FAMILY WEEKENDS AND THE FOURTH!

This last weekend j.rue and I were finally able to take my family up to Fairview. We've been wanting to do this for the past year, but schedules are hectic and it's difficult to pull off. Luckily everyone had at least one spare day and we were all able to head up. J.rue, Cale, and I headed up Friday afternoon, puppies in tow, and got everything set up. Then everyone else trickled in. It was a nice relaxing weekend. Honestly, just what the doctor had ordered for each of us. 

J.rue had been dying to take my brother out on the 4-wheelers for about forever, so they spent a good chunk of their time riding around and getting filthy dirty. Golf and swimming were attemped, but things didn't totally go our way, and we had to resort to more 4-wheeling and TV watching. 

I made a personal goal to keep my activies confined to reading, sleeping, and watching Veronica Mars. I'm proud to say that I accomplished all goals with flying colors. While the boys were out running a muck my mom, the puppies and I spent a good 3 hours doing this:

She would totally kill me for posting this, but she doesn't read my blog so...

There will be a total of 0 pictures of me in this post because I also made a conscious effort to put 0 make-up on my face. It was glorious. I also let my hair run wild and free, so to say I was lookin rough by the end of the weekend would be an understatement. But, I'm a firm believer that your skin needs a breather every once in a while. The opportunities don't come around too often, but when they do, I take full advantage.

The sad thing about my vacation is that I forgot to charge my phone. So, lots of things were missed like our shakes, family dinners, swimming attempts, and well, that's about all. This weekend was a little bitter sweet as well because the cute boy in the middle of the picture above (who is completely incapable of letting me take a decent picture of him) got his mission papers put in on Tuesday. To celebrate my mom and two youngest brothers are jetting off to Mexico this Sunday. How's that for an unfair grown-up moment? I suppose it would be quite difficult to save for a baby, Hawaii, and Mexico all in one year. So, the next big Kwallek/Lasater/Ruesch family vacay? Oh probably in 2018 when the youngest gets home from his mission.

That's also the sad part about growing up. Everyone has to go their separate ways, at least for a while. I'm just thankful we were able to get away, even just for a few days. But now I'm just making myself sad, and that's ridiculous because all of these hoodlums will be at my house tomorrow evening for a BBQ and some fireworks. We'll be getting plenty of each other over the next few months. I just hope Micah's mission call will hold out past October 7th, but if not, I'll survive. He'll be where he needs to be and I'm so proud of him for that. 

I really do love each and every holiday and can't wait for tomorrow. Usually we would head to the town breakfast (outside) and then sit at the ridiculous parade (that people ALREADY have their spots staked out for - literally 100s of chairs - that parade is NOT good), but this year because I am such a wussy we'll be doing things like going to movies, going to breakfast at an indoor facility, and maybe taking a nap. Of course I will be braving the heat for the fireworks show, but I can't promise much else.

Have a happy and safe one. Oh and don't forget to give our country a kiss tomorrow. Mmmk?

YESTERDAY MY ANKLES STARTED SWELLING

...granted it was hot and sweaty (I wore ankle strap sandals probably for the last time this whole summer) and I my feet stayed stationary on my hour bus ride home, because of unforseen smelly man sitting waaay to close to me. I went to bed with high hopes of seeing my inside ankle bones again in the morning.

Alas, no such luck. The insides are still resembling a puffer fish and I'm pretty sure I have about 1 pair of shoes that fit my chubby stump feet right now. I'm only a tad bit worried because this technically isn't supposed to happen until my 3rd trimester. And I'm only a tad bit disappointed because I was hoping that by the time this happened I wouldn't be able to see my feet or ankles. I prefer to choose ignorance when it comes to the puffiness of any part of my body.

I was going to post a picture of said ankles, but I can't bring myself to do it. Not yet at least. I need to keep at least the majority of my dignity for another, let's say, 10 weeks, but probably only 6 for sure. So all of the pictures in this post will be of Maggie because I believe she is sorely under appreciated on this blog and the next story is about her.

In other exciting news, Sunday night Maggie blew chunks on our freshly cleaned sheets. J.rue told me he'd take care of (please remember this phrase) the sheets while I got our obnoxiously large and complicated mattress cover off. After about 10 minutes of battling with the cover I headed downstairs to stain spray and sanitize. I took care of the monster pad first and then got the sheets that j.rue had so lovingly crumpled up and thrown to the bottom of the stairs. 

