduly alarm them, but we did want to impress upon them the need to be prepared. We tearfully reminded them of our recent transfer conference where we had shared our feelings about our dear Elder McKay Burrows who was unexpectedly called home in January while serving his mission in Romania...how he was prepared in every way to meet God. We reissued our challenge to "be prepared" in every way. Then we knelt with them in their apartment and dedicated each apartment, asking for a blessing of safety and security to be upon every apartment.

When the earthquake came, we were prepared. We did not experience the panic that many felt. We knew we were prepared. Because of the words of the Lord's chosen Apostle, Elder Scott, we had listened and heeded the quiet, but clear promptings of the Holy Ghost. We were blessed with peace in the midst of chaos. We learned an important lesson: our preparation helped us to avoid panic and fear, but the Lord, in His wisdom, allowed us to experience enough discomfort to know that He has all power. He is in charge. We are nothing without Him. We are dependent upon Him for every breath we take. Only He can save us from death and destruction. He is the way, the truth, and the life. He is our perfect example. If we follow Him, we will be saved through obedience to the laws and ordinances of His Gospel.

As the earthquake became more violent, the mission home groaned and wailed. The power died, so the whole city was black. The windows made a hideous screeching sound, and flying objects banged against swaying walls. The printer/fax machine, books, book ends, and fifty-pound television burst from the entertainment center and crashed to the floor, cabinets emptied, drawers flew open, the refrigerator moved, water sloshed out of the toilets, the floor jolted up and down as we ran across it trying to hold onto the walls to keep from falling down, and the piano toppled over like a small toy. As we made our way to the back yard, I remember thinking, "God is all-powerful. He is our only refuge from this horrible mess." I prayed and prayed for Him to still the earth. When we reached the back yard, we watched in terror. By the light of the moon we could see the swimming pool water form giant waves and crash out onto the rocks. House and car alarms screamed into the night...some from being crushed by falling debris and others I guess from the bizarre movement of the earth. I am not sure if the intense rumbling sounds came from the earth itself or from everything else that was shaking so violently. Finally, it stopped. When the calm came, we had to sit down because our legs were weak and unstable. My legs stayed wobbly all day and night yesterday. Today the muscles in my legs hurt like I ran a marathon. The aftershocks have been extremely unsettling. Each one begins like the one last night started. We just close our eyes and wait to see if it escalates or dies down. I have never experienced anything like this!

We were awakened this morning by a very strong after shock. Larry jumped out of bed and yelled, "Welcome to another glorious day in Chile!" We just had to laugh. We moved a mattress into the floor in our bedroom and made Landon sleep in our room. He was in his room with the door locked the night before and we couldn't wake him up. He never locks his door, but he was playing a joke on Larry because every morning Larry wakes him at 5:30 AM for seminary by tickling him unmercifully. So Landon had decided to stop him. When we couldn't open his door, in the middle of the quake, we thought he was trapped, so we screamed and banged. Landon thought that everything was falling off the walls because we were banging so hard on the door. I think we scared him more than the earthquake did!

Today, we attended a strong ward where Larry was invited to speak. The entire chapel and beyond was filled. People were so humble and so teachable. Larry taught the importance of doing the small things. He taught about Jesus Christ and the opportunty we have to love one another and to share what we have with others. It was a great blessing for us to be with these beautiful Chilean people. Some have lost their homes...or at least parts of their homes. But they are strong and they want to serve the Lord. (By the way, Wilcox's the Hermana that used to work in the mission home called us and asked us to let you know that she is safe. We thought it was so sweet that she wanted you to know that she is safe. She loves you.) He taught of the scripture in Luke 21:11,13 which says, "and great earthquakes shall be in divers places...and it shall turn to you for a testimony." He also welcomed the sweet young woman who was in the congregation with the missionaries...her first time attending church...and then he invited her to be baptized from the pulpit. He asked her to please invite us to her baptism, and she said, "I will." The Lord always knows what His people need. Landon was reading in Alma 15:17 today. He said, Mom listen to this. This is what is happening here in Chile just like in happened in Ammonihah. The people were humbled and "checked as to the pride of their hearts and began to humble themselves before God, watching and praying continually that they might be delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction."

