Look What Tim Got!

Yesterday Tim got a brand spankin' new 2008 Dodge Ram 1500. It was his turn for a new truck cuz I got the new car last year. However I blame Kendall for this purchase. Apparently when we were with them last weekend he told Tim about this wicked deal that Dodge had on right now. Well Tim jumped on that "wicked deal" and now we have a new truck. The price was awesome. The truck is fully loaded (without leather though) which totally beats the tape deck we had in our last truck. hehe And I really can't complain about the four doors that this new truck has. It'll be awesome for the carseat. And Tim's so excited about the 5.7 Hemi that it has. It should make pulling our trailer while hauling the quad (when we get the quad back) so much easier now.

Summer Holiday (Part 2)

After dropping off our broken quad in Jaffray Tim and I headed to Montana to spend a few days camping at Dickey Lake and shopping in Kalispell. We camped there last year and loved it.

Tim hanging out at our campsite:

Tim snorkeling:

My baby bump at about 37 weeks:

After spending 3 days there we came back to Jaffray. On Saturday morning us girls and kids drove down to the Farmer's Market, while the guys quadded down (Tim borrowed one of my dad's quads). We had breakfast there and wandered around.

Tim, Dad, and Brendan taking a break:

Tim and Brendan:

And one of the days Tim and I went with Jenn's family to the Bull River Fish Hatchery near Jaffray. The kids always love it there and I wanted to show Tim those giant trout they have. We took a picnic and had a good time.

Tim and I at the fishing pond:

Jenn's family at the fishing pond:

Uncle Tim and Jayda trying to touch one of the turtles:

Just hanging out at the turtle pond:

Everyone feeding the giant fish:

We headed home the next day as I had a doctor appointment and Tim had night shift. Guess that's it for our summer holiday. If you want to see more pictures check out the Camping 2008 (Part 3) Photos on the side of our blog.

Beat the Heat

Guess what I got myself for this summer heat? It's the perfect thing for smokin' hot weather when you have 8 more weeks of being pregnant. We got a sweet backyard pool.

It took 9 hours with two hoses to fill it. And it wasn't all too warm outside earlier this week, but we had to try it out anyways. Tim dove in so the shock wasn't so bad for him.

But it's a wee bit harder for a pregnant chick to dive up and over the edge. I had to climb down the ladder and IT WAS CHILLY! But I did it! I went under and everything. We warmed up in the hot tub though.

But it was super hot today and I spent the majority of my day lounging in our pool. It felt so nice. Ya, we're pretty classy with our backyard pool now. But boy, it sure is a GREAT way to beat the heat when you're pregnant!

Sigh of Relief

Wohoo! It was fixed under warranty. Didn't cost us a penny (not even in gas to get it to the shop). A guy in our Ward has a Kawasaki dealership about 1.5 hrs away from where we live (we didn't know this when we bought our quad or we would have bought from him), but he came to our house, picked up the quad, and then delivered it when it was all done. Talk about service!!

Being Replaced

Remember how much quading Tim and I did last year? I've mentioned it here, here, posted some videos here, talked about it again here, another time here, and here too. And that doesn't even come close to the number of pictures I've posted on facebook. We went everywhere...TOGETHER! I had a permanent seat on the back of Tim's quad. However I think he just took me along to photograph and video the "cool stuff". I was okay with that. I LOVE QUADING! We had so much fun. But now my seat has been replaced.

Before:

After:

(sorry the pic is bad as it was too dark outside)

With a little one in my tummy these days I've had to pass on the quad rides. But Tim's not riding alone. My seat has been replaced with a rack that our two dogs, Diesel & Dex, sit on and ride around with him. I'm bummed about missing all the quading this summer, but WAY MORE excited to be pregnant. Only a few more months and we'll get to meet our baby. Wohoo!

On an entirely different note, we sold our old trailer yesterday (yipee!) and this weekend we're going camping in our new one. We're excited! However I have to go out of town for the rest of this week for work, which leaves Tim to pack the trailer all on his lonesome. I'll leave him a list.

Bring On Summer!!

So last weekend when we were all digging out from that huge dump of snow here in Southern Alberta, Tim and I had camping on the mind. We bought this:

Ya, I know we just bought our old trailer last year, but the price was right so we jumped on this one and pulled it home to Stirling in the snow. We thought we'd upgrade with the baby on the way. Now we have more storage, hot water, a full bathroom (with a tub & shower too), a huge fridge, a oven, a real awning, and everything starts up with a push of a button (fridge, stove, hot water, furnace, etc). Plus I can't complain that it's 20 years newer than the last trailer. Now if summer would just hurry up and get here....

Wanna buy our old trailer?

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!

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.

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".

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.

A little bit of this & a little bit of that!

