Here we go again...

Here Comes Santa Claus...

Look what Tim and I were up to on the weekend...

I'm so excited for Christmas. I just love it! However it was a little weird decorating the house and not having any snow. At least we got a little dusting of the stuff this morning. I think next week we're going to work on our outside decorations. Merry Christmas!!

Here Goes Nothin'

I'm going to do this. I'm going to go from Couch Potato to 5 km in 9 weeks. Actually I don't think I'll start with Week 1. The first few weeks seem pretty easy. So hopefully I'll be running 5 km in less than 9 weeks. I'm inspired by my neighbour who at 7 months pregnant with her 4th baby is STILL running 5 km every day. Wish me luck!

Dallin Will - New Nephew

It's A Boy! Tim's sister Rachel had her baby on November 2nd. Dallin Will weighed 8lb 13oz and was born just after 11:00pm. He's adorable.

Dallin - only a few hours old

Uncle Tim & Dallin

Auntie Ashlee & Dallin

And the winner is...

......a tie! The score is 8-8 for the pirate and spider.

The vampire slipped in at 4 votes. Horrible! Tim did the pirate and Britnee did the spider. And me...I did the vampire that apparently in the photos it was hard to tell what it was. But I don't think we'll invite Brit over next year to participate cuz she almost made Tim lose.

Nilsson Pumpkin Carving Contest

Tim won the contest last year with the haunted house and I won the year before with the scarey face. Let's see about 2007...

Let the voting begin!! Vote for your 1st choice as we don't do 2nd or 3rd places. The winner is all that matters in the Nilsson Pumpkin Carving Contest as 2nd place is just the first loser. The pumpkins have been submitted by Tim Nilsson, Ashlee Nilsson, and Britnee Wright.

Vampire in a Graveyard -- Spider -- Pirate Skeleton

(Click on the photos to enlarge them. Then you'll be able to see the details better.)

Puppies Puppies Everywhere

Jayda and Parker got a new little puppy. Their other dog Sadie (who was almost a year old) recently got hit on the road. Jayda was so upset as she has told us all over and over again that Sadie is her best friend. Jayda would spent all day long playing with her. And if she wasn't playing with Sadie then she would pretend to be Sadie.

Here they are with 7 week old Ryder:

And here's Ryder with my sister's pregnant belly:

Fluid on the Joint

Here's a little update on my hip problems:
I've been seeing the doctor weekly. Each week my hip is a little better. It's not even close to 100% though. Sitting is pretty good now. Driving is fine. I can't quite take a full stride when walking yet though. My biggest problem is twisting. Twisting is a no go. Lateral movements are just not happening. There's not really any pain involved...it's pretty much just a restriction of motion. And very annoying.

The doctor has been very thorough with me though. I go back and see him again next Tuesday. He's going to see how well it heals on its own, but he said that he won't stop until it perfect again. At my age 99% isn't good enough. So if it does heal all the way on its own then he'll send me to physio. We'll see...

Thanksgiving Weekend

It's been ages right? I know, I know. To be honest I haven't really had anything to post. I've sorta been in a funk this last month and a half...if ya know what I mean. Just been feeling a little blah. Anywho, enough with all of that.

Totally had a blast on Thanksgiving a few weekends back. There was a lot of travelling involved but still so much fun. Friday after work Tim, me, and Britnee (my sister that's living in Lethbridge now) all headed to Jaffray. Well let me back that story up a bit. Thursday night and Friday morning I got everything ready and packed so as soon as the work day ended we could head to Jaffray and hopefully not arrive at midnight (of course it was snowing that day too). Well no such luck. Tim phoned me at 7:00 in the morning to say he got a flat tire on the truck on his way to work. Crap! Our plan was to take the truck, not the car, to Jaffray cuz we needed to haul the quad and the dogs out there too. So I tried to get everything finished up at work early so that I could go get the flat tire repair. We seem to get flats all the time. I had another one my car not two weeks before this. Anywho after 2.5 hours I finally got the flat repaired and the guy didn't even charge me for it. (Sometimes it so sweet to be a chick!) But then I had to do a few errands before I could head home. Of course none of that went smoothly, but eventually I got it done. So back to where I was previously...finally we headed to Jaffray -- driving in the snow and arriving very late. Not to mention we were squished like sardines in the truck. With the quad in the back of the truck it didn't leave any room for the dogs. So the dogs got our back seat (thank goodness they're good travellers) along with our bags. Tim, Brit, and I squished on the front seat. Lucky me, I got the middle which the back rest that won't even recline a bit. So uncomfortable. And that was our Friday--a 3.5 hour drive.

