Jumping Ship

Last week (May 7th) Tim started a new job. Yes, another new job. He’s now working at McCain. You know McCain…like French fries and stuff.

So he’s doing pretty much the same work he was doing at Lamb Weston (Maintenance Journeyman Electrician), but he (we) decided that McCain would be a better fit for us for the following reasons: a) 17 minute drive one way to McCain vs a 45 minute one way drive to Lamb Weston cuz we all know how cheap gas is these days (ugh) and b) better shift schedule (4 on 4 off schedule vs a 2, 2, 3 schedule). I’m really excited about the 4 days off stuff for camping this summer. Yipee!

So Tim’s been doing Monday to Friday (8 hr shifts) right now while he’s being trained. He’s first day of shift work starts Thursday. And yes, that means he works Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of the May Long weekend.

Celebrating Tim

Tim made shopping for his birthday present pretty easy for me this year.... he bought his own. In fact he bought it back in January. Now that Tim's working at this new job with shift work, he thinks he'll have time to hunt this Fall. So he sold two of the guns he had at home and bought himself a rifle.... and a scope..... and reloading stuff.... and who knows what else to get his rifle set-up. It was a gift to Tim from Tim for his birthday 3 months away. What can ya do?

So I kept it pretty simple when his actual birthday came around. It's pretty much a guarantee that if I have to buy a gift for Tim it will include an article of clothing as my dear husband refusing to shop for his own clothes. But I switched it up and I think he was pretty suprised to see I had bought him something for the Wii instead.

I've told you before how Tim doesn't like cake right? Well he got TWO cakes. One for the family dinner - a texas sheet cake. He's likes that one cuz it's not really a cake and not really a brownie. Kinda a mixture of the two. And then on his real birthday I was super sick, but my sister came by and baked Tim an angel food caked with lemon cool whip (Thanks a bunch Brit!) while I napped. As that's what he asked me to make for his birthday, but that wasn't big enough to feed all the family. So two cakes...



And then there was the gift from Trent, Tara, & Blake. Remember the "It's a Girl" cup? Well it's now back on display at our house as Blake has avoided having to come near that dusty pink sleeper. (Lucky him!) So we'll see in August if "It's a Girl" for us.

After 3 birthday dinners, 2 birthday cakes, a bunch of Wii stuff (the new game from his sister's family is SO MUCH FUN), many other great bday gifts from family, and a "It's a Girl!" cup -- I think we're complete in celebrating Tim's birthday for this year. Happy 28th Timmy!

Happy Birthday Tim!

Today was Tim's birthday. He had to work and I'm super sick (again) so we had his party on Sunday with family. We had dinner, cake, and presents. What more could he want right?

Happy Birthday Tim! I love you more with each passing day!

My Valentine!

I had the best Valentine's Day! My husband cooked me an amazing dinner. I got home from work (he had the day off) and he had prepared scalloped potatoes, honey butter carrots, a salad, and steak. We had Shirley Temples to drink. Oh wow was it all yummy. And for dessert...chocolate dipped strawberries. Mmmmmm! It was all so nice. And my gift (I told him to keep it simple this year) he bought me some Cocoa Butter because he says my tummy is starting to poke out and he heard that cocoa butter helps to prevent stretch marks when pregnant. Sounds good to me and it smells divine. Oh but the cutest thing was we sat down to eat and he got up and dimmed our dining room light. He said he was going to buy some candles then he thought "hey I'm an electrician...I'm just going to install a dimmer switch" -- he's the best and I'm so lucky.

And now you ask what I got him for Valentine's Day. Well the day before we had this crazy weather in Stirling. I was honestly snowed in and couldn't get to work. I stayed home and baked. Tim has been asking since Christmas for some sugar cookies with icing on them. So I made heart-shaped cookies with pink icing. My dear husband has already eaten all of them. They were a hit.

But because I was home all day I thought I'd try again to make bread dough. I had much better success this time. Elevation....needed much more flower last time. How come no one told me about elevation making a difference until I read that here? Duh! No wonder I could make bread dough in BC with my sister, but when I tried to make it exactly the same in Alberta it wouldn't turn out. (Thanks for the tip Casey) Anyways, I made two dozen buns (turned out perfectly).

