Grand Finale

The grand finale to our Peach Day Celeration Weekend was the Rodeo.

When we first moved to Hurricane my sister, Hanna, asked me if I'd let my kids participate in the rodeo this year. I was little hesitant as this kind of thing is new to me. I grew up in Las Vegas. I think of myself as a city girl not someone who would have kids that would know how to participate in a rodeo. After hearing both of my kids wanting to participate we started our own private lessons given by Aunt Hanna and Grandpa. They have both done very well during their practices. The week of the rodeo we took the horses to where the rodeo would be and let the kids practice in the arena. Maddie concentrates so hard to do it the right way. She really enjoys her time on Romeo.
I love the way her piggies flap in the wind when she gets Romeo to lope.

Maddie did an AWSOME job in the barrel race. Romeo who is the oldest, most calm and easy going horse my parent owns acted up on her turn. Romeo did not want to go towards the barrels. She really had to pull on those reigns to get him going. And then he even bucked her a few times. She did great at holding on. She did not fall off and by the end she was able to get Romeo to complete the barrels. I was so proud of her for not giving up, not getting upset, not getting to frightened. She stuck it through and was able to get Romeo to complete the race at something like 160+seconds. Way to go Maddie. The best part is she wants to do it again next year. Yes!!!!

Hunter loves riding too.

He heard that the winner gets $100. Every day he would tell me that he just knew he was going to win that money.

Hunter did good but unfortunately he did not win that $100. He was the 1st to go in his age group and Romeo didn't act out on him. He did a great job at leading Romeo to where he needed to go. Hunter came in at 70+ seconds. The winner in my kids age group came in at under 17 seconds. It was amazing to see how fast and young those kids were. Hunter wants to participate again next year. Maybe with a whole year of practices he'll have a better chance at winning that $100. He also wants to do the Hide Pull but I don't know if I'm ready for that one.

My camera did not work very well the night of the Rodeo. There was too much commotion and it couldn't seem to focus. The lighting and it being dusk outside didn't help either. By the end of the night all I got was a lot of grainy, blurry smudgy pictures. The rodeo was so fun for our family. There was a chicken chase and a oiled pig chase that the kids got to participate in. We did not come home with any new pets, though they tried.

The rodeo also had a Mutton Bustin ' Race which is HILARIOUS to watch. Kids are put on the back of a sheep and it's a race to see how long they can hang on for. Every year there are so many kids that want to participate but there just isn't enough time to allow them all too. This year all that wanted to participate had to sign up and then only 20 names were drawn from a hat. Both Madelyn's name and Emily's was drawn. Maddie refused to participate from the beginning. She kept telling me she only wanted to chase chickens, pigs and the barrells. I couldn't believe it. I really wish she would have tried but I couldn't get her to change her mind.

Emily was so excited she got to ride a sheep. I think if she could have gone 1st she would have done it but she was more around the 10th child. After seeing a few kids fall off she had no desire to do it. Kory was with her trying to talk her into it but she just wouldn't budge. She was a kicken' and a screamin' the closer it got to be her turn. Seriously, what were the chances that I'd get 2 of my kids names drawn? Oh well! Maybe next year. We need to find someone with sheep and let them practice. The rodeo was definely the highlight of our weekend. We had so much fun. I think I'm even excited for years events.