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We had another great year in Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo! My sister and her husband joined us this year and I think they are hooked too! It was really fun to cheer on our Utah cowboys Cody Wright, Jesse Wright, Olin Hanam and cowgirl Jody Sheffield. Utah was lucky enough to crown a new world champ in the bareback riding-Kaycee Fields. The weather was nice the shopping was wonderful what else could you ask for!
Wyoming Elk Hunt 2011
Kyle was able to bag a big one for his first Elk ever! I think he is hooked just like his dad. Grandpa bagged his 2nd 6 point in 2 years too. It dang sure was not easy- listening to all the stories riding the horses in the dark, crawling through snowy meadows on hands and knees, horses struggling to get throught the rough country- Man am I glad Elk hunting is for BOYS! They had so much fun together and it's so neat to think of all the fun memories they are creating together. Now it looks like we are going to have to make room in the garage for Kyle's trophy wall! Way to go Bud Ü
Unloading more pumpkins
Shawn & Bren loading up the bins of pumpkins
Loading Straw
The boys cute little stand in the morning.
Within just a day or two it looks like this and they have to start all over again! Keeps them busy!
If your ever in our neck of the woods stop by and pick some up your front porch will LOVE you!
I Just had to giggle when I looked outside my window and seen these silly boys skate boarding in cowboy boots! Oh how I love my REDNECK Douglas boysÜ
Looking for mountain goats
View of the city- We could see our house with the binoculars!
We took the Jeep and the boys for a Sunday drive up the backside of Ben Lomond Peak. The fall leave were absolutely beautiful- I can't believe I did not take a picture, I guess I was too busty thinking- Man, this would be a great place for family pictures! All the years Shawn and I dated I can't believe he never took me to inspiration point! It sure was beautiful!
Well, the time has come for me to put on my big girl panties and head back to work full time. My department is making alot of changes and merging with another department. There was a great opportunity for me to advance and become a supervisor. We thought long and hard and decided now is a good time for me to take that leap of faith since the boys are getting older! It has been years since one of these jobs have opened. I applied, interviewed and walla- I am now a supervisor in the Lending Service Center! Shawn and the boys think it's so fun to tease me and do the count down as to how many days off I have left- Little to they know, I really think they are going to miss the warm cookies when they get home from school- Sorry boys- those days are over!!! So Happy trails to my days off Tuesdays and Thursdays- I sure am gonna miss ya Ü
2 Wild Diesel-The owner of this truck is Ken Jones. My brother in law has been helping him with this truck, he has done all the welding on it. They pretty much custom built it from scratch.
Starting to pull
Uncle Wayne got Kolt a pit pass so he could be right down on all the field with them.
After the pull people gathered around to get Ken's Autograph.
My sister talked me and Kolt into going to watch the truck pulls at the Utah State Fair while Shawn and Kyle were in Wyoming hunting Elk. We had fun, I had never been to truck pulls so she had to fill me in on all the details. I can pretty much tell ya what you need to know about the sport of Rodeo but when it comes to truck pulls I am clueless- It was all kinds of wild and crazy- Great place to people watch too!
Beautiful day @ Willard Bay
The Driver
The Coach
The Flagger
The Guinea Pig
Ever since I was little I remember going to all the local queen contest with my mom and sister. Since my mom passed away my sister and I have kept the tradition! We had a great week together going to all of the Miss Rodeo Utah events as well as the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo every night! My sister still went to EVERYTHING while battling Kidney Stones! She was such a trooper.
Wednesday- The girls had their first round of horsemanship. They each did a pattern on their own horse and then they had to switch and do another pattern on a different contestants horse. There were 13 contestants this year.
Thursday- We had tickets to a Luncheon at the Ogden Marriott it was to honor Desiree Cooper-Larsen and Gina Blonquist Black into the Miss Rodeo Utah Hall of fame. They also honored the only mother and daughter Miss Rodeo Utah Geri Dawn Gibson Allred (MRU 1972) and Kaycee Allred Wolfey (MRU 1996) The girls had to do modeling and a impromptu to question. It was really fun to see how each of them reacted to the props and the questions. It was also fun to see who all their parents were.
