Miss Rodeo Montana 2007

MRA Pageant - Part 3

2007-12-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning, we again hurried down to the French Market buffet, and again Megan was dressed in jeans, so we knew that her speech would be Friday morning. That worked well for us, because more family and friends were arriving and would be able to attend the speeches on Friday morning.
The President's luncheon was held at noon at the Orleans. The contestants wore beautiful dresses of leather and came in carrying their state flag. What an honor for Megan to be able to represent the state of Montana. After a delicious lunch and introductions and awards to the many of those serving on the executive board of Miss Rodeo America, the girls were each asked a current events impromptu question. The questions covered a wide range - from politics to general ethics questions - and all were questions that could be answered easily by the contestants. If you are looking at the pictures, Megan wore a light green dress which was made for her by Julie Ewing. Each girl was presented with a beautiful Black Hills gold necklace from Landstrom's.
Horsemanship interviews and coronation rehearsals took up the rest of the day, until late afternoon when the contestants were treated to the first performance of the WNFR. We also attended the first evening's performance and what an experience! Although our seats were high in the Thomas & Mack, we had a great view of both the bucking chutes and the timed event end of the arena. I was amazed at the speed of the rodeo. It was non-stop action from beginning to end, and I don't think the announcers took a breathe the whole time! We had been told that the queen contestants could sit with their parents during the rodeo, but with the huge crowd most of us were not able to connect with our girls. After the rodeo, some of our group went out to the South Point to watch Flint Rasmussen present the night's go-round buckles.
Friday morning Megan gave her state speech. She did a fantastic job! Her taped interview was also very good. It was obvious that she had done that a few times already during her year! Cowboy Christmas at the Las Vegas convention center was the afternoon program. The crowd to bid on the auctions was standing-room-only and the girls had fun presenting their purses for bidding. Each contestant brought a purse filled with prizes to be auctioned, with proceeds going to the MRA scholarship fund. Offerings varied from sports packages (including rodeo of course) to ski trips to home cooked goodies. Afterwards, we got to spend a little time with Megan before she was whisked away for more coronation practice.
Saturday morning was the Mother-daughter breakfast at the French Market Buffet. The judges spoke to the girls and encouraged them to "swing for the fences" throughout the rest of their lives.
Coronation was held in the Showroom at the Orleans. The lights and stage decoration was impressive, and the girls did a choreographed dance before changing into their fancy dresses.
Each one was introduced and escorted down to the microphone by either Donny Gay or Dan Miller, where they introduced themselves and their parents. Bob Tallman said good-bye to Ashley and caused some tears as she did her final walk as Miss Rodeo America. Then it was time for the Top 10 contestants to be announced. What suspense! It was so exciting to hear Megan's name called and watch her walk down the stairs to take her place in the line-up! We were thrilled!!! It brought a tear to my eye to see Megan up there in that group! Top 5 was announced and then they gave the awards for each category. You'll have to look at the Miss Rodeo America website for all the results, because I don't remember everything. I was just focused on Megan as she received her buckle for Top 10! Miss Rodeo Kansas was crowned Miss Rodeo America 2008, with Miss Rodeo Arizona as first Runner-Up.
Afterwards the contestants raced back to their rooms to change and join their families. We managed to pull together some tables in the back of one of the restaurants and had a fun meal with 20+ members of our family and friends. It was the first time all week that Megan had been able to see everyone, so it was great! Thanks to everyone that attended the pageant and supported her. We really had a huge group of family and friends here throughout the week, and it made this a trip that we will remember for a lifetime. Many of the group toured Hoover Dam, attended various Las Vegas shows, ate fantastic meals, and lost our share in the casinos. And of course, everyone attended one or more performances of the WNFR.
What a wonderful week!!

