Blue cast, Spring Formal, and many visitors

Could more things have happened over the weekend? Possibly. But it felt pretty packed as things were.

I woke up bright and early Friday morning and began calling pediatric orthopedic offices to see if anyone could squeeze Miriam in that same day. The first office I called (which was the one recommended to us by the urgent care facility) was super grumpy about how "entitled" I was to think my child could be treated within such a small window. You have to plan for these things, apparently.

The soonest possible appointment would be at least ten days out. She didn't care what we had coming up...

And I'm like, "Who plans to break their arm mere days before taking an international flight?!"

So clearly that wasn't the place for us, the weirdos. 

But I found a place that could see her that same day. Because her break was minor and her swelling wasn't too bad, they went ahead and put a cast on her to immobilize and protect her arm during her travels so that her minor injury didn't turn into a bigger problem by being jostled, etc. 

This is not a picture of Miriam's broken arm. This is a picture of Alexander's broken arm:

I'm just marveling at how different a baby elbow looks compared to a teenager elbow, that's all. I understand these x-rays were taken at completely different angles, and that I have absolutely zero training in reading x-rays, but just...like...no wonder nursemaid elbows are such a common injury when toddler elbows are so loosey-goosey. (Alexander didn't have nursemaid elbow; he had a buckle fracture in his wrist from tripping while crawling). 

Anyway, I had just managed to secure an appointment for Miriam when the doorbell rang. It was Grandpa and Darla. They were meeting at our house because Uncle Clark (Grandma's brother) and Aunt Lynnea were on their way home from Texas (where they watched the eclipse with Scott and Angel and their family (they live in Texas)) and they wanted to stop by our house for a visit.

And here they are, looking as good as ever (Lynnea is one of the smiliest, kindest people on the planet):

It was good to get to visit with them, even if it was just a quick visit! Here's a picture of everyone (with Miriam still in her splint):

On Friday evening, the kids went to game night at the church. The young women mostly painted the whole evening (at least while I was there). They were in charge of a backdrop for Spring Formal. Andie took charge of things (she's very artistic) and assigned everyone various tasks to fill in her design. 

I only stayed at game night for a little while. Rachel and Miriam went early (to work on the backdrop), but Benjamin and Zoë wanted to go after dinner. So I went to drop them off (and then left them there to ride home with Rachel and Miriam). I had to finish getting something ready for Auntie Josie's arrival. 

She flew in on Friday night. 

Saturday we spent running errands, mostly, and then in the late afternoon Rachel's friend came over to get ready for the Spring Formal (a multi-stake dance for youth 16+, kind of like a prom). This friend's family is in the process of moving to Utah (her dad is already out there), so she got dropped off early because her mom is only one person and still had to get her oldest son ready for (and transported to) the (actual) school prom and feed her other kids dinner and stuff. So, she got dropped off early, and then Andrew drove both these girls to another friend's house, and that friend's mom took them out to dinner (they got Chick-fil-A and ate at a park) and drove them to the dance. 

Andrew picked the girls up after the dance and dropped them off at their respective houses (while Auntie Josie and I hung out with Miriam and her new cast). 

Sunday we had church, and Darla and Grandpa came over to visit with Josie and to hear about the big dance. And I wish I could say that we did anything exciting on Monday, but really all we did was go to the park (between doing load after load of laundry and frantically packing and repacking suitcases).