Saturday morning we got up early so that we could catch the ferry. This time we jumped in with Mom and Dad. Their truck is much more comfortable. It took us around 3 hours to get to the ferry. The ferry was fun. I hadn't been on it in years.

Then we met Kimmy & Brendan (who live over there) at Ainsworth Hot Springs and we all had a swim. Then headed down the coastline of the lake for about 1.5 hours to Castlegar where Kimmy lives. They just bought a place over there cuz Brendan started school at Selkirk College. Their home is so nice. We sure filled it up as everyone in my family was there. It is so beautiful in the West Kootenays.

Sunday we had Thanksgiving dinner. It was so yummy. There are no complaints from me when it comes to turkey dinner and pumpkin pie. Mmmmm. Then we all headed back to Jaffray. We did the two Passes instead of taking the ferry this time and arrived back in Jaffray in 3 hours.

Monday morning Tim was so excited to go for a quad ride that he set the alarm clock (crazy I know). We went on this totally fun ride with my dad and my cousin Todd. We were gone for so long. We couldn't get to the top of the mountain cuz of the snow, so we cruised around on all the different trails at the base of the mountain. After the ride we packed ourselves back into our truck and headed home. Exhausted and dreading work in the morning.

Bad Day?

So go here and click on the Top News Stories for Tuesday October 2nd video. This crime spree happened yesterday morning in my quiet village (too small to be called a town) of Stirling. We only have 800 people in Stirling and something crazy like this happens. The house that was crashed in to is just down the street from us. Tim is their home teacher and we were just there on Sunday. The lady that had her jeep stolen is our neighbour (3 houses down). Just crazy. This guy seemed to be having A VERY BAD DAY!

And then last month we had a shooting in Stirling. What the heck?

Tag...I'm It!

I've been tagged by The Whidden Family. I'll give it a shot:

A-attached or single- Attached
B-best friends- Tim would have to be my best friend, but I would also say that my best friends are my mom and my sisters. I'm very close to them. Best couple friends would be Trent & Tara.
C-cake or pie- Pie for sure. Cake is so not my thing.
D-day of choice- Saturday cuz for the most part it means not having to wake for the alarm clock at 6am. And if Tim's not working then we get to do some fun stuff.
E-essential item- Camera. I love my camera.
F-fave color- I don't think I have a favorite color. My bedroom growing up was purple but I'm pretty sure my mom chose that for me. My wedding color was mint green, based on the material I liked for bridesmaid dresses. Ya, I don't have a favorite color.
G-gummy bears or worms- Gummy Bears all the way. I have a giant bag of them in my pantry right now.
H-hometown- Jaffray, British Columbia (I LOVE IT THERE!)
I-indulgences- Mint Chocolate Chip icecream. Tim bought me a carton of it last week when I was laid-up. Mmmmm me likey!
J-january or july- Oh July for two reasons: 1) My birthday and 2) Summer!
K-kids- Not yet, but hopefully soon.
L- life is incomplete without- My husband!
M-marriage data- August 27, 2004 in the Cardston Alberta Temple
N-# of siblings- 3 Sisters
O-oranges or apples- Normally I don't like either one, but when I was pregnant I decided I like Gala Apples and it's stuck. (Yes it has to be Gala.)
P-phobias or fears- Oh I just hate spiders. All sizes! I'd rather come across a mouse than a spider. But don't get me started on bears.
Q-quotes- "I am one-zero-zero percent." Eddie (Grampa) Barr
R-reason to smile- Family
S-season- Summer for sure except it's way too short around here.
T- tag three- Kim, Julie A, and Mindy
U-unknown fact about me- I spilled all my secrets back here.
V-vegetarian or oppressor of animals- Well I eat meat so I'm not a vegetarian, but does that really make me an oppressor of animals?
W-worst habit- I hate folding laundry and putting it away so I'll wash them but leave them in the basket making them wrinkled and eventually Tim will mix them in with the dirty clothes so I'll rewash them.
X-xrays or ultrasounds- Well I've only had x-rays at the dentist, but I've had many ultrasounds (most of which have been in the last 6 months) so I'll go with ultrasound.
Y-your fave food- Potato anything: chips, hashbrowns, french fries, mashed, scallopped, baked, etc
Z-zodiac- cancer

