Miss Rodeo Utah 2011-2012

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

Horse parade and Concert

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!

Yellowstone 2011

Home Sweet Home-Yellowstone National Park

We love to stay at Fishing Bridge while in the park. I really like it because we get full hook ups and when your gone for 10 days it's nice to have a laundry mat too! We enjoy riding our bikes down to the lodge for shopping and of course who can forget the Ice cream.

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

Hebgen Lake 2011

Hebgen Lake Camp Chefs

While camping at Hebgen Lake Grandma Carol had a great idea and thought that it would be fun to take the boys Zip lining! She offered to pay half so we thought heck why not! Well little did she know the boys would sweet talk her into going with. (I am not sure that was in her plans) She did not want to tell them no so off they went. She was so scared I can't beleive she actually did it.

Quake Lake

We drove up the the Quake Lake tourist center and watched a short video on this tragic event. One of the most violent earthquakes shook the west on Aug. 17 1959 at 11:37 p.m. At that time, the Red Canyon fault and the Hebgen fault, both in the Madison River area, moved simultaneously and triggered an earthquake that measured 7.5 on the Richter scale. That earthquake forced a massive landslide that screamed down mountains and hills at about 100 miles per hour. Tons of rocks and earth crashed into Madison Canyon. The results were catastrophic. The force of the slide caused a flood and high winds swept a giant wave downstream. Five people died in the flood alone. The landslide killed another 28 people. It also dropped the north shore of Hebgen Lake 19 feet. Cabins on the shore washed into the water as huge waves crested over Hebgen Dam. Three sections of Highway 287 fell into the lake, the dam cracked in at least four places and hundreds of campers were trapped. The landslide eventually stopped, essentially damming the Madison River and creating Earthquake, or “Quake Lake,” a 190-foot deep, six mile long lake stocked with German and Brown Trout. Many of the bodies have never been recovered. It was really interesting to me because I worked with a lady who lost her mother in this awful event.

We met up with my dad and step mom to go shopping in West Yellowstone!

Hegben Lake is one of our favorite places to stop while on our way to Yellowstone. We like to camp at Rainbow Point Camp ground. It is nestled back in the pines right by the lake. The view is so pretty and the smell of the pines is just breath taking.