But you see Tim loves cinnamon rolls. I thought I'd do a slight variation on the cinnamon rolls and make sticky buns. Sounds good right? What a perfect gift/treat for him on Valentine's Day. Well with sticky buns, as soon as they come out of the oven you have to flip them upside down and then the sticky sauce runs all over them. They came out, they looked great, I tried to flip them but the stupid glass pan was too heavy. I asked Tim to flip the pan over for me. And the last thing I said to him was, "Don't flip them into the sink!" Tim flipped...right into the sink. I had my large bowl in there that I had the dough rising in so they fell in a heap into that (at least they missed the water). I didn't get mad. It was too funny to get mad at. Tim felt horrible! Do they look pretty? We ate them anyways. Happy Valentine's Day Tim! Only the best for you...

Between Husband & Wife

HIS NAME: Timothy Ryan

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN TOGETHER? Married for 3.5 years

HOW LONG DID YOU DATE? When you know, you know...right? We were married one week shy of knowing each other for 5 months. Ya I know it was quick. And I ALWAYS swore I'd never be one of those girls to get married so quickly to someone I just met. I was wrong.

WHERE DID YOU MEET? A YSA dance. Lame I know. Tim stocked me there, but I thought he was stocking my friend. Then he asked me to dance the 2nd to last song (a slow song). He asked if we could hang out sometime. I said sure. He found me later on and asked for my number....in front of the guy I was seeing at the time. The guy and I were pretty much fizzling out so I gave my number to Tim. He called the next afternoon. Where was that wait to call for three days rule?

HOW OLD IS HE? 27

WHO EATS MORE? Tim picks and eats all day long. Never a bunch at one sitting, but little bits all the time. I could probably out eat him in one sitting, but I don't. I have no problem with eating till I'm so full it hurts. While Tim refuses to get full. He hates the feeling.

WHO SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST? Well you decide. After knowing each other for a week (ya I know) Tim said to me "I'm falling in love with you." I replied with a "Well, I love you." He says he said it first cuz what he said was close enough.

WHO IS TALLER? Timmy

WHO SINGS BETTER? We can both hold a tune, but Tim doesn't sing in public. At least not anymore.

WHO IS SMARTER? I dunno cuz our "smarts" are so different. I'm really good at some things that Tim's not and vise versa. We've never had to be smart at the same thing. hehe

WHO DOES THE LAUNDRY? Mostly me and I hate it. Tim totally helps out tons though.

WHO DOES THE DISHES? Once again, mostly me. Tim will help out, but it stops at loading the dishwasher. He doesn't do the dishes that have to be washed by hand.

WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED? Me cuz it's closer to the bathroom. I get up and pee 100 times a night.

WHO PAYS THE BILLS? Me. I just seemed to get that job. However I actually pay very few of them cuz I've got them all set up on automatic withdraw. Ya, I'm lazy.

WHO DRIVES WHEN YOU ARE TOGETHER? Tim about 95% of the time. I only drive when he's too tired to drive.

WHO IS MORE STUBBORN? Ya, that would be me.

WHO KISSED WHO FIRST? Tim kissed me. Took forever though. I don't blame him cuz I had a nasty cold sore at the time.

WHO ASKED WHO OUT? Tim asked me out. He called the very next afternoon. I was screening my calls and let him leave a message. Then I called everyone that I knew who knew him and asked if I should go out with him. Everyone said go for it. So I did. We went horseback riding.

WHO PROPOSED? Oh Tim. We went to Waterton on the May Long Monday and he knelt on those rocks on the beach of the lake and asked me to be his wife. We noticed afterwards that some old guy was watching us from the deck on his cabin.

WHO IS MORE SENSITIVE? Me for sure. Enough said about that.

WHO HAS MORE FRIENDS? We don't really have a huge group of friends...either of us. We have a few close friends that we love and that's it.

WHO HAS MORE SIBLINGS? Tim wins...hands down. I have 3 sisters. Tim has 14 brothers and sisters.

WHO WEARS THE PANTS IN THE FAMILY? It's all pretty equal. However when it comes to big purchases I usually make the final decision. We've never faught over finances cuz we made that promise to each other before we were married.

Out with the old – In with the new

Tim quit his job on Monday. And today he started a new one. Not a huge career change or anything like that. He’s been hired as a Journeyman Electrician for Lamb Weston. It’s a huge potato plant ("Where every day's a fryday!") and he’ll be doing maintenance there instead of construction like he’s been doing for the last 5 (or so) years. He’s excited about the change and to learn some new stuff. The crappy part is now it’s shift work. Yep 12 hour days (or nights) plus a 45 min drive to work each way. So he’ll have to work some night shifts and he’ll work every second weekend. Totally crappy, but we both feel shift work will work very well for us when I’m at home with our baby. (That day can’t come soon enough.) I’m so proud of Tim and the hard worker that he is. I hope his first day is going well. It’s so strange for me not to be able to call him whenever. I’m sure I’ll get used to it though.