Inconclusive!

The tests came back inconclusive. The doctor went through every test that they ran on me with Tim and I...and there were many. They tested me for gout, staph infection, rheumatoid arthritis, just plain arthritis, lupus, lyme disease, some muscle diseases, and so on. Everything came back normal other than the test that showed inflammation (no kidding). But I'm happy with inconclusive if that means they've ruled out some of the nasty things that it could be.

Each day my hip is slowly getting better. I'm moving more. I can go down stairs, but not up them quiet yet. Sitting up is getting better. I am driving now, but not without pain...pain from sitting and from moving my leg from the gas to the brake. And I walk with a limp (how uncool is that?). The silly part is I limp not because of pain but because of lack of mobility. The doctor think because each day is a little better that it's probably a viral infection in the joint. Oh fun!

I'm all hopped up on Ibuprofen (a major prescription dosage) to help with the inflammation cuz it's not really doing anything pain wise.

Oh come on already!

They say it's not over till the fat lady sings and she's not singing yet. If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.

So I've spent the last two days in the ER...again. Seriously I come up with something new every few weeks. I started with the kidney stone, then the wisdom teeth, then there was the head cold plus 3 infections while on vacation, let's not forget the morning sickness, then the loss of our baby with emotional and physical pain, and now this....

I woke during the night to notice that when I tried to roll over in bed pain shot through my leg. The pain was so intense that I couldn't move my leg on it's on. I had to pick it up with my hands and move my leg. At 7:30am I had to call Tim back home from work cuz I couldn't move my leg enough to get out of bed. So back to the ER we went. The doctor checked me out and right away ruled out a pulled muscle. He pretty much scratched his head cuz it also didn't sound like a blood clot. But to be on the safe side the doctor sent me for some blood tests to check for a clot and sent me for an ultrasound on my leg. In the ultrasound they found no problem with the artery in my leg but did notice a bunch of fluid on my joint. Ya my hip is all jacked up. Which totally made sense as to why I couldn't sit, move my leg side to side, or forward and back. I could only lay flat on my back or stand straight up (with Tim's help to get me there). The doctor phoned my at 6:30pm last night to tell me he's still not sure as to what would cause a 25 year old to have fluid on her joint. Then he called me again at 9:45pm and told me to come back into the ER the next morning so they can check on me and do more blood work. Well obviously because I can't sit that means I can't drive. And forget about moving my leg from the gas to the brake peddle. So I called my little sister out to spend the night with me and then take me to the ER cuz Tim had to go to work.

Well this morning I woke up and now my shoulder is sore too. Not nearly as bad as my leg though. Britnee took me to the ER where the doctors there still don't know what's causing this so they are testing me for everything under the sun. I was sent for blood work AGAIN. This makes the 5th time in 3 weeks that I've had my blood taken for tests. Good thing I'm okay with needles. However the blood work today was ridiculous. Usually I just had to fill a couple vials of blood...three at the very most. Not today though. I had to fill two bottles that look like these and were about 6" tall. By the second bottle I was only dripping into it. It took forever to fill. Then the lab tech had to fill 7 vials after that. Well after the two bottles and the second vial I was so light headed and I almost passed out. The tech had to stop. hehe (That part was actually the funny.) Once the dizziness went away the tech went back to my other arm (where I had the blood drawn from yesterday so it was already bruised) to fill the other vials. Needless to say I have giant bruises on both of my arms from the blood work.

