Roll with the punches!

My great steed for the weekend

As the first week of February rolled around I was getting very excited to head to Rapid City, South Dakota for the Black Hills Stock Show and PRCA rodeo. I was planned on leaving Thursday February 3^rd and staying until Sunday the 6^th. As the week approached us, so did a very large snow storm. The storm did a great job of covering most of the Midwest with snow and causing a lot of change of plans. But as a rodeo queen that is something we are taught from the beginning, roll with the punches! I was disappointed when I wasn’t able to go to Rapid City. After not being able to ride in Denver I really wanted to get to ride in a rodeo, help with grand entry and get to use the beautiful chaps Cary Veach made for me. Thankfully that same weekend that I was suppose to go to South Dakota, there was a Worlds Toughest Bulls and Broncs in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The event was being put on by Three Hills Rodeo, Dave Morehead from Bernard, Iowa. I have known the Moreheads since I was younger and since they live very close we consider ourselves “country neighbors.” I was looking forward to getting to work with their crew and start off a great year. Also being in Cedar Rapids, the rodeo was close enough to home that my parents were able to come down and watch me in action.

Madison Sherwood came and helped me sign 

autograph Saturday night

Friday night I headed over to the rodeo and due to the cold weather there were not very many people in the crowd. The ones that were there though were so supportive and had great enthusiasm. I was able to carry the American flag during the national anthem. It was an amazing feeling to be part of something so special and so great. And to keep with Three Hills Rodeo tradition, I had the opportunity to ride one of their beautiful and VERY large paints! He was a great horse though and was fun to ride. He was awful cute too with his fluffy winter coat!  I did the same on Saturday night, which had a better turn out for crowd so that was nice to see. Each night after the rodeo I would sign autograph sheets for fans and get pictures. It was such a wonderful feeling to be around so many rodeo fans! This is truly a sport of family and heart! After Cedar Rapids I would be getting ready to head to Florida! Stay tuned for the story of that amazing trip! Stay warm and have a great day!

Coronation Celebration

January 22, 2011

Coronation Time!!!

After I made it home from Denver and spent the weekend with my family for my grandma’s services, I was looking forward to my coronation the next Saturday. My mom, my dad and I had been working very hard to iron out all the details and get everything in order for the night. I had so many friends and family that were so helpful in having everything come together! There were many donations for my account and items for the live and silent auction. I was absolutely amazing and felt so blessed with the way people were coming together to help me.

Myself and the Mr. Rodeo Iowa Contestants

So it was finally Saturday, the big day had come! Thankfully the weather was wonderful! Yes it was cold, but hey it was January in Iowa, what can we expect? We got the ballroom at the Dubuque Co Fairgrounds all decorated and started to cook the food. When we felt things had been in order my Mom and I went home to get ready. When we returned to the fairgrounds I was excited to see some visiting royalty. Miss Teen Rodeo Iowa 2010, Hannah Hilsabeck was there along with Miss Rodeo Lenox, Kayla Barber and a few others. Miss Rodeo Iowa 2010, Jordanne Blair and Miss Teen Rodeo Iowa 2011 Charity Howk came a little later to help with the event. We had a fabulous turnout for auction items and even better turn out of guests.

Miss Rodeo Iowa 2010 Jordanne Blair & Myself

One of the fundraisers I did throughout the evening was a Mr. Rodeo Iowa mini pageant. I had my brother Corey, neighbor and “queen coach” Will and family friend Wade as participants. They had a lot of fun with it; showing of their modeling skills, horsemanship and impromptu question. At the end we crowned my brother Corey as the new Mr. Rodeo Iowa. Throughout the night I had the wonderful Kimber Dall MC for event. She did a great job helping everything flow and entertaining the crowd in between events. After dinner was over Jordanne officially crowned me as Miss Rodeo Iowa 2011. It was a great feeling to have Jordanne pass the crown down to me. She had done a fabulous job in 2010 and set up an exciting year for me. After the coronation we started with the live auction. The visiting royalty helped display the items and family friend Jesse Meyer was the auctioneer.

My wonderful parents Jim and Mary

Overall the event was a huge success. I am so blessed to have had the turn out I did and all the support and love behind me. Because of this event I will be able to travel not only the state of Iowa but the country representing our great state, the sport of professional rodeo and my generous sponsors. I am looking forward to the very exciting year I have a head of me.

Denver

Howdy!

Time to do some catching up! This year has been a whirlwind so far! It has had its ups and downs but exciting all along the way. Most of the ups have been part of my wonderful job as Miss Rodeo Iowa. Let me get you all up to speed on how my year has been thus far.

January 12^th, 2011

I headed down to Don and Shirley Staver’s house early that Wednesday morning to leave for Denver, Colorado for the North Western Stock Show. I was very excited for this trip. Many past queens have been telling me about how great the Stavers were and how this trip was like “kicking off” your year as Miss Rodeo Iowa. Unfortunately I received some bad news while we were heading west. My dad had called to tell me that my grandma had passed away that morning. Without knowing when services would be, and my brother also in the Denver area on vacation, my dad advised me to continue towards Colorado and see if I could get a few days in out there. We arrived at Don’s nephew’s house where we would be staying for the weekend. We got settled for the evening and tried to plan out our next morning. I found out that services for my grandma were Friday night and Saturday morning so I would only have Thursday morning before my brother would come to get me to head home. We made the most of the little time I had there and tried to speak to as many industry representatives as possible.

Don and Shirley

Thursday morning I was able to meet Lee my Wrangler rep, speak with Greg from Dan Post boots again and was introduced to many other great individuals. Some of the booths were not open yet (they normal did not open market fully until Friday) but we visited as many as we could. We had lunch at the Cinch room where I ran into Tuf Cooper! He was so nice to meet in person and was even willing to take a picture quick. After we finished up with lunch we went back to the house, I packed my bags, said our good-byes and heading home with my brother to be with my family. Even though I was not able to stay in Denver long or help at the rodeo, I had a great time with Don and Shirley and look forward to spending more time with them.

One thing I was also looking forward to was going home to celebrate at my official coronation!