Our stake (church organization) put on the annual rodeo this last weekend and it left us exhausted. First of all, stake rodeos are not the norm and I’m not even sure there are other church rodeos out there. I grew up in Idaho and I never attended one growing up and it was Idaho. Now I live in a large city and one of our church buildings has rodeo grounds on it. No joke. This area has a lot of pride in their community and pioneer heritage and it is celebrated every year.
The rodeo is a huge production and requires a lot of man hours to run it and Steve was in the middle of it with his church calling. Months of planning, turns into an all-day preparation the day before and all day during the rodeo. Friday afternoon the oldest three went with Steve to help. Their clothing told me they must have been filling BBQ sauce containers. Some were cleaner than others. 😉
Saturday was the big day. They created kid friendly activities the kids could participate in so it really became a family event. Bennett really wanted to sign up to ride the sheep but it seemed far more advanced than his city slicker parents could coach him with. In all reality, he would’ve been fine – perhaps next year. Hallie signed up with a friend to do goat dressing. One partner wears bloomers, removes the bloomers and puts them on the goat, while the other partner tries to hold the goat still. Hallie was in charge of holding the goat in place. It was pretty funny and she got knocked around a bit!
The younger kids didn’t sign up for anything and were completely content at the horse/pony rides and the petting zoo. They get these experiences twice a year; once at Lehi days, the other when we visit Idaho. There’s no doubt we are raising city kids! We may look out of place with our shorts and tennis shoes but the kids love it.
Cannon has a fear of most animals. The petting zoo wasn’t his first choice and he made the most out of the situation by standing as far away from the animals as he could – standing on a bale of hay.
This was about as close as he got.
Briggs decided he’s not an animal fan either. I sat next to him in the hay for a little break and thought he might like to see an animal more his size. Nope. The largest goat or the smallest chicken, he wanted out of the petting zoo!
Cannon was happiest with a bag of cotton candy in his hand and in his mouth. And around his mouth. And on his shirt. And in his hair. And next to his best little buddy.
That smile right there is cotton candy mixed with bbq pork, bbq beans and two popsicles. Its no wonder he loves Lehi days.
Our friend and neighbor and fearless leader of the rodeo let the boys try out his tractor. Bennett was pretty impressed that this “really old thing actually runs”.
Steve was tucked away in the concession stand most the time and at one point we were all in there helping him. We enjoyed the rodeo for 5 hours and Steve was there twice that and then some. We left exhausted, but happy. It was a fun time and it was made better by good friends to spend the day with.
