Nothing More American Than A Rodeo

On Friday and Saturday night, we attended the Rodeo.  I love everything about it.  The rodeo is my Christmas.  I believe when I leave this earth, the Good Lord will let me spend eternity in the bleachers (although I hope he gives me a la-z-boy recliner).  I'm not sure Cora or some of my kids share the same enthusiasm, but a few of them do.  Even as I write this, my youngest three are still dudded out in their western attire and hats.  You can't peel it off of them.  In fact, I missed a photo opportunity yesterday when my youngest son was vacuuming the living room floor in his church suit and a cowboy hat.  

It really infuriated my oldest.  He's a teenager and has an anti-life attitude at times.  He called us all out and said, "you're not cowboys.  Nobody in this house is a cowboy.  Stop pretending to be one......ugh!  This family!!!!"

I immediately broke out into a country/western song and tried to get him to square dance with me.  He just went down to his room, slammed the door and blasted some kind of weird music with a lot of screechy instruments and loud, thumping bass drums.  He says its music.  I don't believe him.

The rodeo opens with prayer and a flag ceremony.  I realized there aren't many events anymore that include both.  

The rodeo opens with a prayer and a flag ceremony.  How many events still open with a combination of the two?

My wife is currently serving on the City Council and attends all of the city events.  This also requires a lot of volunteer hours and she rarely has an opportunity to sit with us and enjoy the show.  As city representation was introduced, I was able to get this picture of her from across the stadium.  I'm very proud of her and the great job she does for the city and our family.

Coralee currently serves as a City Councilwoman.  Here she is waving to the crowd.  I love that woman.

I brought my video camera to capture each event, but the battery didn't last long.  I was only able to get a few early videos of mutton bustin', bareback bronc riding and saddle bronc riding.  I went back to my video editing software and went frame-by-frame and captured the following pictures.

You can see how high in the air some of these horses get.  I can't even imagine riding animals like this.  When my horses get a little bucky, it scares me into next week before I try mounting them again.

Now that I'm blogging again, perhaps I should get a decent camera.  Almost everything I post on these blogs are from my iphone.

On Saturday, I convinced Coralee the kids should have some hats.  We spent some time at AA Callister that afternoon.  I could get lost in that store and spend hours there.  Before we knew it, we were walking out with some shirts, boots and hats for the kids.  Here they are all fitted and ready for Saturday's show.

Nate and Jeff went to Lagoon that day and Bryson was hanging with his friends and went to a dance that evening.  Nate was pretty upset on his return to see all the kids with their new attire.  He's been begging me since then to go back to Callister's so he can get a hat, shirt and boots.

Before heading to the rodeo on Saturday night.  Aren't we a handsome bunch?

Our youngest really wanted to participate in the Mutton Bustin' competition.  This is the last year she is eligible and we were lamenting that we hadn't registered her in advance.  It turned out, one of the contestants was ill and not able to participate so we were able to slip into the open spot.

We're standing in line waiting for the Mutton Bustin'.

My cowgirl received some instructions from our good friend, Ty Nielsen.  She was grinning all the way into the chute.  I kept asking her if she was nervous.  She told me she wasn't.  My heart was pounding and I was chewing my nails to the nub.  I'm a little overly protective of my little girl.

In the chute and receiving instruction prior to the gate swinging open.

Riding off into the sunset.

Finished with an 81 point ride.  She received a trophy, a gift certificate to Salsa Leedos and a pair of Roper boots.

We're proud of our little cowgirl.  She loved the entire experience.  After she came off the sheep, she immediately popped up and waved to the crowd.  I asked her if she liked it and she excitedly said, "yes!  I'm sad this is the last year I could do this because I want to do it again."  She then asked if we could buy a sheep.  I told her she'll have to make due with the horses.  Now she does like daddy and spends her free time out there talking to them, petting them and feeding them apple treats.  She's got her dad's country blood in her and here's hoping it never goes away.

Another highlight of my night was meeting the rodeo announcer, Chad Nicholson.  He and I are friends on Facebook and we had been corresponding up until the rodeo event.  He asked me to look him up after the show.  Chad is a genuine and nice guy and spent quite a bit of time with me and my family.  He recommended we take a picture with him and asked me to tag the picture so he could have it on his Facebook page.  He wanted to make sure the picture was taken right and requested we take a few extra pictures to make sure they turned out.  Before the picture, he let me know one of the kid's hats was on backwards and said, "the way you know is the buckle should always be on the left."  Sound advice, because there have been times I've been trying on hats and uncertain if I had it on the right way.  Now I know.

After the show, we went up to meet with the rodeo announcer, Chad Nicholson.