Well I go back to the doctor on Monday as they'll have the results by then from all the tests. I'm pretty nervous though as I know they're checking me for some autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis and Lupus. Neither of which aren't horrible.

I'm overwhelmed, but trying to stay positive. I know the Lord doesn't give us more than we can handle. And I guess this means He knows I can handle this. I'm exhausted though. Oh come on fat lady....please start singing already. Please!

**Ignore the typos and such as I'm not rereading this. I'm tired and going to bed instead.

A Milestone!

Today I hit a milestone.... I made my first Ebay purchase EVER. I know, you're all thinking "What the heck took ya so long woman?" I was just a little freaked about buying stuff online. You know, thinking I was going to get took or something. I guess I just don't really understand the whole Ebay thing. But I'm working on it. There's a bunch of stuff on there that I'd love to have.

However I started small. Really small. Tiny in fact. The whole thing said and done (including shipping and converting to Canadian $$) only cost me $4.00. Yep, 4 bucks. It was my first time and I was a little scared. Weren't you nervous in the beginning?

You not want yer food!

Tim and I love Chinese Food. It’s at the top of the list for us. We decided to go out on a date. Our plan was to do dinner (Chinese food) and then go and see Transformers. Well we didn’t have much luck. We went to our favorite Chinese food restaurant to find it closed and FOR SALE. Crap! We decided to go to the Chinese restaurant that shares a parking lot with the movie theatre. The restaurant was pretty much empty. There were a few tables (with their food already) and two ladies waiting at the front for their To Go orders. Perfect right? Wrong! When our server (a middle aged woman from Russia) brought us our water we placed our order: the Dinner For Two plus three Eggrolls. Simple right? Wrong! The restaurant quickly filled up behind us. After sitting there for 25 minutes we got our three eggrolls. And then we continued to wait and wait and wait for our meal. Our server was the rudest person ever. To the tables next to us we’d see her come and drop off a plate of food by slamming it on the table and then turning away quickly without saying a word. And to add to our irritation the phone in that place would.not.stop.ringing! The ringer must have been on high. It was so loud that at times I sat there with my ears covered (yes, THAT loud). Finally 40 minutes in we got our plate of steamed white rice. We thought our meal was finally coming. Wrong! After another 10 minutes (the steamed rice was now cold rice) and seeing 4 tables that had come after us receive their food and finish their food before we even got our meal, we were beyond ticked. The show was starting! We got up and stopped at the front to pay for our three eggrolls. While we were paying our server comes out of the kitchen and says "You not want yer food!". We told her that we wanted our food 45 minutes ago and that since we’ve been there we’ve seen other tables, that came after us, finish their meals. Well her excuse for them getting their food (which was the exact same Dinner For Two) before us was because we had eggrolls. Oh my bad! I didn’t realize that if you ordered eggrolls then you had to wait an hour for your food. No tip for you!

We went to the theatre hungry. I had a hot chocolate and Tim has theatre nachos (not so yummy). But the show was awesome!

September Long Weekend

Before all the craziness that happend last week started, we actually had a very fun long weekend. Here's some of the stuff we did:

We started with my cousin Carlene's wedding. She and Rusty were sealed in the Cardston Alberta Temple on Friday, 31 August. Then on Saturday we all (minus Tim) went to Jaffray for Carlene's reception. It was a great time.

Tim had to work on Saturday so he drove out to Jaffray later that evening. He arrived at about midnight and told me that a deer ran out in front of him and he hit it. Stupid deer. There are SO MANY of them around Jaffray. There wasn't any real damage to our truck, but it did crack our fog light. Grrrr.

Sunday we did the church thing and then celebrated my brother-in-law, Brendan's 23rd Birthday. That same evening Kimmy & Brendan packed up the rest of their stuff and moved to Castlegar so that Brendan can start school there on Tuesday. We're sure gonna miss them.

Monday Tim and I went for a quad ride with my dad and my sister Britnee. We had such a great time. We didn't find any mud as it hasn't rained all summer. But boy was it a dusty ride. We were so dirty afterwards.

