Off to Omaha!

My next Miss Rodeo Iowa adventure took me back to Nebraska again. It was time for the Justin Boot Championships. The top 12 cowboys and cowgirls in each event would be there fighting for the title of champion. I was having some company on this trip as I have on other trips. I was so excited for Paige Oveson, Miss Rodeo Minnesota and Brooke Owen, Miss Rodeo Illinois to be coming with me. 

We all met in Ames and got on the road. We arrived in Omaha Thursday evening just in time to help with stick horse races before the first performance. We had a great time helping with the mutton bustin’ during the performance and being able to watch an amazing rodeo with the top of the top cowboys and cowgirls. I was especially excited to watch Wade Sundell from Boxholm, Iowa ride. He did a great job and ended up getting second in that go.  After the rodeo the queens and all of the rodeo contestants were available to sign autographs; it was amazing to see so many of the top competitors be there for their fans.  

The horse Trigger

Once we all signed a lot of autographs we headed over to the hotel across the street for the buckle presentation. They had a great turn out to watch the top cowboys and cowgirl for the night receive their buckle. Once all the excitement was over (and we got a late night snack in us) we headed to our host home. We were staying just a little bit away from the arena and it was a beautiful home with a great family! On Friday morning we were back at the arena bright and early to help with a special rodeo. A lot of the contestants showed up to help a child experience all the wonderful parts of a rodeo. They had different animals available to pet, horses to ride, bucking machines, roping dummies and even rodeo clowns. There was such a great turn out and we all finished off the event with a wonderful lunch. There were inspirational speakers at the lunch and I left there with a new view and passion about life. 

Me and Paige by a sleeping gorilla at the zoo

To see so many people follow their dreams is very uplifting. That night at the rodeo was another good one. We helped again with the mutton bustin’ and were able to watch the rodeo. That night Wade had an alright right; the flank strap had fallen over the hip of the horse so he was given a re-ride. Now his re-ride, that was something else! He did great and ended up winning that go round! It was really great seeing him up on that stage (and his little brother) being so proud and happy! He had a great Iowa following as well that made me be proud to be Miss Rodeo Iowa. On Saturday morning we had a short walking parade down the streets near the arena. It was really cool to be in a parade through Omaha like that. After the parade we had the rest of the day free so we took advantage of going to the Omaha Zoo! I hadn’t been there since I was in 6^th grade so it was very fun to go back and have a relaxing day.  At the rodeo that night was the top 8 cowboys in each event. Wade did amazing in that go receiving an 89 point ride! 

During intermission we helped with mutton bustin’ again and went back to our seats to watch the final go of the top 4 cowboys and cowgirls. It was a great rodeo and made it even better to be able to watch Wade get a 90 point ride!!! The crowd went wild and I was so proud to be an Iowan! 

 That night at the buckle presentation we were all so excited to have Wade receive the championship! He was so happy all he could do was giggle! It was a great night to be from Iowa. We finished the night by chatted with the contestants and fans. It was a great time in Omaha and I was so happy I was able to experience it. Sunday morning we headed back, tired and ready to get back into Las Vegas preparation mood. The pageant will be here before you know it!

Wade Sundell and his brother

MRI hits up Oregon!

For my next trip I was off to Oregon. That’s right, all the way across the country to Oregon; I could not have been more excited! I flew out of Dubuque Monday morning and after 3 flights I finally got to Oregon and met up with Mackenzie Carr, Miss Rodeo Oregon. While we (me, Mackenzie, Tricia Miss Rodeo Idaho, and Becky Miss Rodeo Nebraska) waited for Sammy Miss Rodeo Florida to get to the airport we went and had a great supper. After grabbing Sammy from the airport we heading to Mackenzie’s home to get settled in for the night. She has a beautiful home with a wonderful back drop. 

Western Oregon is so beautiful and they have SO many trees! It was almost like a rain forest.  On Monday we started off the week with our queen duties. 

We visited a small nearby school to talk about rodeo, visited local sponsors and had a great sponsored lunch at a local little coffee shop. After lunch we headed to the larger school and did a school assembly for the kids teaching them about rodeo. After the school visits we headed off to Portland again. We were going to visit Voodoo Doughnuts. They doughnut shop had be featured on Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” and “Man vs. Food” which I watch both of those shows so I was very excited to visit the shop. They had so many different kinds of doughnuts! I think between the 5 of us we ended up getting about 10 doughnuts so we could each try different ones. 

