Yay for Family!

Steph moved to Washington and I am so so so happy to have her close by.  She'll be busy with school but it is so nice to know we are only a short drive away from each other.  We went to see her not to long ago.  Here's some pics.

 The drive on the way to see my sister.

Steph showed us around Poulsbo - so cute!

We were there for the blackberry fest so we made sure to enjoy some blackberry pie and vanilla ice cream.

The Dixby Cup

Our brother-in-laws Jeromy and Joel have had a long-time running golf tournament at each of the Rhyasen reunions.  Since Joel wasn't at the last reunion, they made special arrangements for the golf tournament to be held at a different time and place this year. They held it at Chamber's Bay in Tacoma and Mike got to join in on the fun for the big event.  Mike did a great job, coming in second place. It was such a nice day and the guys were troopers, golfing 5 hours in the sun.  I, on the other hand was perfectly happy with the girls and kids just hanging out at the park, eating ice cream, and enjoying the weather.

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One of the views from the golf course.

The Puget Sound

 At one of the beaches where the kids played in the sand and the girls hung out in the shade.

A view of the course - check it out in the 2015 U.S. Open.

 

The guys before the big tourni.

At the Ice Cream Parlor in Steilacoom, WA

Joel came home with the cup and as you can see he couldn't have been happier.

1 Year

August 14th we celebrated our first year by going to Bend, OR.   We slept in, relaxed, soaked  in a jacuzzi, and ate way too much.  We rode a lift up Mt. Bachelor and enjoyed the nice weather wherever we went. 

It was great to reflect on a wonderful year together.

This Summer So Far

Mike and I have had an awesome summer so far.  We've gone to the beach for the Rhyasen family reunion (made a yummy stop at the Tillamook cheese factory), we celebrated my birthday with plenty of yummy desserts, we saw fireworks with the Raia's for the 4th of July, we visited the Ape caves and the Vancouver Saturday Market, and we had my mom and sister visit (and went blueberry picking.  We have some other fun things planned so we can make the best of the rest of the summer.  More details to come.


Here's some photos of what we've done so far:

As for other news, our nephew Alex is doing well as he battles his Leukemia.  He has been undergoing chemo therapy and has handled it like a champ.  We're hoping to find out the next steps in his treatment plan soon.  Thanks again for all of the support and prayers.  The family really appreciates it.
Much Love!

Update about Alex

Here's an update from Chrissy's online journal regarding Alex's bone marrow transplant:

"we just were told zack (Alex's big brother) is not a match for alex for a bone marrow transplant,  so they will start looking monday.  they have no idea how long that will take."  Keep Alex in your thoughts and prayers that they'll find a match for Alex soon."

Thank you for all of your help.

Hope for Alex

To the few of you who read my blog, 

I'm asking for help.  

Last month my sweet nephew Alex was diagnosed with Leukemia.  He is 14 months old. As you can imagine this experience has been very trying for Alex and his family.  Alex is being treated at Doernbecher Children's Hospital and is going through chemo therapy.  He is taking it like a champ and is lucky to have a loving mom and dad that is always by his side as he battles cancer.

Mike and I have started a facebook group for Alex.  The purpose of the group page is to inform others of Alex's condition and to show everyone how they can help.  Click here to check out our group page.  You don't have to have a facebook account to check it out.

Right now we need help creating a sterile environment for Alex to come home to after he gets out of the hospital.  His family is in need of new house items as they create that safe environment. We created a registry of what is needed. We're trying to get these items to them by the end of June, for their new apartment. By clicking here you can go directly to their registry.

Another way of helping is posting something about little Alex on your own blog to see if any of your readers would like to contribute.  Any help is really appreciated.

To read more about Alex from Chrissy's own journal go here. 

The Rose Garden

One of my favorite placed in Portland is the Rose Garden. We went up there the last day of the Rose Festival to see it.  The fun thing about seeing the roses is reading the clever names people have made up for the roses.  One was called Black Magic, another Flirty, and I've even seen Dolly Parton in the past.