christmas parade (2019)

Posted on February 11, 2020 by tara

Ready for Christmas to come back in full swing? I’m going to be doing some more catching up on here, and I’m excited to get to relive it all through my photos. I tried to keep our holiday season relaxed this year, but there’s still always a lot going on and some stress involved with getting everything done. It’s so fun to take a break afterward and come back to the memories anew.

As per tradition, we went to our town’s Christmas parade! It was quite a cold one this year, and of course, since it was pitch black, the photos aren’t the best, but I love remembering this. All the girls were so incredibly excited to get there and watch!

For the first time ever, we were up near the front of the parade, so the girls ended up with a bunch of candy and even some coloring books.

Some of our favorite floats included:

A giant fish!Mickey and Minnie!Classic cars!A minion!A monarch butterfly!And a poo emoji, of course! Haha.

Watching my family enjoy it is the best of all. Toward the end of the parade, we saw some little kids (who were part of a float) carrying these huge armfuls of stuffed animals down the street. They saw all the kids sitting in our area, and started handing out brand-new unicorns to my girls! This was one of the happiest days of their lives.

Kaya said over and over, “I can’t believe I got a unicorn!” It was a lucky moment for sure.

Santa came by at the end, like he always does!

Everyone went home happy.

christmas parade (2017)

Posted on January 17, 2018 by tara

Are you ready to hear about Christmas for the next week or two? We made so many wonderful memories this year, and I have to say, these special occasions just keep getting more fun as our kids grow bigger. So here we go, the first of the Christmas catch-up posts… our holiday parade!

After a week without Daddy (he was in Las Vegas for the AWS conference), we kicked off the weekend by heading downtown to our local parade. Michael’s plane was due to land just in time for him to catch a bus and take a short walk to meet up with us, so while we waited, we stopped into one of the indoor venues to look at all the community Christmas trees. The girls absolutely loved this one, covered in puppies and bones, with a light-up pug standing next to it!They also had an array of gingerbread houses this year. They smelled heavenly, and you can guess which one was our favorite!Nella was pretty amazed by everything there was to see.Daddy found us! I don’t know if we’ve ever been as happy to see him as we were right then! I had to have a picture with my girls, too! It definitely wasn’t the warmest parade we’ve had, but it by far wasn’t the coldest, either. Still, we ended up using Daddy’s coat as a blanket by the end of the night because these little girls felt chilly.Nella took in all the lights and sounds and loved the entire experience.Some of my favorite floats included: these giant teeth……an entire trailer full of pandas!!!…the classic snowmen……blinged-out cars… …and Santa, of course! The girls were so excited to see him!Horses are always at the end, but they are a definite favorite for all of us too.I love this yearly tradition- I don’t think we’ve missed a town Christmas parade since we started dating! Only 10.5 months until the next one! 😉

christmas parade 2016

Posted on December 22, 2016 by tara

While Michael was still in Vegas, our town put on its annual Christmas parade! My in-laws were still visiting, so they were able to come along (but, of course, we definitely still missed Michael)!

It was absolutely freezing, so the girls were bundled into as many layers as possible, and tucked into the stroller with their big blankets. The cold hardly seemed to bother them because they were both so excited about watching the parade!

Nella was in her snowsuit, in the Moby wrap, inside my puffiest winter coat. I couldn’t feel my toes by the end of the night, but Nella stayed cozy, and that was all I cared about anyway. _mg_6919 It felt like an eternity before the parade started, but it was worth the wait!
Some of our favorite displays included: this somewhat-creepy Santa… tractors…Minnie Mouse…
a whole lineup of Mini Coopers… Olaf! and, of course, the “real” Santa at the very end!Kaya and Kaelyn also loved the big group of puppies that walked by, as well as the horses who came long after we thought the parade had already finished (hence not having a photo)! I really do look forward to this event each year, and I’m so happy I get to share it with my little girls.

3 days to go!

christmas parade 2015

Posted on December 15, 2015 by tara

We kept our tradition of attending our town Christmas parade two weekends ago. It was one of the coldest days we’ve experienced this season so far, so we were all bundled up to the nines. Sweaters, winter coats, hats, hoods, mittens, and the heaviest blankets we have covered up my girls as they watched the parade from the stroller. Kaelyn sat so quietly and took everything in. She didn’t want to keep her mittens on, and it was so cold that I was afraid her fingers would freeze! Luckily, she had her nice warm blanket (made by Grandma Gina) to snuggle with. I whipped up this reindeer hat a few hours before the parade for Kaya, since Kaelyn is now wearing the one that she used to for the past couple of Christmases. Kaya was the happiest girl in the world wearing this little hat, and even told me “I really wuv mine reindeer hat. ‘Cause mommy made it for me”. And yes, that made my heart melt into one giant puddle.The most hilarious car in the parade had to be the one with the giant panda hanging out the window and waving. I have a thing for pandas, and I’m still cracking up looking at this picture.

