Momentum

We went on a double date with my sister in law and her husband. It was so fun! We went rock climbing and out to dinner. Russ used to have a rock climbing pass and go all the time. He didnt renew his pass, but his skills came right back! Not the highest quality of pictures ahead..but we only had Russ's phone.

Ever heard of bouldering? Me either. Its rock climbing without a rope. Its a ton harder, and even though you are starting right off the ground, its super hard. Russ is like a monkey, he rocked it.

I cant believe how sore my forearms were the next day.

Russ's family enjoys rock climbing in the summer, I need a lot of practice.

Super fun night. Thanks Sarah for the invite :)

Independence Day

4th of July...oh man. Not much to say other than its my favorite. I love it. I look forward to it every single year. I love the hot summer, I love the traditions, I love the parades, i love the BBQs and I love the annual Kemp sleepover. We did the exact same thing we do every year, but surprisingly, it never gets old. We met at my parents house to walk to the parade. My mom always buys the kids 4th of July outfits.

She got pup the cutest bow tie.

She's kind of a fan favorite

My little family, minus a really crazy cat.

I cant decide who looks better in the bow tie, Russ or Ecko.

We enjoyed a really hot and really long parade.

All the floats and princess went by, but this guy holding a "Will you Marry me" sign and proposing right in front of us, was my favorite part of the parade.

We went back to my parents house, ate bbq pulled pork sandwhiches with corn on the cob and I literally think between me and my 5 year old niece, we polished off a huge bowl of caramel popcorn. CC made the most amazing popcorn ever. My 5 year old niece looked and me and said with a smile, "I cant stop eating it!". My thoughts exactly. The kids ran around with glow sticks in the dark and we stuck some candles in a dessert I made for Huddies birthday.

We had a late night, but slept great out in the backyard under the stars.

Ecko went to sleep with my nieces on their sleeping bags, but when I woke up, she was on her bed next to us :)

Morning snuggles

We had our traditional big breakfast of Swedish thins, bacon and fruit! Russ had the honor of cooking the meat, not without a buddy by his side though!

Eating breakfast

The kids played in a little pool and playing in the sun during the day

Russ and I went to the REAL game that night, watched some soccer, had a slushee and walked down to the field and watched fireworks. They were awesome fireworks and a perfect way to end my favorite holiday.

Its what fun is!

I love Lagoon!! It truly never gets old to me. I love everything about it: people watching, carny games, greasy foods, and of course the rides! We had our company Lagoon day last weekend. Lagoon is even 10 times more fun when its free. Russ is really good at being late. I think Ive mentioned before his old roommates even made up a song “waiting on Russ”. There was no way I was going to miss a minute at Lagoon. I may have been too eager to be punctual because we ended up getting there a half an hr before it opened. I think that was a first for Russ. Poor Russell gets sick on rides. Last year no matter how much pressure I applied he would only ride so many rides with me. This year, he got smart.

By the look of this box, I think Russ has made good use of it. It worked! He even rode my favorite ride with me this year and didn’t get sick. I am lucky enough to have my mom work at my same company. After 20+ years of selling Real Estate she decided to settle down and try something new. A few months ago she started working with me! We don’t work in the same departments, but we are on the same floor and its been so much fun. We go out for lunch every Friday and I love that. And because she works for the same company, she and my dad were at Lagoon too! My dad is a total blast to ride rides with. He will do anything. He just turned 65 in June and he can still kill it at Lagoon with me.

My mom on the other hand tends to get a little motion sick and likes to be a “spectator”

It ended up being 100 + degrees that day. Some might say it was miserable, I say it was awesome! Everyone was either at the water park, or not there so we had no lines! And no riders! This was taking off on a roller coaster.. besides the 4 of us, there was only one other rider.

The only bad thing about no lines, means no recovery time for Russ man. That’s when the sky ride over to the other side of the park comes in handy

We had lunch with our company. My mom won a gift card! I thought for sure I was going to win an Ipad, but unfortunately I wasn’t blessed with as much luck as my mom. She wins everything she is entered in to. After lunch..

Russ wasn’t so sure he could go on. But he persevered

Man he is a good sport.

We played games and the boys and the boys impressed us with their strength.