We took a bite out of each and they were delicious!  I think my favorite was the maple and bacon one; yes it had bacon on it! That night we finished off the night by having supper with Mackenzie’s national director at a beautiful restaurant on the water. After getting some sleep we started off Wednesday morning by visiting a job site of Ax Men Mike Pihl. Mike was such a nice man and so happy to have us at his job site and show us around. We even got to keep our t-shirts and suspenders! Once we were done at the logging site we headed off to Tillamook to visit the cheese factory. They make amazing cheese and we had an awesome lunch while there. Our next stop was to Astoria to cross the Columbia River to head to Long Beach, Washington. Once in Long Beach we had a reservation to go riding on the beach. It was absolutely amazing! I have never seen the Pacific Ocean so not only did I get a chance to see that but I got to go riding right on it as well!   

After our wonderful hour ride we heading back over to Oregon and did some site seeing in Astoria. We stopped and saw the house where the movie “The Goonies” was filmed. Also we were so close to the docks we just had to go down and see some sea lions. 

I didn’t realize how loud they were, or how much they stink!  Once we had all of our pictures taken with the sea lions we loaded back up to head home for a BBQ with Mackenzie’s family.It was nice to have a relaxing night and have fun with her friends and family. On Thursday morning we were able to take our time getting up and moving. But once we did we loaded our things and were off to the east for Pendleton!  It was a 5 hour drive so we took our time and stopped to check out a beautiful waterfall as well called Multnomah Falls. 

It is the second largest waterfall in the United States!  It was so beautiful and mystical. After we had taken a thousand of pictures we got back on the road, stopped for lunch and were in Pendleton that evening. We finished off the night by a little shopping, touring the town and going to our host home to get some sleep. The next morning, Friday was an early one! We were up at 4:30 am to head to the rodeo grounds to get ready for the parade. Little did we know we actually didn’t have to be there at 7am like the paper said we did. The parade didn’t start until 10am so we had plenty of time to just… well just sit there! Once we got a little closer to the start of parade we met with the people running out wagon and got on our way. It was really cool to be part such a famous rodeo’s parade. After the parade we grabbed a quick lunch at the queen’s lunch and then headed to the grandstands to watch the rodeo. And wow! What a rodeo it was! I feel like I had never been to a rodeo. The arena was a track with a grass football field in the middle! 

They just had a little PVC railing going around the track and the horses would just over it or take it out! It was crazy! It was a very interest thing to be able to witness. The barrel pattern was actually on the track. So from the first to second barrel, and second to third the girls had to run across the field! The fast times were in the 28 second range! Once the rodeo was over we grabbed some supper and got ready for the Happy Canyon Show. 

It was a live show that portrayed how the Indians came to settle in Oregon all the way up until the white settlers came in. They had horses running in and out, fireworks and funny skits. Besides it being a little cold it was a lot of fun and really neat to watch! After having such a long day we decided to head back to the house and get some sleep. Saturday morning we started off with a tour of the Pendleton Underground. It is this set of tunnels that run under the city and they turned it into a museum to show different parts of the city in different time periods.

There was some places that where speakeasies, laundry services, butcher shops and even living courters for the Chinese when they weren’t allowed to be above ground after dark. It was really interesting to see all the history and have it come to life. After the underground tour we finished up shopping we wanted to get done, had lunch and were back on the road by 3pm that day. We were heading back west to Mackenzie’s house but I was being dropped off at the airport to head home. I flew through the night and was home Sunday morning. I had an AMAZING time while in Oregon and I can truthfully say it was a trip for the books and was able to check a lot off my bucket list!!!

Dayton and Ft. Madison rodeos

It was a great start to another very busy month… I started September off by helping promote the Dayton rodeo. I went up to Dayton to meet up with Jim Heckman, the local queens and some of the rodeo bull fighters, Will O’Connell and Cory Wall. I went around and visited the schools in the area. We did the school in Dayton, Boxholm and in Boone. 

