Welcome to the world Sweet Boy!

Our new grandson

Kayson James Wilkerson 

IS HERE!!

Todd and Dana are the proud parents of this little bundle of joy.

He was born 10 1/2 weeks early

weighing 3lbs 5.5oz and measuring 15 1/2" long.

His fight will be long and hard but 

he has proven to be a tough little guy 

with a lot of fight in him....afterall, he's been trying to come for the past 5 1/2 weeks

but was able to hold off his big entrance until now!

We think he is such an adorable baby and are excited to meet him soon.

Between the family, we have had pneumonia, sinus infections, colds and the awful plague of germs that

come from all of the cold temps for past 10 days. I'm not sure when its ever going to clear our home, let alone our lungs....so until 

we are healthy and strong, we will just get to experience pictures of this sweet baby.

....AND these precious pictures just melt this grandma's heart....I'm in love with him already!!

Changes...one day at a time~

A few days before our trip was over we got a call (actually while we were in Victora Canada) that our

daughter-in-law was taken by Life Flight to the University of Utah hospital. She is expecting our 2nd grandson, Kayson. She was having some serious complications that forced doctors in our area to send her somewhere that they would be better equipped to handle the problems she was facing. At the time she was flown out she was only 24 weeks along. I felt helpless being so far away, knowing that I was needed at home. We cut our trip a day short and came home to help with whatever we could. 

Dana was "sentenced" to strict bed rest and will be staying in the hospital FLAT IN BED, until Kayson 

enters this world...which we hope will be many, many weeks down the road. 

Today, she is 29 weeks...and has been in the hospital for 5 weeks. I admire her courage to

do what the doctors have instructed her to do. She has laid flat in bed for 5 weeks...NO GETTING UP for anything, no raising her head, no drinking or eating while sitting up, no nothing.She is determined to keep Kayson "in" and give him every chance that she can, to keep growing for as long as he can, right where he does it best, inside. 

SINCE Dana has been in the hospital, I have been taking care of Little Mister 

each day while Todd is at work. He is such a good, good boy. He never gives me 

a bit of problem. I've had to RE-learn what its like to have a baby in the house again (for more than a

couple to hours, a few times a week). Its been challenging to juggle the responsibilities that I already

had with the new responsibilities that I NOW have with taking care of Little Mister.

I won't say that the changes haven't been without struggles...but hopefully they will continue to get better. 

I've got to say that this adorable little face does nothing but make me smile...he is a HAM!

Grandma, IN ALL HER WISDOM, gave this little man a peanutbutter and nutella sandwich for lunch...was it a succeess?....lets just say he loved "digging" the "stuff" off the bread, but wasn't a fan of the sandwich itself....can't blame me for trying~

He is full of smiles, giggles and lots of jabber. 

He has TWO favorite things, "Lightning McQueen and Elmo"....both of which he

is very vocal in letting you know which he wants,

"Ming-a-Ming (lightning McQueen) and "Elmo"

are two of his favorite words.

I could just "eat"  this sweet little guy right up....he's so adorable! 

He just melts my butter!!! I treasure his sweet smile!

Little Mister showing Aunt Halle "Ming-a-Ming"~

Taking care of Little Mister has been "educational" and I've learned many 

new things about myself...things such as:

1. I like baby food...its good, I haven't found any that I don't like~

2. I can get a lot done in a 2 hour "nap time" slot...if I move quick

3. Folded laundry is over rated....if it happens its a blessing, if it doesn't, its life

4. Being on the treadmill at 7ish actually makes me feel good (vs 10-11ish)

5. I CAN DO HARD THINGS and I"M STRONGER THAN I THINK I AM!

6. Sesame Street isn't my favorite show...

7. Leaving the "frozen/dead" garden in tact bothers me...never thought it did, but it does.

8. I can take a 5 minute shower (and get CLEAN)...even if it doesn't  happen until NOON

9. I am OLDER than I look

10. Gerber Baby Cheeto's are BETTER than the REAL thing!!

11. It's okay to wear the same jeans more than once (saves on laundry..which I don't have time to do)

12. Toddler jabber beats the heck out of TV or Radio sounds...

AND I can UNDERSTAND it better too!

13. I DON'T have to get 20,000 steps a day to be pooped by 5:00pm

14. Giggling is infectious,,,and good for the heart and soul

15. I'm okay with cheerio's and captain crunch on the floor of my car

16. Its okay to "sit" during the day

17. I can come up with countless analogies to a "poopy diaper" especially

when it comes to politics~

18. I need to appreciate the little things more in my life

19. Trips to the grocery stores are really fun...especially through the eyes of a 2 year old

20. I have friends that I didn't know I had....I am very blessed!!

Life is full of surprises, life is full of challenges, life is full of blessings. Never say never, never say "not me", and never makes plans you're not willing to change....live life to its fullest, live like there's no tomorrow, enjoy

what you have and count your many blessing~

I'm sure I will learn many, many more things about myself as time goes on...

thats the process of life~

Washington Trip part 5....THE END~

One of the things I loved the most about Washington (besides the ocean) was how everything was so green. Everywhere we went was thick with foliage, lush and green! It was gorgeous~

But along with that THICK GREEN foliage came signs and warnings of what ELSE was out there...we saw signs for poison oak and RATTLESNAKES  I had never actually seen poison oak (above) other than in pictures...yep, it looks the same. THANK goodness that we never crossed paths with any rattlesnakes  I'm afraid they wouldn't have been the little "sand rattlers  that we have on the hill by my house, more like a large DIAMOND BACK. I'm glad they avoided the trails that we were on.

