Birthday Surprise

It's been a little while but for my 26th birthday Beck surprised me with a trip to Seattle to see the Mariners Yankees game on Aug. 15th. With all my time living in the northwest I have never been to a Mariners game and have always wanted to go to one. But this year especially because my favorite baseball player of all time, Ken Griffey Jr., is now back playing for the Mariners. The game was great even though Griffey is getting a little old and the Yankees won. But it was still amazing to watch Junior at the plate and how much the energy in the stadium would change whenever he was at bat. His swing is still the prettiest thing on a baseball field.

Better than the game was the surprise of many of my friends and family that made the trip to Seattle. When we arrived in Seattle we went to the Niketown and as I walked in, there were a bunch of my friends who all yelled happy birthday. I had friends from Utah, and Portland that had gone to Seattle for the game and for my birthday, and my dad, lil' bro Steve and my uncle Don had all made the trip up. This was all a surprise and was one of the greatest birthdays.
Above is a picture of me my dad and brother Steve after the game had ended.
Above is picture of Cam, Me, Brody, Ladd, Todd, and Isaac who are friends from Utah that had made the drive to watch their Yankees play.
This is my friends from high school, Jeff Bates, Courtney and Michael Austermiller and me. Mike and Courtney drove up from Portland and Jeff was moving back up to Seattle at the same time.
Thank you so much Beck for the great Birthday, you are wonderful and I love you. And thanks to everyone that came up to Seattle.

Beck's Birthday!

On Sunday the 5th it was Beck's birthday, her favorite day of the year. Her birthday is her favorite holiday, which I find kinda funny just because I guess I never considered birthdays as holidays. It was a great day though because we had Scott and Michelle and the kids in town for the 4th. I planned a little cake and ice cream and presents for her after church. The cake was a cookie dough ice cream cake because Beck doesn't like cake, just ice cream and frosting. Its hilarious, whenever we have cake she just eats the ice cream and the frosting along the outside and in between each layer and leaves the cake part of the cake. Anyway, Beck got a really nice Backpack for backpacking, from my parents which she was stoked about, and Scott and Michelle got her some way cute earrings and some perfume. She also got the nike + things for running and a tennis racket so we can play and try and get good. That's our goal at least, to get good enough to where we could actually play mixed doubles in a tournament or something, who knows, we have a long way to go that's for sure.

We then all went to the coast. We went to Neskowin and had a blast. It was a cloudy and a little cold, but what can you expect from Oregon beaches? We made a fire on the beach and had S'mores and hot dogs and of course that wasn't enough, so we went to this little restaurant in Neskowin and got some clam chowder to go so we ate chowder around the fire. It was way fun.

4th of July

This is a day to catch up so I (not Beck) am doing this post as well. The 4th of July weekend was a fun one. I love the 4th because its a great day to HOPEFULLY enjoy sunny weather, and this year we were blessed. Its also so cool to see the American flag everywhere and know that there are so many people that feel the same way about this wonderful country as I do. This is also one of the few 4ths that I didn't have to work, so that was great. The Scott and Michelle Kelly family made their way to Oregon for the weekend. Holidays are always better with little kids around because they have so much fun doing all the little things. We went to the stake pancake breakfast and flag raising in the morning and the new stake center that was just finished just a couple of blocks from the parents house. Of course everyone but my dad missed the flag raising because we were all late, while he was there early helping set up. Reagan had a good time getting her face painted and having my dad pull her and Kyler around in a wagon for the little miniature kiddy parade.

Me, Beck, Scott, Michelle and Reagan then went down to the waterfront park in Salem where they had a little carnival and Reagan rode the rides. It was fun to just walk around the river in the sun. We then had a great BBQ at my parents with Don, Kathy, Craig, one of Craig's friends and my Grandpa Bob Ralstin. The food was amazing my parents had pineapple, shrimp and tri-tip that my dad marinated in some Thai sauce and put on the grill. They also whipped up some Kelly Brown and Kathy and Don made some Strawberry ice cream, homemade ice cream is the best.

At night Scott, Michelle, Reagan, Beck and I went to Independence for Fireworks, it was nuts, there were so many people. Scott wanted to go to Independence to reminisce about the good ol' days when he was in High School.

Brody and Cara's wedding in Utah

It has been a long time since we posted anything on our blog and Beck thinks that I need to do it because she has done it all thus far, so I get to update you all on what has been going on in our lives.

On June 19th our good friends Brody and Cara were sealed in the Salt Lake City temple and we were lucky enough to have a week or so off between spring term and summer term so we made the trip down to Utah. It was a great experience to go to the sealing and to just basically hang out with Brody, Ladd, Meg, Todd, Ali, and Lexi while we stayed at their house. It was also good to see some of the other friends that we hadn't seen for a while. Us, Gary and Jess Wilkinson, Chris Medina and his girl friend Amy went out to dinner after the reception to some pizza place in Ogden that Funky Co' loves. But really the whole day was great. I was one of the grooms men, which was an honor of course. Cara looked beautiful and everything was a blast. We were also able to see Beck's good friend Kim, who just had a baby boy. So we stopped by to see Kim and the new addition.

After spending a few days in the Salt Lake, Fruit Heights and the Ogden area, we went down and spent a couple of days at my bros house. It was so fun to see Kyler up and walking, and it seemed like it had only been just a little while since we had seen him last. He's a stud, and Reagan is still the cutest little girl, and a Diva at that. So other than the all night drives to Utah and back, it was a great trip.

Spring Break 2009

It's been a while since I have blogged. Things are very busy here in Oregon. But, we were able to slip away in March to Utah for an awesome spring break. We spent some time in Salt Lake and some time in St. George. We were able to go mountain biking, thanks to Tom and Tracy, and we went 4-wheeling, thanks to Scott and Michelle! We had an amazing time with our friends and family and we were able to see everyone! It was such a fun trip and we can't wait to get back to Utah.
So things are very busy for us. We are both finishing up our Bachelor's this next fall, yay! It's been a long time coming, that's for sure. I am currently studying for my GRE, which I will take this summer for admissions to Barry University's P.A. program. I am also applying to University of Utah's P.A. program. I am very exicted about doing this. Sam is going to work on finishing up his pre-reqs for dental school.

Chloe Nichole Arbon

My good friend Lindsay had her baby 2 weeks ago! Sam and I went down to visit her 2 days after Chloe was born. It was so fun to see her and to be able to hold such a tiny little girl. She is so sweet and so cute! This is Lindsay's second, her daughter Eden was born 3 weeks before my wedding and Lindsay still managed to make it out to Utah for it! Love ya Linds and congratulations on your beautiful little girl!

Snowshoeing!

Tom took Sam and I on a great snowshoeing trip. We had such a blast getting out and about, especially since we had been inside for so long with all this snow! It was so incredible to be out in the Oregon beauty and to get a great workout! Thanks Tom for always taking us on great adventures!!