So we got the truck. We picked it up Thursday night. We were able to go straight across from our S10. Which is so sweet cuz now we just got a new truck and we have no payments. I can't believe the dealership did that for us. They really didn't gain a thing. We love the truck. We went out camping this weekend and were able to pull the trailer and haul the quad at the SAME TIME! I'll post more about our camping trip later. I need to get some pictures and video downloaded to go along with that post.

Anywho, I finally got around to editing our video from quading in Jaffray on June 2nd. So here's the video that went along with this post. This Tim in the video, but I promise I do ride with him on these trips. But because I'm Tim's photographer and cameraman I'm never in any video or pictures. The first part of the video is at Koocanusa and the second part is near Buffalo Head in Jaffray. If you watch this video to the very end you'll get to see Tim almost roll his quad in a giant mud puddle.

New Truck

I think we’re getting a new truck. Well actually it’s a used truck, but you get the point. Tim wants something with a bigger engine to pull the trailer. At least that’s what he tells me. I’m pretty sure it’s cuz he wants to pull the trailer and have his quad in the back of the truck at the same time. Our S10 only has a 4' box and a small engine. The quad is 6' long and therefore to haul the quad we need to have our tailgate down. And if the tailgate is down then we can’t hook up the trailer. Well this F150 that we’re looking at has a 6.5 foot box. So it’s not 4 doors like our S10, but it is an extended cab with suicide doors. It’s looks like we should be able to trade straight across for this truck and that’s even taking into account our spider web windshield and the huge dent. Did I ever tell you about that dent? Tim ran over a wooden crate back when the truck was my truck not his. And we just haven’t fixed it yet (over $1000)...total ghetto. So here are a couple pictures. I’ll keep ya posted.

Here, There, & Everywhere–A Random Post

I don’t have a very exciting post for you today. My mowed lawn, empty sink, swept floors, and newly painted deck (all of which and more have been keeping me busy) don’t make for a very fun post. Life has been busy. Between real work, yard work, house work, church stuff, and exercise my days are zipping by. Midnight sneaks up on me every night. And 6am hurts every morning. But I’m not complaining. Things are going very well for Tim and I. We have plenty to do each day, but we get to slip in some fun stuff here and there.

I taught the RS lesson on Sunday. It was on food storage and gardening. Well my food storage is weak. Tim and I could only survive about three months on the Kraft Dinner, soup, and flour stored in our basement. And my garden just doesn’t exist. I guess I should add these two to my "To Do" list. Is it too late to plant a garden? Is it too late to sell my dogs so that they don’t dig and do their business in the new garden?

Did I tell you about my treadmill? I got it back in April on the same day Tim got his quad. Ya, that was a spendy day. Anywho, Tim has become the treadmill Nazi. You see, it’s a rent to own treadmill. So anytime that I don’t use it Tim threatens to take it back to Flaman Fitness. Ya, I totally whined for it and said I’d use it tons. Well, I do love the treadmill and I actually enjoy running on it...when I get there. It’s the lacing up the shoes and getting my butt there that’s the problem. My evenings are full so that only leaves mornings for my run. Have you ever tried running at 6am? I’m pretty sure I’m running with my eyes closed for the first 5 minutes. So I do my thing there and then get ready for work. Tim phones me on my drive to work to see how my run went. So what it all comes down to is that I don’t want to return the treadmill so I run on it daily out of spite.

Muddy?

Went to Jaffray this past weekend. Went out quading of course. It was so stinkin' hot out. We found some HUGE mud puddles. We got so wet and so muddy. By the time we took these pictures we had already been drying out for quite a while. Tim was wet to his armpits. He went through a mud puddle that almost sunk our quad...yes it was THAT deep. And of course we had to play in Little Sand Creek for a while as well. That water was freezing. So here are some photos and I'll post the video later on when I get a free moment to download it onto the computer. Please don't mind the hair in the photos. That's a result of wearing a helmet from 11:30am until 9:45pm. Yep, we quaded for that long. Just a short break for an ice cream cone in the afternoon and dinner that evening.

Relaxing Hot Tub

Well last Saturday when Tim got home from work he decided that we should go for a hot tub. When we climbed into the tub the dogs were lying on the deck watching us. It was pretty hot out (close to 30°C) and I don't think Diesel & Dexter realized that the water we were in wasn't cool and refreashing rather it was 104°F. Diesel was just shaking cuz he wanted in the "cool" water so bad. I climbed out of the hot tub and BOING Diesel was in and swimming around. Dexter soon followed. Looks like it's time for us to drain our tub and put new water in.

We Made It!

Even after all the obstacles we made it camping. We still don't have a left turn signal, but Tim has this entire week to figure that out before we go camping in Montana next weekend. Well maybe not the entire week as today after work he has to do the electrical for some guy's bathroom renovation. And not tomorrow cuz we have Tara's birthday. And not Wednesday cuz he has to do the electrical for a different guy. Okay so that leaves Thursday. Anyways, camping this last weekend at Writing on Stone was great. Everything worked on the trailer (not counting the turn signal of course). I'll post some pictures of us in the hoodoos later on.
And Tim's still trying to figure out how he can cover up the sweet orange and yellow strip. The colors in the 70's rock!

