... i wanna be a cowgirl

We took the girls to the rodeo Saturday night... and I came away from that night with the desire to be a cowgirl. I want boots! I want a hat! I want to bedazzle my shirts with rhinestones all over and wear a belt with rhinestones! {{OK, not really, but they look awesome on the right person!}} When I first met Mike, he was a cowboy. He wore boots & a hat. Somehow.. I made a teeny tiny mistake. I told him I didn't like cowboys. What was I thinking?!! Anyways, he threw away his boots & hat. :( I "De-cowboy-fied" him. I'm on a mission to bring the cowboy back in Mike!

First of all, Mike & I have been wanting cowboy boots for a LONG time, so we headed on out to Shepler's to see what was in stock. I saw a pair I liked, but couldn't even get my FOOT inside! Then I tried on THESE babies.... but at a hefty price of $160? Yikes! Well, good thing is that my foot got inside & they were COMFORTABLE! Ariat is the brand, so I'm keeping that in mind for future reference... They even had them in red! Yee-haw! Actually, I think I want them in brown.... I'll keep looking & waiting for a good sale...

Mike found a pair as well (he loves his Justin boots... or Ropers? I forget which one), but wanted to look some more. So went left emptyhanded... and went to the rodeo in our jeans & tennis shoes. BORING! If we're going to live in Texas, we're gonna have to act like Texans do.... wear boots & hats. Hey, I'm all for being a cowgirl!

Anyways, we arrived a little early, so we checked out the animals. We went with some great friends of ours (THANKS Katie for getting all the tickets together!)... Can you spot this animal?

Saw some chicks.... they were so cute

Then Maddie spotted the adult chicks (aka chickens)

Spotted this animal... "hello? Anyone in there? Can you see me?"

and here the girls are watching the pig races...

which happened to be Maddie's favorite event of the whole night! Swifty the Swimming Pig was a fun thing to see as well! Talk about a baby pig who does a flying leap into a trough of water... hilarious!

Then the actual rodeo. This was actual the big finals, so we got to see the best of the best. It was fun to see the barrel races, bareback riding and saying "how fast can those cowboys get that rope OFF that horse's uh... male parts?", and the "tie up your calf" event (those poor calves just lying there "HELP!")... and the finale of the night... the BULL riders!! Wow, that was so much fun! Sad for the cowboy who fell off his bull (fell or kicked off?). The bull stepped on his face, so the paramedics had to come & take care of him. :( Thank goodness he had a helmet on! Some of those cowboys didn't even wear a helmet!

It was a fantastic night. Saw a bunch of bedazzled cowgirls, hat tippin' cowboys (no, they weren't bedazzled), stinky animals, and had a ball! Next year we'll reserve our ticket early to make sure we have a great band to listen to!Actually, we were too exhausted to wait for the Eli Whitney band to start....