My Dixie week was made even more exciting and crazy because it was also the weekend of the Wilderness Circuit Rodeo Queen pageant. I was still the Wilderness Circuit queen and needed to attend the pageant to pass down my crown and finish my duties for that title. Where the difficulty came in was that I was at the rodeo in St. George (Southern Utah) while the pageant was being held in Ogden (Northern Utah.) So….. I attended Friday night’s rodeo and then early Saturday my mom and I hopped on a plane headed for the northern part of the state. I did the whole Wilderness pageant with the girls who were competing, had the honor of passing down my crown and flew back to Southern Utah to be part of the Saturday night performance of the Dixie Roundup! Because commercial flights between Salt Lake City and St. George didn’t coincide with the end of the Wilderness Pageant and my need to be back to St. George before the rodeo, my plane right back was once again compliments of Ogden Pioneer Day’s Rodeo Chairman Dave Halverson on his private plane (I am really getting to love this Dave – thank you so very, very, VERY much!!) To make things even more exciting flying back, we had the company of Desiree Larsen (also on the Ogden Rodeo Committee) and her husband, plus Ogden Pioneer Days secretary Jackie Belnap. They all decided to come and watch the Dixie Roundup to see how things are done at another PRCA rodeo.

True to his word, Dave got me back just in time for the rodeo (with about 10 minutes to spare!) I was already dressed because I just stayed in my horsemanship outfit from the Wilderness Pageant. My dad and Richard had my horse saddled and ready, and I jumped on and got quickly got in line for the grand entry. Whew! Thank you so much for the amazing team effort by everyone!! I am extremely grateful to each and every one of you!!

The final night of Dixie is always host to a sold out crowd. It is also always a little bittersweet to those volunteers who have spent so much time together the whole week. Wayne Hoppal, Darren Coughlin and Scott Benson – you chaired such an amazing week of rodeo events. To all of the Lions men and women – all I can say is “WOW’ as I continue to marvel at your dedication. AND I want to thank you so much for your sponsorship and belief in me throughout my years of queening – it meant so much to be able to bring all of that to fruition by coming back this year as Miss Rodeo Utah.

(Continuation of the last three previous posts)

On Friday, Ann Clemmitt (Miss Rodeo Nevada) came to join us for our last day of schools. I had been with Ann during events in other states, so it was fun to have her be a part of the Dixie Roundup Rodeo with me. We started out the day with another set of interviews at Kony Radio, and then by 9:00 we were back in the schools.

I live about 40 miles from the Sunbowl arena (I live on the mountain behind St. George.) Since I was in town each day helping at the school assemblies, our good friend Richard would bring my horse off the mountain and have him waiting for me when I arrived at the rodeo grounds. Can’t be more spoiled than that! Thank you so much Richard!

Friday evening was “Tough Enough To Wear Pink” at the rodeo. This is something the St. George Lions Club takes very seriously. In addition to other fundraising ideas they come up with for the event, they also donate $1.00 from every rodeo ticket sold on “Pink” night. Just some of the older statistics that I know about – in 2007, through their TETWP campaign, the Lions were able to donate $12,000 to the Foundation of the Dixie Regional Medical Center for support of breast cancer awareness and treatment. In 2008, that was repeated with another $12,000. The year 2009, the donation was $10,000 – and I know similar figures have continued on each year after that. As a matter of fact, one other little funny tidbit – sometime between the Thursday night rodeo and the rodeo on Friday night each year, the whole entire edge of the Sunbowl arena is painted pink. By the Saturday evening rodeo, it is painted back to its normal color. To validate that story, just look closely at the pictures I post of each night at the rodeo.

(Continuation of the last two previous posts)

The Dixie Roundup is hosted by the St. George Lions Club. On Wednesday evening, they held a kickoff party with dinner. I was able to once again catch up with old friends and I also met our new bull fighters there. I was able to mingle with the Bar-T crew and also Chris Williams, our Western Region Dodge rep. Chris always has such great stories to tell from his travels. (Sorry, we do not have pictures from the party.)

Thursday night we finally ushered in the long awaited 1st rodeo performance of the 2011 St. George Lions Dixie Roundup Rodeo! This was also “Family Night”. The Dixie Roundup is held each year in the historic Dixie Sunbowl arena, which is actually a huge “bowl” cut into the ground right in the heart of  St. George. The seats are made from concrete. They have to block off part of a city street for contestant trailer parking, as well as for us to wait on between events (even the barrel racers wait there on the street.)  To get into the arena for the grand entry (or barrel racing, or the specialty act), we ride our horses down a ramp and into the arena - which can take some getting used to the first time or two you do it, especially in the dark! As part of the grand entry, Dixie did a big military tribute. They brought in a military tank down the ramp into the middle of the arena, along with heroes from all walks of life (firemen, police officers, EMTs, etc.) who carried in a massive American Flag (I didn’t count, but my guess is that it took about 40 people to carry that giant flag.) Plus they had a “fly-by” with a military helicopter. The Helicopter then landed in the field behind the arena where it stayed until the rodeo was over each night so people could go and see it close-up. The troops that the helicopter belonged with were scheduled to ship out to Afghanistan, but by special orders were able to delay their departure by a few days in order to be a part of the Dixie Roundup’s three nights of rodeo.

