Strawberry Days Rodeo

Can I get a YEEEHAW!? Tommy and I decided to take the kids to the Strawberry Days Rodeo on Thursday night. We invited my parents and my brother Colby and his wife and kids decided to come along too at the last minute. We had a BLAST! It was such a nice night out and the kids loved it! Caleb was very anxious to see the bulls and Bailey was upset when she could not run out to the horses. We got the front row since the bleachers weren't ideal for kids, we were worried about them falling through. It was the perfect place to sit. We could see everything perfect and the little ones stood at the fence pretty much all night. The pre-rodeo entertainment was the Mutton Bustin'. This is one of my favorites, it cracks me up to see these little kids trying to ride the sheep. Some of them took some big falls but the majority "bounced" right back up. Another big highlight for us all was the Freestyle Motocross Exhibition. These guys were nuts and did some awesome tricks. Bailey is a little obsessed with motorcycles so she definitely enjoyed this and kept pointing to the sky and asking for more "cycles". I think everyone got up on their feet to watch these two guys. It was awesome! Then of course among many other things, were the Bull riders. Caleb was very excited about this. Those suckers were big. One of the riders actually lasted the 8 seconds. It was such a fun night and the kids did great for it lasting 3 1/2 hours. We love the rodeos and I think this will become a tradition for us each year. And of course everyone enjoyed some strawberries and cream.

Miss Bailey in her cowboy boots

Bailey stood their almost all night. It was so cute!

The Gang, minus me, Tommy and Bailey

This was crazy. They put money on a calf and then let it loose, followed by all

these kids who ran after it to get the money. It was madness.

Love this picture.

Roping the calf

Barrel Racing

Freestyle Riders

This video is of one the guys doing a back flip. Awesome!

Bull riding

Happy 8th Anniversary

Tommy and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary together on Monday. I still can't believe it has been eight years. It has been a wonderful eight years. Tommy totally surprised me and actually scared me by coming home unexpectedly that morning to give me a dozen roses. He is such a sweetheart! It made my day. I love you honey and every year just gets better and better.

Orem Summerfest '09

It is that time of year again for the Orem Summerfest. We love it! The weather has not been good this week at all for all these outdoor activities. Luckily Friday had a brief clearing from the rain so we were able to take the kids to the carnival. Caleb was SO excited! He had a perm-a-grin the whole night. We met up with my parents and then Tommy's mom, Shanna and her kids. Caleb did really good on the rides this year, I was a little shocked at a few that he went on and went on by himself. I love seeing their smiles and excitement. Bailey started out a little rough on some of the rides. She would be fine for the first part and then start crying but by the end of the night she started enjoying them and laughing and then throwing a fit when the ride was over :) That's about how it works right? We had such a fun time. We enjoyed our Texas Twister and Tommy and the kids had a huge ole scone. The weather held up, thank goodness.

Standing by "Bumblebee" Can you tell they were a little excited about the cars???

So excited to show Papa

Timothy, Caleb, Tommy and Bailey

Notice Caleb still holding on at the top. Delayed reaction.

Timothy and Caleb on the swings. Caleb went by himself this year.

Caleb, Timothy, Meagan and Bailey

However, the weather did not hold up for the parade and fireworks. After a monsoon like storm passed through earlier in the day, it cleared up and looked good so we headed out for the parade. The kids were SO excited! We met up with my parents, my brother Kyle and his wife Heather, and my brother Colby, his wife Jamie and all their kids. We talked, snacked, and watched three-fourths of the parade before it got very dark and gloomy. We contemplated whether it would be a quick storm or like the storm earlier. It looked really bad and started raining and we all decided that we did not want to sit in the rain with all the kids with 2 hours still before the fireworks. Caleb and Bailey were a bit confused at the quick uprooting while the parade was still going on :) They had a blast while the weather was good though. Bailey LOVED waving at everyone especially all the "princesses". She was a lot more into it all then I thought she would be but last year she was still so little and slept through some of it, so this was really her "first" experience being much more aware. Caleb was a little unsure of the guns shooting of at the beginning of the parade, in fact he was hiding under the chairs. It was hilarious. It was a bit of a bummer having to leave early and missing out on the fireworks but there are many more parades and fireworks to come. All in all, it was another fabulous Summerfest.

This would be Caleb hiding

Uncle Ky and Caleb

The storm heading in

Kelly Clarkson

On Thursday night, Tommy's mom, his sister Shanna and I braved the weather to go to the Kelly Clarkson concert. Shanna had gotten tickets from her husband and took us along. It absolutely poured before gates opened but by the time we got there it had passed. We got a few sprinkles for about 15 minutes right when she came out but we had our umbrellas. After that it was clear skies. It was a fun concert. She didn't perform very long though, maybe 50 minutes and no encore. A little unusual but it was still a fun night.

Me, Kathy, and Shanna