Becoming Cowgirls

We recently returned from our week-long trip to Utah, and since I didn't bring a computer on the trip, I didn't get a chance until now to tell about all of the fun things we did while we were there. Utah, for the girls, was all about discovering their inner COWGIRL. Who knew a pair of cowgirl boots, snap-up western shirt and pink cowgirl hat could transform these three city girls into rodeo-lovin country girls. Grandma must have when she bought all of the cute cowgirl stuff. And, thanks to grandpa, the girls were also equipped with their own lassos (not so great for Ryan... those pictures tomorrow).

So, here's a run down of our first few eventful days in Utah...

 After landing in Salt Lake City, we drove 45 minutes south down to Provo to visit my great Aunt Hilma. Aunt Hilma is a kick. She is fun and lively and a bit on the feisty side. =-) It's never a dull moment with Aunt Hilma. The two of us spent a lot of time together when I was attending BYU. I hope we get a chance to see each other again soon. Thanks for coming to lunch with us Aunt Hilma. The Brick Oven is still good after all of the years.

 We left Aunt Hilma and drove two hours north to Ryan's hometown - Tremonton. It's been over six years since we've been there and not much has changed, which is good. I love small farming towns! We got there just in time to go to the annual Box Elder County Fair parade - the event to kick off the opening of the Box Elder County Fair. There were lots of horses, tractors, and dance teams in the parade and they threw out lots of candy to the crowd. We got our fair share! You can see Grandma, Ella, Kendall, Ryan, Brooklyn and Grandpa all watch the action.

The next day the girls got on their cowgirl gear and we headed over to the fair.

 At the fair, we met lots of cows, chickens, pigs, rabbits, sheep, etc.

 We also rode some of the fun rides. With all of their cowgirl gear on, the girls were excited to finally get on a horse... even if it was just the merry-go-round.

 The big event at the fair was the rodeo. It's so fun watching these big guys get bucked off their bulls... not so much fun to see the poor little calves get roped and tied.

 I don't know if this video will work, but Clark signed Ella up to do the Mutton Busters at the rodeo. For those of you who don't know what that is (and why would you? I certainly didn't!) a select number of kids got the opportunity (depending on how you look at it) to ride on and get knocked off a sheep. Sounds like fun, huh? Just like riding a bull only a lot nicer and gentler. Well, Ella was brave enough to do it and fell off within a few seconds. She cried afterwards, but I think it was more about the fear of what she'd just done than the actual fall. She was pretty lucky with her sheep. Some of the other kids really got bucked off theirs and others got taken for a very fast, long ride into the middle of a herd of sheep. It was all very funny and now Ella has bragging rights and good stories to tell all her new friends at school.

The girls loved their cowgirl outfits so much they wore them nearly every day we were in Utah.