so hot!

It's HOT! Too hot to post.
I've been slackin. The problem is Alli. Our computer is in her bedroom. She used to sleep through my typing no trouble, but now at naptime if I'm in here, this is what happens.



So here I am at midnight.

Here's a couple of Alli. I haven't taken pictures in for a while, but whenever Susie babysits I always find a few on the camera. Look at those juicy chubby thigh rolls. I love em.




Not much exciting these days. We've just been trying to keep cool. This little apartment gets so hot, we have been heading over to the pool for relief among other places with air condiotioning. Alli likes it more and more everytime. Today her lips were blue and she was shivering, but still smiling and spashing.
I'm a little sad. My place is becoming baby proof. So all the decorations a foot and half from the ground are gone, and it's always a mess. I'm always puting out toys for Alli to find instead of everything thats not a toy, but it hardly works. Then I'm always entertaing her and I just don't clean up after myself inbetween. We just go outside when it gets to messy, it's too hot to clean. At least we are having fun right! (Don't worry mom, it's really not that bad)

My sis Brooke was in town for the weekend. We celebrated her birthday a little late. (and happy birthday to the other Brooke in Kansas, can't wait till you're living up here!) She ran a half marathon with Brett and their friend Rob. The race was in the morning, but by 10:00 when they were coming in, it was already 26 out. So way to go for these guys. I watched all the people come in and decided a half marathon sounds a little more realistic than a marathon for me. That said, next summer...?



We are getting ready for our trip to California. We leave next week to visit Derek's sister Mindy and family. So very excited.

it's alive!

Remember my dying tomato plant? Well, I brought it back to health somehow and it beareth fruit (or vegetable). Now the real test will be how it tastes. I'll let you know soon enough.



I always helped out with my mom's garden growing up, but wasn't very in to it then. But I'm finding it is pretty fun (and not very hard) starting with seeds and suddenly I have flowers and little tomatoes. I think this will be a fun hobby for me when I actually have a yard with a garden, and not just a balcony with a few pots.

triple trouble!?!

haha! Could you even imagine? YIKES!
This was my dad fiddling around with photoshop. Now you know where I get my picture taking obsession from. I know I'm going to be just as annoying with taking pictures to my kids as he was to us. I love it. I have soooo many deletable photos in my library.



Alli has been inching around for almost a month now, not crawling too far, just inching forward and back. Well, about a week ago she suddenly perfected it. I thought getting stuff done before was a bit challenging, but it was never a big deal to take my eyes off the girl for a few minutes if she was sitting on the floor. It's all over now. She doesn't even wait till I'm not looking, she is way to curious. No toy is as fun as the remote, the phone, eating paper or pulling herself up to standing on anything, stable or not. Notice the bruise. Now I know why non first time mothers don't encourage the whole crawling bit.
She used to fuss around in her crib but settle to sleep pretty easily. Now she crawls around, tosses and turns, stands up, sits down, falls over bumps her head...CRIES, and starts all over again. All my hard work and dedication to get her to sleep good, GONE. Up till 10pm about every night still. So all you moms out there can just laugh at me, stressing over this, and think to yourself, wait until she walks right!

happy july 1st

If you are not from Raymond, then you just don't understand July 1st there, and that's ok. But if you grew up there, then you know that it's just an excuse to visit Raymond and have a huge party, which almost never happens in Raymond. There's the parade, rodeo, fireworks, 10km race, family, friends, and of course food. So we had a long weekend and took it all in.

On our way home we stopped in Calgary and watched the Stampeders game. Alli's first CFL game. I did take her to few quarters here and there when Derek was playing for the Bears last fall. But she wasn't much of a fan back then, just slept.

The race was on Friday night at 5:30. Not exactly ideal temperatures at all. It was very HOT, as you can see from our slightly red faces. I ran the 10km and it almost was no fun at all. But I was the 4th gal in with a somewhat respectable time for the weather. My sis Brooke won her category (she put me to shame, I used to be the runner of the family) and Derek won his category.



After the parade on Saturday my mom had some family over. It was fun having the kids run around the yard. My mom loved it. She mentioned more than once how she will be such a fun grandma when Alli gets bigger and have all sorts of things to do like she did with the kids there (of course she's already a good grandma) The kids were running through the sprinkler and picking flowers, and having all sorts of fun.





My cousin Lianna's little guy Ben was so cute. You can't see his face but, he would make funny faces at her and she would just crack up. Alli was loving it.



And yes, Alli is just like her parents. We had to wake her up for the parade that started at 10am, and here she is wide awake at 11pm watching the fireworks.



On Monday after a morning of golf and waterskiing, we went up to Waterton with Derek's family. (a lot to pack in to a few days) LOTS of family and so fun. There are 10 grandkids all under the age of 5. We got pictures, but I took them with a different camera, so when they get emailed up I'll have to post one with all the kids. They are very cute.
We figured out it has been 2 years since we were last in Waterton. It's so beautiful, I miss the mountains being up in Edmonton.

We saw a bear when we first came into town.




We went on a walk right after a quick evening thunderstorm, it was beautiful.







Here's a couple of some of the Baldry grandkids.
The first is a quick walk where you can see the top of the falls in the second.





