It's Easy Being Green

Before moving to Iowa, we never celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  Not once.  Ever.  

No green.  No leprechauns.  No rainbows.  

Just lots of getting pinched.  

But since coming to Des Moines, we've succumbed to intense peer pressure and joined the masses in celebrating the most pointless and irrelevant holiday in existence.

First we went to the parade. 

And by "went" I mean "I dragged the whole family and made Luke miss his afternoon of golfing."

We paid $5 for parking, we hiked 2 miles, we attempted to get through walls of people (at one point getting crushed and not being able to go forward or back for 5 min. while people mentally berated us), and then having to take 2 children to find a bathroom seconds after we met up with our friends (it took 25 min. to find a bathroom).

Luke wanted to murder me.

But, oh, what a parade it was.  

We saw...

Cross-dressing symbols of American freedom:

 the host of "Minute to Win It"

(not really, but I swear it was his older-brother.)

this:

 

at first I was confused about what this was.  

Then I noticed the writing on the float. 

AM PM Plumbing.

And then I noticed that he is standing in a giant toilet. 

All the evidence leaves me to assume that this boy is dressed as a piece of turd.  

 Which begs the question, Why?

 

We saw: 

pirates,

 clowns, 

perverts,

 This man put a necklace on this girl and then kissed her.  On the mouth.  

I would have cut him.

 

We saw Gandolf the Grey,

America's Next Top Models:

 

(This pictures makes me die. Definitely frame-worthy.)

 

(at least we got one decent one out of the 8 that we made Luke take.)

the creapiest dog in existance: 

a super sexy man drinking Mt. Dew, 

nudists,

 (Not really, but honestly - you cannot tell me that lifting your shirt up 6 inches makes that much of a difference in your body temperature.  Plus, it was 79 degrees, not 102.)  

 

two very happy girls who got a bag full of candy from one especially sympathetic parade walker:

crazy talented athletes:

and the cutest kids ever.

And Luke didn't kill me after all.

Later that night, we continued the celebration by taking pictures with our little leprechaun. 

(He's the only one of our children who doesn't run away frantically from the camera.)

 This picture looks like one of those pictures where Cameron is trying to hide under my hat to kiss me.

 Anytime, Cameron.

Any. Time. 

We got the party rolling with our amazing friends:

 the Bauers

 the Bliss's

 the Evans

 the Fowler's

the Kearns

 and us.

Happy St. Patrick's Day indeed.

Oh, and did I mention that we're going to 

Loma Linda, Ca?!

 Luke will start an Anesthesia (I spell this word wrong every. single. time.) Residency at LLU in July.

To say we're thrilled doesn't even begin to describe it.

Except the thought of leaving my amazing friends here leaves me instantly teary-eyed and sick to my stomach.

I keep telling myself that we'll all end up in the same place someday.  

It's getting me though.  

For now.