As Thanksgiving Approaches.......

Last night we took my sister and one of our male friends (who also just happened to be single)to the city. We all had a great time. We really enjoyed the lights and just the general cheer of the people. And it wouldn't have been a real trip to the city without some Chicago-style pizza. Today, we hung out with my family to celebrate my mom's birthday. My dad made chicken chili for everyone. Thursday is Thanksgiving and so we'll be at my parents house again. This year, for the first time, I'm taking on some real responsibility in the kitchen. We'll let you know how that goes!!! We are hoping everyone has someplace fun to spend this special day. Let us know! We also LOVE getting Christmas pictures!
Until we meet again, KEEP THE FAITH!!!
Love,
Ryan and Brooke

Nothing to report/ and general conference

Well, we can honestly say that we both love being married. When we returned from our honeymoon, it took us a few weeks to get back in the swing of things. But once we got adjusted and back at work again, not much has happened (which isn't a bad thing). We've been doing a bit of reading, some light cooking, and a lot of writing thank you notes. (Well, I'VE been writing a lot of thank you notes :) )We'll let you know if anything of importance comes up



On a completely different note, I hope everyone LOVED General Conference! The first time I ever came to church was during conference. I think I had a testimony of conference before I had one of the church. We watched at our stake center and shared meals in between with friends and of course, our local missionaries.


Have you thanked your missionaries today?

Jesus loves you! Don't forget it!
Love,
Brooke and Ryan

FIRST WEDDING PICTURES!!!!

Here are a few of the first pictures I have recieved!!

Leaving on a jetplane.....

G'day!

for the last time from Australia.  Oddly enough,  we have  2 different flights on the same day at the same time!  Wierd huh?  We hope  you haven't missed us too much.  WE've missed home quite a bit!  See you soon!

Love Brooke and Ryan

Hospitality

Just a quick note today.
We attended a well-sized branch today for church. It took us a ferry and a taxi to get there, but we made it and on time too!
I am so thankful for the hospitality we were shone. We made some new friends who had us over for lunch and then drove us back to the ferry pick up. We felt so welcomed and at home there. What a blessing it is to go anywhere in the world and find a group of people willing to serve and befriend us. We're so thankful for the many wonderful people we have met durnig our stay in Australia and especially at church today. (to be honest, I havent met one personm here that I havent liked!!!
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Jesus is the Christ and he loves all of us so much!!
We love you!
Love,
Ryan and Brooke

G'day mates!

Greetings from a bus station at Hervey Bay!
We just arrived after an overnight train ride from Cairnes. We both smell pretty bad, but the ride was great. Saw lots of wild kangaroos and wallobys. We just came from The Great Barrier Reef! While there in Port Douglas we gott to see Cape Tribulation. After that, we took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef where we Scub dove and swam with the beautiful fish on the reef. The highlight of that trip was when I almost got my hand torn off by a huge clam!!! So much fun. Now that we're headed to Fraiser Island, we'll get to go whale watching and then we're planning to attend a small loacl branch on Sunday for church. It's so wonderful that no matter where you go in the world, the church is the same! We feel so comforted by that! Hope all is well back in "the states" as they call it here. Remember that Jesus loves you! (and so do we!!)
Love,
Ryan and Brooke
P.S. pictures to follow after we get home!

I come from a land down unda!

Greetings from DOWN UNDA!!!!!
This is currently day 9 of our marriage and day 8 of our Australian honeymoon. Our days have been filled with mission memories, silly accents, and lots and lots of room service......Anyway, we don't want anyone to feel left out of the fun so we thought we'd update some when we had a chance. We've been to Sydney(for the first time, we'll return later) And we've just finished our visit out to the middle of nowhere: Ayer's Rock. The rock was big, and, well, in the middle of nowhere. We've gotten the opportunity to use every bit of advice we've recieved. So thanks for that! Today we head to Cairnes and its off to Port Douglas. Then from there we're off to snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef!!! (We'll see how my fear of large bodies of water hold up.) We are both tired, but still loving it here!!! Send us updates because we can get e-mail on my phone!
Love you all!!

KEEP THE FAITH!!!!((then share it of course!)
Love,
Brooke and Ryan CHAPMAN

Wheeler Peak

Everyone has their "I had to endure it" story; a time in their life when recieved blessings AFTER the trial of their faith. This was mine. As we all know, one of my favorite places in the world is Carson, New Mexico. We just returned from there, where we spent a most excellent week among the sage brush, tumble-weed, and more mountains than anyone deserves to be around. I love the mountains. On this trip, I had a run-in with a big mountain. In fact, I had an experience, one which i'll never forget, on the tallest mountain in New Mexico: Wheeler Peak. In the pictures I will show below, we may be smiling, but I assure you most of this hike was spent frowning. Being from Chicago, I didn't grow up hiking. That's not to say I wasn't athletic, but with no mountains, I never really got the chance to hike. When Ryan mentioned hiking Wheeler Peak, I didn't give it a second thought. I figured I could make it with little or no problem. Ryan decided to take a new "trail" that had only been open about a year. No when I say "trail", I really don't mean trail, because there wasn't a trail. After hiking about 2 miles we came to a lake and I thought well, this has been hard, but oh well. Ryan gave me the opportunity to turn back before actually starting UP. I had a feeling that I needed to continue with the plan. So we treked through the forest when suddenly our trip changed directions from whatever direction we were walking, to up. But alas, with much grunting and many tears, we made it to what we thought was the top only to find it was only the first of 3 peaks. BUMMER! But we finally did make it and I now have my name in a book kept at the top and a t-shirt to prove it.

Dont drink(or text) and drive

I recently decided that Oprah isn't all that bad. Her recent push for banning cell phone use while driving really impressed me. Its something I'm still working on, but Im getting so much better at resisting the temptation. I tell myself that the message or text isn't more important that another person's life. (Or mine own life for that matter). I fully support her in this effort.


In other news, 39 days until Ryan and I become, "The Chapmans". Invites went out with success. Hope all is going well for all readers!!!
Love,
Brooke and Ryan

Updates

ok!
So after much planning we have a bit of an update.
To start off, we will be sealed in the mesa temple on July 31, 2010 at 11:15 AM.

After, will be a ring ceremony at the Wright House. in Mesa.
I have picked a dress and am currently working with Doris to "modify" it to fit the standards! VERY EXCITING!
In other news, Today my mom and I found my wedding shoes! So cute!
I think thats it for now.
oh oh! But the honeymoon. We will be taking a whoping 3 weeks to return the the land of Austrailia where Ryan served his mission!
More later!
Love,
Brooke and Ryan

Anxiously engaged in a good cause

Welcome

Lots has changed in the past week. Brooke got an apartment, Ryan asked Brooke to marry him, and Frank, our cute aging newt, got settled into his new retirement home. No exact date yet for the wedding but we're thinking either the last weekend in July or the 3rd weekend in August. We plan to be sealed in the Mesa temple but to have a ring ceremony in Chicago for my family. More specific details to follow.

Love,

Brooke and Ryan

Welcome