NEBRASKALand Days

The week of June 13th I headed down to North Platte, Nebraska to help celebrate NEBRASKALand Days! 16 other state queens were there with me and boy did we have fun together. Thank you sooo soo much to Dan and Pam Wright for having me in their beautiful home. It may have been the most comfortable bed ever! I flew out of Great Falls to Denver and from Denver flew right into North Platte. Measha Gittens (Miss Rodeo Idaho) and Chris Wade (Miss Rodeo Utah) had the same flight into North Platte. It is so nice to run into someone you know when in an airport. When we arrived in Nebraska, we headed straight to the Buffalo Bill Arena to meet up with the rest of the girls and enjoy the first dinner of the Miss Rodeo Nebraska Pageant. During the dinner, we helped show off the great auction items. When everyone started to clear out the state queens and the contestants participated in relays. My team included Colorado, Idaho, South Dakota, and Florida. We did the rescue race, bubble gum chewing, and the egg run. What a blast we had!! The rest of the week consisted of a kiddie parade, several autograph sessions and lots of coffee. We made time to visit Buffalo Bill's house and the Golden Spike. When I was there they had a few tornado watches and I must say I was a bit nervous. Measha was too. We thought sticking together would have made the nerves go away. I think we just made each other worse. During the rodeo the crowd was stomping on the bleachers and we thought it had something to do with a tornado, and during the bull riding they played a siren sound and that freaked us out too. I was so worried about a tornado in Nebraska and 2 days after I arrive home, the whirlwind went through Billings. I guess we have to be ready for everyting no matter where we live right?

Eagle Mount Western Rendevous

On June 12th, I was invited to the Eagle Mount of Bozeman's Western Rendevous. What a fun event it was. When I arrived I signed autographs at the carnival. They had activities including playing with chalk, rock wall climbing, stick horse racing, softball throw and much more. Some of the kid's showed their appreciation that I could be there on the sidewalk with chalk! Later in the evening was the banquet and dance portion of the rendevous. They had a band, a silent auction and great food. To kick off the party, a few local girls danced to Miley Cyrus's Hoedown Throwdown. I was honored to introduce them and get the fundraiser started.

Montana High School Finals

Anne and Mariah Rys-Sikora invited Libby and I to the Montana High School Finals Queen Contest. We had the opportunity to visit with the two contestants, Miss Hanna Heckman and Miss Jessica Read. Lori Hoppe was there to give some tips as well. The contestants had their personal interviews and written test in the morning. We then had a nice lunch with the contestants, their parents and the judges. It was nice to get to chat with the judges. They all came from different parts of our state and were involved in rodeo in different ways. After lunch was the horsemanship competition, where Libby and I got to emcee. It was my first emcee opportunity and I really liked that microphone! Congratulations and Best of Luck to the new Miss High School Rodeo Hanna Heckman as she represents Montana at the National High School Finals in July.

Miss Rodeo Montana Horsemanship Clinic

This year was the First Annual Miss Rodeo Montana Horsemanship Clinic. What a great idea it was to have this clinic. Thank you to Linda Rest for making it happen. We held the clinic at Harrison Livestock outside of Belt and the facility was amazing!!! Clinicians included Linda Rest, Laura Bakker, Bobbi Levine, Jody Rempel and Ray Scribner. We did everything from horsemanship, to carrying flags, queen's run practice and was even able to work with cattle! It was such great practice for when we are asked to clear the arena at rodeo's. I was so glad that I went. It was held in the mornings before the JS rodeo, so when I got to the rodeo I was prepared for anything! Also, a big thanks to Janie O'Neil for keeping us well fed.

Summer Solstice

What a great way to start off the Montana rodeo season, but with the JS Rodeo Summer Solstice in Vaughn. Thanks to John Smith, J. Patrick Johnson, Andrea Hansen, the rest of the JS Rodeo crew and the Summer Solstice rodeo committee for putting on such a great rodeo. A big thanks to Kenny Carpenter and his family for letting me use his pickup horse, Dude in the grand entry, and also to Sue and Bailey Jo Thompson, for letting me use Lily to carry sponsor flags. Mr. Brent Jordan was the announcer and gave me great recognition through out the entire rodeo. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the grandstands were packed both performances. I couldn't have asked for a better rodeo to start off my summer as Miss Rodeo Montana.

Girl's State

It was such an honor for me to be invited to speak at Girl's State this year. I was a Girl's State delegate when I was in high school and my sister, Bridjour was selected this year! I was in Billings the day before, so I had plenty of time to rehearse my speech on the drive to Helena the next day. I must say, I was a bit nervous for this speech. I had talked with elementary school kids, but that would be the first time talking with a high school group. Now I wonder why I was so nervous, because the girls were AWESOME! I felt like they really listened to what I had to say and were full of questions at the end. We took several pictures together and I signed lots of autographs! Stay tuned for pictures, they are on Bridjour's camera and she is just about as busy as I am this summer.

Big Sandy 3rd Grade

Miss Heather Wolery called me and asked if I would be able to stop by her 3rd grade classroom in Big Sandy and read to her class. I had a few days off and was headed that direction anyway so I swung by. What a fun class. When I arrived, a red carpet was laid down, and I was given a cape and a baton. As I walked down the red carpet, each boy bowed down and each girl curtsied. They were so fun and literally treated me like royalty. I signed some autographs and became artwork on their lockers. I also found out one the girls was running for O-mok-see princess! Demrece Keller is the 4th grade teacher at Big Sandy, and is a long time friend of ours through rodeo. She spotted me as I was headed out and introduced me to her class, as well as the 5th and 6th grade classes.