Well He's finally here! Say hello to Samuel Arthur Wilkinson!

He's pretty much adorable...

do you love this hat Kate got for him? He will need it for those winter outings in Arizona...wait a minute, I guess he won't...it was heavenly warm while we were there! But he looks darn cute in it anyway!This post is going to be incredibly long and boring to most, but to me it was about the best ten days ever! So bear with me...

I flew out friday morning. I have to say I was a little bit nervous about flying...with all the talk about the troubles people were having going through security and getting scanned or patted down! Also, I was pretty nervous flying alone into the Pheonix airport. It's so big and I don't know my way around very good.

Well while I was waiting for it to be time to board the plane, I saw them bring in this older lady in a wheel chair. She stood up out of the wheel chair and walked over and sat down by me.

We started chatting and I found out she was from Gilbert. She had been visiting her son in Salt Lake and taking care of his kids while they had a new baby. She was fun to talk to and we had a lot in common. By the time we got to Phoenix, I felt like I had known her forever.

I asked her if she needed some help when we got off the plane because I had noticed she had come in in a wheel chair. She said she has arthritis really bad in her legs and it's hard to walk a long way. I told her I would push her in the wheel chair down to the baggage claim...then she was having a friend pick her up. I was glad to do it cause she was very familiar with the airport and told me right where to go!

When we got down to baggage claim, Katie and Camille found me and I introduced them to Margaret. We were standing there talking waiting for our luggage to come out, and Katie looks at one of Margaret's bags. It had a tag that said Rosenthal...(I think that was it) and she said are you Shan's mother in law? This was Kate's dear friend from Salt Lake. No kidding, what a small world. They talked for a while about her son and Shan. She said she wished she had another son left for Kate, but she was fresh out! She was a pretty amazing lady...one of those special people that you are just drawn to. I'm so glad I got to know her...kind of felt like it was meant to happen. She was pretty adamant about lining Kate up with a friend of her sons and they exchanged phone numbers so she could have him call her.

We had a happy reunion with Olivia !


I did not miss this!!! Kelley sent me this picture of the day after I left. They got about 12 inches of new snow and really cold temperatures! Man I wish Kelley could have just come with me!
I made Olivia a new little apron so we could bake together while we were waiting for baby brother to come.

Camille was not so happy in her cute apron. She was getting pretty frustrated waiting for things to start moving along. We did a lot of walking...chasing liv on her bike, and shopping. Still nothing.

Then on Thursday morning, we went to her doctors appointment that she thought she would definitely not be going to! He was a pretty cute doctor, and had a great sense of humor. He joked about Camille's orneriness and said he had never seen this side of her before. Lets just say that Camille was on the edge. He told her they could induce her because the baby was full term, but she didn't want that. He stripped the membrane, but said he didn't think it would do much because the baby was still so high. He made an appointment to induce her on Monday if nothing had happened on the weekend. Oh boy, now she was reeeealy discouraged! We went out to the car and she had a good cry. She really wanted to have the baby before Kelley and Candice got there. I tried to convince her that it didn't matter, they weren't coming there for her to entertain them....We were there to help her!

Soooo we went shopping again...if she wasn't going to have the baby, we might as well go to her bunko...so we both needed a ten dollar gift. (they play the game a little different than we do) We found some fun things at hobby lobby (including the reindeer antlers)

Later that afternoon, she said she was having some pain in her back and felt kind of different. But not anything that felt like labor. So we went to bunko. It was pretty fun. It was at Brittney's house and her friends were a hoot.

Kellen's mom called and told Camille she had arranged for Camille to meet with her friend who knows how to do some kind of aroma therapy foot massage that's supposed to put you into labor on friday morning....we were getting pretty desperate.

We stayed up pretty late that night, and when I went to bed, Camille and Kellen were still up.

About 3:30 a.m., Camille came into Liv's room and said they were headed to the hospital. She had been having pretty regular contractions for a while. HOORAY!