A Year in Review (2007)

I totally stole this from another blog. Loved the idea, so I wanted to do it here too. Here's a summary of our 2007.

January

Tim started his last year of school

Bought a new car

February

My cousin miraculously survives being in an avalanche

March

Rachel announced she's pregnant

Tim finished school & is now a Journeyman Electrician

Ashlee went to the ER with a kidney stone

Tim turns 27 years old

April

Tim sold his horse Felize

Camping at Fairmont Hot Springs

Tim bought a new Quad

Ashlee bought a new treadmill

Ashlee got her wisdom teeth out

Bought an old holiday trailer

May

Grampa had to go to an assisted living home

Camping at Writing on Stone

Camping at Lewis & Clarke Caverns

Tim fought his first house fire

Jenn announces she's pregnant

June

Camping at Waterton (Belly River)

Bought a new truck

Camping & Quading at Pole Haven

Britnee graduates highschool

July

We're Pregnant

Camping at Writing on Stone

Camping in Montana

Ashlee turns 25 years old

Trent & Tara announce they're pregnant

August

Attended my cousin Kyle's wedding

Grampa passes away

Our 3rd Wedding Anniversary

Attended my cousin Carlene's wedding

September

We lost our baby

Ashlee goes to the ER with fluid on her hip

October

Spent Thanksgiving in Castlegar with Kimmy & Brendan

November

New nephew Dallin was born

December

We're Pregnant Again

Celebrated Christmas in BC

Phew, 2007 has exhausted me! Here's hoping 2008 is AWESOME!

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.

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!

Feeling Hot Hot Hot Hot!

Last Tuesday when Tim was on his way home from work he noticed smoke coming from Stirling. He drove to where he saw the smoke (a few blocks down from our house) and noticed a house on fire. He went straight to the Fire Hall. The other firefighters had just arrived there as well. I went and tried to get some video of Tim fighting his first fire on the Stirling Fire Department. It was pretty hard as the house was surrounded by trees and there were barricades up so I couldn't get very close. I did get video of the water Tim was spraying on the house and of him climbing the ladder with the hose over his shoulder. I have put captions in the video to point these out. Please don't mind the shaky videoing as it was super windy out and the blurriness is because I didn't realize the digital zoom was on.



They fought the fire for close to 5 hours. Tim was really tired when he got home. He said it was hard work. The house is pretty much gutted. It was too old and was falling apart so they couldn't get inside to fight the fire--just had to spray it down from outside.

A few weeks ago I told Tim that the Fire Department should make a calendar. Then on Tuesday I saw the rest of the firefighters and well let's just say that they should NOT be in a calendar. But my husband was hot, hot, hot, hot!

The Hair!

BEFORE
AFTER

I rolled off the couch finally on Saturday afternoon to go upstairs to find out what Tim was up to. I found him standing in the bathroom with a pile of his curls on the floor. He got tired of the hair and cut it off. He said it was too hard to work with hair in his eyes and none of his hats fit him anymore. He's dead sexy to me either way!!

Goodbye Old Friend

After 11 years of companionship Tim sold his dear horse, Felize. He decided put an ad in the paper and she sold in a week. He's just been too busy to ride and we couldn't afford to pay board for a horse that we weren't using. We're extremely happy with the price we got and especially happy with the new home she's going to. It's going to a 14 year old girl that has been wanting a horse of her own as she and her siblings fight over the one that they already have. Felize is going to be so spoiled. When they came to pick Felize up yesterday the girl had a smile from ear to ear and just kept hugging Felize. I'm so glad she went to this girl instead of some rough and tumble cowboy. Felize is our baby so we're happy that her new family is going to keep in touch with us and send us pictures from time to time. I kept asking Tim if he was sad because he was selling Felize. He said he'd punch me in the nose if I asked once more....I guess that means no. Well I was sad for him. But now we still have Jet that we need to sell. Do you want a year old colt?

Tim's Party

Well on Saturday I hosted Tim's 27th Birthday/Graduation Party. I fed close to 30 people. We had potatoe, macaroni, and orange cream salads to go along with the chips, pop, hamburgers, and hot dogs. I didn't make a cake, but I did put 27 candles on a Scor chocolate bar trifle. It was a hit with even Tim (who doesn't like cake). So I think Tim had a pretty good birthday.