And that is enough pictures for one day, phew.

happy anniversary

Well, it's been 4 years today. It just keeps getting better and better. A lot of people say the first year is the hardest. Since we dated apart for the better part of the year we dated, we were so happy to just be together everyday, I loved our first year. Maybe we were just too young to know any different. Just had father's day so I won't get to sentimental, but I really love Derek so much. Everyday we are together I know why we are, we are just meant to be. SOOOOO cheesy, sorry.



We were down in Raymond playing for the long weekend and Derek is working late tonight so we didn't really need a date (and Susie is in Arizona, so no babysitter). We got up and it was so stinkin' hot out already. So we went to the legislature for a couple hours. There were so many people, but we cooled off. Alli loves it there. Then we came home and she slept for almost 3 hours! Now that's an anniversary present. That and the Twix bar Derek brought me home, one of my many fav's.




Our 4th anniversary, many more to come!
I'll get a few more of our fun weekend up soon.
I have to finish unpacking and clean the house some more first.
Why is that before you leave on a trip you clean the house,
but somehow when you get home it's a mess.

Happy Birthday to you today Mom.
We sure miss the air conditioning.
Hope your present got delivered.

what do ya know...more pictures

I was going to post these few pictures right away and suddenly it's Thursday! It's been so nice this week, I spent Alli's nap time reading on the balcony and fixing up my flowers I have out there instead of posting. I'm afraid my cherry tomato plant is wilting after about 2 weeks. We had a good run, no tomatos, but oh well. I think maybe the sun just gets too hot. Any suggestions to save it? We've been out for walks and to the park and hangin out with friends, just having fun. It is staying light out so late at night this week up here. Last night we went to the park with Susie (while our husbands were golfing together until 10pm) until 9 and Alli was up to 10. She's been up late all week. It's kinda fun.


Alli loves to go to the Peterson's. She gets LOTS of attention there. So we like going there too.
Lauren and Alli could probably play for hours together. Alli just smiles and plays with her, and of course tries to grab her glasses. They are so cute together.



















We invaded the house just as everyone was getting up from their Sunday naps, and how convenient just in time for supper. The Peterson's have been so good to us this year. I hope you guys didn't mind another invasion from us! We had to make up for last week's babysitting. We were a little late getting back to Peterson's and she only slightly screamed for the last half hour. I guess Alli was posing so good and in such a good mood because she felt bad. Thanks guys!





























And since she has no grandma up here to spoil her and break the rules, Cathy gave Alli her first popsicle. She loved it, and the cried, and loved it and then cried. I think she got her first taste of freezer burn!


















A few more pictures. Roman and Alli hanging out in their kinda matching outfits.
He's 3 and half months old now. Alli can pull and grab and pester him now, but she better be careful. This kid is growing like crazy and might get revenge soon.

happy father's day

I've said it before, and it's true, Alli is a daddy's girl. He can make her giggle way harder than I can, even if I do all the same stuff he does. She just cracks up for him. Alli watches him walk around while she is sitting on the floor or in her toys. Then as soon as he gets close she goes crazy kicking and waving until he picks her up. He even asked me last week if I read to her everyday. He thought this was important to do, (as do I) but I had to break it to him that everytime I try the book is in her mouth in about half a second. If I try to read another one while she is chewing on the first, she just wants the new one. You know how it goes with a teething baby.

Derek is such a good dad. It came so naturally to him. I guess that's what happens in a family of 8 kids. He really is already awesome with Alli, and I know he's just going to get better. Derek is so patient with me and never loses his temper, which will really come in handy with a teenage daughter someday. He loves Alli so much and is proud of her. I could go on and on...

We went for a walk yesterday, and I wanted to get some pictures along the way. I thought we would just walk over to the park, but after we got started, we decided to go over to Peterson's house (Derek's dads cousin) and take some in their backyard (pictures with them on the next post). Since our walk was just going to be short when we left, and I am still a rookie mother, I brought nothing. As we were walking and the sun was shining, (finally a nice day) Derek was so concerned about Alli's bare arms and legs and no hat or sunscreen, she didn't even have shoes on (it was about 6pm and so beautiful out) He thought she was too hot, then maybe cold, then bored because we were walking too long and talking to eachother and not to her. It was so cute, such a concerned dad. So here are a few of the first of many more years of Father's Day pictures.










Alli was loving the dog. Caught a few good smiles this time, not as serious as the last post!






























And I can't forget about my dad. This list is endless, he is so many things to me. I have learned so SO much from him, just by watching him live his life. I started typing to say a few, but I didn't want t leave anything out because there is just too much. I'll just pick one, and that he always put his kids first. For him, that was huge. He was so busy in his life when us kids were growing up, but we never knew it because he was always there, he did everything. He even took all the pictures, this is the only I have in my collection that is just the 2 of us. I love it!





















And since I missed out on telling my mom how awesome she is on Mother's Day on the blog, I'll tell her now with this picture I found while looking. The quality is not so hot, but you get the idea, us girls, we were hot! I love my mom so much. I only picked one thing for my dad so the one thing for my mom is how she just gives gives gives of herself.



That was hard, I have a million more, but I gotta go. Makin food for the oiler's party tonight! GO OILIERS!