Friday was a wonderfully bright and Sunny day in Happy Valley. The Sun had arrived and with it came an unexpected warmth. The birds were singing, the flowers were pushing through the earth, the children were laughing and the dogs were barking (lets be honest, the dogs are always barking).
Kristen and her little darlings had spent the morning cleaning and cooking, preparing the house for a fun Harry Potter themed birthday dinner for Aunt Danielle. The whole house had been rearranged for the event. Paper stars had been meticulously taped over the dining table to give the illusion of a magical ceiling in the "Great Hall," candles votives were being carefully strung in a web to give a mystical illumination that night at the feast. Paper cleaner eye-glasses, wooden wands, homemade butterbeer, and a 4 layer cake were all ready to be placed on the table for the grand party.
By the afternoon the children were getting restless and the weather was too spectacular to waste inside, so it was decided to go to the park. No park visit would be complete without the adventure companion favorites, Archie and Kate, so a quick bike ride was arranged to visit their new home and convince them to join the girls on their jaunt to the park.
Heidi had been growing heavy as of late, and a week of sedation and sitting on the couch had left Kristen a tad out of shape. When they arrived at Archi's house Kristen ran up the stairs to grab a quick drink, anticipating that the ride to the park might leave her a bit parched. Heidi, the bike and the bike trailer were left in Alex's capable hands for safe keeping, and although her trip for water was short, Kristen's ears perked up at the sound of a crying Alex.
We must here mention Kristen's affinity for sandals. Or perhaps we should say instead, Kristen's distaste for shoes. Much to the chagrin of her husband, Kristen can usually be found wearing sandals up until the more moist days of winter, and she will never pack them away as there always seemed to be an excuse NOT to wear shoes.
On this day, with the bright sun teasing her, and her toes begging to be let loose in the grass, Kristen had of course, chosen sandals as her footwear of choice. This had not seemed to be a problem, that is until racing down the stairs she tripped, fell, and found her self sprawled out on the landing with the accompanying sound of a snap.
A groan escaped her lips, yet it was more of a "shoot I hit my funny bone" groan, and not a "oh no, I broke a bone" groan. And although the first words out of Kate's mouth were, "Oh No, did you just brake your foot?" Kristen refused to allow the thought to rest in her mind. In fact, poor young Archie seemed more upset by the ordeal than the fallen warrior and it took a few minutes of convincing and smiles to assure him that Aunt Kristen was not facing imminent death. Alex's response to the excitement was a refusal to leave the bike trailer, as she was already overdue at the park, and the thought of getting out of the trailer was too much for her to bear.
Our heroine, Kate, ran around with one baby in utero and one on the hip while she collected icepacks, stools, ACE bandages, and quelled the ever present toddler rebellion, all with a smile never leaving her face. Luckily a sweet neighbor/primary president was strolling along at that very moment and stopped to offer advice, support and a ride to the doctor if needed. Kristen still refused to accept reality for a good 15 more minutes before she realized if she was ever going to make it to the park or her party, she had better hurry and get and exam done sooner rather than later.
The wonderful neighbor gladly fetched her car and Kristen drove away while watching poor pregnant Kate pull a wagon full of children off to see the ducks. A not so brief visit to the Insta-Care inopportunely imposed itself upon the party schedule. Tyler arrived on scene just in time to view the x-ray and diagnose his wife with a fracture in her 5th metatarsal bone. The tendon of a muscle, the peroneus brevis, which inserts in that exact spot and sometimes when someone falls just right while that muscle is contracting it can pull that end of the bone off, he explained. Moments later the Doctor came and stated that there was a fracture of the 5th metatarsal bone and that there is a muscle which goes down the side of the leg and sometimes when a person falls just right it can break the end of the bone off. A fancy and expensive boot was prescribed for 4-6 weeks and congratulations were delivered for breaking the foot "in the best place you could have done it." Apparently, the doctor recommends this fracture to all his friends.
Kristen had thought the stint at the Doctor's had taken awhile, but this was nothing compared to the seemingly infinite stopover at the Pharmacy to fill yet another prescription of sleep inducing pain pills. Kristen's much celebrated narcotic sobriety was short lived. Finally, they were able to speed home and rescue the relatives from the tired and hungry children, just as Danielle and Michael arrived for the party.
Fear not, for the party did indeed go on. With Tyler filling in as hostess, running around cooking, lighting candles, setting the table and carrying an insistent wife from one room to the next (they had decided not to spring the $50 for crutches and try to borrow a set instead). The party was far less cool than initially envisioned, although 10,000,000 times cooler than the previous years celebration of Danielle's birth had been. The night ended with children going hippity hop to bed without a peep, while the adults lay on the floor listening to BYU basketball on the radio. Each silently wishing Jimmer Fredette was his or her best friend.
Tune in next time to hear how the frazzled husband is keeping his cool after suddenly being thrust BACK INTO Daddy/Student/Mommy (housekeeper, cook, launderer, peace officer) duty. And if the crutch bound Kristen has managed to haul around a clingy baby and coral a wild toddler.
