Little Buckaroo's Rodeo

The big boys talked us into doing the Little Buckaroo Rodeo again this year. Drake did another sheep ride and Crew did another calf ride. The night of the rodeo, it was a little stormy and right after Drake rode his sheep the rain started coming down in a crazy downpour. That combined with the lightning, they ended up canceling the rest of the rodeo. Crew was pretty disappointed. But we ended up getting a phone call a week or so later saying that they were going to finish the rodeo, so he did end up with his turn.

Drake had fun riding the sheep. It was a great ride!

And Crew did great too! He actually stayed on the longest in his age division and ended up winning the buckle! You've never seen a bigger smile than on his face that night! So cute!

Little Buckaroo Rodeo 2013

The boys really wanted to ride in a rodeo this year. So we made one work. They both rode in the Little Buckaroo Rodeo in Grace. Crew really wanted to ride a calf this year. I will be honest, I was a little discouraging and not super supportive of this idea. But Rett was a good dad and said if he wanted to do it, we would let him. Drake stuck with the safer, slower, smaller, and lower to the ground sheep. They both did great. Especially considering I had them at Bear Lake in the hot sun with friends all day the day of the rodeo. They were sunburned and tired. But were good, tough cowboys. Crew really surprised us. He was third out of the 14 kids in his 4-8 year old age group. It's funny how the boys, especially Crew, are just cowboys. Of course we will support the boys in any worthy cause they want to pursue. But we have not pushed the cowboy thing. Crew however, is just plain old cowboy at heart. Such cute cowboys. And best of all, no one got hurt and they had fun!

Mutton Busting at the Preston Night Rodeo

This story actually has to be told from the beginning. Rett was gone at work on a fire out of town. The Mutton Busting registration for this is on a Saturday morning, and you have to be there early because there are never enough spots. So I asked the boys if they wanted to go wait in line with me on a Saturday morning at 6:00. They said they did, so we waited in the rain for two hours. The rodeo is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights, and we had a family reunion to be at on Friday, so we had to get Thursday. When we got there at 6, there was already a pretty big line. The first people said they had gotten there at 4am! Crazies! But I can't really say anything, after all, I got up and took my boys early too. Needless to say, we got our Thursday night spots and the boys were thrilled to both get to ride this year.

We told the boys to hold on and not let go, that when the clown had to help them off the sheep, that is how they'd know they did really well. Crew did just that. And had a blast doing it! Watching him walk away makes me giggle. He's strutting his stuff and so proud of himself!

Drake had a little more trouble. The two other sheep in his shoot were jumping all over him, so before he even bucked out, he was a little unhappy. Then his sheep turned and ran straight into the crowd.

Rett, Kip, & The Boys

Crew

Crew

Crew

Crew

Rett & Drake 

The Boys

We're grateful to have so many sweet family members who are close enough to support the boys. Teresa, TJ, and Megan all came up from Utah. We know the rest of the gang wanted to come as well, but family and work have to come first, so we completely understand that the other family members didn't make it. Kip and Deb also came with us that night. The boys loved having their family there to watch them and were so excited about the whole event!

TJ & Megan

Teresa

Deb & Kip 

We tried to get a family picture. And I guess we did get some. They just aren't the greatest pictures. But we have some and that helps remind us of the memory, so I'm ok with that. The first just has the boys playing with their gum and the second, they were pretty done for the night and wouldn't even attempt to smile or look at the camera.

Crew, Jenn, Rett, Drake

Rett, Jenn, Drake, Crew

Halloween

When we asked Crew what he wanted to be for Halloween a couple months ago, he said, you guessed it, a COWBOY! And of course we told him he was a cowboy everyday so he had to be something else. After a lot of thinking and a little help from Mom and Dad, the boys decided to be a bucking bull and a rodeo clown. I couldn't really figure out what to do for Crew's bucking bull, so it's a pretty simple brown jump suit with a tail and a mask. Drake's was pretty easy to put together too.




The Thursday before Halloween the grade school puts on a carnival. We were getting the boys ready and painted Drake's face and he hated it! If you don't know him well, or haven't been around during one of his embarrassed episodes, he really doesn't like attention when he's embarrassed. Maybe you could even say something stronger than just doesn't like. He's freaked out before because of comments made because he thinks people are making fun of him. It's crazy bad. We had dinner at someone's house once and were eating alfredo and he had it all over his face, and I told the hostess that he really liked it, and he thought I was making fun of him so he freaked out. Or once at a family get together, he was gobbling down a brownie and someone said he really liked it, and he got mad and threw the rest of the brownie and spit out what was in his mouth. It's getting better, we're trying to work on it with him. But every once in a while, you can tell he's about to crack. So, the only thing we could think of that night was that he thought he looked silly and that people would make fun of him. He kept asking us to take it off. We finally convinced him to go wearing it and he wasn't happy, but went. Once he got there, he was a little better, probably because he saw that everyone was dressed up kind of silly. But he was still super shy and clung right to Crew's side. He doesn't like big crowds for sure!