PS The quad ride wasn't the cause of the miscarriage. However, when I was in the ER Monday night I sure thought so. The baby was already gone by this point and the actual cause of the miscarriage was, as the doctor said "a fluke". Gotta love that medical terminology eh? However I read about the type of miscarriage that I had and the Internet also described the cause as "a fluke of nature".

We're Getting By

Well I’m back. It’s been a week and a half and I’m getting by.

Emotionally I’m doing pretty good. Tim has helped me tons. He’s been amazing. He lets me cry all I want and doesn’t say I’m silly for doing so. He tells me we’ve hit a bump in the road, but soon enough we’ll be back on track. I couldn’t have done this without him.

And physically...well I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I’m hoping that light isn’t a train. The physical part was much more (hmmm what’s the word).... intense than what I thought it would be. We decided not to go with a D&C as my doctor was certain I would be able to pass naturally. However, the stupid cramps aren’t gone.

I’m ready for all of this to be over now though. I want to move on. I want our life to be back to normal. Tim continually reassures me that this isn’t it for us. He tells me that I will be a mommy one day. That day can’t come soon enough for me.

I’m so very blessed to have such a wonderful family and amazing friends to help Tim and I during this time.

Angel Baby

I lost our baby. I'm not really sure what else to say. My heart is broken.

Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

Three years ago today I was sealed to my best friend for Time & All Eternity. I feel so blessed to have Tim as my husband. So much has happened over the last three years. We've had some great times together and it's only getting better. We are so excited to welcome our new addition to the family in March.


We celebrated our anniversary on the weekend. Tim's been working such long hours lately it's hard to get out during the week. We went out to Ric's Grill in the Water Tower (love the view of Lethbridge from way up there) and had the most expensive meal we'd ever had by far. Probably because Tim had the calamari to start and then filet mignon and king crab legs for the main course. (Did I mention I hate all seafood?) Luckily we had gift certificates so it only cost us $6. Then we topped the night off with a movie, The Bourne Ultimatum.

I LOVE YOU TIM!

One-Zero-Zero Percent!

Last week Grampa passed away. He was 90 years old and had lived a long life. Even though he was old his death was sudden. Exactly a week before he passed away he was well enough to go to the temple one last time. How cool is that eh? He went to my cousin's temple wedding on Friday and Saturday, took family pictures on Sunday, and then a few days later got pneumonia and passed away quickly.

In the last few years every time anyone asked Grampa how he was doing he always replied, "One-Zero-Zero percent!" And now he truly is 100%.

I'm so grateful to have had Eddie Barr as my grampa. What a great example he was to all of us. We counted Grampa & Granny's posterity the other day -- when my baby is born (which is due on Grampa's birthday) that will make 110 of their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He's left an awesome legacy for his family to follow.

I have dreamed a dream

I had a little girl. Ya, in my dream last night I had a little fair haired girl. A girl would be fantastic (not that a boy wouldn't be fantastic). The problem is coming up with a name for a girl. We can't seem to find a girl's name that we love. We have tons that are okay, but none that we love. We don't have that problem with boy names.

What are some great girl names?

Suzy Homemaker...I think not

Took yesterday afternoon off work. Went home and tried to be Suzy Homemaker. My sister gave me a recipe for bread that she said was fool proof. I've never made bread before as it takes way too long to make it in the evening when I get home from work. So this was my first attempt yesterday. And well...not so good. Actually horrible. The dough (or what was supposed to be dough) landed itself in the bottom of my garbage can.


That now leaves me with 6.5 months to learn some homemaking skills before I'm off work and home full time. Cuz if I can't make bread by then, well good luck trying to learn with a newborn baby in the house. Or maybe I should just stick with what I know and bake cookies and banana bread instead. Suzy Homemaker...I think not!

My Cousin's Wedding

On Friday I went to my cousin Kyle's wedding. Kyle and Melissa were sealed in the Cardston Alberta Temple. Saturday they had a garden reception back in BC. The rain held out and it was beautiful. The reception was in Melissa's grandparent's backyard. The setting and the decorations were amazing! Here are a few pictures (click on them to enlarge):

Montana Vacation

Finally I downloaded the pictures from our Montana holiday. I know it took me forever. My excuse is I was sick and I'd rather lay down than sit in front of a computer. Anywho, but late than never.