April Showers?

I thought April showers bring May flowers. April snow brings nothing but tears. I'm so ready for warm weather. Enough of this snow and crappy roads. My sister-in-law and I have to go to a funeral an hour drive out of town today and the roads suck! Tim is making my drive to his shop and switch him vehicles. He said I should take the truck with 4 Wheel Drive as it'll be safer on the roads. Too bad it's so dirty inside. Oh well, better safe and dirty than sorry and clean.

Tim's birthday/graduation party was a hit on Saturday. I'll post more about that later and add some pictures.

He Did It!

Last night Tim got a phonecall from his boss. The Alberta Apprenticeship Board has sent Tim's marks for his Provincial and Inter-Provincial exams to his employer. We already knew he passed his Provincial and we found out last night he didn't just barely pass as he suspected. He did awesome on it! And he also passed his Inter-Provincial. Yep, he's now got his Ticket and Red Seal. He did so well on both exams. I'm so proud of him.

Tonight I will take him out for dinner to celebrate...Chinese Food of course (Tim's favorite). Which will be better than yesterday when, at his request, I had to call him "Red Seal Journeyman Man" all evening long. Hey, whatever floats your boat right?

Oh Ya Baby!

Tim wrote his FINAL exam as an apprentice electrician today. He called me to say it was super hard and he passed. Which is AWESOME! We won't know his actual mark as they will mail that to us. They test administrators just tell you pass or fail. My husband is now a Journeyman Electrician. Sweet stuff! I'm so proud of him and all the hard work he put into his apprenticeship these last 4 years. Good job Tim!


So that's what Tim was up to for 3 hours this morning. And he had to go back again this afternoon at 1:00 for a 4 hour Red Seal (Inter-Provincial) test. When he passes that test he'll be able to work not just in Alberta as a Journeyman, but in any province in Canada, except Quebec of course. They've got their own "French" ways there.


Well, that's our good news! Tim's back to work on Monday with a 25% pay raise (yes, not only does he get his entitled 20% raise from becoming a Journeyman, but his boss gave him an additional 5% raise). Well, I guess we're on to Phase II of our lives now....

And this...

Here's the new coat that Tim bought me on Saturday as well. It's kinda a funny picture of it, but it's super cute. I love it. My sister, Britnee is going to be so jealous. This is totally her style.

How great it is to be loved by Tim!

Valentine’s Day came early for me this year. Yesterday I was getting ready for church and Tim brought me a little package. I just love little packages. He said I get my Valentine’s Day gift early cuz I was all dressed up and I needed a little something extra. And these are what I got:
These earrings actually match my wedding rings (I can only find a picture of my engagement ring).I just love my new earrings. Tim’s too good to me. On Saturday he bought me a new coat too.

Now what should I do for him for Valentine’s Day?

Sleepy Conversations

Tim: I don't want to go with him.
Ash: Go where with who?
Tim: I don't want to go with him to the Sadie Hawkins dance.
Ash: I think you're dreaming Tim.
Tim: I'm not dreaming!
Ash: Ok then.

My Poor Nose

Last night Tim and I went to bed around 12:30am. I was having this lovely sleep until Tim decided to roll over like a maniac with elbows flying everywhere. And my poor nose met his elbow straight on. I woke up to instant tears, throbbing, and headache. Oh ya, he got me good. Right on the nose too. Getting hit in the nose sucks. It was a flash back to my younger days playing "crack the egg" on the trampoline. That game always ended with someone getting a knee to the nose. Anywho, I'm in wicked pain and Tim's sleeping...WHAT THE HECK! So I wake him up and tell him he owes me a hug for smashing my nose. He answers with this, "Ash, it's 2 in the morning. Go to sleep!" So I went all the way downstairs in the dark and got some painkillers (had a wicked headache) and went back to bed...with no hug from Tim.

And now today, my nose is super sore still--very tender to touch. But at 1:00 in the afternoon I get a phone call from my dear husband. He just now realizes all that went on last night and he called to say he felt super bad for elbowing me in the face. He apparently wasn't fully awake when this all went down at 2 am (which I know has happened to us in the past--he's talking, but not awake). That's okay Tim! I still love you!

Here's a picture of Tim from last night. He was doing some electrical work for his sister. And yes, his hair is super long right now. The curls are totally hot though.