Friday- We went to speeches. The contestants had to do a speech about UTAH. I think it's fun to see what each of them come up with. It seems like I learn something new every year! It was fun to see the girls personalities shine.
Saturday- Silent Auction and Fashion Show. I bid on a darling western quilt/pillows and my sister bid on some western jewelry we both lost but I figured with my $40.00 ticket that I was already giving a donation! The fashion show was incredible- It had a Disney theme and they had the stage decorated beautiful. The girls had to model several different outfits from casual to formal leather dresses. They even had to do a dance. Later that evening for Pre Rodeo the girls did their last portion of free style horsemanship. The girls had to make up their own pattern. They had 2 minutes to show off their talents.
Monday- The new Miss Rodeo Utah was crowned at the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo.
Jamie Udell Miss Rodeo Utah 2011-2012
Kort & Kyle waiting for the parade to start
Miss Rodeo Utah 2010-2011 Martina Wardle
Sun dance the dancing horse.
John Wayne Schulz put on a fantastic concert. He has such a cute personality and I do have to say he was pretty easy on the eyes!
Home Sweet Home-Yellowstone National Park
Ranger program at Fishing Bridge. The water was so high and murky that we could not see and of the fish sponding this year.
The campground has a evening amphitheater that the Ranger puts on every night. They build a little fire and put on a slide show that lasts about 45 minutes. It is something we look forward to every night. They also give you some insight of where some of the harder to find animals like to hang out.
Enjoying some yummy Yellowstone Ice cream at the lodge.
We drove out to Gardner and did a little shopping. They have a really yummy hamburger stand out there that we stopped and had a bite to eat. While we were driving through town we came upon this Saloon. It has our name on it! Two-bits was the name of Kyle's first little pony. She has since passed away but she is forever in our hearts!
We spent one day driving out to Cody Wyoming. They have some of the cutest western shops down main street. They also have a fun little western shoot out right in the middle of town. I could not believe that it actually lasted about 1 hour. We had a fun time shopping and then stopped for dinner at Bubba's BBQ.
Shawn and the boys took the boat out on Yellowstone Lake almost every morning. The fishing was incredible. The boys caught some of the biggest cut throats they have ever caught. They estimated some of them to be about 5 pounds. They also caught a few lake trout.
We wanted to have all of us in the picture so I asked this cute little Chinese lady to take our picture and she kindly agreed. She took one look at my camera and wanted me to change a few of the settings before she took the picture. I thought Shawn was going to start laughing out loud when she told me "TU DAUK" and wanted me to turn the flash on! I was just happy I finally got someone to figure out my darn camera. The pictures for the rest of the trip were much better thanks to her! I guess as many pictures as the Chinese people at Yellowstone take they really do know what they are doing!
The never ending stair case. It was called Uncle Tom's trail- It took us about 45 minutes to hike to this waterfall and it was all stairs and then it felt like an hour and a half to get back- If I could have seen Uncle Tom when I made it back to the top I would have kicked him in the shin! We definitely got our exercise that day!
POLYGAMISTS in the park!!!! They seen me coming hopped in the van and sped off as soon as we pulled in to the parking lot! I just had to take their picture making their get away. Shawn thinks I am obsessed with them. I'm not going to lie, I was going to try and "secretly" get them in the background of my picture I was going to take. For some reason they just seem to amaze me.
Snow in Yellowstone July 15th, 2011
We hiked back into Mystic Falls and boy was it beautiful.
When you see this fresh (bear poop) on the trail normally you would turn around and go back. Not my boys, they just kept on going and made me follow along. I dang sure was not going to turn around and go back all by myself! I figured we were safe since the droppings were not from a grizzly- if it was from a grizzly it would have bells and pepper spray in it! (ha ha)
As we walked along the river we could see through the crystal clear water and see the huge fish swimming.
Waiting for Old Faithful
Me and Old Faithful!!!
Biscuit Basin
Montana traffic jam
Look at the beautiful rainbow!
Shawn was pretty popular with the spotting scope when we would stop to get a better look at all the animals.
Grizzly Bear
Black Wolf
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