Lexi

Today my oldest daughter Dally had laundry to do and she comes to her favourite laundromat, that would be here.

She had my grandbaby Lexi with her and Lexi is... well... no different than all three of my own children. They were screamers, and not content to sit and play quietly... ever. Oh Dal thought she had it easy when Lexi was born a month premature and she had to wake her to feed her, but boy oh boy things have changed.

Call it colic, irritable baby syndrome, gastric reflux, or whatever... we just call it cranky baby and apparently it runs in our blood... very deep. But those cranky babies turn into wonderful toddlers and eventually pretty mellow children so maybe it's all rolled into the baby stage and it's over and done early :) In my younger days this is what I kept telling myself so I didn't go insane :)

For the most part Lexi is like this...

...and this, tears sitting in her eyes after a screaming fit.

But every once in awhile, when the stars and planets line up perfectly, you get this!

And then you feel better knowing that she is happy some of the time :)

While Dally was here I got her to pose for a portrait picture. I have a few more photos to complete for my final assignment and the course I'm taking will be done. I've also created a watermark for future pictures.

Normally I would run a bit of a Photoshop clean-up on the picture but because I have to submit it I can't :( It pretty much has to be SOOC (straight out of the camera) and very little tweaking can be done.


You don't often see me on the blog but before leaving Dally snapped this picture with her own camera. It's the first picture of Lexi and I together :)

Hummingbirds

If my bird book is right I'm pretty sure this is a Calliope hummingbird.  They took a little longer to get here than the Allen's & Rufous hummingbirds.

The birds are already getting quite numerous as well as brave.  They are starting to ignore anyone who walks on the deck or even the open window where I'm snapping pics.

I love how they twist and turn.

And how their wings reminds me of angels.

Other times they sit so still.

But I do like to catch them in motion.

This one has it's landing gear down and is coming in for a landing :)

Touchdown!

Now how did that little cutie get in here :)  Lexi, my granddaughter, enjoying sweet potato with her brand new front tooth!

A Baby Shower!

Thank you Aunty Lou (Orra) for Dallas & Lexi's baby shower today!

The food was awesome!  Jo (Aunty Lou's sister) made baby burgers and they were adorable.  I baked and decorated the cake and if Sydney ever finds my smaller tips, wherever she put them, the next one won't have such thick letters... grrh kids!

Here's Dal holding up a little pair of rubber boots for Lexi.  When she gets older she can help change pipes on the ranch with me! :)

And isn't this adorable!!  Such a teeny bathing suit!

Relax time... in about ten years when you finally get a spare minute Dal LOL!

In the kitchen at the nummy table ;)

Here's a lady that will always hold a special place in my heart.  It's Orra's mom Mrs. V.  She's known me since I was 5 years old, and even put up with our antics through the teen years... not that we ever did anything bad... I'll never tell and neither will Lou ;)

After the shower Sydney and I ordered Chinese to take home and while waiting for it we did a quick trip out to Seton Lake.  I'll upload some pics tomorrow 'cause I'm beat tonight...  I hope everyone's weekend was great!

Random Post

It's time for one of those random posts that I so like.  Where you can just blab on about anything...


I took a quick trip to town this morning.  I have to time things just right because the Big Slide is currently being worked on (another bandaid) and it's only open before 9:00 AM, between noon and 1:00, and after 4:00 PM, five days a week.  I had an appointment at 10:20 so was able to squeeze a quick visit in with Dally and a quick run to the grocery store before the slide closed after lunch.


On the way home I stopped after going through the Big Slide.  I wanted pics of the crew working but it was pretty unsafe to park anywhere so I drove through and parked on the other side.  I couldn't see any of the crew and ended up just snapping some pics of the river.  This is looking towards Lillooet, on the right side you can see the road I just travelled to get here.

On the way in there was a few sheep at the bottom of 9 Mile Hill.  When I first pulled up they were in the middle of the road licking the salt, there was no one behind me so I was able to hang around for 10 minutes or so snapping pics.  As I inched closer to them they took off up the hill.

This one looks like it must be about a year old, a real cutey.

This one is a bit older and it's missing one of it's horns.

I think he was getting bored with me and started nodding off.