Our hearts are filled to the brim with gratitude for all of the blessings we have received in the Chile Santiago East Mission. We see miracles every day. In the midst of great pain and suffering, we can always find our Savior. He stands with His arms open, pleading for all of us to humble ourselves and come unto Him. He loves us. He invites us to accept His gift...the atonement. He invites us to repent. He wants us to love one another and to serve one another. He wants us to bring our families and those we love to Him. We can do it. We can do all that He asks, no matter how difficult it may seem. "With God all things are possible"

OK, sorry this is so long. I will end now. We are having a devotional tomorrow for all of our missionaries to talk about the last week of Christ's life in preparation for Easter. We want to remind our missionaries to teach and preach with increased vigor and animo of Christ. Last Monday in our office meeting, Larry suddenly stopped in the middle, and said, "During the prayer, I had a very strong impression that March 2010 is going to be our best baptizing month we have ever had in this mission." Now we know why he received that feeling. We are going to prepare to bring many souls to the waters of baptism in March. Please continue to pray for us and for the people of Chile. Please pray for the missionaries to have strength and courage to do all that is being required of them, even in difficult times.

We are so thankful that the tsunami did not turn out badly in Hawaii. Who would ever think that an earthquake in Chile could threaten the shores of Hawaii? Thankfully, the Lord is in charge. He is the one to whom we must turn for refuge from every storm. He has the power to save us.

Con mucho amor,
Lisa, Larry, and Landon

Earthquake in Chile...Tsunami in Hawaii

Today has been quite the day.

I woke up at 2:00am to a phone call from my parents in Santiago, Chile, where they are presiding over the Santiago East Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. They explained that there had been an earthquake and that they may not be able to talk to us throughout the day or anything, but that they were ok and that they were trying to get a hold of all of the missionaries in their mission. They told me that they would try to call me later, but that they did not know if they would have internet. I sure was glad to hear that they were safe and sound. Later in the day we found out that all of their missionaries were safe and accounted for. My parents had just barely initiated an Earthquake Preparedness Plan for their entire mission, by prompting of the Holy Ghost.

Later in the morning, we learned that Hawaii, where my brother, sister and brother in law are attending BYU Hawaii, was under a tsunami alert! We spent the day calling them and trying to get through to their phones, explaining what would happen, what we were seeing on the news, and asking if they had enough food and water. It was kind of scary, but everything turned out well. When the tsunami alert was lifted, we were so relieved!

Many of our friends and family called us today to check on us and see how everyone was doing. We appreciate all of the concern, help, love and prayers offered for our family throughout today! You are all so wonderful.

It was a crazy thought that I could have lost my whole family in one day! I am so grateful for the Gospel and for the protection we have and the angels that watched over my family today!

Please pray for the people in Chile, there was much destruction and many people need help still. While I am grateful that my family is safe, I am deeply saddened for those who lost friends and family in this disaster. My prayers are with all the people affected by this incident.

We love you all and we know that with God, all things are possible.

Times and Seasons

Much has changed and life is so different. Ryan and I both graduated from Brigham Young University Hawaii on December 18th, 2009. We moved back to Utah and Ryan accepted a job offer from Goldman Sachs located in Salt Lake City. It was exciting to come home to a white Christmas and have fun with family and friends. We have missed it in Utah.
Landon came to Utah to visit for his "Summer Break" in Chile, and gets to stay until February. We are so happy to have him here with us and hang out with him.
Life is Good!

Laie

Here are a couple of pictures I took the other night. We are starting to realize how close graduation in December is getting. We are sure going to miss it here. It is so beautiful here everyday, no matter what the weather is. We are so sad that we won't be able to see the temple reopened again before we leave, we have a lot of good memories with this precious temple.

This is out in front of BYU-Hawaii.

Fall Ball

I decided to take Larissa to the Fall Ball here at BYU-Hawaii. It was our last dance as college students. The food was great, and it was so fun spending the night with my love!

We rounded up everyone in our ward that we could find at the Fall Ball for a picture. We were so happy to see so many married couples out on a fun date. One single guy saw me there and said, "Hey, I didn't expect to see you here." I said, "Why, cause I'm married?" He said, "Yeah." So I told him, "Let this be a lesson for you, you still need to take your wife on nice dates after you're married too!" I hope he remembers that advice, I can't imagine not taking my wife out every chance I get!

1930's Murder Mystery

Cory and Lacey threw a murder mystery party set in the 1030's. We were all assigned characters to dress up as, and we were to be those characters throughout the night.

Larissa was Lolita, a "lady of the night" and I was Amos, a hobo.

Cory was Johnny Fabulous (no explanation needed) and Lacey was the South American Chambermaid, Maria LaWenta.

Logan was Seymore Bucks, the accountant. His date, Kristen, played Amber Bookly, the Personal Secretary to the man who was murdered.

Lots and lots of fun.

Here's the whole cast. The flamboyant son of the deceased, our friend Christian, (in the pink shirt in the front) ended up being the real murderer!

I just had to put this picture in, she's so darn cute!