More from Miss Rodeo America Pageant

2007-12-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

Hi,
Sunday was a big day for the contestants. They had their personality interviews, and 9 hours of practice for the Fashion Show. We were not able to see them at all during that day. I took the opportunity to attend the Cowboy Church service in the casino, which featured Trish Lennahan and her marvelous voice. Ashley Andrews gave an inspirational message on how her cancer had affected her faith.
Monday morning we went down to the French Market Buffet to have breakfast at 7 am - the same time as the girls eat. They all looked nice in their horsemanship outfits. Megan's outfit was a lime green leather shirt with lace and rhinestone overlays, along with the required matching Wranglers and boots.
The horsemanship contest was held in the South Point casino Equestrian Center, a large new arena on the south end of the Strip. The South Point hotel is also the host of the PRCA this year so there were a lot of cowboys milling around. Each girl drew a horse and performed a specified reining pattern. They were not allowed on the horses until they went in the arena, so it was really a test of adaptability as well as horsemanship. The horses were brought in by various stock contractors and were also being judged for an award. All were good horses, but some tested the girls when it came to lead changes and stops. Megan was in the middle of the draw, and had a big, slow sorrel horse that did pretty well for her. I think she is on page 8 in the pictures for this event. There was a short break and the girls started their second round on a different horse, with a free-style pattern and queen presentation run. Each girl could determine her own pattern, which should show off her mount's strongest points, and then each girl ran around the arena waving at the crowd. I'm sure the judges had a difficult job in this portion, because each girl had a different pattern. Megan was number 11 in this portion.
That afternoon the girls were allowed a little fun, as they visited the dolphin habitat at the Mirage. The evening was a Get Acquainted party where we were able to visit with the contestants a little, as well as with other parents and friends. After the party the girls had hours of rehearsal yet ahead of them before they could go to bed.
Tuesday was the PRCA luncheon back out at the South Point hotel. This is the luncheon where the girls wear their chap outfits, which usually consists of their chaps, matching wranglers, and a special shirt made to match their chaps. These outfits were very nice and very special to each girl. After we finished eating, and listening to an outstanding young singer, the contestants were each given a word associated with rodeo, and asked to tell the audience who, or what the word meant. These words were pretty basic, but still required a knowledge of rodeo, and the ability to express themselves in front of an audience.
Tuesday night was the Fashion Show, and what an extravaganza!!! We had a meal of steak and scalloped potatoes that was outstanding, and then we were entertained by Miss Rodeo America, Ashley Andrews, and two different singers. The contestants each danced in 3 different production numbers that they had been rehearsing all week, and I heard comments that these were the best dancers they had ever had!!! It was obvious that the girls were having fun with the dancing and the audience had fun with it too. Wrangler had provided clothing products for the girls for each of their numbers, and the theme of the evening was "Happy Birthday Wrangler". Vanessa and I made a restroom run during an intermission and guess who we ran into there??!!! Marilyn Monroe!! Yes, she was dolled up in a gold shimmery dress and putting on her gloves. Later in the evening, she came onstage to sing "Happy Birthday, Mr President" to the Wrangler president. You just never know who might drop in!
The fashion show was the grand finale to the evening. Each girl was introduced and escorted onstage, where they introduced themselves and modeled their dazzling western gowns. For those of you who had the opportunity to see Megan's fashion show gown during her Send-Off parties - it really worked onstage!!! The spotlights really lit up the 3000+ crystals on the dress and it looked fantastic!! After the show we had a few minutes with her to tell her how proud we were and then the girls (at 11:30 pm) went on to their next event, which was an ice cream social.
Wednesday morning we were sure to be at the French Market buffet for breakfast again, because that is the only way that we would know if she was giving her speech that day - she was wearing her black Rick Rageous jacket so we knew her speech wouldn't be that day. Contestants draw each evening for speech position the next morning, so parents don't know when their daughter will perform until they see them wearing their "speech dress". The girls were all getting a little tired by that point - 2 to 4 hours of sleep and non-stop activity is pretty wearing. The format this year includes a taped media interview which is shown after each contestant's speech. It's been very interesting to watch, and I think it's a useful addition to the pageant. Miss Rodeo America has to give many media interviews during her reign, and judging the contestant's ability to talk to the media has to be helpful in the selection process.
Wednesday at noon, was another new addition to the pageant - a father-daughter luncheon. Many of the fathers bought single roses for their daughters and presented them to the girls - a big hit as you can imagine!
Wednesday evening was a dinner with the judges at Billy Bob's steakhouse at Sam's Town. Although we couldn't sit with the girls, many of the parents ate there as well, and what an excellent meal!
So far this week has been great fun for all of us. I am amazed at the Miss Rodeo America organization and their ability to put an event of this complexity with their volunteer board members. The chaperones have the huge responsibility of these girls all week, making sure they are where they are supposed to be at the proper time, so they spend even longer hours than the contestants.

Miss Rodeo America Pageant Begins!

2007-12-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! This is Rita, Megan's mom, giving my version of the Miss Rodeo America activities.

What an exciting first day! Contestant check-in was at 11 a.m. in the Gator Lounge at The Orleans. The girls turned in their scrapbooks, and lined up for introductions.

For check-in the girls were required to wear Wrangler products - an unadorned Wrangler shirt and matching jeans, no vests or jackets. I think pretty much every color was represented - white, many yellows, shades of pink and purple, blue, orange, green, browns, and black. Megan wore a pretty lavender Wrangler shirt with matching jeans and boots, and looked very pretty! Her jewelry was a chunky lavender and turquoise necklace with a silver cross, and matching earrings. She also wore a wide lavender and turquoise antique bracelet. Each girl had their competition banner pinned on by Ashley Andrews, Miss Rodeo America 2007.