We headed out late on Saturday to go to Kalispell. We got there, stopped for gas, and the guy at the gas station said we should spend the night at Ashley Lake, 20 miles outside of Kalispell. Sounds good. Well after driving more like 30 miles we see the sign for Ashley Lake. That turned into a gravel road for 20 miles and then we heard it. We had a flat tire! It's pitch black outside and Tim's now trying to change a flat tire. We didn't have a jack (what vehicle doesn't come with a jack?), but we borrowed one from a cabin near by. This part of the story is much longer, but I won't bore you with the details. Anywho, the guy that owned the cabin told us that Ashley Lake doesn't have any public camping..NICE. So we head back out and go to a lake that he told us about. Ya, well the site was full. Finally at 1:30 am we pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot in Kalispell and slept there. Ya, that's how we roll.


We couldn't repair the tire and we couldn't buy a new one. Our tires we're 100% Canadian and could only be bought in Canada. So I phoned my sister and she went and bought us a tire and brought it down to us (more on that later).

We spent the next 3 nights camping on Flathead Lake. So beautiful. Our site was right on the water. We had our own private beach. It was awesome. By this time though I was deathly sick with a head cold and morning sickness. I wasn't having much fun.

Tim swam with the dogs and took them boating. Actually all 4 of us fit in that dingy at once.



Wednesday we went to Big Sky Waterslides. My sister Jenn brought her family and our tire to Columbia Falls. They didn't let pregnant ladies on some of the slides, so Jenn and I had to sit out of some. I didn't really want to do the super steep ones anyways. Tim and my sister Britnee did. I liked the tube rides.




We spent that night at Whitefish Lake (ya not so nice). A stupid train went right by the campsite all the time. So on Thursday, MY BIRTHDAY, we moved on to Dickey Lake. I've camped their tons as a kid. And part of my birthday presents was snorkeling gear for myself and for Tim (I guess it was his bday too) and Dickey Lake is so crystal clear it made for perfect snorkeling.



And then that evening for my birthday my mom and my granny drove to see us (it's about an hour drive from Jaffray). It was great to have dinner and a bday cake with them. (Don't mind how I look in this photo. I was feeling pretty sick this day.)


Saturday we crossed back into Canada and visited Mom and Dad in Jaffray for a bit. Then Tim and I along with Dad went to Thunder in the Valley in the Crowsnest Pass. It was amazing. But I don't have any pictures for ya cuz by this day I was super duper sick and not feeling like much of anything. The fireworks were the best I've ever seen. They said they spent $35,000 on them. There were tons of people there though. We had a great spot to see the fireworks. I'm going again next year.

1st Prenatal Appointment

I had my first prenatal yesterday. It wasn't anything fancy. It's still too early to hear the heartbeat. Went through mine and my family's medical history. And spent most of the time talking about my heart problems (I have SVT). The baby and I are doing well. It's 100% a normal pregnancy. Nothing crazy or eventful (which is so good). The morning sickness is good one day and bad the next. Yesterday was a good day, so I was able to run some errands after work. And today...so far, so good. Oh and Tara and I are now due a week apart.

Finally!

I haven't been able to get into blogger in ages. Finally...here I am.

I'm doing well...for the most part. Some days are worse than others. How come no one told me about the puking? Ya, puking in a public toilet at work..not so cool. Oh I guess you did tell me the crappy parts of being pregnant here, here, again here, another time here, once here, etc. I must have ignored that. Ah it's all worth it, right?