 On our travels we fell upon a darling little town called Astoria. It was packed full of houses built against the hills and narrow steep roads. Deron's parents had actually been here before and wanted to take us up to the "Column" that was at the top of the town, high on a hill. It was a tall cement tube that you could climb up and see out across the valley...BUT TO GET TO THE COLUMN we had to drive up many STEEP (steep is putting it lightly) roads....roads where I was sure our car was going to flip over backwards (YES, saying I was terrified was putting it lightly). We were driving our suburban, these roads were made for small compact cars...steep and narrow....BUT we made it!

 (Mom, Dad and Celeste)

 I snapped this picture from the parking lot before climbing up the column...THIS water that you are seeing is NOT the ocean, NOT a lake...BUT the Columbia river, AND YES, those are BARGES on the river...VERY LARGE BARGES.

 If you look really close at the picture below you can see not only the town, but a bridge (road) that goes out across the river to the other side. When we left Astoria, we had to go across that bridge...it was 4.5 miles long, which makes the river at that spot 4.5 miles wide....CRAZY!  I (being a very sheltered soul) had no idea there were rivers that wide...in our area, we call things that big a LAKE. The columbia river dumps directly into the ocean...its amazing the things you see and learn when you travel.

 The view from the top of the column was AMAZING...I'm extremely frightened by heights, but I braved the stairs of the column, went to the top and snapped some pictures (above and below) and then went back down with my knees shaking...(but kudo's to me for doing it...right?!)

 Deron and has family stayed up at the top for awhile, even getting right against the edge, looking down and waving..ohhhhhh those brave, brave souls!

Washington was fabulous, amazing, breathtaking, overwhelming, cold, foggy, gorgeous, peaceful AND wonderful! I love vacations, I love seeing new things, I love spending time with my in-laws, I love eating new kinds of food, I love buying souvenirs  I love being "chore free"....it was a wonderful trip and I'm so glad we got to go, see all we saw and do all that we did. I look forward to another trip........to somewhere......sometime! Until then, I will relish the memories and experiences we had for 9 wonderful days!

Washington Trip part 4....BUT now we are in Canada

Canada! I never thought I would cross the boarders of the USA and head to Canada, BUT at 8:00am one cool, cloudy day we boarded a ferry in Port Angeles Washington and rode 1 1/2 hours across the ocean on a fun ferry into Victoria Canada. I was a little "sea sick" and pretty much spent my trip over inside looking out the window...BUT as we got closer to the port, I ventured out on the end of the ferry so I could see the beautiful land as we rode up to it.

Getting ready to get our feet back on land...

It WAS COLD!! We brought rain coats and wore sweaters but it was still so so chilly!

We bought tickets for the "City Bus Tour" which took us all over Victoria. We were

able to get on and off the bus whenever we wanted so we could see whatever we wanted to see. 

It was a great way to look around and still have a way to get from here to there. 

As we were walking, we saw this adorable house...I had to snap a picture of it because 

it was so "OLDISH" and QUAINT looking that I sort of fell in love with it. IF I HAD TO LIVE in Victoria, in the city...this could be my house~

WE walked up and visited this GORGEOUS Castle

 (visiting a castle was on my bucket list...woo hoo, crossed it off)

It was amazing (YES, I realize I use that word alot...

but its an "amazing" word and it describes so much). 

I didn't take too many pics of the inside because it was very poor lighting and even

my flash didn't make the pictures look very good...so I will only share pics of the outside. 

My pictures make the castle look small and not as fabulous as it really was...but trust me, if you 

ever go to Victoria...this is a must see!

After the castle we road the bus to...you guessed it, the ocean! We went down to feed the 

seals and walk around. I was taken back by the sight of all these sailboats....It was just like you see in the movies...people scrubbing them down, hanging out on them and even living in them....

OH HOW I would have loved going 

for a ride on one of them!! 

The seals were adorable...seriously could have taken one home and let it play in my bathtub!

As soon as we walked out with the food they started doing tricks, clapping, doing flips, laying on their backs and swimming.....and all for the want of some stinky little minnows! BUT...

the seals loved them and we had a blast watching them play and entertain us so 

they could eat!

Deron and I waiting for the taxi to come and pick us up and take us back to catch the ferry...I think we

were frozen in this picture...literally!

The ocean never fails to paint a pretty picture...this is what we saw as we walked off the ferry and

back to our motel to pick up our car...

...lucky us. 

On our way back to Ocean Shores, where our resort was, we got to drive through 

FORKS WASHINGTON (if you are a lover of the Twilight Movies...this has great significance...if not, its just another place on the map). Halle begged us to get her a souvenir from here 

(YES, she is a Twilight lover).

The city was pretty much shut down for the night (we got there just before dark)...but 

there was a nice grocery store still open so we went inside and found some 

traditional "family" souvenirs...sweatshirts (we get sweatshirts most places that we go)...grabbed one for everyone and headed on down the road....

And so let it be written...Forks Washington is a real place!...we saw it with our own little eyes!

...to be continued ~