Zion National Park

 *Note:  this one took me a little while to finish and post, so the dates are a bit off. We left Zion today, so this was written about three days ago.

We arrived at Zion National Park four days ago. We've been having a great time hiking, swimming, relaxing...it's been wonderful.

Last night we decided to take a little bike ride around the campground. Usually the kids ride their bikes while The Hot Contractor and I help them, carry the baby, and walk Sugar. But this time I decided to put Little Brother in our little baby seat on the front of my bike, and take him for a *real* ride. We had a blast, and you could hear a good amount of "wheeee!" going on.

As I pulled into our campsite, I tried to go around a log and a rock, and park the bike by the tree where we'd been keeping it. As I started going through the grass, I realized it was really tall, and I was quickly losing momentum. I wanted to put my foot down to get stability, but I looked, and there was the rock. Since the seat where Little Brother was was in front of me, it was hard to quickly get off, and I ended up taking a spill (and bringing poor Little Brother with me!). I felt two pops in my ankle as I hit the ground. And I couldn't move my ankle, the bike that was on top of me, or help Hysterical Little Brother get out of the seat he was in. The Hot Contractor came running over with the baby in his arms, trying to help one of us, but realizing he only had one arm to do so. The Princess was about 20 feet behind us, and started sobbing when she realized Mommy was hurt. It was a pretty intense moment.

An elderly couple staying in the campsite next to us came over to help. We'd made friends with them, and they took Little Brother and The Princess to their motor home for band-aids, teddy bears, and comfort. The man got me ice, and he and The Hot Contractor helped me get into the trailer so I could nurse Crying Little Brother.

I thought at first my ankle was surely broken. But after I calmed down and reassessed, I thought maybe it was just a bad sprain. Nevertheless, I haven't put any weight on it since.

Today we decided to go into town and look for some veggie oil and do our laundry. We noticed a sign for a farmer's market. There were 20 minutes until it closed, so we quickly hunted it down. I stayed in the car, and The Hot Contractor went to look at all four tables that were there. There was a table where someone was selling homemade goat milk soaps. I had told The Hot Contractor to look for some raw milk, so he thought the goat milk soap people might be good ones to ask. They told us about a family that was there who has a CSA, and has goat milk shares. They happened to have three quarts of fresh, raw, goat milk. Now, I've tried goat milk a few times, and it's always tasted pretty "goaty" to me. But this milk...The Hot Contractor told me at first that it was cow milk, and I believed him. It was so good! We had a little illegal transaction, and obtained the contraband...Um, for our dog....believe it or not, it is illegal to buy raw milk for human consumption in many states, including Utah. You can, however, buy alcohol, cigarettes, and high fructose corn syrup galore, in all 50 states. There's our government for you...keeping us safe and healthy. Safe from that horribly healing and nurturing food called raw milk.

We also got some pastured chicken eggs, which we were very happy about. Those are legal to purchase, by the way.

Then we went around to get some veggie oil. We've become a little discouraged as we've looked in some cities. It seems like everybody already has their "guy" who gets their oil. But we've discovered that the smaller towns are much easier to find used veggie oil in. And today we scored about 60 gallons! We didn't get about 100 gallons more that was available because we didn't have the room for it. We keep calculating the cost savings, considering a gallon of diesel fuel is about $5/ gallon right now. That's like $300 we saved in one afternoon!

After we found the fuel, and the farmer's market, we decided to take the kids out for some ice cream. We were sitting outside the little ice cream shop/ cafe, and this little lady that worked inside saw The Hot Contractor piggyback me to the table, and saw me unwrap the ace bandage from my ankle. She asked The Contractor what happened, and then proceeded to call all the local medical clinics to find out their hours for us (unsolicited, mind you). She came out and gave us the rundown.

While she was talking, there was a man standing nearby listening.  I hadn't noticed him, and he was the only person around besides us. After she left, he said, "Or, you could go to the local Foot and Ankle Institute". Then he started looking through his wallet for a business card. I asked him if he wasn't by chance a doctor who worked at said Institute? He smiled, and said he was.

A few minutes later, he came back and asked me if I'd like him to "save [me] a trip, and check it out now". I said "sure". How cool was he?!?!? I couldn't believe how kind he was! Here he was out with his wife and grandchildren getting ice cream, and he took the time to help me.

So, he did a little exam on my ankle, and unfortunately, told me he thought it might be broken.  No visit saved, but I was thankful to know that it was serious enough to go get x-rays.

*Fast forward....now I'm finishing this post three days later.

Yesterday we went to that Foot and Ankle Institute, and got the ankle checked.  Turns out it's not broken!  It's`just a bad sprain.  And instead of needing to be non-weight-bearing for six weeks (which would be the case if it was broken), he said it actually helps a sprained ankle to walk on it.  Unless it hurts too bad, then I need to back off.  I'm so thankful I don't have to be immobile for six weeks.  I think it would get really old for The Hot Contractor to do all the cooking, cleaning, child carrying, oil gathering and filtering, and care for me for that long.  Plus, that's pretty much through to the end of our travels.  While I won't be going on any long hikes while we're traveling, I can at least go for walks and enjoy some physical activity with my family.  I'm SO thankful for that.  I have this cute little brace to wear, and I'm taking it easy when the ankle hurts.  Oh, and no more bike riding through tall grass! 

We're now on our way to Yellowstone....