What a whirlwind of a week! I hate to be chronological and just list off my weekly activities, but today that seems like the best way to get all of the great events and stories told. My activities started early in the week with a Wednesday trip to Richfield for the Sevier County Fair and Rodeo. I met up with the Sampson family as well as Katie Rassmusen, the newly crowned National Little Britches Rodeo Queen. I have to say Katie was very excited to have won, and who wouldn’t be, but she didn’t let her personal achievement slow down her duties to her title. She did a wonderful job informing all the parents and children about what a great association Little Britches is, and how they can become a part of it. So, congratulations Katie for reaching your goal and for your strong work ethic.
Katie Rassmusen, the newly crowned National Little Britches Rodeo Queen
On Thursday, after a radio interview, presenting livestock ribbons, and riding in the IMPRA rodeo it was time to head home for a couple of hours of sleep, but not before running into my cousin, Mckay Mann. Although we only live twenty minutes apart Mckay and I don’t see each other nearly often enough. So I went over to say hi and get a picture with him. As we stood behind the bucking shoots I think we both had flashbacks of our early rodeo years… To understand our history together you need to know that we are only about six months different in age, my mother and his father are brother and sister (which caused us to have different last names), and we both rodeoed for UJRA and UHSRA. Now I don’t know if this is a real tradition or just one that the local boys made up, but they would tease that whoever won the rough stock events got to kiss the queen. This quickly became an awkward situation because we were both often winners of our respected events. So when the boys would yell to Mckay to kiss the queen, he would yell back that we are cousins and that wasn’t going to happen… So as we waited for L.B. Miller to take the photo in Richfield some of the roughies that were watching suggested to Mckay that he steal a kiss. Now this time I was the one to quickly explain that we are cousins. I was flabbergasted when their joking reply was, “kissing cousins?” Even faster this time I replied, “No, first cousins.” All the while Mckay stood next to me laughing. Luckily, the photo turned out well or I would think that all that teasing wouldn’t have been worth the stress!
I was able to drive home that night and crawl in bed for two hours of sleep before my drive to Logan began. Early that morning I went to a radio interview on KIX 96.7, a local country station. We had a blast and shared a lot of information about the PRCA’s Tough Enough to Wear Pink program. I was awestruck at the rodeo that night to see so many of the rodeo fans in pink, as well as every Queen, and the entire rodeo committee. They even went so far as to decorate the grandstands with pink balloons. After the evening’s events, the rodeo committee, along with Trish Gibbs, were able to present 4,000 dollars to the Cash Valley Cancer Treatment Center. A special thank you to all the people that wore pink, bought a pink item, or gave a monetary contribution to make that donation possible.
Tough enough to wear pink
Oh… and back to not being able to see my cousin Mckay often enough, as it turns out we were both in Logan the following night. Although, I wasn’t quite as happy to see him this time around. The Gibbs family was gracious enough to lend me a horse for the evening. As I made my way around the arena during the grand entry, Mckay leaned off one of the bucking shoots as far as he could and threw his hands in the air and yelled, “Don’t fall off!” My horse darted sideways, but made a quick recovery and finished the lap without a hitch. Later that night when Mckay and I headed for home he innocently exclaimed, “I was just trying to see if you were a good rider.”
The following day, Saturday, was a busy one. On my way home from Logan I made a stop in Ogden for a “Dash For Donations” event. I was very impressed with the trials that some of the people had gone through and how strong they had become because of it. Some had lost family members, but blessed another person’s life by donating an organ. One group had a brother/sister pair that had donated a kidney to save the other’s life. It was a great cause that was clearly very close to everyone’s hearts. The Ogden Regional Medical Center team, who participated in the race, offered to help me set up a blood drive in conjunction with this event. I will be sure to send out more information once the event is planned, and I hope to see many of you there to donate blood along with me!
Dash For Donations
Later in the day I stopped by the Salt Lake County Fair to participate in a book reading hosted by Barnes and Noble. I spent the afternoon reading to the kids that stopped by and made sure everyone left with their very own cowboy hat. Thank you to John Bergman the founder of Small Smiles, Reading Incentive Program for Kids. It is great to see that there are so many people in our state that are willing to go out of their way to help our youth, thank you!
That night at the rodeo in Coalville I ran into more familiar faces. It was great to see the Wade and Stark families along with Jamie Udell, Miss Rodeo Oakley, and her attendant Ashley Mortenson. Coalville hosted a great rodeo in conjunction with the Diamond G rodeo company, who provided incredible stock for the event. I ran into one more familiar face in Coalville. Yep, you guessed it, Mckay. The tables turned from the evening before when one of Diamond G’s saddle bronc horses dropped Mckay off a little earlier than he would have liked. I was tempted to tell him, “The horse just wanted to see if you were a good rider.” But I didn’t want karma to come back to get me so I stuck with, “Better luck next time.”
As my week came to an end the thought kept coming to my mind, “What would I do without my rodeo family?” Of course it’s great to run into blood relatives that help me along the way, but I am always impressed with the generosity of all the people I have met throughout my rodeo career. So thank you to people like the Sampsons and Shaffers for lending a bed, the Rassmussens and Gibbs for lending horses. More importantly thank you to all of my “rodeo family” for giving me your love and genuine concern for my wellbeing. You all amaze me!
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