This year we braved the 12 hr trip and headed to Washington for Thanksgiving. Both of my brothers and there families had not yet met the twins so I was excited to go and see them all. The extra Bonus is that Courtney just moved back to Washington and I have missed her too much so it was fun spending lots of time together.
We stopped in Basin City for a day and saw Rick and Lana. The kids always have so much fun there. Grama and Brynlee made cookies, we tied a quilt, have an eventful FHE and picked some apples. I put shoes on the babies and they were in heaven roaming the farm. We are so glad we made a stop to see them we miss visiting them.
Tuesday we headed for Edgewood. We arrived at lunch time and have a nice afternoon talking and letting the kids play. That night Dan's family and Court's family came for dinner. Dan and Jenni just recently had baby Camden, so it was nice snuggling him for awhile. He is very cute! The next day my mom spent the day cooking and Brad and I + 5 headed to Courtney's new house for lunch. We then met up with Jenni and her kids and went to a bouncy house for awhile. The kids loved being together and it was nice to just sit and talk with Court and Jenni. That night Brent's family arrived. It was fun seeing there girls and how much they changed. It is amazing how much you can love your nieces and nephews even though you don't see them often. My mom arranged for a babysitter and all the adults went to dinner. We had lots of fun! Later that night, we had a very scary and life changing experience. I was upstairs talking to my mom and Brad went down to the family room in the basement to put Ryker and Conner to bed. They were sleeping on a air mattress and he laid down in between them and talked to them for awhile and then heard them both breathing loudly assuming they were asleep, and fell asleep himself. 30 min or so later he wakes up to go get in his bed and tucks Ryker in and rolls over to tuck Conner in and he is gone. So he starts looking around wondering if he came upstairs or went to the bathroom. Unable to find him he comes upstairs to see if Conner had come up. I tell him no, so he heads back down stairs and checks again. He came up again and told us Conner was no where to be found. At this point I thought nothing of it. I go downstairs with him and starting looking in all the closets and hiding spots I know. I noticed the back sliding door by were he was sleeping was unlocked. Thats when I started to panic. My mom and Dad joined in on the search and we searched for about an hour. Going in each room 10 times just to be sure. My mom called my brothers and my brother-in-law and they were headed over to help. Brad and I went outside and circled the house a couple times calling his name. By this point we were frantic. Brad and I said a prayer. I got in the car and went around the neighborhood looking for him and calling his name. Brad stayed back and called the police. When I got back the police officer arrived and he questioned us for a while about our marriage and custody and if Conner was happy and if he took his shoes or a toy. Finally he started search the house. I was thinking the whole time he was looking, get on with this he is out there somewhere and someones got him. I was worried he had been kidnapped. He searched every room and closet too. We get the back storage room and there is a utility shelf in there that my mom stores blankets on. in front of it was a step stool. As soon as we entered Conner stuck his foot out of the blankets. The officer threw all the blankets off of him and asked up if that was who we were looking for. I grabbed him and started bawling. We woke him up and he was a little confused what was going on. I guess every time we went in that back storage room looking for him he was completely covered. If he would have not stuck his foot out at the moment we probably wouldn't of found him till morning. The next morning I told Conner and Ryker I had a crazy story to tell them. Conner didn't remember any of it. He had slept walked back there. We are so grateful to our Father in Heaven for that tender mercy that night. I am so grateful I did not have to live through that tragedy.
Thanksgiving day was filled with food and fun. The grand kids and the dads played capture the flag. It was a wonderful day to be surrounded by family. Friday we did some Black Friday shopping, Saturday we went to Dan and Jenni's for cute little Sadies 3rd Birthday. Sunday we went to church with my parents and left at 7pm that night and drove all the way back to Rexburg. What a fun and eventful trip.
.JPG)
