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!!!