At each school we spoke with different age groups. We were getting the kids all pumped up for the rodeo coming that weekend. At some of the schools we were able to speak to them outside. This was SO much fun! We even got to play with the kids at recess some. 

Once the school visits were over we grabbed lunch and finished up for the day. The next day I was down in Des Moines bright and early for a radio interview. I was on 97.3 the Hawk to talk about the Dayton rodeo. Lindsey and Danger with the radio were a lot of fun to talk to. That night was the first performance of the rodeo. I went up and got ready for the grand entry. Once we had gotten through that we were ready for the rodeo to start. We had hoped that the rain was going to hold off; we were lucky for the most part. Once the bull riding started so did the rain! And man did it RAIN! 

We tried to hold off by the food stand for a few minutes but then gave in. I was told there would not be any autographs that night so I b-lined it for my car and headed back to Ames. Even though it was a very short time I had a lot of fun in Dayton and helping beforehand.

Saturday morning I was off to Ft. Madison for a special rodeo.  It was absolutely amazing what I saw when I got down there. I have never seen such an event as the one that was down in Ft. Madison. They had so many people participating and so many volunteers! It was great seeing so many people and all the smiling faces. It was definitely a day I could not have been more happy to be a part of!  After helping out with the rodeo I headed home to get ready for the busy week ahead. I headed back down to Ft. Madison Monday morning for the little spurs rodeo. Now when I heard about this rodeo I figured it was everything else I have seen before, a few kids riding sheep, maybe some stick horse racing. But man was that just the half of it… there was over 200 kids for this rodeo!!! 

It went from 10am to 3pm! It was a long day but man was it fun! Those kids never gave up all day long! They were still having fun even at the end of the day. Later that night I was judging the little miss rodeo and all around cowboy contest. It was so much fun! There was one cowboy and 11 cowgirls! They all did such a great job getting up, answering questions and doing a little talent. It was a great way to end a wonderful day. I was staying with the Metcalfs that night which was a lot of fun having the little boys Owen and Cooper there! We all had breakfast together on Tuesday before I was off to school visits. I went to two local schools and told them all about the Tri-State rodeo coming up that week and weekend. Once I was done with the school and got checked in at the hotel I was off with the Sherwoods to the rodeo committee dinner. All the committee members were there and it was great to be a part of. They have such a wonderful team that puts on the Tri-State rodeo and I felt very blessed to be in that group. On Wednesday Brooke, Miss Rodeo Illinois was with me and our first stop with a new sponsor of the rodeo. We were at Hardees from 11 until 1. We had a great time talking with customers and even helping with the drive thru window! After Hardees we met up with Cory Wall and Will O’Connell and did one last school visit. At this school Chase Binion had one of their horses so that was a big hit with the kids! Once the school visits were over Brooke and I went to get ready for the first night of the rodeo. We had a great time at the rodeo that night and a pretty good crowd for Tough Enough to Wear Pink night. Brooke and I finished off a good day with grabbing milk shakes before heading back to the hotel. On Thursday we had some free time so I had a chance to go shopping and visit the town a little with my parents would had come down the day before. It was nice to spend the day with them especially since I am busy a lot lately.   

Thursday night we had the rodeo again and after we started working out our dance routine for coronation on Saturday. Friday morning we started with more dance practice then off to the arena for horsemanship. Both contestants did a wonderful job with horsemanship. That afternoon while the interviews were going on we worked on thank you notes and the coronation that next day. That night was the rodeo again and you could tell it was a Friday night. The crowd was great and ready for a good time! We did get rained on a little bit but nothing too terrible. On Saturday morning we were up bright and early for the parade through town. It is a very long and busy parade but this year it seemed to go so fast! It was a lot of fun to talking to the people and cheering on the Cyclones when most of the people were Hawkeye fans! (the big Iowa vs. Iowa State game was that day) Once we dropped the horses off back at the trailers we headed back to the hotel to get ready for our production. Once it started we started off by hearing the girls’ speeches. They all did such a wonderful job. It was great seeing the junior contestants getting so involved and doing so well. After the speeches were done we started off with the dancing and modeling.