This is a continuation of the last post – picking up on schools from Wednesday and Thursday of Dixie Roundup Week. Each school that week (13-15 schools) was a different experience from each other – and I absolutely LOVED them all! I don’t ever get tired of doing this! But it is also a marvel to me the enormity of getting that many schools organized into this week – from the Dixie Lions member who calls and sets up the day and time for us to go into each school (and the schools are all mapped out so that each day they are close enough to each other so we can get to four in a day), to carrying in, setting up and tearing down all of the equipment we bring with us – plus all of us working together in sync during each assembly.

I was absolutely excited, thrilled, honored, to be a part of the Dixie Roundup Rodeo week in St. George. In addition to having been the Dixie Roundup Rodeo Queen in 2008, I also have continued to be on their pageant committee for the last three years. The Dixie Roundup holds a special place in my heart simply because it is my hometown rodeo. The whole Roundup week is packed full with school visits, radio spots, parades, a kick-off party, a pancake breakfast, and three PRCA rodeo performances! My week was made even more exciting and crazy because it was also the weekend of the Wilderness Circuit Rodeo Queen pageant. I was still the Wilderness Circuit queen and needed to attend the pageant to pass down my crown and finish my duties for that title. Where the difficulty came in was that I was at the rodeo in St. George (Southern Utah) while the pageant was being held in Ogden (Northern Utah.) So….. I attended Friday night’s rodeo and then early Saturday my mom and I hopped on a plane headed for the northern part of the state. I did the whole Wilderness pageant with the girls who were competing, had the honor of passing down my crown and flew back to Southern Utah to be part of the Saturday night performance of the Dixie Roundup! (More on the Wilderness Pageant in a future posting.)

Tuesday through Friday, I met up each day with the Dixie Royalty (Stephanie Jimmerson, Queen, and Makayla Miller, Princess), plus our rodeo clown (Randee Munns) and the rodeo bullfighters. It is a tradition of the Dixie Roundup to go to 3-4 local schools each day of the Roundup week. We partnered together to put on fun school assemblies talking about the rodeo events and inviting the students out to the Dixie Roundup Rodeo.  I lost count, but know we performed at somewhere between 12 and 15 elementary schools in just those four days!! One class even made big yellow hats to wear just like Randee wears. It was pretty cute. So many of my pictures that week were involving the various schools, each visit so different and reflecting of the individual personality of the school and its students. As if that wasn’t enough, also several mornings before we headed out to the schools, we would have a radio interview with Kony Country Radio (FM 99.9) to further promote the rodeo.

Whew….hang on while I take you on a tour of the Dixie Roundup week….starting with Tuesday……

After meeting Monday morning in St. George with Ryne Hazen to do my photo shoot, I immediately drove back to the city of Enterprise to start my focus on Dixie Roundup Rodeo Week. One big thing that the Dixie Roundup spotlights is getting to as many schools in the area as possible (we went into 12 schools between Tuesday and Friday of that week!) The rodeo queens, plus the rodeo clown and bullfighters, all go into the schools together and put on an assembly for the students. However Enterprise Elementary is off the beaten path from St. George schools (40+ miles), so Enterprise doesn’t usually get the same school visit during the Dixie Roundup Week. Knowing this, for the last four years I have just called up the Enterprise school and asked them if I could come visit on my own the Monday before the rest of the Dixie week events start.

I spent the whole day at Enterprise Elementary where I was able read some of my favorite rodeo books to several kindergarten and 1st grade classes, as well as a 6^th grade class. Enterprise Elementary is the school that my little sister attends. I started the morning with Sarin’s class and she was elated to be able to introduce me to the rest of the 6^th graders. I spoke with them about rodeo and also about setting goals in life, and then afterwards I read a few books to the class. Next we were off to the school cafeteria to eat lunch together.

During my photo shoot with Ryne Hazen that morning, I had brought down one of our miniature ponies to use in the photo shoot (along with my queening horse.) This worked out well because I was then also able to bring the pony to Enterprise School and share him with the students. That is always a huge hit! The pony that I brought is only 28 inches tall and he made my trip to the school pretty extra special.

The rest of the afternoon was spent with the kindergarten and three first grade classes.