The next morning he was begging me to do his face paint again! So, I let Crew do it for him, and he actually did a pretty good job! Last Friday, they played rodeo ALL DAY! And it was so funny. Drake told us he'd been watching Rett's old rodeo video's so he knew how "real rodeo clowns" did it! It was the cutest thing! Of course I didn't record it the day he was doing it so cute, but I did get one yesterday that is still really funny!

Horses!

My boys are a little obsessed with horses. Ok, maybe it's mostly Crew, and Drake wants to do everything Crew does. Crew keeps asking when we are going to get horses. Our answer is usually something about how you can't have horses without fences and corrals. So he asks when we are going to build the fences and corrals. And we tell him probably never because horses are too expensive and he gets all upset and crys. We're kind of mean parents like that :)

Grandpa Kip recently put some stuff in our shop while he moved into a rental house. It was a perfect babysitter for a week or so until he moved it back into his horse trailer. It was pretty simple too. And filled Crew's dreams of horses for a while. It was a Christmas Tree in a box, with saddles set on top! The boys never wanted to come in the house that week! They would have to get dragged in for lunch and then headed right back out! It was fun for them! And kind of makes you remember how simple kids are. Such a simple thing, made them so happy!

My Country Singers

So, my boys may not have real aspirations of being country singers, but they sure learned this song well. It's super cute! Grandpa Kip and Debbie taught it to them. I had to get it on video before they got any bigger!




My Home's In Montana ( I don't know who the author, artist, or anything is....Sorry!) Also, these words could be a little off...

My home's in Montana, I wear a bandana
My spur's are shiny, my pony is grey
My luck never changes, as I ride the ranges
One foot in the stirrup, I gallop away.

Little Buckaroo Rodeo

We entered the boys into the Little Buckaroo's Rodeo in Grace again this year. Last year Crew did the stick horse barrel race there and it was such a fun rodeo to watch. This year Drake got to do the stick horse race and Crew rode another sheep. They had a lot of fun. Plus, this one they had a cheering section so it made it a little more fun. When Rett asked Crew which sheep ride was better, he said this one because of the crowd he had just for him! He was super excited to have Grandma Teresa, Grandpa Kip, and Grandma Debbie there to watch! Not to mention they helped me out with cameras, so thanks tons for that, otherwise I wouldn't have these super cute videos and pictures!


We don't get very many family pictures taken, and I've been working on some real ones for a while, but we can't seem to get them done. So this picture will work for now. I love it! Even though Drake was angry because Rett tried to make him put his dollar bill in his pocket. There was a money chase where the kids could try to get money off a steer or sheep and of course we didn't quite keep up with the big kids, so Grandma Teresa fixed the problem by giving them both a dollar afterwards. You just can't make Drake do anything he doesn't want to. He's definitely a stubborn child! This was the best of the pictures that we took because he wasn't super mad at this point! But it was a beautiful sun set and I'm so glad we got to spend a great, fun, and safe night together as a family.


Here are the boys walking up to the rodeo. Super cute and super excited!


This one's of my boys watching the mini bull riding. So cute to see them get so excited about it and ask Rett all kinds of questions about it!


Drake and I walking out to get ready for the stick horse race. He is so funny. The days before we set up little barrels to get him to practice. He was all fun and games, and didn't really want to practice seriously. He would go around all three barrels in one big loop, or jump right on top of our fake barrels and say the horse was crazy and knocking them down. I'm not sure he did it right more than a couple of times. Rett said he would be busy with Crew and the sheep riding, so I had to take Drake around the barrels. And the plan was for me to run with him because during practices he didn't know what he was doing. Right before I asked him if he wanted me to run with him and he said no, he wanted to do it all by himself. He has quite the sense of humor. Apparently he'd been fooling us, because he did great all by himself! We were so proud of him. And you've got to love his little gallop! TOO CUTE! Way to go Drake, we were so glad we got to be there to watch you!










Here are the big boys getting ready for the sheep ride. Unlike last time, right before he rode, Crew did have some reservations. But Dad did good, and told him it was a little too late for those, and got him on just fine. Crew did great! Although, I think the judge this time was a little stingy on points. All that really matters though was that he had fun and didn't get hurt. We were so excited to see him doing something that made him so happy! Way to go Crew!

Dreams Come True!

Last night at the Preston Rodeo Crew got to ride a sheep. I always said I would never be a parent who waited in crazy long lines for my kids, but I got up a few weeks ago at 5:30 am to go wait in line for the mutton busting registration! I am so glad I did! Dreams came true last night! Seriously. Crew said it was the best day of his life! And I don't think he was kidding!

The night before, he started asking, "Is it bed time yet?" He couldn't wait till his rodeo day came! So, when it finally did, he was up and dressed in cowboy get up at 7am. Unfortunately, we still had to get through our last session of swim lessons, I had a line of sprinklers I was going to get done, we had a lot of yard stuff to do, and the rodeo didn't start till 8:30pm. So it was a long day of questions about what time we could leave.