Orientation was held in the Showroom, which is an auditorium with stage at the front and comfy chairs for the audience. The rules for contestants (and spectators) were covered. The bad news is that we aren't allowed to take photos during the competition. The good news is that they have an oustanding professional photographer shooting pictures, and he already has the first days pictures up on his website!! Go to http://www.shooterenterprises.com and click on Online Images on the right hand side. Each event has its own link and you can page through all the pictures. Notice that there are multiple pages of pictures for each event - you won't want to miss anything! If you are looking for Megan in the pictures, it helps to remember that she is wearing lavender.

After orientation, the girls were assigned their roommates for the week. Megan is rooming with Nebraska. The parents all helped their daughters move in, and what a job!! We had traffic jams in the hallways as all the clothes racks and carts were wheeled in! Then I got a little preview of what the girls would be wearing for some of their fashion show production numbers, as they tried on their costumes. Parents had to be off the floor by 5 pm, so the girls could get ready for fashion show rehearsals.

New this year, and a wonderful addition, was the Parent's Social in the evening. Ashley and her parents were there to welcome everyone. Then the parents got to experience the limelight as we each got up and introduced ourselves and where we were from. We put a push-pin in a US map to locate our hometown, and then had our photo taken with Ashley as she presented us with a bag of sponsor gifts. Ashley thanked all of us parents on behalf of our daughters, and presented her parents with a gift for their love and support. It was so much fun visiting with some of the other moms (and a few dads). The consensus seemed to be that the moms are there all the time, but the dads arrive later in the week. As one lady said - "Somebody has to work and pay the bills!"

Greetings from Vegas!

2007-11-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Vegas! I just thought I would update my blog one last time before checking-in for the Miss Rodeo America pageant.

My mom and I departed Bozeman on Tuesday in my pickup pulling a 4X8 UHAUL trailer packed to the brim with mulitple pairs of boots, dozens of outfits and suitcases that weighed a ton! The drive ended up being around 14 hours but we took our time and stayed near Salt Lake City Tuesday night. We were blessed with good roads most of the way and arrived in Las Vegas Wednesday afternoon.

The bell hops at the Orleans Hotel were helpful in unloading the UHAUL. Some of them have worked here many years so they were used to having to unload rodeo queens around this time of the year. I was relieved when one commented that I wasn't nearly as bad as some of the girls with the amount of boxes.

Once settled in Mom and I took some time to plan some activities I wanted to do before the pageant started. Last night we went to The Phantom of the Opera show. It was rated the best show in Vegas so we were pretty excited to be going. We both loved it! What a tragic story but the show was amazing. Today we are spending the day relaxing and catching up on rest for the long week ahead. We are both treating ourselves to a massage later!

My mom will be updating my blog throughout the week of competition so check back later to hear her perspective of how the pageant is going. You can also look at pictures from the website I listed on my last blog and of course send me emails if you want to say hi! I can't wait to update you all the next time, hopefully as Miss Rodeo America!!!!

Miss Rodeo America pageant!!!!

2007-11-20T21:57:00.001-07:00

Well my preparations for Miss Rodeo America are coming to a close thanks to the Miss Rodeo Montana send-off to Vegas tour. I had 4 parties, Billings, Bozeman, Wolf Point, and Great Falls. They were all a success and a huge help in getting me prepared for MRA. A huge thanks goes out to all who attended and helped in setting the parties up. I was fired impromptu questions, modeled some of my Miss Rodeo America clothes, and talked about my year. I feel like I am ready to go now that I have all the kinks worked out! I will list the information you need to send me a good luck note, card or flowers in Vegas if you couldn’t make it to the send-off parties, or even if you did!

For Gifts or Cards:
c/o Jody Rempel For MRM Megan Hardy
1405 US Hwy 89 Fort Shaw MT 59443
By November 29, 2007
Jody will be taking all the gifts and cards to Las Vegas and distributing them to me during the week.

For Flowers: (must arrive between 12/1 - 12/7)
The Orleans Hotel
Megan Hardy, Miss Rodeo Montana Check out these websites during the week:
4500 W Tropicana Ave www.missrodeo.com or
Las Vegas, NV 89103 www.shooterenterprises.com for pics.

