Family vacation

We just got back from our family vacation. We went up past Heber and by Strawberry Reservoir and stayed at a cabin up there. We went wake boarding at Strawberry and Jordanelle and also had rented some 4-wheelers. It was a lot of fun. I missed out on the first day of activities because I got called in for Jury duty...I wasn't very happy about that. Of course it had to be the week of our vacation. But I am glad I didn't get picked to be on the jury, so I got to leave and meet back up with the family at the cabin that evening. I actually wouldn't mind doing the jury duty thing if it were any other time because it was actually pretty interesting.

Anyway, we went wakeboarding and out on the 4-wheelers the next day then just hung out at the cabin and played games that night after kids were in bed. I felt bad that I was leaving my kids almost every day with Grandma. It was a nice break for me, but I feel bad that Grandma's (Kathy's) whole vacation was spent watching our kids. But the kids love it and they also had fun playing together. Mason and Malia were little trouble makers when they got together, but it was cute to watch them play so well together...most of the time!

Friday we decided to take the whole day and go out to this nice area of trails for the 4-wheelers and have a picnic, etc. So we packed up and headed out. We had to go in shifts because there were so many of us...so the first group went out for a quick half hour ride before we ate lunch. Doug and Rheanna were each on a 4-wheeler, me and Ryan were on one, and Jeff and Sheri were on one. Half the way up the trail I was freaking out because I kept feeling like we were going to tip over so I made Ryan drive. We got up to the top of this huge hill and decided to turn around to get back. On the way back down we had a little (well huge actually) scare. There was part of the trail that had a huge dip in it that we all had to slow way down for on the way up. Rheanna was leading, behind her was Doug, then us, then Jeff and Sheri. After we went over the big bump, I saw Doug jumping off his 4-wheeler and I heard a scream...then I heard Doug scream and I knew right away that Rheanna had crashed. Her 4-wheeler wasn't even in sight...she'd gone off the edge which was a huge cliff...mabye like a 60 degree incline down to this huge valley. I swore and jumped off our 4-wheeler before Ry had even totally stopped...which made me a little off balance and biffed it. But I was freaking out trying to run up to where I saw Doug run off the road down the hill where Rheanna had gone off. I got up to them and saw the 4-wheeler wedged between 2 trees and Rheanna about 5 feet away on the ground. Her helmet had come off and was like 3 feet to the other side of the 4-wheeler. It was really scary. I was trying to run through my head and think of the things you are supposed to do in these situations...not to let her move or try to get up yet because we didn't know if she had any broken bones, etc. I did a quick glance over her body to see if there was any blood, etc and asked her where she hurt and every thing....it is so much scarier in the moment than it ever was at the hospital when I had nurses and all the monitors to help me check vitals and everything. We didn't have a phone or a pocket knife or anything with us if we'd needed it. Anyway, she was moving her head and turning her neck before I'd even got down there all the way and she mostly was complaining of her leg and hip hurting...so I told them we needed to get her off the hill so we could help her more. I was a little worried about moving her, but I had a good feeling that her neck and back were ok to move her. But first Doug and Ryan gave her a blessing. They helped her up the hill...which was very difficult because of how steep and slippery it was. Poor Rheanna! I felt so bad. She was in so much pain...getting her up that hill was so hard on her. We tried not to let her put any weight on her leg that she was hurting...but it was really hard on that dang hill.

Jeff had left to go back and get help as soon as he saw us off our 4-wheelers and knew someone had crashed. But we were pretty far up the mountain - it had taken us at least a half hour or so to get there so it was at least that, then that much time back too. But anyway, just a little while after we got Rheanna up the hill, some other people with 4-wheelers showed up that happen to have a winch on their 4-wheelers (the tow cable things) and as soon as Jeff got back with Lee, they were able to tow the crashed 4-wheeler back up to the road so we could get it home. We were very blessed that they showed up and were able to help us. We also found out later that they showed up at almost the same time that Jeff had shown up back at camp telling them that Rheanna had crashed and they said a prayer before leaving back up to help us. It was really cool...in that aspect anyway! We also were very very lucky that the accident wasn't much worse...if she had gone off the road or crashed even a couple feet in either direction, she would have gone all the way down the mountain and probably have killed her. The 4-wheeler crashed between 2 trees, and Rheanna against another...that were the only trees in that area. There wasn't anything on either side of where she hit - so really those trees saved her life.

It was really scary. Rheanna was in so much pain and told me she couldn't see clearly and that she was really dizzy and tired and just wanted to go to sleep so I kept checking her eyes to see if she had gotten a concussion and I was worried she was going to pass out. She also said her head felt really heavy and when she was sitting up she could barely hold her head up and looked like she was going to collapse at any second. And I was still a little nervous about letting her move her head and neck around too much, even though I'd felt comfortable moving her to get her up the hill. So I sat behind her and just held her head on my shoulders to keep her neck still just in case - and just to keep her steady so she wouldn't fall over. She really wanted to just have us take her down on the 4-wheeler, but it made me really nervous because I didn't want her bouncing around like that and where she couldn't even keep her head up for too long...I didn't feel comfortable letting her ride down on a 4-wheeler. So we had to just sit and wait for the ranger guy to show up and we thought that he'd be able to give her a ride down, but he said he couldn't transport...so then we had to wait for the DNR guy to show up...but he couldn't transport either. So then we sent Lee to get the Expedition to come up and get her. So anyway, we were there for almost 4 hours before we finally got the car up her and got her down the mountain. And the whole time poor Rheanna was miserable and in pain. I thought that maybe she had a fractured hip...but I kept checking her eyes, her breathing, and pulse as much as I could with out a watch or anything else with us. When we finally got her into the car to take her down the mountain she started going in to shock and threw up and got really cold and was shaking really bad too. I rode with her and Doug to the hospital - everyone else kinda had to squish into the 2 cars we had and went back to the cabin. We had oxygen with us that the DNR guy had in his car just in case.

Anyway, so we finally got to the hospital and she had her x-rays done and she amazingly didn't have any breaks or fractures. Just some really deep and bad bruising and sprained ankle and probably whip lash. They sent her home with pain killers and crutches but we were very glad that nothing else was wrong. She was really lucky! We're all glad she is ok and that nothing worse happened. And luckily the 4-wheeler wasn't damaged too bacly either...I think they said just the bumper.

So yeah....our day of 4-wheeling turned out a little different than we planned, but at least we have some stories to tell from it! I look back now and think of things we could have or should have done differently too, but it makes me more motivated to go back and finish nursing school too so that I will know what I can do better in these kinds of situations. But I am glad that I did have at least a little bit of knowledge of things to look for and to be able to help even just a little bit.