Waving! _MG_0183 I love seeing all the cultural diversity here. Santa and a Chinese dragon walking next to each other… pretty cool!Several floats always throw candy, but this year, Kaya really hit the jackpot. She got quite a variety of sweets and was so excited to have them all piling up on her tray.
Olaf was there, of course. I always love the ponies. Thankfully, the firetrucks didn’t blare their sirens this year, so Kaya wasn’t afraid, like last year. 🙂 The Big Man himself finished off the parade. Kaya was so excited to see him waving!

10 more days!

christmas parade 2014

Posted on December 16, 2014 by tara

Last weekend was our town Christmas parade! The weather was a little more appropriate than last year’s 60-something degrees, so all four of us bundled up and headed downtown.

I forgot my camera flash… and there were crazy streetlights and flashing police car lights on top of that, so these pictures are really not the greatest.

Baby Kaelyn slept through a lot of her very first parade! She woke up when the firetrucks and ambulances drove by, but surprisingly, she didn’t even cry (poor Kaya did though)!
This was Kaya’s 3rd parade! I can’t believe how fast the years are going by.She was so much more interested in what was going on this year (especially when some of the floats threw lollipops to her! Notice her “pop” collection in the cup holder)! I always have the same favorite floats: All the lit-up jeeps…
… the horses!
… and SANTA!9 more days until he comes to visit!

christmas parade 2013

Posted on December 10, 2013 by tara

As is tradition, we went to the town Christmas parade on Friday night! Usually, we’re bundled up to the nines and look like we’re heading on an adventure into the arctic tundra… but this year, temperatures were in the 60s! I actually missed dancing around and sipping hot chocolate in an effort to stay warm. We found a few of our friends from church, including Jeff and Lelia!

That balmy 60-something degrees was a little too good to be true, because it ended up pouring down rain for the majority of the parade. A lot of floats cut out early because of it. All I ever really care about is seeing the horses, shelter dogs, and Santa, anyway.

She’s still so little, but there’s something about watching her at Christmastime that brings tears to my eyes. Maybe I’m a little overly emotional, but I just can’t help looking at her and feeling my heart fill up with so much gratitude and love.
Santa was at the very end, of course, and then we were ready to go home and get some dry clothes on!
14 days, 8 hours and 45 minutes!

Christmas parade

Posted on December 10, 2012 by tara

We kept our tradition of attending the town Christmas parade this past weekend. I can’t believe this was our 5th year going! This one seemed to be the best yet- there were so many great floats.

Little Munchkin was a little bit sleepy for her first parade. It was close to her bedtime, after all.

We really lucked out with the weather- this is the warmest parade I ever remember! It was about 50 degrees, so we didn’t worry about Kaya being too cold.

She wore her adorable snowsuit for the first time. I love the ears! (I also love that I found it at the secondhand kids’ store, but it was brand new from Old Navy with the tags still on. Score! I even found a similar one for next year that’s also new 🙂 )

Here were a few of the best parts of the parade!

Horses always make the list, of course.

And no matter how old I get, seeing Santa is still the most exciting part!

15 days!

boring update? (11 days…)

Posted on December 13, 2009 by tara

Well I figured I would do some updating, even though it's bound to not be very interesting.

The MOST exciting thing is… SCHOOL is OVER TOMORROW!! (for me anyway! Michael still has until Thursday). How awesome is that? I just finished a paper and now I just have to take one exam. Woohoo! Then, the rest of the week, I just get to go to work! I'm really enjoying the new job. It's great to be working again =)

We went to the town Christmas parade last week! It was great to get out and spend time with my buddy! As you can see, he drank practically *all* the hot chocolate we brought!

We also had our first snow last week!! It was beautiful and luckily, we didn't have to go out in it!

We also were invited to a "Welcome Back" party for one of our old friends who just got off his mission! It was so great to see everyone and we had such a fun time!

Well I guess that's all! Nothing too interesting. We've been pretty tired lately. I think Juni has the right idea….

Michael and Tara

It's Us!

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