They said they would keep me posted.

I couldn't go back to sleep so I just got up and watched tv and waited for them to call. Kellen sent texts and kept me up on her progress. I let Kelley, Candice and Katie know what was going on.

I got liv up about 9:00 andgot her all ready to go in her cute "Big Sister" shirt Katie had made for her.

When I told Liv that her mommy was at the hospital having baby brother, she said she wanted her mommy to go back to the doctors office and get a baby sister! Ha!

hmmmm maybe next time?

Kellen sent me this picture about 10:30 and said every thing had gone really well. He weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz.Liv and I went and hopped in Kellen's truck and headed to the hospital. That was pretty exciting...haven't driven a shifter for quite a while! Liv kept asking me if I knew how to drive. But we made it! When we got there Camille was feeding him...he caught on really quick and nursed really well.

It's always such an great reminder of how amazing a mother's body is made and how natural and perfect God's plan is for us to bring this new life into the world and nurture and love them.

Camille had Olivia come snuggle up by her on the bed so she could help her hold the baby. He was very peaceful and calm. As I watched them, I felt so much love for them I thought my heart was going to burst. You can sure feel how very close they still are to the veil. It was a memory I have stored away in a special place in my heart....Pretty sweet moment.

Candice and Kelley and Kate got there a little while later....Kate had hopped on the soonest flight she could get and met Kelley and Candice at the car rental place...then they all came to the hospital together. It was great to see them all! I haven't been away from Kelley for so long before and I really missed him and Candice!

(That's Sam's hat Candice!)

Sweet!

Liv was holding up pretty well through all of this, but then when she was holding Sam, he threw up on her. She had a bit of a melt down. I think it was all the excitement and tension and worry(she is a thinker and listens to people and takes in whatever is going on around her) that had built up and finally came out. It didn't last long though and we cleaned her up and told her that's what babies do and she was fine to try to hold him again.

She is also pretty stuck on calling the baby Jack...I'm not sure where it came from but she's not about to change her mind. Camille told her they would get a dog someday and she could call him Jack..."hmmmmmmmm ok but I'm still going to call the baby Jack!"

It was pretty special to see how Kate and Candice would drop everything and rearrange their lives so they could be with Camille. There's a lot of love and a special bond between those girls.

On Saturday, we went to the hospital for a while, then took Olivia for a fun afternoon at the park. We fed the ducks, rode the train, and played on the play ground.

We played games and played with her toys...she put all the crochet animals I had made her in a big circle and we played duck, duck, goose with them.

She has a great imagination! She will talk and play with her dolls so cute. You can tell the way her mom talks to her because she talks to her dolls the same way. So sweet!

Kellen is great with Olivia and spends a lot of time playing with her. He is very patient and sweet with her. She adores him.

Camille is about the cutest mom you ever saw.

She really spends quality time playing with Liv.

To Olivia, Camille is the center of her world. She wants to share everything she does with her mommy. What ever happens, good or bad, she wants to tell mommy about it.This was apparently a regular activity....Liv is the pink horse and Camille is a butterfly(wearing Liv's tutu on her head)...dancing around the living room.

This was a sweet moment...Chewey holding Sam, (So glad Candice came!) Liv comes up and touches his hand and he wraps his little fingers around her finger. She was thrilled! 'He's holding my tinger! he's holding my tinger!' (she hasn't quite got the f sound down...usually comes out as a T or a P.)

My favorite pic

On monday, we took Liv to Pro Bass shop cause there is a really cool Santa there, but he hadn't arrived yet. Kelley still had fun.
Liv did too...we got there just as they were feeding the fish (peeding the pish) and she got to help

We went to the mall and went to the pet store where she got to play with the puppies.I got to ride the carosel with her...pink pony was her favorite!
When the ride was over, she gave the pony a hug and told her thanks for the ride!

Lots of nice at home...getting to know each other time.

I got my Christmas early this year....more joy than I could have ever dreamed...so glad I could share this special time with them.

