Parada del Sol pictures!

Well, overall, the prep work at the parade was a blast, but the parade itself was awful! Warm, sunny Arizona turned into cold, rainy Arizona, and the Parada del Sol turned into the Parada del Agua!....My friends Leigh Anne and Kailey spent Friday night here, and the three of us stayed up WAY TOO LATE talking and having fun. But, the alarms going off at 5:30 AM weren't quite so fun. By 6:30 or so, we were all on our way out to east Scottsdale. We had a lot of fun setting up the pens, getting the horses out, and decorating the carts...and each other! The carts had pink hula skirts, pink tulle, pink umbrellas, and pink garland, the horses had pink leg wraps, brow bands, and roses, and us girls (and guys!) had pink shirts, hat bands, and Kailey and I braided pink ribbin into our braids. The whole time we decorated, it was sunny and beautiful out, but when we finished hooking up and moving into lineup, it started pouring. And it poured, and poured, and poured! There was basically no one out to watch the parade, and all the horses, harnesses, decor, and people, were soaked. And not just soaked, but COLD! When we got back to the trailer, we had to undo all the decorations, and everyone's fingers and legs were so stiff and numb that moving them hurt. Finally, everything was packed up and the carts got loaded onto trucks and trailers...and the rain stopped! No one had brought any kind of jacket but rain jackets because we didn't count on the temperature being so amazingly freezing! It was funny, because right before we left, us kids (Me, Anna, Jessie, Kailey, Leigh Anne, David, and Noah) had to go to the bathroom, and the closest store was a CVS across the street. When we got inside, us girls were all standing under the hand dryer in the bathroom thawing out. That warm air blowing on us was about the best feeling in the world just then!

There was a lot of stress because the horses were slipping on the wet asphalt and could easily have fallen. My mom's horse, Warrior, reared up and fell underneath the cart before the parade, and that really upset him. He was a nut the rest of the day. My team was leaning out like they sometimes do, and they were slipping all over the place. I was terrified that they were going to fall underneath each other, but nothing happened. (Thank you, Anna, for all your help!!!!!! Love you, girl!) It was pretty high stress....

Here are some pictures!

This is before everything started...notice the SUN IS OUT!


Dude was awesome!


Jessie & Kailey decorating


We took some good "cowgirl" pictures



And some SILLY pictures


And here's a video that my mom made...supposedly the music is some old rock song and the words say "are you tough enough?" Since the theme of the parade was "Tough Enough to wear Pink," she picked that music...I don't really like it, but...