Starting the year out with a break at the dunes

It was fun while it lasted. 2009 came with a bang!! This was our second time in a row that we rode our quads down at the sand dunes in Yuma at the start of the year. We spent New Years Eve at a ice skating arena chaperoning the Young Men and Young Women from our two wards. We had rented out the whole skating arena. It was alot of fun and played games afterwards at Louisa's house till the fireworks began. We got to bed about 1:30 a.m. and had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to drive 4 hours to get to the dunes. We had a great day riding the sand dunes with our friends in the ward, the Horne's. At night they had a warm bonfire going and watched a fun little video. We rented a room in town which was nice to get a shower and bed down to a nice soft bed. Which is always welcome after playing in the sand all day. The weather conditions were perfect this year and the crowd at the dunes was minimal compared to years past. We got up and ate a continental breakfast at the Fairfield in Yuma where we were staying. They had the greatest breakfast, waffles, eggs, fruit etc. and all included in the price of the hotel. We will definitely make that our destination spot next time. We got back out to the dunes by 9 a.m. and were out on our quads by 10:00. Kenzie and I were riding in the Horne's sandrail which was totally a kick in the pants. Rick was on his motorcycle with his paddle tires on for better traction. We were having such a great time with everybody following along flying up and down and around the dunes. We were headed out to the main highway to where they call Gordon's Well and they have a bunch of vendors selling t-shirts and what nots. One of the quads dropped it's chain and we all stopped to see how to fix it. It was fixable but needed some tools. Rick and Brenton decided they would go back to camp and get the proper tools and come back and fix it. I thought it would be a good idea to time them and have everyone make predictions on how long it would take them to get back. Well it took about 30 minutes for them to come back, alot longer than we predicted. Jackson was the closest at 27 minutes and got a candy bar for it. Rick was on my quad and not the motorcycle and we knew something was up. He said it was pretty bad and that he hurt both ankles from hitting an unexpected jump and coming down on his feet quite hard. He was in big motorcycle boots and was gingerly walking around but was able to fix the quads chain with every one's help. He said he would keep riding and we got to the vendors. Rick by this time was in a lot of pain and decided to head on back to camp while we shopped. When we got back to camp Rick had most of the quads loaded up on the trailer, which was quite an undertaking in his condition. We said our goodbyes and headed home. He drove past Yuma and then I took over because he was in so much pain. We headed straight to the hospital in Mesa and he waited 2 hours in the ER till they had a room. I went home with the trailer and my neighbors helped me park it in the backyard and I got Kenzie a pizza and headed on down to the hospital. We found out he broke his left ankle (a clean break) and his right ankle was sprained. So they put a splint on the break and wrapped the other ankle with an ace bandage. Got some pain killers on the way home at Walgreens and then my wonderful neighbors the Jones' and Rawlins had crutches and a wheel chair waiting for him and a blessing. DeRay helped him get back into the house with a wheelchair and he spent the night in our lazyboy chair with his feet propped up. He's been there ever since. It's been over 24 hours and the pain is getting a little more bearable. And he is a very good patient. Always appreciative and never complaining. I don't think this will keep him down long. But it's just a little set back that you just have to deal with.