My mom is really awesome about taking photos for the schools I visit. For most of the schools that I go into, shortly after my trip they receive a disk in the mail of the photos that were taken while I was in that school. The amount of photos they get depends on the amount of time I am able to stay at the school. There are always photos of whatever activity I am doing with the class, plus at a minimum we get a group class photo with each classroom. However, if time permits like it did on this particular day at Enterprise Elementary, after the activity is over we take the time to take individual photos with each and every child. Over the years, Mom and I have worked out a system for accomplishing this quickly – which has served us well because that day at Enterprise I had my picture taken individually with over 120 kids, plus teachers! However it is so worth the time because then each child gets their own photo with the queen. Teachers in Elementary schools often make scrapbooks for each child of their year, and the teachers love that we give them photos towards that cause. But I have to admit that those photos quite possibly mean the most to me! Plus it allows me to spend a bit of time individually with each child and I get so many hugs and fun questions from those kids!

Hazen Studios has been the official photographer of the Miss Rodeo Utah pageant, and Miss Rodeo Utah herself, for many, many, MANY years. Ryne Hazen does a pronominal job of capturing the essence of the queen’s personality and making that come alive in photos. When I became the 2011 ‘Miss Rodeo Utah’, I had two photo sessions with Ryne, one indoors at his studio in Kaysville, Utah and the other an outdoor shoot in St. George, Utah. Since I am from Southern Utah, Ryne wanted to reflect that through what is indicative of my area (that being the beautiful red rock mountains.) Using a multitude of pictures that he shot, Ryne created my beautiful autograph sheets, my application photo and also my ad page for the Miss Rodeo America program, the photo used for my MRA buttons, the first photo that people see when they log onto the Miss Rodeo Utah web site homepage, AND the absolutely stunning portraits and banners of me that many have viewed on display at some of the events I have attended. Below are just a few of Ryne’s photos. I hope to be able to show you many more of Ryne’s pictures throughout the rest of my reign as Miss Rodeo Utah.

The very next morning (Friday) after my being at the Utah State Fair, I rushed back to Southern Utah where I was invited to help at the Cedar City Great American Stampede for the weekend. This rodeo is part of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association and is hosted by the Cedar City Lions Club and the Southern Utah University Rodeo Team. I had the extreme honor of serving as their rodeo queen a few years ago (2009). Since this was another rodeo closer to home, my whole family was again able to attend. My dad and our friend Richard helped sell programs, while Chelsea helped sell raffle tickets. I had fun walking around and talked with just about everyone in the crowd. It was truly a joy being part of the Great American Stampede again, as well as to be able to reconnect with old friends! Plus watching the college rodeo competitors just amazes me – they are so dedicated to their sport and absolutely incredible athletes.

Saturday morning I rode through down Main Street Cedar City in the parade. After the parade, Cedar City hosts a small fair in the park. I headed over to the park and it started to downpour with rain. I figured after 10 minutes or so the rain would stop. But after waiting for over an hour and the rain hadn’t yet let up, and the booths were getting flooded out, the decision was made to cancel my visit at the park. The good news – the rain let up just in time for the rodeo that night and we enjoyed clear skies the rest of the evening.

Broken Heart Rodeo was the stock contracting company that came to this rodeo. The contractor brought a bull that I am told was pretty tame. Because of a little prompting from the Grimms, when I arrived to the rodeo grounds Saturday evening, the contractor had the bull in the chute and ready for me to get on. I was quite nervous – but I chapped up, cowboyed up and got on the bull. While it could have made for some exciting pictures, the contractor didn’t feel comfortable opening the chute gate, which I was perfectly fine with!!  I sent my bull picture to both Jackie Belnap and Marty Thompson and told them that they had inspired my next career in bull riding (you might remember a few weeks ago it was peer pressure from their sons that forced me onto a mechanical bull during the Cache County Rodeo.)

I want to express my gratitude for such a wonderful weekend in Cedar City to the Cedar City Lions Club, Shane Flanigan and the SUU Rodeo Team, and all of the many other volunteers. You can all be so proud of the work you do!

Two days after the S’mores celebration, I spent the day driving to Salt Lake to be a part of the Utah State Fair and Rodeo. I had already been booked to attend a rodeo Friday and Saturday in Cedar City when the State Fair folks put in a request for me to come up to join them. Though I was booked for the weekend, I still wanted to experience at least some part of the State fair, so I made a quick trip to be there for their Thursday rodeo performance.  On the way, I stopped in Cedar City for a radio interview to advertise for the Cedar City Great American Stampede Rodeo, and then we continued on to Salt Lake to find the fair grounds.

We arrived at the Fair Grounds early enough to walk around and enjoy some of the offerings of the fair itself. While I know we only saw a small spattering of what was at the fair, we sure enjoyed our short time there.

I was also able to walk through the fair to sign autographs before being part of the grand entry along with the Weber County Sheriff’s Posse.

As well as being terrific sponsors of Miss Rodeo Utah and Ogden Pioneer Days, the members of the Weber County Sheriff’s Posse are such a fun crew to hang out with! I LOVE those people!!