Adieu, boot

I realize I've done a crappy job of updating this blog, especially since my ATV accident. It's not like I have much else to do other than sit around waiting for time to heal this thing. So to update you, here's a timeline of what has gone down:
July 15th: being a little too awesome for my own good, I wreck Todd's ATV and my right ankle. Receive a splint and percocet (yippie!) to heal myself with.
July 25th: Happy birthday, me.
July 29th: Ditch the splint and get a boot. Stitches come out. Wounds on ankle still make me want to throw up when I look at them. Also, I've noticed that my right calf muscle has shrunk quite a bit. Crazy how small it can get after a couple of weeks of not using it.
August 4th: Current boot is painful to wear because ankle is still the size of a cantaloupe. Get prescription for cooler, storm trooper-looking boot instead (see picture at the top of this post).
August 20th-ish: I challenge Tegan, the 10 month-old girl that Angie tends sometimes, to a race to see who can start walking first (without help). I win.
August 26th: Start physical therapy. The phys. therapist I go to is very strict, but is proven to get results. Tells me to, among other things, stop walking on my own. The race with Tegan resumes.
August 31st: The phys. therapist tells me to get rid of the stinkin' boot. I happily oblige. Also gives me more painful exercises to do. Hooray.


Me happy to be doing physical therapy. You can't tell the size difference in my calves in this pic, so don't even dare to compare. Come see fo' yo'self, homies.

Oh, and the ankle has reduced in size from cantaloupe to grapefruit. You may be able to get a better look with this closeup.

Notice how I can barely fit my foot in my right shoe (btw, I got new shoes because the old ones got messed up in the accident. Hooray for new kicks!).
Still a ways to go, as I'm told it may be another couple of months before I can get the ankle/foot back to being somewhat normal. And with all of the daily exercises included in my rehab, it will take another six months for my right calf muscle to match the size of the left. Can you believe that? Its crazy how it only takes two weeks for the strength to go away, but requires half a year to gain it back. And that, in a nutshell, is how I'm recovering.
I shouldn't be whining. I'm thankful that the wreck wasn't much worse. I'm grateful I got a concussion instead of permanent brain damage. I'm also grateful that I broke my ankle in a way that didn't require surgery. Most of all, I'm grateful for an amazing wife who has stood by me and taken care of me through all of this. I know it's not easy on her to have to tend to my every need, but she does it without even complaining. She continues to be an excellent example of what true love and dedication are all about. Thanks, hot stuff!

Utah in July

I know I'm posting about this way late, but we've been a little crazy working out life with a broken ankle. :) We had so much fun in Utah last month. We were planning on only staying a week, but ended up staying just over two weeks. We had a busy time in Utah the first week and after Dan's accident, ended up mainly just hanging out at my sister, Steph's, house.

We went boating at Yuba Lake and had a great time! I really wanted to learn to wakeboard and had never done it so I tried and it didn't go over very well...I only got in the water once to try it and only tried getting up three times, so considering that, I think I did pretty well. My hardest thing was that I kept flipping over onto my stomach and those wakeboards are freakin' heavy!! I had the hardest time flipping it around. My brother, Jon, had to swim out a couple time and do it for me...Eventually I was able to do it and everyone cheered, so I was fine not being able to get all the way up. Dan learned how to knee board and we all had a turn on "The Animal" or accoring to Rachel, "The Pencil".

We had a great time 4 wheeling. Since I already talked about this in pretty good detail, I'll skip it in this post, except for a couple more pictures. :)

My youngest brother, Jamie, and his fiance, TaNeil, got married in the Draper temple. It was such a great day! The temple is beautiful, her family is so great, and Dan made it through the whole day on his crutches fabulously, and we all had so much fun! I absolutely adore TaNeil and am so excited to have her as a new part of our family.

We were out there for the 24th of July, which was really fun since we of course don't celebrate that here in Oregon. We had a party at Steph's house, complete with a BBQ, fireworks and "boxes" that my mom made. The "boxes" were going to be handcarts, but as my mom was sticking the graham crackers together with the hot sugar, she burned her fingers. So they ended up being "boxes" but I loved them! I thought they were so cute!

We had such a great time with friends and family! We ended up driving up to Boise to stay for the night on Dan's birthday. We wanted to split the drive to two days so Dan wouldn't have to sit in the car for that long straight. We stayed with our friends, Bryce and Lindy (thanks again!!), and had so much fun with them. I felt bad that Dan had to be travelling on his birthday, but he ended up getting 4 (I think) birthday cakes, so I think that more than made up for it. :)

We came home to a really fun surprise! My cute sister-in-law, Kristi, and her boys came to our house while we were gone and put up decorations for Dan's birthday! There were streamers EVERYWHERE and balloons and crows and medals and everything! It was awesome!!

I took a ton of pictures....I tried to condense, but I still ended up with quite a few on here. Surprise, surprise. They're out of order, but I've spent so much time putting them on the computer that I don't really want to take more time to fix it. :) All in all, it was such a great trip, but we're happy being back in our own home and back to regular (kind of...) life!