Yahoo!

Cheyenne Frontier Days Reception and School Visits/FFA

The end of April and May have been great! I was so pleased to help out the UW Rodeo Team with their rodeo, the last rodeo for the Central Rocky Mountain Region.  I have missed college rodeoing, however I was able to help coordinate the grand entry and really enjoyed watching all the members of the team step up to do something I have been having fun doing all year; promoting sponsors and showing tribute to our State and American Flags.  The members of the team that helped are such great rodeo athletes but proved to be great flag carriers as well!! 

I am so excited to have such great support from Cheyenne Frontier Days!  They held a reception for me at the Buckle Club and I was so delighted to have such wonderful support and encouragement to keep me going this year!  I am a member of the Contestants Committee for Cheyenne and hope to give back to them for the rest of my life to hopefully show thanks for all Cheyenne Frontier Days has done for me!  CFD is such a great rodeo, Number One PRCA Outdoor Rodeo of the Year!! But, in my book they are also the #1 family anyone could ask for! Love all the Volunteers of such a wonderful western celebration!

            While in Cheyenne, I stopped in to Fairview Elementary to visit Mrs. Peg Bath’s class.  Her husband Tim Bath made and donated the beautiful chaps I wear everywhere I travel!  The kids were a lot of fun and asked great questions, such as, “If you could have your hair any other color, what color would it be?”  Being naturally blonde and having that excuse when I have “those” moments made this a pretty hard question to answer.  Mrs. Bath is such a great teacher and it is great for the kids in town to always get a little perspective on rural life as well.  I have been running into Mrs. Bath and her daughter Lexi at a few barrel races while I have had sometime at home to be back on my own horses.  I load up with my friend Carla Beckett, her horse Hillbilly, my horse Archie, and of course our two best friends Teddy and Lilli (the two cutest mutts you will ever see!). 

            While in Laramie I helped out with Special Olympics Wyoming in the aquatic portion and boy were those two days filled with laughs, hugs, and fun!!!  All of the athletes did an exceptional job and showed great sportsmanship!  I have had a lot of fun volunteering while I have been home for a little bit and one of the greatest things I have seen is how well the High Plains FFA chapter of Cheyenne Central High School has done.  I was formerly a member of this chapter and have been moved up to the honorary member status after helping out with a few of their events.  I cannot wait to help them more as they had great success this year at State Convention! They are now Wyoming’s #1 chapter along with a list of successes I couldn’t be more proud of!!  Wahoo Wyoming!!! So proud of all the many accomplishments of the great people of our wonderful state!!!

Arizona

Payson, AZ was beautiful, and strangely enough, reminded me of Wyoming!! There was a lot of forest, and trees, and the elk even bugled at night!  I stayed in a wonderful host home with Miss Rodeo Oregon and we enjoyed taking in the Miss Rode Arizona Pageant.  While I will miss beautiful Audrey Hall, Miss Rodeo Arizona 2011, I am very excited for Jamie Smith, Miss Rodeo Arizona 2012 to join our group!  We enjoyed dancing right along with the girls and entertaining the crowd in between the girls competing.  One morning we even were able to enjoy a beautiful flight over Payson!!  It was breathtaking and the little plane I flew in reminded me of the backseat of my grandmothers Lincoln, pretty cozy and really not too scary either!! I loved flying high over all the forest area around Payson and taking a look at the fire that they were working hard to fight.  After returning back to Phoenix I enjoyed a little time with my Godmother that was much needed! She is such an influential woman that I am so blessed to have in my family!