When you turn off Highway 12 (the road I live on) the first thing you see when heading into town is the mountains.  The building in the picture is the Forestry Office, although I think it's closed up due to government cutbacks but I'm not sure.

Dallas had totally forgot that I was coming to town and hadn't had a shower yet so I went up to her place instead of meeting at a restaurant.

No visit to town would be complete if I didn't see my precious granddaughter Lexi.  Dallas took her to the doc regarding her birthmark (although I do not remember this mark when she was born!) we're hoping it doesn't get any bigger or she will have to have it removed when she's older.  It's cosmetic so the doctor said Dallas would have to pay for the removal, I think that's crazy, our medical services plan should pay for something like that!!

Oh one last photo, I almost forgot.  Here's Dal's cat Shady.  She is the most vicious cat I've ever run into... well she's good with Dal but man alive this cat does not like strangers, or dogs, or bears,... or... anyone except Dal. :)  Okay I admit I'm not a cat person but doesn't this thing look mean?

Look at the whiskers!  Maybe the longer the whiskers the meaner the cat (our cat Billy has short whiskers and is pretty friendly).

Lexi Portraits

If it weren't for Davimack I don't think I would have taken such beautiful shots of my granddaughter Lexi, thank you Davimack! He gives great advice and I will repeat he really needs to write a book on photography, specifically the Canon Rebel camera :)

Dallas and Lexi were out today and even though Lexi slept through the whole photo shoot I think the pictures came out great. I'm getting this camera figured out! :)

This one was way too bright with a pink background so I used an action in PS and turned it vintage.

I stopped at the hardware store and picked up a couple of muslin drop clothes from the paint department. The size is 9'x12' and they are perfect for backdrops, they cost about 30 bucks each, much cheaper than buying professional ones; $200.00+ yikes!. I intend to dye them using this tutorial but haven't had time yet. I have an unfinished house and hammered nails around the top of the wall, then used safety pins all around the outside edge of the drop clothes and hung them on the nails.

First Family Portrait

Here's the first family photo of my daughter, granddaughter, and son-in-law :)


Dallas, Lexi, and Duane all came out on Christmas day and after the presents were opened, the turkey in the oven, and the kids playing, we headed off to my studio (it's supposed to be my second bathroom someday, nothing fancy :)) and snapped a few pics. I'm so happy Lexi stayed awake for the entire time!


At 5lbs 7oz Lexi pretty much fits in her Daddy's hand, unlike her mother who was a hefty 8lbs when I had her!

Awww, she's smiling :)

Just to give you an idea on how small she is (she was born almost a month premature) here's her and Duane's hand.



And finally the last one, tuckered out and ready for dreamland.

It's a GIRL!

But you all knew it was a girl ;) Baby came at 5:06 this morning weighing in at 5 lbs 4.6 oz. Her name is Lexi Rayne.

Another pic.

Well I've had 21 minutes sleep, I'm heading back home with about a 1.5 hour detour I have to take so I'll keep this short. Dal will be in the hospital for about 2 or 3 days and then she'll come back to Lillooet.

Oh my!

Long story short: I'm on my way out the door to Kamloops Hospital. Dally is going to have her baby today! It will take me about two hours to get there so I'm making this brief. I guess my "what should I be called" post was just in time!

Pregnancy Pictures

My "baby" with her "baby."

Here's a few pictures of Dallas, Duane, and even Jevan getting into the action.  The time is getting close, less than a month to go, and I'll be a GRANDMA!!  Okay we already have a "Grandma" on the ranch so can anyone come up with something a bit more original?  Dally wanted to call me GG (Gee Gee), but I'm not comfortable with that.  Anyone?  This is gonna be stuck to me until I die so I'd like it to sound good.... help! 

I feel like I'm putting an ad in the paper:

WANTED:
A hip name to give to a person who is really too young to be a grandma... any reasonable offer considered.  Cannot be Grandma, Oma, or Nanny.

Edit:  A few people have asked who took the pictures of Dallas, just wanted to let you all know I did.  I put up a green screen, cleaned out what is supposed to be my spare bathroom one day, and set up a tripod and snapped away.  It was fun :)