For Email: (You can send one everyday if you’d like from 11/30 - 12/6)
missrodeopageant@yahoo.com
Subject line: Megan Hardy, Montana

Country Gold, Japan

2007-11-19T14:00:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning arrived pretty fast after a long night of sleeping on the floor…with no heat. Breakfast was another ceremony. I wasn’t prepared to be eating fish for breakfast but thankfully they had a fruit plate to munch from.

We departed for Mount Aso where Country Gold was taking place in the morning. The outdoor amphitheatre where it was held is said to be the largest outdoor theatre in the world. You would believe it if you saw it! Once the concert started we were informed that there would be between 20,000 – 25,000 people in attendance. I couldn’t believe that in just a few hours I would be talking to all those people! The entire delegation was looking forward to lunch because we were told lunch would be American beef BBQ. Beef has never tasted so good! Montana had a booth right across from the US beef booth where we gave out maps, pins, and other random souvenirs from Montana. People would also have an opportunity to get my autograph; I signed between 700-800 autographs that day and took probably twice that many pictures. The Japanese attending Country Gold were aware of the Montana booth and getting to meet Miss Rodeo Montana every year. It was neat signing cowboy hat’s that had Cassidy and Brooke Lyn’s autograph on them already. I couldn’t believe the enthusiasm over everything country and western. A person could make a pile of money just having a booth that sold cowboy hats because most everyone bought at least one when they got there. I never thought I could say that I was “underdressed” at a cowboy event!!!

Charlie Nagatani and the Cannonballs opened the show. They played some of the same old country classics as at the party the other night along with some Japanese style country music. I couldn’t believe most everyone knew the words to the songs even though they were in English. They could sing along to the songs but they had no idea what they were saying! At the front of stage there was a huge section blocked off for line dancing. The Japanese are heavily into line dancing rather than couples dancing because line dancing doesn’t leave someone without a partner out. The rest of the bands performed on the huge stage one after another. Meanwhile, I was signing autographs like crazy. There was a local dude ranch that brought in their horses for the Japanese to sit on. Of course everyone requested that Miss Rodeo Montana sit on a horse. I did and, although I felt kind of silly because they had to hold the horse and they didn’t even have a bridle on this horse, dozens of people came by to take pictures which promoted our booth even more. I had an unexpected radio interview at our booth and it served to be another interesting one. Mako translated for me and she told me that the first question would be, What do you think of Japan? I was used to this question by now and when it was time to air I responded with a nice response. “I love it here; the mountains remind me of the mountains in Montana. I am having a wonderful time…etc” I continued on but noticed the interviewer was getting a confused look on her face and Mako looked like she wanted me to stop so she could translate. I stopped and looked at Mako to translate and she smiled and said, “Actually, she was just saying hello.” That was the only communication problem I had with the translation during my entire stay. I thought that was pretty good!

Towards the middle of the concert I was whisked backstage. I mingled with the bands, sponsors, and Charlie while I waited to go on stage to speak. I felt just like I was one of the country stars. We were escorted up to the stage by the stage crew, Lt. Governor Bohlinger spoke first and Myuki translated for him. I was next on stage in front of 25,000 people (with my chaps on of course) I had to take a minute to soak it all in. I said “Hello everyone! My name is Megan Hardy, Miss Rodeo Montana. I would like to welcome you all to the Montana booth” ALL in Japanese!! I was so proud of myself for not even needing a translator. The crowd went wild at the sound of Miss Rodeo speaking in Japanese. It is a moment I will never forget! I spent the rest of the evening back stage talking with the bands and even Mark Chesnut. When our bus came to take us back to the hotel I was over stimulated and exhausted, but what a day!

Monday was the last day we would be spending in Japan. Everyone was showing their exhaustion but we still had a lot of things to see. We visited Mount Aso, an active volcano. It had been closed for 3 days prior to our visit because the toxic gas it was emitting was too dangerous for tourists. They opened it that morning but we had only been there about 10 minutes before they sounded alarms to evacuate the volcano because the gas started pouring out of the volcano again. It was chaos taking the shuttles back down from the mountain and I could tell that the gas was toxic. When you inhaled it felt as though your lungs were swelling. A cool experience but I wouldn’t do it twice!

We then went to the headwaters of the local river. It wasn’t the same as the headwaters around here. You can actually see the water boiling up from the earth. People are welcome to come and fill water bottles and use it as drinking water. I thought it would be cool to drink fresh Japanese water too! Next, we went to eat at a local restaurant and when leaving we saw a local farmer loading his bales on the tiniest hay truck I have ever seen. Of course the group of Montanan’s was fascinated and we all stopped to take pictures of this farmer. After lunch we went to a local market to see how beef was marketed locally and while there I noticed a very random, mean looking, goat atop of a hill on a golf course. Once again, I felt a picture was needed. As people stared we could always play the tourist card! The commute to Fukaoka airport, where we would be flying out of the next day, was about 2 hours but it was just more Japanese landscape to watch before having to leave the next day.