As luck would have it, I put my hand right in the puppy barf. Of course it was silly to assume that the throw-up would actually be "taken care of". Lesson learned, when j.rue "takes care" of dirty sheets he contains the toxic substance and throws it down the stairs. It's fine, I just didn't know. Now I do. So I was loudly dry heaving, while I'm sure my eyeballs were protruding out of their sockets a little further than what is healthy or usual, and trying to get the stomach substances off of the sheets before washing. I knew I was going to loose it, my stomach is still kind of wussy, but I was desperate to not add to the chaos. I really didn't want J.rue to have to "take care" of that either. By the way, I love my husband, and was not upset by him at all during this process. Really, honestly, and truly.

All of a sudden my body kicked into some strange survival mode and I started singing "This Land is Your Land" at the top of my lungs, I even remembered all the words. While this was happening I was contemplating the ridiculousness of the situation but amazed at my subconscious's ability to act so quickly in such dire times. Then I was proud that I could think/sing so many thoughts at once. It's impressive, right? I won't question it. That song got me through the smells and stains, and I'm hoping through 2 am baby blow outs and bloody whatevers. I'll keep you updated.

However, when I was a baby I threw up in my dad's mouth once. Of course it was an accident, as far as I remember, but karma is consistent in catching up to me, so I'm sure there will be lots of barf in my future. Lots.

To round everything off, I've heard that having dogs while pregnant 1) reduces the child's allergies once out of the womb and 2) allows the child to get used to barking and loud noises. I'm praying for both, especially since I've wanted to put a puppy adoption add in the paper more than a few times in the past week. Just kidding, kind of, but not really. But really, I'm sure I'll feel the same way about my kids at some point or another, so the dogs are safe, because they were here first.

...and we love them.

20

Things are most definitely starting to slow down around these parts. Ever since January I'd had some big milestone to look forward to; when to tell everyone, when I would stop getting sick, finding out the gender. Plus we had a few crazy weeks of family, family, family, which we loved of course, but oh my goodness! It made May fly right by. Honestly, I'm ready for some things to slow down. Summer is so nice that way. October is going to come soon enough and I really want to enjoy this last summer with just the two of us.

I'm guessing 21 weeks will be quite similar to 20 weeks. I look the same and feel the same. Everyone that sees me says they can barely tell I'm pregnant. I thank them profusely for this compliment because I know it won't last too much longer. I'm reveling in non maternity t-shirts. I spend most of my down time either doing or thinking about projects that I'd like to get done. This weekend I spray painted somethings. I even attempted to spray paint some new doors, but that was ugly, so they'll be paint brush painted next Saturday. J.rue also tried his hand at training Cooper to be he golf ball retrieval dog. It started off well and then turned into j.rue running after Cooper, while Coop tried to balance 3 golf balls in his mouth. J.rue then gave up his dreams of a golf ball retrieving dog.

Little Rue has continued to communicate with me through jabs and kicks, which still make me swoon. I hope I never take that feeling for granted with any of my pregnancies. It really is an amazing thing. I think j.rue finally felt a little flutter Friday night, but nothing big. He's just not that patient yet. So for now, it's just her and I communicating through our special language. Yesterday I got my "21 weeks" email from Baby Center. Apparently she's about 3/4 of a pound and about 10.5 inches long. I know she's folded up in there like a little origami crane, but folks, 10.5 inches is not messing around.

I also love watching J.rue add her into our everyday conversations. J.rue is the kind of guy that doesn't really like to talk about things until they're actually happening. Like I mentioned before, he would talk about names, but not really anything else baby related. It's so sweet to watch his eyes light up when he talks about his daughter. He's so excited to be a dad and I know he'll be good at it.

We had a lovely 3 day weekend. We spent time getting little projects done, eating lots and lots of food including 49 cent slurpees, yes please, and hanging out with family and friends. Yesterday  we had a little family bbq and then went to visit a few family grave sites. I love how beautiful the cemeteries look during these holidays. There are flowers galore and precious family stories being told. I'm lucky to have been raised in a family who taught me what Memorial day is really about. And while the BBQs and swimming are always an added bonus, it's the perfect time to honor ancestors, especially those who fought so hard for the freedoms we enjoy today. My Grandpa is one of my hero's and greatest example of patriotism. I love this country that I live in. 

He looks grumpy, but that's just a facade he puts on. He's really just the biggest softey you'll ever come across. All of his grandkids and great grandkids will attest.

YESTERDAY.

I just want to remember it. I talk all the time about wanting to write about the little happy things, and then I don't notice them. Last night was just a good night. J.rue and I snuggled under the covers, watching Once Upon a Time (so behind), whilst I wolfed down a turkey burger like a lady. Our puppies were there too, in between leg crevices or on top of heated blankets (dog magnets). Those are honestly some of my most favorite moments, snuggling as a family. Not doing anything of particular importance. It makes my heart want to burst.

