grandma's cabin

one of my favorite things about summer is going to the cabin. my kids play hard all day long. they get super dirty, and then crash hard at night. all their immediate and extended cousins are usually there enjoying the long summer days as well. we usually have our first trip to the cabin on memorial day weekend (this year we went one time prior to). memorial day weekend is usually the perfect time to "open the cabin." most of the grand kids are out of school, and the weather is at it's prime. heaters are no longer a necessity at night, and sweatshirts are ditched early in the day. this weekend was no exception! the weekend, as magical as it may sound, took a turn for the worst as we were preparing to head back to the valley.......while packing up our sleeping room, i over-heard the oldest grandchild (D3) say to my little conway, "conway boy, you wanna go down the mountain with me!" the first thoughts that came to my mind was how much i love this nephew of mine. he has the sweetest heart, and it melts me how all the younger cousins look up to him. conway especially adores "D-free," and it's adorable to watch him want to play basketball with him, wear basketball shoes like him, and pretty much BE HIM! as i continued to clean our room, i could hear them pull the snow sled up the mountain. the kids ride the sleds down the mountain, and get going pretty fast on the dirt and pine needles. as i walked past the door, i could hear the sound of the sled coming down the hill extremely fast. the look on david's face will forever be in my head. he knew what was going to happen next, and so did i...however, there was nothing he or i could do to prevent it from happening. within a second little conways face smashed into the corner of the deck. head wounds always bleed more than any other. all i could do was scream for my mother-in-law and scoop up my wounded 4 year old in my arms. i saw my crushed nephew flee as i ran to the kitchen, pacing back and forth screaming for help. i couldn't even look at conways face, for rear i would pass out. parker had gone into pine, so uncle jon was the first to our rescue. he examined his face, and too called for his brave mother. when grandma's first words are to get him to the hospital, you know it's bad. i was shaking, and my airway seemed almost pinched shut. i couldn't get my breath, as blood poured down my arms. jon started the car and i climbed in back holding my baby. before we could even reach the highway, parker pulled along side us, and switched me seats. i then took over driving on to the payson hospital. we stopped at the fire department, per parkers request. they advised the same, and hospital bound we were. grandma karen & grandpa wayne met us there, for they had just left their short visit to the cabin. we were treated there by the sweetest doctors and nurses. parker & grandpa gave conway a blessing for comfort, and an instant peace came over me. conway had a CT scan to make sure there was no brain/skull/vision/nasal damage. i had no doubts that he was going to be fine...although i cried throughout the whole thing...because we as mothers don't like to see our children suffer...and because my concern for my nephew back at the cabin was killing me. after being proven this tough little 4 year old had nothing but a tiny fracture to his nose, we were sent to the desert banner pediatric ER for conways face to be examined by a plastic surgeon. we got right in and met dr. goldstein there a little before 4, and within minutes we were given instruction by the anesthesiologist, and minutes later conway was limp and we were asked to leave the room. 20 min. later we re-entered and conway was coming to. his little face had been mended. 3 layers of stitches later, he looked amazing. the bone was no longer visible, and the hole was sewn shut. the plastic surgeon was so nice and reassuring...which is so important to a mother. we stayed for another hour or so, to make sure cons could hold food down. on our way to grandma & grandpa's there was some puking, but after a nice bath, conway was out for the night...and i was officially exhausted. we kept on assuring conway that no 3 year old could have been strong enough to make it through all this...it was a good thing that he turned 4 a week before! and every time the monitor would squeeze tightly around his bicept we would tell him it was feeling his muscles. he smiled every time. the stitches will dissolve within 6 weeks, and then we shall start our summer of swimming!