Camping...too much work!

Today we're going to go camping for the first time in our new (to us) trailer. But I was just wondering if ANYTHING could go right. We've had such a hard time getting things ready.

First off, all last week Tim worked on the lights & brakes wiring on our truck. Now Tim's an electrician, but wiring a truck for trailer lights and brakes isn't the same as a house or a motor. All done..the truck plug was corroded.

Then there was the electric brakes on the trailer. Now if we could only get the wheel off to look at the brakes we'd be doing well. Five people trying to loosen the bolts (yes bolts, not lugs) and four of us give up. An hour later Tim yells, "Are you kidding me?" What is the deal with Righty Loosey & Lefty Tighty??? Was someone smokin' crack when they put left threaded bolts on the wheels instead of sticking with a right thread. Lefty loosey is useless to us from now on? Problem solved.

Have I mentioned the water pump yet? Let's try it out. Works not bad, but there's a little leak. Perfect all we need to do is replace a seal. Now let's take the pump apart to get the seal off so that we know what to buy. Ooops, now we cracked the pump. Off to the store to buy a new water pump for a 1977 trailer. Five stores later, we find a pump. $100+ out of pocket and hopefully Tim knows some plumbing. All fixed.

And last night Tim worked on the tail/signal lights of the trailer. Easier said than done. Can't just replace the fixtures, we (and by "we" I mean Tim) needs to run all new wiring. Okay that's done..let's see how she works. Tail Lights--good! Right Turn Signal--good! Left Turn Signal--crap, both the right and left are flashing! The clock reads 11:30pm...oh well, we'll just make right turns all the way to the campsite.

While Tim worked on the lights last night I tried to pack the trailer. Supplies all fit with tons of storage to spare. Great! I tried to pack the food that I picked up at the grocery store on my way home from work. Problem #1: Why the heck won't the stupid trailer fridge get cold? It worked just the day before. Hmmmm guess I'll just have to use the fridge on propane. Problem #2: Where are all my groceries? I'm missing stuff. Did I put it in the trailer--no! Did I put it in the pantry--no! Did I put it in the deep freeze by mistake--no! Then I call the SuperStore (which is difficult cuz their number is unlisted, but I got it now). "Miss SuperStore, do you have some green onions, wine gums, granola bars, etc there that I may have left behind?" "Yes dear, we do. Bring your receipt in to prove what you bought and I'll give you the items you just listed." "I don't have my receipt. Can't you just give them to me? I just listed off a half dozen of completely random items--do you think I just guessed that someone left those behind in a single bag?"

Quading Videos

Quading Overload!

Friday after work Tim and I loaded up our quad and headed to my parent's place in Jaffray. We needed to do some serious quading in the mountains. We had a blast. My dad had to work Saturday morning so my sister Kimmy and her husband Brendan borrowed my dad's quad and the four of us headed out. We couldn't get to the top of the mountain cuz the snow is still too deep up there, but we did drive near some waterfalls and then hiked down to the falls (it was super steep and I was sure winded climbing back out).

Tim & I at the first waterfall.

Tim at the top of the cliff looking over the second waterfall.

Me too chicken to stand on the edge, so lying down on the cliff to look over the second waterfall.

Me & Kimmy at the top of the second waterfall.

And then that evening Tim and I went out with my dad and his dog Kodiak. Dad knows all the great back roads and quading trails around Jaffray. We went so many places.

Me, Tim, & Kodi (yes the dog rides on the back seat) riding the on the pipeline.

Tim & I at Lake Koocanusa. There's no water in it right now. They'll fill it in the summer.

Koocanusa is great in the spring if you want to play in the mud. Dad got stuck in a huge mud hole and it took Tim almost 20 minutes to winch him out. Dad had to get off his quad (check out how muddy he is).

Back in Jaffray all muddy, but Dad was for sure the worst!

I didn't get muddy as I was videoing Tim and Dad playing in the mud. I'll post some video later.

Guess what I got!

I got a holiday trailer. Tim got the quad, but that didn't help with my fear of bears eating me when camping, so now we have a trailer too. Beacause of the quad I wasn't able to get a new (or even a new-ish) trailer -- they're a little too pricey. So last week Tim drove by a trailer with a For Sale sign in it and we went and checked it out. It's old, but has been redone. It's lite enough that our small truck (we don't have a full size truck) can pull it. Saturday afternoon Tim spent redoing the lights and brake wiring (I supervized) and then Sunday evening we wipped it down from top to bottom. We have some more to do to it (paint, etc) but I'm ready to go camping today!!

Yes, it's not fancy but I have a fridge, stove, sink, furnace, and a flush toilet. And it's clean! Sweet orange and yellow eh?

Here's the couch with a bunk above. Those curtains will be replaced and some painting (inside & outside) will be done.