A Pictureless, Priceless Holiday, and a Miracle

We made the treck to Idaho for Thanksgiving. I still can't get over the shock when we leave our front door and walk into my parent's home in JUST THREE HOURS!! We are so used to traveling at least 11 hours. In fact, when we were getting into the car, Mary came out with three bags full of "stuff to do in the car." She is very used to traveling for hours on end to visit family. She was excited to learn that only one bag would be plenty...and it was.

We haven't taken a break since the move, and I didn't realize how much one was needed until it happened. Thanksgiving was wonderful! The best thing of all is that Ben let me sleep in every morning! I feel like my children pretty much run my schedule, including my precious sleep, so when I sleep in and wake up when I want to, it feels like a gift of gold. It makes me feel like I have some sort of control of what I do.

The holiday was full of delicious food, visiting tons of family, playing some seriously competitive card games, going to Harry Potter, Ben making a ski jump in my parents yard, being towed in behind my brother's truck, and doing a backflkip off of it, the kids playing with everyone, reading the last Hunger Games Book (horrible, sick, book), doing puzzles, getting a new cell phone, and so on. It was so fun though, that I forgot to take pictures. oops

I found myself stepping back and realizing how good it felt to just sit down. To just relax a little. To catch my breath. I was beyond exhausted when the trip began, and I was hanging on by a thread. It was a wonderful trip and it went by way too fast. Even if we did get snowed in Pocatello and get an extra day. ;)

We only had one mishap, and I still get sick to my stomach when I think about it. William was sitting up on my parents counter and I was holding on to him and talking to my mom. I turned to ask my sister a question and let go of him. At that same moment, he arched back. He fell backwards, approx. 3+ feet, and landed head first on my parents wood floor. Words cannot describe the horror I felt when I saw him lying on the floor. His head immediately swelled up to a scary size. I completely fell apart as we were getting ready to go to the E.R. The guilt was overwhelming, the fear was very real, and the realization of what the effects could be, were too much to handle. The swelling looked horrible and he was pale and lethargic. My dad and Ben gave him a blessing and we took off. I was so upset and so worried. So was Ben. By the time we got to the E.R., William was already looking better and the swelling was still very big, but going down. The doctor checked him out, decided against a CAT scan, and after asking a million questions, we left the E.R. and headed to the Thanksgiving Dinner with instructins to come back if he showed certain signs. (yes, this was Thanksgiving Day) I was positive that William would have a terrible lump and a very nasty bruise on his head. With that much swelling, that is just a given. Instead, there is absolutely no evidence that he fell that far or hit that hard. I consider it our Christmas miracle #2. In the blessing he received, he was blessed with a complete recovery, and he got it. There is no other way his head would have healed like that. I am so grateful that he is o.k. and I still hold him tightly every day and give him some extra snuggles, to try to ward off the terror that still resides in my heart. Thank goodness for answered prayers and the power of priesthood blessings.