We flew out the next day and the flight home seemed longer but it gave me a chance to reflect on what I just took place in. What an opportunity for a 23 year-old college student to be involved in an international delegation. I will never forget my trip of a lifetime to Japan. I never could have experience Japan in the same way if I had just been a tourist. I recommend Japan for a vacation to anyone but I suggest you have a translator with you and “While in Japan do as the Japanese do!!!”

Japan still...

2007-11-14T09:14:00.001-07:00

Friday morning the delegation and I took a street car to Sujenji Park, the place for tea and worship for the Japanese Lords. The street cars run on rails down the center of the main streets in Kumamoto which limits an already crowded street but is very nice for public transportation. The park was breathtaking and very peaceful. Walking through with the Montana delegation I attracted a lot of attention from Japanese tourists. I would see Japanese ladies in traditional Kimonos and want a picture with them but they would want a picture with a girl in traditional western wear!

Meanwhile, I was still adjusting to the Japanese every day way-of-life. I found myself constantly ducking when going into places to eat or to shop to avoid hitting my head on the ceilings and I was still trying to get in on the wrong side of the car. The toilets fascinated me for the entire 10 days I was there. A Japanese style toilet is basically a porcelain whole in the floor and the Western style toilets were the opposite – very high tech! Some of them would make a waterfall sound when you sat on them and others would have heated seats.

After the park I was whisked away for another TV interview. This was by far the most interesting of all my interviews. The reporter interviewing me was dressed up as a clown and wanted me to rope him. The interesting thing was not only that I had to rope this strangely dressed clown but the language barrier seemed to grow with this certain reporter. I am not sure if that is possible but he was very dramatic with his movements and talked so loud he was almost yelling. I kept thinking he was saying something very urgent because he was shouting but I couldn’t ever respond for several minutes because of the translation. Anyway, it was an interesting interview to say the least but I am proud to say that I roped him successfully in 2 rehearsals and on live TV!

I was very excited for Friday night. The delegation and I attended a private concert at Good Time Charlie’s bar in downtown Kumamoto. All of the bands that would be performing at Country Gold gave us a taste of what we would be hearing on Sunday. Charlie Nagatani is the owner of the bar and the creator of Country Gold. He is a Japanese country singing legend! It was really neat being in his bar and seeing pictures of him at the Grand ‘Ol Opry, with the President, and huge country singers like Garth Brooks and George Strait. He did his own rendition of country classics like “Tiger by the Tail”. I couldn’t believe how talented Charlie and the Cannonballs were. The last band to perform that night was headliner Mark Chesnutt. I sang along as he played his hits. He was going to quit before playing “Bubba Shot the Jukebox” but I requested it before he left the stage and he willingly sang it, just for me! After the bands were done playing we stayed awhile to chat and get to know them all. What an amazing experience to be that close to country superstars like Mark Chesnutt!

Saturday was the last day in Kumamoto before everyone headed to Mount Aso for Country Gold. My last TV interview was that morning and Myuki, my translator, and I were somewhat relieved to be on the last leg of interviews. The afternoon was spent shopping and commuting about 2 hours to Mount Aso. The entire delegation was anxiously awaiting the arrival at our Traditional Japanese hotel because we had heard so much about it. We all knew we would be experiencing some very new and different customs in the next two days.

The drive to the mountain was breathtaking. I would compare it to Western Montana landscape in some ways. It is very mountainous and green even in October. We passed small fields of rice but rarely saw a ranch with cattle or horses. The hotel was tucked away on the side of the mountain and because of the size everyone would be sharing rooms. I shared a room with Kristi Pettis from the Northern Ag Network. We had a great time experiencing the Japanese traditional style of living together! We were briefed on the way there the proper way to bathe and eat. Walking into the bedroom I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The bedroom had no beds; we were to sleep on Japanese style “sleeping bags” on the floor. The room was lacking a shower, or so we thought. Going out the back door you would find a handheld shower head and a stool to sit on while cleansing yourself before taking a bath in the natural hot springs bathtub. It was by far the coolest thing in Japan! Each room had their own personal hot spring bathtub or you could go to the community hot springs down the hall. I stuck with my personal one and never felt so clean and relaxed.

