Happy 11/11/11 & A Rodeo

I set a reminder on my Outlook calendar at work today a few minutes before 11:11 so that I could take a picture of where I was and what I was doing on 11/11/11 at 11:11:11 am!  Kind of fun.  Too bad I wasn’t out doing something awesome and was just sitting at my desk instead.  But, having a job is a huge blessing in and of itself.

This is a tree out in the parking lot at work and I am LOVING the fall colors.  This is about all the fall colors we get here in Texas.  But, I’ll take it since it’s so pretty and better than nothing.

After work, I picked Autumn up and we went to Mom & Dad’s for a quick but yummy dinner.  We were trying on Cowboy hats b/c Mom & Dad & Nick & I were going to a rodeo and wanted to look the part.  Autumn wanted in on the fun and the reason her hand is behind her head is b/c she was swinging her hand around like she had a lasso and was about to rope a calf.  She cracks me up.

Here we are sporting our Cowboy hats and Dad thought his “Cowboy” hat was the best.  LOL!  Wrong Cowboys, but funny all the same.  Autumn & I stopped and picked up Kylie so she could babysit and then I dropped them off at home and Nick & I headed to the rodeo.

As soon as we walked into the event center, it was SMELLY!  I forgot how bad rodeos stink.  But, pretty soon we were acclimated and couldn’t even tell.  Mom is SO SMART and thought to bring ear plugs (that’s what those green things are in her & Dad’s ears).  They music they were playing was SO LOUD, even w/ earplugs in.

I always thought the bull riding was the exciting part, but this bareback stuff was downright scary!  Those guys are thrown back and forth so much it’s a wonder that they aren’t majorly injured every ride.  They wear big padded braces on the back of their necks, but it’s still crazy how much they are jarred back and forth.  Then this poor guy flew off the back of the horse, got kicked in the butt by the horse, and landed on his butt in the dirt!

We had 2nd row seats and it’s not that big of an arena, so we were right down near the action.  I wish we were just one row up so we didn’t have to look at the action through these bars.  But, it was still incredible to watch.  When the women did the barrel races, we had to hold up our coats in front of us to keep some of the dirt off.  It was like sitting in the splash zone at Sea World, but we were getting showered w/ clods of dirt instead of water.

My favorite part of the whole evening was the Mutton Bustin.  They put these little tiny kids (which were Autumn’s age and up) on sheep and see how long they can stay on!  It was the CUTEST thing and I got a kick out of it.  Everyone was laughing and having a blast.  The MC for the rodeo even said, “Rodeos are the only place where child abuse like this is considered entertainment!”  LOL!

A few of the bull riders are from Utah and when the MC asked if anyone was from Utah, the 4 of us started cheering.  We were the ONLY ONES in the whole arena and the MC said he’s surprised there were only 4 of us b/c usually people from Utah come in packs of at least 10.  It was really funny and made everyone laugh.  The Utah bull riders are brothers and did a great job.  Look at the height of that bull’s bucking!  It was gross b/c they also had snot & saliva & who knows what else coming out of their noses and mouths.

Again, it’s a miracle that these guys aren’t injured every time they ride.  I can’t even imagine what type of damage this does to their bodies on a regular basis.  It was scary & entertaining & intense all at the same time.  It made for a thrilling evening.

But, the fun didn’t stop there.  After the rodeo was over, there was a Josh Turner concert.  He’s the whole reason we went in the first place b/c Mom LOVES (is obsessed) w/ his deep voice.  Plus, he’s a total charmer when he smiles.  It was a great concert and my 2 favorite songs are Would You Go With Me and Your Man.  Nick & I left a little early b/c it was already 11:00 and I felt bad for keeping Kylie out so late.  We went home and I dropped off Nick and then took Kylie home.  I don’t know the going rate per hour for babysitting.  After dropping her off I was tempted to work on Project Life, but I made myself go to sleep b/c I have a big day tomorrow.