And, just to leave you with something that might benefit you in some way: I just got through a really good book. One that was so good I thought about it for 3 solid days straight after I finished it. Knocked my socks off this one did. The Secret Keeper.

/via/

It has some mystery, some romance, history, some twists and turns, and it's almost 500 pages, so it's one of those that's full of beautiful details and descriptions.  I listened to it on CD because I am still dreaming of the days when I actually have time to sit down and read an actual book. A few reviews I read said that the book started out slow and they had a hard time sticking with it. I, on the other hand, was stuck in the car and didn't notice the slowness because anything is better than a radio filled commute home. If you do listen to it on CD, be warned that the narrator has a thick (and lovely) English accent that's hard to follow for the first 10 minutes or so. After listening to it for 17 disks though I started talking like her in my head and felt oh so fancy and English. Loved it.

Oh, and I had the most glorious of glorious of commutes today. Just in case you check this block out of worry for me. So kind.

SNOW DAY

A couple of weeks ago Kaysville got dumped on, and there's not many things I love more than a good snow day on a Saturday morning, especially with the fur children. Cooper promptly woke me up at 6:30 to go out and play. How could I resist?

Of course, J.rue was dragged out of bed, not super thrilled, but he came. I hoped that he would join the snow festivities, but he chose to enjoy from the confines for a warm Ruesch Manor.

As much as we love the snow, the fur kids have a tiny problem with snowballs. These are snowballs for the faint of heart, no. These are hard packed dense suckers that do not come off with a flick of a wrist. There are baths involved to remove them every time. Coop and Maggie kind of hate it.

Look at the size of those suckers!

Lastly, I'll leave you with a stupid video of me, but a cute one of Coop. Please keep in mind, it's about 7 at this point. Coop could make snow tunnels and chase snowballs all the live long day if I let him.

crue 803 from Chelsea Ruesch on Vimeo.

We love snow!

Dog Breath

Last night for dinner {at 9:30pm} j.rue got kind of hungry for dinner, I know right? So, being the wifely wife that I am, whipped up a house specialty: buffalo chicken quesodillas. Bless those that invented the quesodilla maker.

Remember how I wrote about my eyebrows and I was on a mission to "maintain" my own? Well, it didn't work and last night I gave in and went to get the furry mammoths waxed. I pull up and my usual place is closed, of course. There would be no giving up though, my eyebrows were starting to become radically disobedient and rebellious. I even caught them joining forces to become one. Bad news. I called the next closet salon and they were booked, of course. Then I called the last salon in that .4 mile radius {yes there are 3 salons within 1.4 blocks of each other}. A lady answered and said she was just leaving but would wait if I could get there in 3 minutes. She wasn't kidding either.

I ran in and little did I know that I had just made an appt. with the Eyebrow Drill Sargent Master of Kaysville. She did not mess around. No small talk for this lady, just straight to business. She plucked and tweezed my poor eyebrows within an inch or their life. I started to panic, thinking that I would have those thin high arching eyebrows when she was done. I may have shed a tear, not for the loss of eye brow hair but out of excruciating pain. When she was done she handed me a mirror and I was prepared for the worst. Lo and behold, the best eyebrow waxing of my life! I can honestly say that they could win a beauty pageant. The best part? It cost me a total of $8, well, plus tip. But when was the last time you walked into an $8 brow waxing and were impressed? Me either.

{this is my excited for CCC face, but do you see the brows? perfection I tell you!}

Lastly, I just have a tiny share for all of you dog lovers out there. Greenies, the answer to all your rancid doggy breath problems.

{source}

A while ago these had a bad rap, so I did my research before putting them anywhere near my dogs. Apparently the old formula was hard and wouldn't digest in the intestines causing a blockage if the piece was too big. The new formula is much chewier and soluble. I feel okay about them.

 Maggie was the worst culprit of bad breath in our house. Her breath smelled like a can of tuna that was put in a dirty gym sock that was  found in a dead body's hand. Did I create a vivid enough picture? It was bad. When we picked up our first bag I was expecting to smell delightful minty goodness when opened. Well, that didn't happen. The treats actually kind of reeked. I was skeptical. But, within 3 days Maggie's breath smells much less like a dead body and more like, I don't know...nothing really? It's really neutralized everything, plus both puppies love the treats.

They're on the pricier side, but I will continue to buy now and again for maintenance so we don't have to pull out the gas masks again.