I love Jet Star. But not when they try and shove 3 of us into a 2 man seat. The thing I didn’t understand about this situation was there was NO line. We literally hopped right on. The 16 year old running the ride said, “You 3 there” Me, “We wont fit, we will catch the next one” 16 yr old, “You will fit”. 5 min later after Russ’s face was an inch from the guy in front of him legs and arms bending in ways they shouldn’t, the 16 yr old puts the seat belt around us. Russ, “My butt isn’t on the seat” 16 yr old “It will work its way down”. That was an interesting ride. My dad thought I was going to knock he teeth out with my face. I thought I was going to break my neck from trying to hold it going a million miles an hour without slamming into his face, and poor Russ thought he was going to fall out. We made it! Very uncomfortably.

Russ won our little rug rat pets a prize on this game:

Russ was holding my cell phone and my lip gloss in his pocket. After we rode the second ride (Also the ride he lost his sunglasses on last year) he pats down his pockets and in a panic, informs me my brand new cell phone and lip gloss is gone. Uh oh. Definitely not mad at him…not his fault, but I was so bummed thinking of paying for a new phone, getting everyones numbers again, getting it all set up with my work stuff…etc. That was at like 10 am. I thought 1 of 2 things could have happened. 1- It plummeted to its death on Wicked..the tallest roller coaster there. 2- Someone found it on the seat and scored a band new phone. At about 4 pm we decided to swing by the lost and found. I explained what my phone looked like and the guy informed me they get about 6 white iphones a day. We left, and started walking to get a funnel cake and wala! My friend Heather jumped out with my phone! She had already swung in to Lost and found for me and picked it up. I cant believe how happy I was and so so grateful someone was honest and turned it in. Funnel cake, my phone was found, and Russ hadn’t thrown up yet…that was a good high to leave on.

Strawberry Days!

Russ and I have gone to the Strawberry Days rodeo the last 3 years together. Its become a new fun tradition. Rodeos are fun, friends and family are fun, and strawberries and cream are delicious so I cant complain. This year, the weather was so nice! It was really warm and smokey! Good grief..Utah has had their fair share of fires. Be smart people. Russ takes this occasion to a whole new level every year. He broke out the cowboy box out of the basement for some appropriate attire.

We met our friends Kirk and Heather there. If you remember, Heather is the cute girl that mooned me at Ragnar. I met Heather 10 years too late. She loves to travel to new countries and be adventurous. We would have torn up the world had we met before the ol ball and chain ;)

We also met Russ's sister Sara and her cute family. I love Sara..so easy to talk to and the most creative gal you will ever meet.

This is their daughter who decided to cut off all of her own hair. Twice. I think its an adorable little cut still.

I saved some seats while Russ went to get us Strawberries and cream. Only he came back with 2 cheeseburgers, a hot dog, 2 sodas, 2 stawberries and cream and a thing of nachos...just for the 2 of us. Its seriously no wonder Ive gained so much weight in this 8 months of bliss.

Real Salt Lake

Russ and I both love soccer. We play on the same team on Wednesday's! Its a ton of fun. Have you ever seen the Honey Badger video? You should watch it if you havent..and if you dont mind a little swear word here and there. Team Honey Badgers!

I cant say we had the best season ever, but we are going to kill it this summer season! We have also really enjoyed going to Real games or watching them on TV. There have been a few times when it hasnt been on TV and its been away game, in which we travel to Iggys sports bar. Thats never a good thing- too many calories. We always feel bad staying so long which means we get appetizers, dinner and sometimes even a dessert. Yikes. We will be so full, and the waitress will come by and we will hurry and take another bite so she doesnt clear our places and make us feel like we need to leave. We love going to the games though! Lots of energy and fun.

Ive never been a fan of booing. Its rude, and its weird. Russ on the other hand can boo like no other.

You can tell by the scowl on his face that this may have been a booing moment. Russ- "Am I booing loud?" ME- "No. REALLY loud". Russ has also loved watching other teams play soccer. Sometimes I will go to bed while he stays up really late watching. At least I try and go to bed...he talks to the TV, claps and cheers.. Its so funny. He also becomes oblivious to the world. We were going to go to the store together last weekend and he started watching soccer. I decided to just go and he doesnt even look over to me and in a slow drawn out sentence he asked if I was going. Yes. 3 hours later I walk in through the door "Youre back already?" Oh dear...that guy.

Are you her Dad?

