Happy New Year!

2015 was such an incredible ride. Ups, downs, ins, outs... Incredible.

First though, I'm horrible. I got married in March, and I still haven't sent out Thank You cards. We are thankful. SO thankful for the love, kindness, gifts, hugs, ALL of it. We could not have pulled off that wedding without each of you. The Chases love and adore each and every one of you!

No, that doesn't replace a thank you card, but with my luck, I'll never get them out... And if I do, they need to come with serious apology cards too.

We've had quite the adventure since March, our honeymoon was an absolute blast, and we're so extremely happy we had the opportunity to go to Cancun for 5 days. Presidente and Hermana Kirkham (my cousin and his wife) is the mission president for the Cancun Mexico mission, and I'm elated beyond all belief that I was able to visit them and meet some of the people that serve with them. How incredible it is to be able to have the opportunity to start a mission from nothing! It's hard to believe their mission will be over this June! What an incredible blessing, indeed.

April and May brought my family immense sadness, and a couple of holes that won't ever be filled it seems. My father passed away in April, and I love and miss him every day. EVERY day. They just don't make 'em like that anymore. He was such a loving father, husband, uncle, papa, and friend to all who met him. We also lost my Aunt Cheryl in May, and it's been really hard on my mom's family, but since then, her kids were able to seal her to my Uncle Roi, and they're together now, which makes me grateful I'm a member of this church and know that my family can be together forever. Losing them this year has been hard, but my mom has been able to do a little traveling since then, and she's visiting Jamie in North Carolina right now in fact.

Mom is visiting Jamie because Jamie just had her 3rd child, Hazel Caroline, yesterday. So incredibly cute. On the Chase side, two of Danny's sisters have had babies in 2015 as well. One baby girl, Harper Grace, in March, and his other sister had a baby boy Milo Oliver in July. We're definitely getting a case of baby fever here, which we're trying to cure, but haven't yet been blessed in that department yet.

We went camping at Carpintera State Beach just south of Santa Barbara, CA with Danny's Mom's family in September, and it was a really good 3 days at the beach. We were able to relax, catch up with friends and family, and enjoy a few days off of work! We go every year, and this time I didn't have to bring a separate tent for just me. hehe!

Mid October, we bought zoo passes, good for a year, and we've already been to the Safari Park (ahem, it's the Wild Animal Park), and the San Diego Zoo once. Looking forward to going a lot more this year for sure!

Mid December, we met up with my brother Stephen in Las Vegas with his wife and 4 kids. We were able to babysit them a couple times, and that fed our baby-fix needs for a while. :) The twins were sick and they spread it to each other generously, and the older kids were mostly helpful. We somehow got Steve to let us sleep in his hotel room for free, which was awesome, and somehow, he paid for our Star Wars movie ticket, and a meal at Hash House a Go Go. What? I'm sure I owe him a meal or more babysitting as a result though. Not that it's that hard to do, his kids are a lot of fun for sure!

For Christmas, I upgraded Danny's laptop to windows 10, and got him a 2TB external hard drive with it, and he got me two Urban Decay eye shadow palettes, which are not cheap. I absolutely love them. Definitely spoiled by this husband of mine. We were also extremely spoiled by his parents, with tickets to Disneyland with his whole family for January 26th. I'm excited!

We hope that 2016 finds you healthy and happy. We hope you make it better than last year too.

It's a little sad that it takes another year ending for me to actually write in this blog, but for the daily updates, you can definitely follow me on Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook... boring, I know, but I don't need a lot to keep me happy. Danny enriches my life every day and I love all he does for me. He's the best thing ever and I'm extremely blessed to have found him and trick him into being my husband for forever. :) Love that man!

We hope this finds you happy, safe, and loving life! We love you!

~Maren & Danny