I'm lucky though. I have a "puking partner" as we call it. Yep, our very best friends are also expecting their first baby in March. They just found out. Actually Tara's not just due in March like me. We are due ONE DAY apart! Ya, you heard right. Now the question is: Who gets the 'It's a girl!' cup and sleeper? What is that you ask? Let me explain:

Tim and Trent met back in 2000 while on their missions. They were missionary companions. And it turns out they had way too much in common. When they got home from their missions Trent called Tim up and they went horseback riding. From there on out they were best friends. The two of them even lived together. Trent and Tara were married in May 2003. Tara moved in with both Trent and Tim (what a good woman). Christmas 2003 Tim gave Trent and Tara an "It's a girl!" mug and pink sleeper. The joke is both Tim and Trent swear they're gonna have boys first. On Trent & Tara's 1st anniversary Tim and I got engaged and married later that year. And it just all works out. The four of us are the best of friends. Well Christmas 2004 we got the mug and each Christmas following we exchange the mug. Tim and I have it on display in our living room right now. The mug has sparked many questions in both the Nilsson & Rasmussen homes as it's ALWAYS on display. The pink sleeper is now more of a grey color from the dust. This Christmas it goes back to Trent & Tara and then we'll see who gets it in March. So there you have it. It's not every day that someone gets to have a baby at the same time as her best friend. I can already see the day: Tara and I in the delivery room together. Separated by a curtain, but holding hands. While our dear husbands are sipping A&W Rootbeer and talking horses, guns, and trucks outside the room and thinking (but not sharing with the other) that a little girl would be so wonderful if they didn't get their boy.

I'm still alive....I think

We've been home from our vacation in Montana since Sunday. I know...I've been missing in action for a few days. I have a good excuse though. My head has been in the toilet. Ya know, people speak of this "morning sickness" that's supposed just make you queasy and crackers and gingerale fix it -- well that's not what I've got. I've tried the crackers, the dry toast, the gingerale, the gingersnaps, and all that. Ya well those came up too. If it went in...it would come out. So I stopped putting stuff in to see if that would help. Nope. I tried going to work on Monday. Made it most of the day. Not so cool throwing up in a public toilet. Finally gave up and went to the doctor. **Side Note: You see I have more than one sickness going on. I'm trying to get over a head cold, 3 different infections (yes three), and then morning sickness.** So Dr. V told me that it looks like I'm over infection #1, gave me a prescription for infection #2, told me to stop taking the antibiotics for infection #3 cuz it was making infection #2 worst and adding to the nausea. He told me to try gravol for the morning sickness (or all day sickness), but just in case that didn't work he gave me a prescription to stop the vomiting. Well the gravol went it...it came out. No way would it stay down. So after throwing up more than 10 times in a single day (I realize Casey you probably beat that.), Tim took me to Shoppers Drug Mart at 10 pm to fill the prescription. And that stuff is AMAZING! Very expensive, but amazing! I can eat again.

Seven weeks tomorrow!! I've got my first prenatal August 8th. Not that I haven't already seen the doctor 3 times in the last 3 weeks, but at least this is a planned visit. His head nurse and I are on a first name basis--we speak on the phone even when I'm on vacation.

Taking A Break

Yipee! Tim and I have ALL of next week off. We're going camping in Montana. We're gonna do anything, but work. Yes...just me, Tim, our sesame seed sized baby, and the outdoors. Oh it'll be great! No alarm clocks. I loathe alarm clocks. ALSO, on Thursday it'll be my 25th birthday! Next week is gonna be awesome! We don't have an itinerary for the trip. So we'll just go where the wind blows and try to avoid the forest fires.

Now in baby news...I'm feel great still. I'm hoping it lasts, but I know it's still pretty early on. But there's no harm in wishful thinking. I'm tired these days, but so what. I was tired before. Now I just have a good reason. And that's it. I think it's finally sunk in for Tim that he's gonna be a daddy. It was surreal for the first few days. I was just too excited and I'm not a very good secret keeper so we told everyone pretty much right away. I know a lot of people like to wait until after the first three months, but that was just way too long for me to hold the news. I haven't told anyone at work though. I can't muster up the courage to. I think it'll be a shock to them. They'd think I'm way too young to be a mommy, but in the LDS world...I should have a bunch of kids by now. Hey give me a break...I got married later than most LDS girls. Took me a while to find Tim.