Dinner was a major production. We sat on the floor to eat all seven of our courses. I found that if you aren’t a small Asian you get pretty stiff sitting on the floor regardless of how young you are! Once again I was hesitant in trying anything because it all looked so raw, and it was. Because I didn’t want to offend the chef, I forced myself to try as much as I could. Thank goodness I had snacks back in the room accompanied with a Sprite to settle my stomach later. On the menu among other things was: raw horse meat, raw beef, and sea weed in many forms. They brought in the horse meat for the special occasion of us being there; horse meat is a rare delicacy. Special entertainment was also provided during dinner. Traditional Japanese dancers who usually only perform in Shrines came in to dance just for us. I love to see different styles of dance so that was pretty neat for me to see and hear. The next morning would be Country Gold. I couldn’t wait!

More Japan...

2007-11-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

I continued on Thursday with multiple media interviews and other appearances. I met the rest of the Montana delegation before my day started. There were about 10 of them including Lt. Govenor John Bohlinger and state Senator Greg Barkas. I was very relieved to see some fellow Montanans on the trip! After brief introductions, Myuki and I left for the International Center that was host to the Montana Club. The Montana Club is basically a bunch of Japanese that work for the trade office and this year we were celebrating the 25th anniversary of the sister state relationship between Montana and Kumamoto City. I was pretty excited when I arrived because I found more people spoke English! I listened to a Japanese rendition of the Montana state song, watched Japanese line dancers and I even got to take part in the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Myuki and I had some extra time so she took me to a traditional Japanese craft store. I saw a lot of really unique things so I made sure I brought some back home with me for gifts. After a little shopping, I attended a briefing on Montana-Japan trade. It was an incredible feeling being involved in such an important meeting about beef trade in Montana and the US. I couldn’t believe I was taking part in something like that! In September of 2001, the first case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) was confirmed in Japan. The following month, the entire nation of Japan implemented 100-percent blanket testing on all of its cattle slaughtered for beef. Naturally, this halted the export from the US to Japan. Now Japan’s beef consumption has not only been cut but the majority of the beef they consume is from Australia. If you haven’t tasted the difference in beef between different countries, you should. You would be surprised the difference and realize just how lucky we are to have delicious US beef! The agriculture on Kyushu Island (the island of Kumamoto) is extensive—ranking number one in all of Japan’s prefectures (equivalent to state government) in the production of many fruits and vegetables, as well and rice. Most of the rice harvest was completed just prior to our trip. However, we were able to see harvested fields and the making of rice straw bales. The fruit tasted amazing! After dinner one night they brought in a platter of fruit for us to eat. Before I realized it I had eaten almost an entire cantaloupe. When someone pointed out how much I had eaten Mako noted that one cantelope cost 4,000 yen, that is $40!!!

By Thursday afternoon after the meeting I was beginning to feel sick again. The combination of all the new things I was experiencing started to get to my delicate stomach. I had more interviews that afternoon so I barred my teeth and got through them. It was my first experience going to a TV station in Japan. It was not what I had expected at all. Up to that point I noticed everything in Japan was colors of grey and black. That changes when you get to a TV station I learned. The walls and floors are all brightly painted and the TV anchors often where costume-like outfits. This particular TV crew was very interested in my outfit. During the live taping I looked up at the monitor at one point and noticed they were filming my boots! They had a map of the US and I pointed to where Montana was and was able to say a few words in Japanese. The television interviews would prove to get even more interesting as the week went on.
That night I missed a small social engagement with the rest of the Montana group because I wasn’t feeling well. I drank Sprite to settle my stomach and a little vanilla ice cream made me feel slightly better to have something familiar. At this point in the week I was really struggling because it was nearly impossible to find relief, someone or something that I could relate with. The next morning I experienced the relief I was hoping for. I was joined by the rest of the Montana delegation who could speak English, felt the same about the food we were eating, and they were all just as excited to be in a different country!

Japan Continued...

2007-11-07T10:11:00.001-07:00

I awoke on Wednesday morning feeling like myself again. The extra day to adjust to everything really helped. It was a good thing because my schedule started getting pretty intense with interviews and other visits around Kumamoto City. My very fist thing Wednesday was a visit at one of the local High Schools. I would have 30 minutes to present which ended up being 15 minutes because of the translation. I had prepared a 15 minute speech before I left Bozeman to send on to my interpreter, Myuki. The speech was a very simple overview of rodeo, how it was started and what is involved in a rodeo. Most Japanese have never seen a horse much less seen a rodeo so to remain simple was key. I arrived at the school and the first thing I was not prepared for was to take off my boots! Good thing I am always very particular about making sure my socks match with no holes! As soon as I entered the room where the 100+ students were waiting I was greeted with cameras, video cameras, and newspaper reporters. I felt like the President!

