My Rodeo Girl and Mickey Gilley

Emerson had her first horse competition last Saturday morning at the stable where we ride.  I wasn't sure how she would do as she only practiced the day before for the events at an extra lesson on Friday.  She is a great horse rider, especially for being only 5 as she is a natural, but she hasn't really done the full events.  The events for her age group (7 and under) were the barrels, poles, and rings.  The barrels are the exact same as what barrel racers do, poles you weave in and out of the poles, and rings you have to ride to a barrel, pick up a ring, and then come back and put it on the pole and then go to the finish line.  She was so excited to be there, especially with all the girls and big girls since her lessons are private.  She couldn't wait to get started as she stood at the gate and listened to/watched the national anthem and eagerly waited for daddy to arrive.  He barely made it, like as she was on the horse heading for her turn!  She was one of the first ones up for barrels.  She had to backtrack some but got the hang of it.  Her horse each time was either Dok or Cash, who she uses in lessons.  Dok is SO slow and lazy.  He's a retired Western pleasure horse and has quit a bit of an attitude.  He likes to bite sometimes and will not listen.  So, he was not trotting quickly and Emerson was having to kick the heck out of him.  She finished 5th in the barrels out of 7-8 girls.  Next up was the poles where she got 3rd place riding Cash, who moves a lot quicker.  That event she did well with and knew what to do.  Her instructor, Travis, stood in the arena out of the way and talked to her, gave instructions if needed, but she had to do everything all on her own.  Last was the rings.  She was on Dok again but Travis gave Emerson a crop to use this time (it's a very small leather whip; it almost looks like a small fly swatter) that she held in the same hand as the reins.  Well, we didn't realize that she had it so when Travis told her to pop him on the shoulder, Dok took off cantering.  Jason and I were dying laughing (and wondering what was going on as we knew nothing about the crop) and several people were remarking how they haven't seen Dok run that fast in ages.  It was so funny.  And she wasn't scared at all!  I really thought she was going to fall off.  But, she composed herself and remembered to get him to stop after probably being in shock for a second.  She bypassed the barrel a tad but backtracked, got the ring, put it on the pole, and finished in 1st place!!!!!!  Yay!  After her ride we asked her why Dok went so fast and she said, "I gave him a spanking!".   After all the events were tallied she ended up getting 2nd place overall, Reserve Grand Champion.  She was so happy and we were so darn proud of her!  I was beaming.  I love seeing her enjoy something.  Landon enjoyed watching too.  Emerson and I stayed to watch some of the bigger girls until she was starving for lunch.  Throughout the day Jason helped my parents moved.

Later that afternoon the kids went to spend the night with Nana and Grandpa while Jason and I went to the RCC again to see Mickey Gilley in a sold out crowd.  It was so crowded and we stood on picnic tables most of the time to see from our VIR area.  Once again it was a great night with new and old friends.  We had so much fun!  Our friend Dennis has the hook-up and we got to go to the stage and meet Mickey Gilley ahead of the long line waiting.  I was very impressed with Mickey Gilley.  He sounded the same, cracked jokes, and was pretty entertaining.  He is 78 years old and several years ago he was actually paralyzed from the neck down when he was helping a friend move and a couch fell on him.  He has made an amazing recovery with lots of therapy and he can almost play the piano again.  He had to sit in a rolling office chair during some of the songs but then he would be back up again.  When he was in the chair he would roll along on the edge of the stage and greet people, shake hands, etc.  Seemed like a very nice guy.  And his 2 backup singers were amazing and personable too.  It was a great night and we made it home around 12:45am.

Emerson actually found a roly poly in our yard that week!  She was thrilled.  She wanted to bring it inside with her.

Big brother supporting his sister

Mickey and his amazing backup singers

We got to briefly meet Mickey Gilley and take a picture with him

A friend of Dennis and Alexis...he's a big fan of Zac Brown Band of course!  He tries to fool people.  Even his hat is a Zac Brown hat.

Jason and Dennis.  They have been friends since college and he was a groomsman in our wedding.

Alexis and I, Dennis's wife

Jason made his own parking spot as the lot was completely full from the sold out crowd!

All Good Things Must Come to an End!

The end of Spring Break and 31 years of memories........On the Friday of Spring Break after running some errands we headed to my parents house for one last time to play as they were moving in 2 weeks.  Most of the house was packed up and in disarray.  The kids swung one last time for a good period of time on the 30 year old swing set (not sure what they are going to do at the new house!!!) and of course Emerson hunted for her roly poly's for one last time.  And boy did she haul them in!!!  I've never seen some many, plus lots of snails.  I don't know what her obsession is with them as she is scared of spiders.  She is enamored with them and talks to them and babies them.  After quite a while of collecting them she wanted to take them home and then some to their new house.  She was worried that their new house wouldn't have any for her.  :)  I guess this is just "her thing".  So funny!  We also took some last pictures in front of the house.  Bittersweet.  When it is sold I don't know how I am going to react.  Hard to let go after 31 years and so many memories.  It is all Landon and Emerson know.  But, new memories will be made and I hope they can remember the old memories and if not we have tons of pictures.  Late that afternoon we headed home and then went back to the rodeo for one last time.  We just went to the rodeo and concert since it took us 1 hour and 45 minutes to get from our house to our seats.  The kids loved the rodeo again and enjoyed every minute of it, horses, cows, cowboys, and all.  The bull riding was intense and it was the night where the rodeo competitors won money.  Aggie football Coach Kevin Sumlin started the calf scramble and a cutie from Cypress won the mutton bustin'.  Easton Corbin was the concert and he was okay, kind of boring and not really an entertainer.  But, we are accustomed to Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and Blake Shelton!  The kids enjoyed it though, but we left after about 5 songs.  My kids are just music lovers.

r

Too cute!  They are taking a selfie all on their own with no prompting!

Miss Priss

Last picture in the game room already packed up and disassembled

Last swing on the swing set....that swing set has been around for about 30 years. 

Here we are about 30 years ago, probably around 1985 or 1986

Gross!  An episode from Fear Factor comes to mind!

Snail on the loose!

His favorite food for the past year has been baked potatoes.   He has had one at each rodeo this year!

Aggie Coach Kevin Sumlin and the Dean of the DVM started off the calf scramble!  He was all decked out in his western best.