When are the cravings supposed to start? Will I be eating ice cream and pickles? Did you have any weird cravings when you were pregnant (or did your wife)? Were there any smells that you just couldn't handle when you were preggers? My sister hated the smell of vanilla scented candles with her first baby and with the second she craved cucumbers. A friend of mine couldn't handle the smell of the freezer when she was pregnant. So tell me...what do I have to look forward to?

1 + 1 = 3

Camping Again

Went camping this weekend again (no surprize eh). We went to Writing on Stone....again. This time we went with family though. Tim's dad was up from Vegas for a visit so we took him camping. We also went with Tim's sister, Rachel, and her family. We had such a good time. The weather on Saturday was PERFECT! We had a blast!

Good-bye Straggly Hair

I cut it off. Well Kimmy cut it off for me. It was just looking way too ugly. I had straggly hair. And the pictures from Britnee’s grad confirmed it. It needed to go. Six inches...gone. It feels much better. Hmm, not even a slight wave in my hair. I wonder if the moosh could share some of her curl with me.


Here are some before, during, and after pictures. I had to zoom in on the after picture and it's not a good one, but it gives you an idea. I'll have to get a good picture of me with my new hair cut. Which will be pretty tough considering I'm the picture taker (I don't dare call myself a photographer) in our family.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Britnee's Graduation

Last Friday Tim and I went to Fernie for Britnee’s High School Graduation. It’s hard to believe that my youngest sister is graduated. That makes graduation for my 7 years ago. I’ve been out of school longer than I was ever in high school.

Anywho, a wicked bad storm came ripping through Fernie and knocked the power out for about an hour. But it came back up and the party went on. Kimmy did an awesome job on Brit’s hair. Britnee looked so beautiful!

Pole Haven - Camping, Quading, Creeks, & Cameras

We got home from work last Friday and our neighbor had left a note/map in our door. They said they were camping out at Pole Haven (in the mountains near Cardston) and we were supposed to meet them. So we packed the trailer and loaded the quad and headed out. Another family from Stirling came too. Saturday morning we went out quading and found some fun trails and mud. By the afternoon it was really hot out so we all decided to go down to the creek. Tim and I along with Dave and Jeff thought it would be fun to quad up the creek as far as we could go. It was a good idea until Tim and I went around one corner. It looked like a pretty deep hole, but we were hoping to just go along the edge and ride on the slope. No such luck. There was no slope. It was a drop off into waist deep water. Yep, we tipped our quad into the hole. I was able to keep my one hand, that was holding the video camera, out of the water. Jeff & Dave helped Tim right-side our quad which was completely under water. Then I remembered that our digital camera was in the cargo holder on the quad. We opened it up and a gush of water came out of the holder....the camera was drenched. We didn’t dare to try and start the quad so Dave towed us back to the camp. At camp we realized that the keys for the trailer and truck were no longer on the quad. They must have went into the creek. Went back to the creek...no such luck. We broke into the trailer and eventually were able to break into the truck with a coat hanger to get my spare keys. Back to the quad. The water damage was bad. We drained the oil and it was milky. However lucky for us our neighbor’s dad was out dirt-biking at Pole Haven too and he just happened to be riding with THE MECHANIC FROM KAWASAKI! The guy came over and fixed our quad in 30 minutes. Something that would have cost us $250-300 if we took it to Kawasaki. We tipped the quad around 1:00 and by 8:00 that night we were up and running like nothing ever happened....other than the fact that my camera was dead. So all the photos I have are stills from my video camera. Not the greatest quality.

Yesterday I went and bought a new digital camera. That was money that I sure didn’t want to spend. It’s got so many functions that I’m pretty sure I’ll just use the AUTO mode. I needed a new camera though cuz I use mine all the time. And it’s Britnee’s (my sister) highschool graduation tomorrow. Gotta have a camera for that!

That's as they're trying to right-side our quad. I didn't get any video of it under the water as they jumped pretty fast to get it out. Ignore the water drop on the lens.

Here they are again. Yep, that was a deeper hole than we thought.

Is that a tear? Nah, Tim doesn't cry.

Back up and running. Cheif Mountain in the background.

And some mud that we found while on a trail.