We finally got there and Crew could hardly stand it. He was so excited and had this crazy high. It was so stinking cute. They called the mutton busters over to the chutes and I brought both my video camera and a still camera and had already asked someone sitting by me if they'd shoot one of them for me. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten a memory card from my little video camera, so I shot video with my nice camera and didn't get any still shots. I'm so glad I got it on camera though. When they left, poor Drake was so sad. He kept saying "I want to ride a sheep with Kangaroo". And when I'd respond that he was too little, he would say "NO, mom, I'll be tough". HOW CUTE IS THAT? At this rodeo there is actually no age minimum, so we could have signed him up, but sometimes he gets really scared, so we decided we would wait at least another year. He was super sad about it. But loved watching his big brother ride his sheep!

Rett said he was probably more nervous than Crew behind the chutes. Crew was excited and had no fear or reservations at all. He asked Rett if he could say "Let's go boys" like Lane Frost did when he bucked out! He did lose his boots in the chute before he even left though. He had a ton of fun and was so excited! He won a bandana and a little belt buckle that had a sheep rider on it. He's so proud of it!




I had to post this picture. I think it is so cute. Rett really makes a great cowboy! I'm a little biased, but I think he's super handsome and hot! And it reminded me a little of how he was rodeoing when we met and gave me a little butterfly about how much I love him and how grateful I am to have such a wonderful husband who lets his kid do things because they wants to, even though Rett doesn't want him to!


Another great part of the night for Crew was that one of Rett's high school buddies, John Lewis, was a pick up man at the rodeo. Behind the chutes, Crew told Rett he wanted to shake a real cowboys hand. So he shook Johns. Then John gave him a little horse ride. And later, John came over to where we were sitting and told the boys if they didn't fight over it, they could have one of his ropes. Crew was so excited. He didn't let go of the rope all night. When I put him in bed, he didn't want to because I'd left his rope in the living room! Thanks Uncle John for being such a great friend and helping make our little guys night complete!

I honestly think that Crew felt like his life was going just the way he wanted it to last night. He was so excited that we got in the car, buckled up, and he was out cold from all the adrenaline of the day. One second Rett asked him if he blacked out when he bucked out of the chute like Rett used to, and the next second, he was out! Rett and I have talked a lot about the boys rodeoing. He says that back in the day, he would have loved having a little cowboy. But now that we're a little older, we are almost hoping he grows out of the cowboy stuff. It is so scary, expensive, and demanding. I don't know what will end up happening. I do know though, that it seems that the cowboy in Crew is totally bred into him, and I doubt if it will ever change. He is definitely more cowboy than Drake. Drake only wants to dress cowboy and do stuff at the rodeos and because Crew is. But Crew thinks about it non stop. Unless he's with his cousins, and then it's maybe only half the time. The honest truth is, we will let him do whatever he wants to do and support him in whatever it is he chooses to do. I can't imagine how poor Teresa felt having a kid ride a bull growing up. It makes me so nervous to even imagine it! But again, his dreams are all that matter! And I am so glad I was part of such a sweet night and seeing how truly happy and excited our little Crewser was!

Cowboy Room

I've been such a slacker with the blog since we moved into the new house. We got into the house the first week of November. There was a forecast for a storm the first weekend in the month, so we busted it out and got most of the stuff moved in during the week. We've been unpacking and hanging stuff since then. It is mostly done now, but there are still some things that need done. Anyway, we're loving the new home and are so grateful for it. It's just so nice to have our own space again and to get the boys back to a better routine again. We do live in a very cold place now! It's crazy. And some days the sun just doesn't shine up here, which is lame. But we're hoping that all the other good stuff makes the hard, long winters worth it! And it is so beautiful. We have pheasants that are in our fields most mornings, and we've seen a fox, deer, rabbits, geese and ducks right in our yard. All of us are loving the land and room that we have at the new place. Before it got snowy and so cold, our place was an awful muddy mess. I got my car stuck one day and Rett got a work truck stuck too. For a while I was parking across at a neighbors home and driving the rhino back and forth with the boys, groceries, and whatever we had to get to the house. The mud here is so sticky and I'm sure I'll be cursing it again in the spring. They did finally get our driveway in right before a really big storm, and it seems to be really nice. It's not paved or cemented because it's a pretty long driveway and that would cost a fortune, but it's a lot better than the mud. Rett's already got the four wheeler snow plow going and it's so nice to have it accessible to the garage. All in all, the new home is AMAZING and we are so happy and grateful to be in it.

I've never really been into decorating with a theme, but my boys are so into cowboys and love their dad's old bull riding pictures, buckles, and stuff. So we decided we'd let them have their cowboy bedroom. Or, as they call it, their "bull room". This summer with all my spare time, I made them some matching rag quilts out of random western/cowboy material. They have a buckle case with all Rett's old buckles he won at rodeos. Bampa Kip gave them the puppy with rodeo stuff picture. And we bought the cow hide which I was originally going to use as a rug in their room, but it was so big and didn't really stay put, so we decided to hang it on the wall. They love their bedroom. Which is great. Because Rett and I thought that it would be a hard first month in the new house, with them in their own room because they had been sleeping in the same room with us in the trailer all summer. But they have done GREAT! Crew loves that he's big enough to sleep on the top bunk now, and Drake sleeps great in his bed too. Which is a huge help to mom and dad and getting a good nights rest!