The day after I finished Ragnar I was really sick again. I was super nauseous and could stand up without feeling like I was going to lo lose it again. I felt really bad too because it was Father’s day and we were supposed to go down and visit Russ’s dad, but I literally I couldn’t stand long enough to put my hair in a ponytail. I thought it was left over from Ragnar, maybe dehydrated, mixed with a little exhaustion. The next day the nausea was gone, but I had pain my upper stomach. Long story short…it went on all week. Did I mention when I was throwing up during RAGNAR, I was throwing up blood? After throwing up blood 7 times and having pain in my belly for a week Russ finally talked me in to seeing a Dr. I have a hard time with Drs. In fact, I don’t even have one. I got a recommendation for a Dr that treats people holistically so they don’t pound you full of drugs. They pushed around in my belly, took some blood ( The dang nurse that took my blood hit a tendon and I literally couldn’t use my right arm for a week!) and decided since I had thrown up so much blood, I should get a scope to make sure I wasn’t bleeding internally. They scheduled me for an appointment at the hospital right by our house and by then I was pretty stoked to see what was going on. The pain was driving me nuts. We went in first thing in the morning, and I was checking in, the lady registering me asked Russ if he was my Dad….oops. That didn’t go over well. I will admit, without make up, my freckles are in full force and I do look younger, but my dad?? They nurse came out into the waiting room and called me by my first and last name but with a different middle name. I told her my middle name was not Ann, so she asked my birthday. I told her my birthday and she said they must have put the wrong middle name in on accident. She then looked at Russ and said “Are you her Dad?” TWICE, by 2 different people he was asked if he was my dad. I went into my room, changed into my hospital gown and waited for them to come in and give me an IV. They had to put my IV in my left arm since my right arm was all jacked up from the blood draw at the Drs earlier that week. They gave me my IV, slapped my bracelet on with my name and a bunch of numbers and told me I would go back any minute. Did I mention I love air guitar? Because I do. Sometimes Russ will restrict me from playing air guitar in the car.

Russ took a picture of me doing it with my IV bag. He took the time to draw me this nice picture. I especially the love the glasses that are not lined up with my face and the arrow in my IV bag. Thanks Russ, I love this picture. My view waiting for them to come get me:

Another nurse came back to take me to the room. She asked my Full name… I told her my first, middle and last name. She looked at the charts and noticed the middle name was wrong. “What’s your birth date?” I told her my birthday. She showed me my charts and I said…”that’s not my home address” Nurse, “ Are you 17 years old?” “No, I’m 27” There was another girl with the same name and same birthday also coming in that day for a totally different procedure!! And they were seconds away from taking me away for the wrong thing! They thought I was the younger girl, so that’s why they were asking if Russ was my dad. How crazy is that? They had to take off my bracelet, switch my charts, and switch my Dr… Yikes. I wasn’t nervous until that point. Off I went. Russ followed us back and sat in the room with me. He was going to ask if he could stay.

The Doc kicked him out and told him that it was not a spectator sport. They knocked me out and after the nurses and the Dr said I was hilarious under anesthesia. I kept telling the nurse she was so pretty, and asking where she was from…only like 5 times. Then I kept telling them that I was going to fight off the anesthesia and stay awake and the Dr had to keep saying “close your eyes Chelsea”. Such a weird feeling having people tell you what you were saying and you don’t have any recollection of it. At least I was nice. I came back to the recovery room and Russ came back to sit with me. I hadn’t woken up yet, but I thought something was super funny.

I later asked all the nurses if they had eaten their breakfast.

Breakfast IS the most important meal of the day.

 Results are in!

I had/have 3 ulcers! Who gets ulcers you might ask? I do.
I had no idea; I thought only old men got ulcers.
I don’t take medicine for many things at all, but I had a bad knee and shin splints before Ragnar and had taken 800 Milligrams of Ibuprofen which isn’t a lot ( I think you can have up to 2400 milligrams a day), but my body wasn’t used to it. Did you know Ibuprofen thins your blood?
I guess I had ulcers before, and due to the ibuprofen I took before my run, it thinned my blood and made my ulcers bleed, which made me throw up blood, and possibly tear the ulcers even more.

 Easy fix.

In fact, like 3-4 hrs after I got back from the hospital, I felt great! I hate drugs, and I hate taking them, but I honestly do feel so much better. And what a relief.
Thanks Russ, for hanging out with me for the day and taking a terrible, but funny video of me drugged up the wazoo.