It was a lot of fun to be back on that stage giving away my title. I even got to do something special and had a little dance/skit with Brooke that we had a lot of fun with! After all the crowning was done and I got Rachel Burton her new sash and the pictures were done we got ready for one last rodeo.  It was great to see the newly crowned girls do their thing. I knew that they would have a great year and do a wonderful job!  Before heading back to the hotel that night I was able to see the Casey Donahew band with Charity, Miss Teen Rodeo Iowa. It was a great way to end the week. Before heading home on Sunday we helped with the pancake breakfast at the airport. I was then on the rodeo again to do laundry and repack for my week trip to Oregon! It’s a never ending process!!!

August

August started off right from the get go! I was gone Monday August 1^st and headed to Sidney, Iowa. I was arrived that night at my wonderful host home with Gloria and got settled in for my full day I had coming up. The next morning I was needed right away to start judging their queen competition. We started the morning with interviews. I had two wonderful gentlemen with me to help judge; they even had me sit across the table and helped me with my interview skills.  

Me with the contestants and Miss Sidney Iowa Rodeo

After we had a wonderful potluck lunch we started in with the modeling and speeches. The three constants they had did such a great job! In the afternoon there was a parade around the town square. It was a very short ride around the circle but I was ok with that being it was very VERY hot outside!

When we finished the parade we went back to the rodeo grounds to start the horsemanship portion of the competition. After we had watched all three girls ride and tallied up the scores and the category winners were announced. April Brown had won the title and did a fabulous job competing.  April and I got ready for the rodeo that night. We rode in the grand entry, did a queen run and helped chase out cattle. The arena in Sidney is huge! Our horses got a good work out that night! After the rodeo I headed home right away, I could feel myself starting to get sick. I woke up the next day to help April get ready for her photos as the new Miss Sidney Iowa Rodeo. I was glad that I didn’t have much to do that day because I was right about being sick; I was getting a terrible head cold that knocked me out! I tired resting up the rest of the day and got some medicine that helped a LOT! I was ready for the rodeo that night!

The winner of Mutton Bustin giving the rodeo queen a kiss

It had cooled down a lot so the night was wonderful. I had a great time in Sidney but was leaving the next day to head home to be with my family and a wedding that weekend. The next Wednesday I had a photo shoot for next queen pictures! I was so happy how they had turned out! I can’t wait to see my Vegas ad all put together! My next adventure was off to Iowa State fair! I helped out with the Iowa Horse Council booth during the day Friday. 

They had such wonderful information about horses and horse activities in Iowa. I had a lot of people stop and check out the booth which was wonderful to see. Later that night I was riding in the Cowgirl Queen contest carrying the American flag. I had a great time being introduced and helping with the contest. I was able to watch some friends compete including Charity Howk, Miss Teen Rodeo Iowa. They all did such a great job! The next day is something I was looking forward to for months! I would be showing in the Governor Charity Steer Show! I was showing a steer from Northwest Iowa. It was a great family I was working with and Catherine Punt was the owner of the steer. So was so proud of KaBOOM, her steer. We got him all prepped for the show and we headed in the ring. I had a lot of fun; the crowd was amazing!

So many people were there to support us all. PRCA calf roper from Iowa Billy Huber ending up winning the People’s Choice Award which was well deserved! He had the crowd going with his great rope tricks; including roping the judge!!! After heading back home I had one more event to do. I was speaking at the Anamosa Rotary club. I had a good time having breakfast with the group and being able to tell them about the Miss Rodeo Iowa program and what I do. 

My friend Kelsee and me

They were a great group of people. I had the rest of the week off from queen duties and actually the rest of the month as well! Even though I won’t be traveling I am staying very busy getting ready for the next Miss Rodeo Iowa pageant and for Las Vegas. I’m happy about the time off though, catching up is always a good thing! Next I will be off to Dayton to help with promotion for their rodeo. Stay tuned for updates after that rodeo! Keep Smiling!!!

July!