My speech went well although by the middle of it the principal stopped me because he and the rest of the class just wanted to look at the pictures I had brought. I was relieved because giving a 15 minute speech sounded pretty boring, even to me. The students loved the pictures of me riding in rodeos, and of the different events of rodeo. At the end of my presentation they opened the room to questions. As a culture, the Japanese are pretty shy so no one really wanted to ask questions. I can say that Japanese High School boys respond the same to a pretty girl as American High School boys, I had a few requests for boyfriends that morning! The class presented a huge bouquet of beautiful Japanese flowers for me. This was just one gesture that showed just how gracious they were for having me in their school.

Later that day I had 2 newspaper interviews and one radio interview. The interviews are conducted in much the same way as in the US but of course I had a translator with me at all times! The most frequent question I got asked was what do I think of Japan. My response was always, everything is so much smaller here! During my interviews I always tried to learn a new word or phrase in Japanese which they always really liked. The one newspaper article showed up the next day on the front page of the newspaper I got at my hotel! Although, I didn’t realize it was the front page because they fold their papers backwards, so instead of opening the newspaper to the left you open it to the right.

Wednesday I also got to visit Kumamoto castle. It is this enormous castle right in the center of Kumamoto City where a Japanese Lord used to live. Unfortunately, because of time, I didn’t get to have a real tour of the castle so I didn’t completely understand the history but it was pretty cool to visit anyway. I also found a Starbuck’s coffee, I was very excited to see something familiar to me. We ate at a Japanese style Chinese restaurant which isn’t quite the same as American Chinese food but it had fried rice and shrimp so I didn’t starve during that meal!

Thursday was another busy day but it didn’t start until later in the morning so I could catch up on some needed sleep. Although I was getting used to the language barrier and not being able to communicate, it was still hard sometimes. For instance, I was in the elevator going to the lobby to meet my translator and there was a nice Japanese lady in there with me. She was instantly distracted by my Miss Rodeo Montana outfit and wanted to talk to me and of course she didn’t speak English. She was talking 90 miles a minute in Japanese and gesturing, I really had no idea what she was saying so I just smiled. I finally figured out that she wanted a picture with me and we met her husband in the lobby. We took 6 or 7 pictures all in different locations in the hotel with them talking Japanese the whole way like I could understand every word. I have no explanation as to why we had to keep moving other than they wanted a different background for each picture. You can just imagine me with a smile plastered on my face being tugged around the hotel lobby by a Japanese couple so excited to meet Miss Rodeo Montana. After that, I told my translator maybe she should walk me all the way to my door!

Japan

2007-11-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

My trip began on October 14th where I was scheduled to fly out of Bozeman to Seattle and into Tokyo. I was a nervous wreck for my first international flight. Did I have enough snacks? Did I have enough entertainment? Did I forget anything? Those were just a few of the thousands of thoughts that ran through my head as I checked into the airport. For a queen to be gone 10 days would require a lot of luggage! I had 2 very large, heavy bags, my hat can, purse and a medium sized bag. Looking back on that I wish I had packed a bit differently because we would be changing airports and hotels many, many times; packing all those bags around got old, fast. Anyway, as I checked in the counter at the Bozeman airport they immediately told me there were no planes landing or going out of Seattle. I thought it was going to be the beginning of a very long trip to Japan. It turned out the cause was fog which burned off within 20 minutes and our plane left without arriving too late. I made my connection and I was on my way to Tokyo!

The flight to Tokyo was about 9 hours and wasn’t nearly as bad as I imagined it would be. I entertained myself by reading, playing games and watching movies. Before I knew it we were in Tokyo. I met up with Marty Earnheart from the MT Dept. of Ag. She had just returned from another beef promotion trip in Russia. Marty and I spent the night in Tokyo and transferred airports to fly into Kumamoto City in the morning. There is a 15 hour difference from Montana to Japan. So Monday morning in Japan was Sunday night in Montana. The jet lag hit me as soon as I arrived in Japan. I wasn’t able to sleep so the mornings came pretty early. After breakfast Marty and I were on a plane to Kumamoto City where we met up with Mako. Mako is a Japanese lady that works for the Montana Dept of Commerce. She is the coolest lady!

I didn’t have to be in Japan long before I noticed the cultural difference. You must bow as a courtesy when you greet someone. The Japanese are very gracious people so there is generally quite a bit of bowing! I kept noticing things about the Japanese that seemed so strange to me but was very normal to them. Things like, the colors they wear are usually limited to greys and blacks, everything is smaller, people drive on the "wrong" side of the road, clocks on the walls and trash cans on the sidewalk are few and far between. I had to learn quickly to look right first before crossing the street or you will get flattened! The language barrier was more difficult to deal with than I imagined it would be. Not only because I can’t understand the spoken word but I can’t even sound out the written word. The Japanese characters used to spell are impossible to understand. As I walked down the sidewalk I would not know a bank from a restaurant. These are all things I learned to adapt to quickly. I soon realized I just had to be patient and my translator would tell me if she thought it was important otherwise, I asked questions when I saw something really outrageous!

