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!