Oh my! Was July ever a crazy month! It seemed to FLY by, and it did! I was busy from the start of the month by going to Leon on the 2^nd. I was down there to judge the queen pageant.  I drove down Saturday morning and we started the day with the horsemanship portion of the pageant. Two other judges and I judged both the age groups and after the horsemanship we moved on to the interviews, modeling and speeches. For the afternoon events it was just me and Stacie Orman judging. Stacie is a past Miss Rodeo Iowa. I had a great time catching up with her and judging! We were joking about pass queen fashions and talking about the pageant in Vegas coming up in December.  After spending the day in Leon, I rushed home that night to catch the tail end of my neighbor Kali’s graduation party. I have been very close to Kali, her sister Jenna and her parents, so being at the graduation party was very important to me.

Roof Top Rodeo

My next adventure took me out west again. I was heading to Colorado!  I left on Monday the 11^th for Estes Park, Colorado for the Roof Top Rodeo. I meet up with Kellsie Purdy, Miss Rodeo Colorado; Sam Stanke, Miss Rodeo North Dakota; and McKenzie Haley, Miss Rodeo America at an event that was going on in town. Once the event was over we all went to get some amazing ice cream and tour Estes Park a little bit. Kellsie took us to the Stanley Hotel. Places of the hotel were used in the filming of the movie “Dumb and Dumber” and was the inspiration for the book “The Shinning.” It was a gorgeous hotel and had very beautiful surroundings. The next morning all of us girls were in a parade throughout the town. We had a long ride to the beginning of the parade route, but it was a beautiful one! The town of Estes Park is set right in the mountains and no matter where you look, it’s beautiful! After the parade there was a queen’s lunch that we all attended.  I was so impressed by the queen programs in Colorado. They have SO many queens around there!!!  They put on such a great lunch; I knew it would be the same for the rodeo that night.

It was a great rodeo performance that night. The arena is an outdoor and has the mountains as a back drop. It was so breathtaking! I got to ride in the grand entry that evening, carry flags and chase cattle out during the performance. It was a wonderful time! Thankfully the storm that was brewing up stayed away from us until after the rodeo was over. But as it was coming in, boy there was a lot of lightening! The next morning we woke up to a beautiful mountain morning. There was a golf outing that day that we would be helping. The golf tournament was a fundraiser to support the search of a cure for breast cancer.

Sam and I had a blast helping out at hole 15, selling mulligans and trying to think of way to make the golfers donate (such as taking their cart keys and making them buy the keys back!) After working the golf coast for a little bit I was packed up and ready to head out. I wasn’t heading to the next rodeo right away though; I was going to do something I had been looking forward to for months. I was going to ride in Rocky Mountain National Park with Hannah Hilsabeck (Miss Teen Rodeo Iowa 2010.) 

Jessi Kokjohn was wonderful enough to let me go for a ride on one of her great horses. Hannah and Maddy (Jessi’s step daughter) gave me a great 3 hour tour through the park. The day was gorgeous and the scenery was unbelievable! I took so many pictures and was SO happy to see Hannah. I think she was pretty excited to see me also; I was the first person from home Hannah had seen since she went out to Colorado for the summer. After my great ride I was finally ready to head south to my next stop, Colorado Springs. 

Rocky Mountain National Park

 I arrived down in Colorado Springs Wednesday evening. I knew the girls I was staying with wouldn’t be back from the rodeo yet so I took advantage of my free time to visit an old friend. My friend Lauren had moved out to Colorado a couple years earlier. Her fiancé and she had a new home that I was excited to see and to see Lauren! We had a great time chatting, catching up and eating a great meal Lauren made. After visiting for a little bit it was off to the hotel for me! I was greeted at hotel room by Jamie (Miss Rodeo Oklahoma.) She had arrived that evening as well. Later when the rodeo was over Kaycee (Miss Rodeo New Mexico) came back to the room and we had a great time talking and just being ourselves.  The next day we had a tour of Pikes Peak planned.

All of us girls got ready and on the bus to head to the train station. We were talking the train up the mountain, something I have never done before. I went to Pike’s Peak when I was younger with my family but we drove up the mountain. I think I liked going up on the train better than driving; I actually didn’t get sick this time like I had when we drove. We got to the top of the mountain and got a lot of pictures while up there. It was so beautiful up there! The view was amazing!!! That night at the rodeo we all helped with whatever we could. There were some of us that helped hand out programs, some of us helped with the kids barrel racing and some of us helped work the PRCA booth. Once the rodeo started we all went back into a room where we met with the kids that were doing the mutton bustin’ that night.

