Days of '47 Parade

Michal and I have always wanted to go to the Days of '47 Parade, and living downtown made it oh-so-convenient!  We woke up at 8:45, left the apartment at 8:55, found some friends to sit with at 9:00 and watched a parade in great shady weather. 

I think that having Lily motivated us to go because she loves looking around at just about everything. 

At first she wasn't so sure about it, but after seeing all sorts of colorful things and loud music, she was loving it.

Of course, I think that seeing good friends also motivated us to go.  Who doesn't like watching a parade with this handsome crew?

Ivan (left) Amelia (right)

Kristina (left - married to Ivan above her) Brandon (right - not married to gal above him)

Here are some of our favorite parade people? acts? performers?

Below is an awesome bike - and look at how tiny those horses (ponies) are.  Can you believe it?

I liked the Summer Santa in the La-Z-Boy chair, but the bizarre space missionary takes the cake!

During the boring parts of the parade, we just admired Lily!

Watching the Bagpipes brought back bittersweet memories of being a piper in parades.  I mean it wasn't all that great... (A) I wasn't that good (B) It was so hot being dressed in 100% wool from head to toe (C) I was always off-step with the rest of the band (D) I had no idea what I was doing.  But regardless, it was fun to say that I tried it, I did it, and I'm proud of it. I just wish I was as good as these guys were in the parade!

 Another favorite part of the parade was Brandon and his BYU flag.  He waved it for like 5 seconds before the U of U float found it and tried to ignore it, and waved it for like 5 minutes before the BYU float actually noticed him.  He sure does have extreme team spirit (and if you know Brandon - I think that you would agree with me that extreme may be an understatement of a word choice).

I liked the float below because little children's heads were the center of the flowers and even smaller children were the peas in the pod.  It was just too cute.

Hands down, my favorite part of the parade was Lily getting tired and falling asleep right on me! 

 And when she woke up again she was the happiest girl in the audience with smiles for everyone around her.

 Having a child is the best, I get do to things that I normally wouldn't, and enjoy them WAY more than I normally would when I see their reactions.  It was a great and happy way to celebrate "Utah Day"!