It was pretty hard to say goodbye Monday night. Lots of tears...especially when Olivia would cry and say how much she will miss us and we should stay just a little bit longer!
I tried to convince her ( and myself) that it wouldn't be too long and she would be coming to my house for a good long visit!

Camille is going to stay with us while Kellen studies for the Bar exam. In January, I'm gong to fly out there (got killer deal on flight earlier this fall), stay for a few days, then help her, Liv and Sam fly back home with me. I can hardly wait!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gosh, I don't have time to write anything!

I'm on my way to be with Camille when she has her baby!

These are just a few pictures from the past few days..

Very nice Thanksgiving...so grateful for my family and love them to pieces!

(have lots more to say about that but Kelley is gonna leave to the airport without me!)

See you in 10 days!

What a day...

It started snowing Saturday night and this is what we woke up to Sunday morning. Boy they weren't kidding when they said this storm was going to be a doozy!

We woke up to the sound of Bishop Burns snow blower chugging by our house...Kelley soon joined him and they went around digging people out. The snow was so heavy, there was lots of branches that had broken off....leaving quite a mess, but that will be a job for another day...Today, they just wanted to clear off the driveways so they could get out.

Brian called and said they were canceling all early morning meetings...Kelley commented later that this had been one of his favorite Sunday mornings!

Anyway, he got home just in time to shower and get his suit on and make it to Sacrament meeting.

This was kind of funny...Kelley got this fancy snow blower last year and didn't use it much... mostly just for the sidewalks over at the shop.

So he was kind of struggling with it...seemed more trouble than it was worth...after he finished off our driveway, he parked it and took the good old shovel around to the neighbors to dig them out.

I was teaching the lesson in YW today and it was all about gratitude. For part of the lesson we went around the room telling things we were thankful for. It was a pretty sweet moment. These girls are great...I was touched by the way Maggie expressed her love and gratitude for her mother. She told about how her mom is always doing nice things for their family and for other people. That is so true! Amazing lady! I wished Colleen could have heard all the sweet things she said about her. How cool is it when your kids realize that they DO appreciate you and all the things you do for them! I remember way back when I started getting sweet little notes from the kids, telling me that they loved and appreciated me....those are treasures to me...I have saved every one.

It was nice to have Candice and Kelley in the class with us. I sure love it when she comes!

Kelley had to stay at church all day for tithing settlement so Candice and I snuggled up by the fire and watched 'dirty jobs' all afternoon.

I had been asked by Jenni's cousin (who was doing the program for YWIE) to play the piano for her to sing. She sent me the music last week and man I was struggling with it all week. I can usually figure music out if I have enough time or if I've heard it before. This song had notes written down so low, even when I would count down and figure what note it was, it didn't sound right. I even asked Ann when she came visiting teaching if she could figure out what the notes were. She agreed that it didn't sound right so maybe it was a misprint? So I just made up some notes that sounded good....I practiced a LOT! but still couldn't play it very well...(don't like sharps)

SOOOOOO when I got over to the church to practice with Emily, I told her I would like it if she would play it so I could hear what it was supposed to sound like. She sat down and played it just like it was written...bad sounding notes and all....and about 10 times faster than I had been playing it. Oh man.

She said she had been quite hoarse so she would only be able to go through it once to save her voice, so when I tried to play it like she did...it was pretty much a disaster. I really made a mess of it and she looked at me like 'oh dear!'

She has a very beautiful voice and would have sounded better without me even playing, but she assured me I would do just fine.

I decided I would just play really quiet...I mean this is not about me...it's about her! But then there are several parts in the song in between where she sings where it is all about ME! ...So I just started praying that I wouldn't mess up too bad.

I have to say that there were angels helping me play that song... I seriously felt like my fingers were guided where they needed to go and I played it like she had!

I know it sounds like a little thing, but to me it was huge! Wow! Prayers really are heard and answered! I definitely had an extra "thank you" in my prayers last night.