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.