Here in the office you could say we are very blessed. We have a great boss, wonderful staff, awesome patients, cookies, cool t-shirts, the list is endless. However we still find ourselves being envious of our patients who come in and look beautiful and tan given the fact that while we are enjoying the splendors of work, they are outside playing reaping the benefits of the sun. Well, our dear friend Melissa said enough was enough. There had to be a way that we could see our patients, be with the staff and be in the sun... and there arose like a beakon of light the idea of yet another parade, the Lehi Parade. Thrilled with the idea of having color in our skin and an excuse for Melissa to skip around in jolly merriment we went to work. Natalie ordered more hats that she wonderfully designed and got one of our patient's dad, Kyle Smith, to pull us in the parade on a hay wagon, as well as asking our patients if they would like to join us in this new adventure. Everything was in place and we awaited for the fun filled day.
The morning of the parade Melissa, being an eager beaver, got to the office at 7:30 a.m. to start setting up for the parade. Apparently she was not the only one as she came upon people camped out in our front parking lot. Not only were they preventing her from parking but as she made the journey from car to the front door Melissa was attacked by their dog. This set up what was a very chaotic morning.
We had around ten patients who signed up for the parade but ended up with 31 of them, which we were so excited about only we got a 25 foot hay wagon that was meant for only 25 people. We debated and planned and came to conclusion that all of the staff would get to walk on the side handing out hats and that the patients would sit on the wagon throwing frisbees and candy.
However that was the game plan for the parade, we still had to figure out a way that all of us could get over to our spot in the parade. Luckily here at Jensen Orthodontics we are thinkers and all decide to cram into the hay wagon with the 1500 hats, two buckets of candy, two coolers, 1000 frisbees, 10 hay bails and 31 kids. (All of this was very safe and okayed by our driver).
I saw maneuvers I have never seen as Natalie was lifting her legs over bags, Sharon hopping into the wagon and Shauna attempting a front handspring to get on. It was a great ride that ended with Melissa having an allergic reaction to they hay, hats spilling out everywhere, and everyone with static hair from the balloons.
As we waited for the parade to start we got all our patients with a snow cone despite the fact that none of us had any money (Shauna knows how to bargain), and we ended up playing frisbee for a while.
We handed out everything we had; candy, hats, frisbees, even our balloons that we had for decoration. While we paraded the kids chanted "Smile Ranch" and had a competition who could yell louder between the UVU cheerleaders and us. It was amazing what a hit our hats were, everyone wanted them, and who can blame them? We just hope that they are as effervescent about getting their braces done by Dr. Jensen. We came back tired but really glad and grateful for all those that helped out. It really doesn't matter how great of a practice you think you have what really makes it worth everything is having a supportive patients. 
Now for notable news we got some braces removed as of late. Spencer Haws who is a rugby player, attending Lehi in the fall got his braces off. As did Courtney Lees who goes to West Lake and enjoys hanging out with friends. Brianna Lujan also being awesome and gorgeous who plays softball for Cottonwood is no longer a medal mouth.
