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I arrived home to California Saturday afternoon and after visiting my favorite place - In and Out Burger - Ellen, Megan and I headed to the San Bernardino Rodeo. It was so nice seeing so many familiar faces and Don Jesser even made a point of mentioning that I was there. The week ahead is the Miss Rodeo California Pageant and I am so excited to be able to come back and be a part of it. There will be 10 beautiful young ladies competing and I am so excited for the outcome Friday night.
This past week I was able to attend the Woman of the Year in Oklahoma City. The black tie event honors woman from all over the state of Oklahoma who have been remarkable in their employment, mentoring and their personal lives. The highlight of the evening was the guest speaker - Lee Woodruff and winner Robin Flint Ballenger. I would like to thank Mike for being such a great host and Steve and Cathy Blake for their company.
Two weeks ago I had the privilege of attending the Brooks & Dunn and Alan Jackson concert with Mike & Katie Holliman. Carissa Stewart from the IPRA office also came along for what turned out to be a really fun night. First we met up with a bunch of Toyota Representatives from all over the Gulf States for a great dinner before we headed to the concert. It was the first time that I had seen Brooks & Dunn perform and they were awesome - I look forward to seeing them again in the future!
As pageant time quickly approaches, I wanted to start posting blogs on how to prepare for the competition. Amy Duvall, myself and Joanna Blackwell have been working hard on figuring out what would make it easier on the contestants. One of the first things we talked about was the wardrobe. Rodeo queen clothing is expensive no matter how you look at it and we decided that instead of having 6 or 7 dresses and 5 interview outfits - we are working on getting at least half of those outfits donated by our wonderful sponsors. As of now we figured that you only need just a few dresses, a jacket outfit, a horsemanship outfit, a decorated white shirt and an arena outfit for coronation. There are a few huge benefits to this. First, it saves time and lots of money and the best part is all the donated items. We figured that last year each of the girls received about $2500 worth of sponsored items. WOW!!!!
Over Labor Day weekend I was able to attend two of the IPRA's top rodeos. I arrived in Jasper Arkansas on Wednesday and was able to help out at the local livestock show. I was greeted by Mack Cook and was able to even clip a cow for the show & and I can say that Mack will never ask me to clip one of his cows again. I enjoyed two days of Hampton Rodeo and being able to ride the Dunn Wonder "Dunny". While in Jasper - Population 498 - I was privileged to stay at The Front Porch Inn bed & breakfast. It was so nice and I felt like a true queen. From Jasper I went straight to Henryetta Oklahoma for another two days of Hampton rodeo. The highlight of my weekend in Henryetta was talking Carissa Stewart into driving me & my Beautiful Toyota truck in the Labor Day Parade. It was another great weekend as Miss Rodeo USA.
I went straight from Owasso to Dallas with Julie Hettich. The first day of market I was accompanied by Joanna Blackwell. We were able to visit a ton of the Miss Rodeo USA sponsors. Throughout the week I was able to visit with Ariat, Serratelli Hat Company, Corral Boots, Raviani Bags, Carhartt, Cruel Girl, Cowgirl Tuff Company and Cowgirl Jewels just to name a few. The highlight of the trip was when Julie and I went to dinner at Dick's Last Resort with Othell Welch and the huge group of girls from market. The restaurant was so much fun and a little wild but something I will never forget. I would like to thank all of my wonderful sponsors for making my year so amazing and Julie for making my trip to Market so much fun!
My next rodeo was in Owasso Oklahoma. I was able to spend the weekend with The Robert's family, The Spear's and The Bell's. We had so much fun staying at Mema's house where all of us girls went to get a pedicure, we went shopping and had a slumber party. The rodeo was fun and it was full of the hometown atmosphere I miss from home. The girls even helped me round up my horses while it was pouring down rain, there was thunder and lightning, oh and a tornado watch. It was nice spending the weekend with the girls and I can't wait to hang out with them again.
Again I was home for not even a day before I went to Pawnee for their IPRA Rodeo and Queen pageant. Throughout the week I was able to stay at the ranch with all of the queen contestants and the outgoing queen Brandi Sue Hewitt. One of the weeks highlights was when Jay Hampton and I went to Tulsa for and early morning TV interview. Even though Jay in only 8 years old he did an amazing job talking about his job at the rodeo and Hampton Rodeo Company. At the end of the week we crowned Summer Davis as the new Pawnee Rodeo Queen. I always heard about how much fun Pawnee was and I was not let down. The week was wonderful and is a pageant I would recommend for any girl.
I was home in Oklahoma for less than 15 hours before I flew home to California for 5 days. It was so nice being at home and visiting my family, friends and my dog "Gracy May the rodeo Dog". I had the chance to go to spend time with my grandma "Ma", go 4 wheeling with my family and pack up the last of my belongings and move them out to Oklahoma. I am officially an "Okie" now!!!
The last weekend of July I visited Newberry, South Carolina. It was so nice to attend another Cross Creek Rodeo and Ed & Vana Doolittle. I was accompanied all week by the one and only Mama Kat and we were privileged to stay at the official queen cabin. The Wilson's were great hosts all week long and it was so nice getting to know them. I was honored to carry the American flag and Mama Kat and I visited all the sponsors throughout the week. I was even able to help Ed run all the cattle through the arena before Fridays performance and try my hand at breakaway roping. I had a great time in Newberry and will never forget my first trip to South Carolina.