We paired up with the kids and waited for our time to head out to the arena. The arena was amazing! It was large with an amazing back drop! The mountains were gorgeous! Once we got in the arena we moved really fast with all the kids and they had a great time! After the mutton bustin’ we headed up to the VIP room, had supper and watched the rest of the rodeo.  When the bull riding was started we headed down to the entrance to sign autographs. Just like up in Estes Park, there are so many queens in the area! We had a great crowd and signed A LOT of autographs. On Friday we were able to tour the Air Force Academy. I had also been there before but we were very fortunate enough to get more of a behind the scenes tour. They have a beautiful campus and amazing building structures. I was so proud to see where our great service men and woman study and work their way up in the Air Force. That evening we had the rodeo again which was a great time! On Saturday we had a very special morning planned.

We were able to be at the PRCA Hall of Fame inductions. It was amazing to be a part of that and see some great rodeo personal be inducted. It was a moment of history that we were all able to witness. After the inductions were done we had our fittings for the clothes we will be wearing in Las Vegas. 

Us with Keith Martin

Once we finished trying our clothes on we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the rodeo again. The last night of the rodeo was just as good as the other two. It was hard saying good-bye to Becky (the woman in charge of the queens) though. She had such a great time with all of us that she even got teary eyed when we left. Even though I was only there a few days I had such an amazing time and felt so close to everyone. I knew I had made lifelong friends!

Once I had gotten back from Colorado I enjoyed a week at home with my family and catching up on some business. Once my week off was over I was back on the road; this time heading west again. I was off to Cheyenne, Wyoming for the world famous Frontier Days!

I arrived late Tuesday night the 26^th and would be starting events right away the next morning. I was staying with a great couple, the Westedts and Audrey Miss Rodeo Arizona. The next morning, Wednesday I started the day by meeting up with all the other girls at the rodeo grounds and we loaded up. We headed to the pancake breakfast in town to help serve pancakes and greet the crowd.
We actually got to eat first and they were some delious pancakes!!! We then helped make some of these pancakes, which by the way they mix the batter in a cement mixer truck! Once we had flipped some pancakes (and had a few land on the floor!) we introduced ourselves to the crowd.  After the breakfast we were taking out to Laramie County Community College to watch an airshow. It was so crazy the things the pilots were doing! It was a beautiful day!

We then loaded up and headed to go get our horses ready for the rodeo. We had great horses available for us to use from Vold company.  The horse I rode was named was Simon and he was AMAZING! We warmed the horses up and were told that these fly-bys would be FAST! I made sure my hat was on very tight and got ready for my run. The track that goes around is where we ran and we started running at one corner and finished at the other! We were in a full dead run by the time we passed the crowd. Simon was a very rough horse to ride until he ran. He was smooth as glass! It was such an incredible feeling to be flying by the stands at Cheyenne Frontier Days and it felt like floating in air! Once the fly-bys were done we headed over and started signing autographs. We had a great time signing autographs, even in the rain after the rodeo!  Once the rodeo was over we went back to Alrene Kensinger’s house for supper and tour of her home. She has so many wonderful items in her home! She is such an amazing woman.  She had a lot of photos and so many old queen clothes. It was great to see all of her old cowboy hats! After a great time at Alrene’s home we headed back to the rodeo grounds to be introduced at the concert.

Arlene and me

 Unfortunately we weren’t introduced but we still made the best of the night. We girls went shopping!!! They had a great tradeshow that we were able to walk around in and shop. Once we were all shopped out we headed back to our homes to get some sleep before the parade the next day. On Thursday morning we headed down town once again for the start of the parade. It was a long parade but a great one! I once again ran into a lot of people from Iowa. It is so great seeing Iowa people when I am out of state. After the parade we went the rodeo grounds and got ready for the fly-bys again.  Once my fly-by was over I had to jump in my car and drive to Ames. I was checking out of my apartment from college and had to be there to help clean. Once home I was able to enjoy my last few days of July at my county fair. It was a crazy busy month but a great way to end such a wonderful 31 days!!!