Marty and I spent Tuesday with Mako and trying to get past our jet lag. I have never seen the ocean before and this was something the Japanese thought was pretty strange about me mainly because regardless of where you are in Japan it was 45 minutes at the most to the ocean. Mako was very excited to take us to the ocean where went for a hike in a national park that overlooked a city called Amaksa with a beautiful shoreline view. The ocean was everything I expected it to be!

By this time in my trip, Tuesday evening, I started getting pretty hungry; because the food was so different I hadn’t eaten a lot. The first thing they asked me when I got to Japan was “Are you a picky eater?” I refused to think I was but after my trip to Japan I can easily embrace the term! I don’t like a lot of fish and I don’t like a lot of pork; beef is not a common dish! The combination of the jet lag, which makes you feel like you have the flu, the lack of food, and just the adjustment of a new country resulted in me getting kind of sick, and it wouldn't be the last time during my trip that I didn't feel well. I was able to eat some of the snacks I brought with me and went to bed. In the morning I felt much better although I was still pretty tired. I had first wondered why Marty and I arrived a day earlier than the rest of the Montana delegation and I was informed that it is really nice to have that extra day to adjust to everything. Since I had such an intense schedule, I am really glad that it was scheduled that way! I will continue my trip, be sure to check back later!

MRM Update

2007-11-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

First off, I apologize for not keeping you all up-to-date with my latest travels. It seems like things have been crazy busy since I have returned from Japan. I am currently preparing for my send-off party tour. This past weekend was the send-off to Vegas parties in Billings and Bozeman. I will be having one this coming weekend, the 10th, in Wolf Point at the Sherman and the following weekend, the 17th, in Great Falls at the Hampton. The parties are a preparation for the Miss Rodeo America pageant. I model some of the clothes I will be wearing in Vegas, giving my speech, and answering impromptu questions. The Billings and Bozeman parties went very well. Thank you to Sarah Capp and Linda Rest for putting them on. All are welcome to my last two parties in Wolf Point and Great Falls!

I am sure everyone is curious to hear about my trip to Japan. To say the very least, it was the trip of a lifetime. I have hundreds of pictures and dozens of stories from the 10 days I spent there. I could type for days all of the neat things I saw and the new things I experienced. Being able to travel to Japan with a delegation from Montana was an experience in itself. I will be posting a new blog with a better day-to-day recap of my trip. I welcome you all to check back frequently this week to hear all about Japan!

Bon Voyage!

2007-10-10T17:35:00.001-06:00

Hello everybody! I am vigorously preparing for the Miss Rodeo America pageant. Clothes are coming in and I am studying morning, noon and night. If you think you can stump me I always like a fresh question so send them on!
My good friend Miss Rodeo Wyoming, Crystal Rivers, came up to Bozeman to visit me and study together. We had such a great time hanging out. She had never been duck hunting so I made sure she got to experience the thrill of dressing in camo and hunting birds. She had fun and we made sure we both had all ten fingers and toes by the time the shot guns were put away!
In just a few days I will be leaving for Japan. I can not wait to experience my very first over seas trip! I am a little nervous about the flight but once I get over there I know I will have a blast. I hope to keep a journal while I am over there so I can fill everyone in on what I did. I will be gone for ten whole days. Bon Voyage!!

Billings Horse Sale

2007-09-25T08:42:00.000-06:00

It turned out to be yet another interesting weekend for me in Billings. I spent all of last week at home in Wolf Point with my mom and dad. We got to ride, work with colts and of course spend some quality family time. It was nice because I have been traveling so much that I haven’t been able to see much of my family this year; they always seem to be going the opposite direction as me!

On Friday of this last weekend we were headed to Billings for their monthly horse sale. My mom was selling her weanling colts and some mares and I was auctioning off a Toby Capp bronze for a fundraiser. It was going to be a crazy weekend and that’s exactly how it ended up. Since we were selling so many horses we had two trailer loads to haul. I hauled one load and my dad the other. I was driving the Miss Rodeo Montana pickup that my sister and I fondly call Forest. Well Forest didn’t make it to Billings unfortunately. Now the load I was hauling was pretty heavy but there were semi’s passing me up a hill about ten miles east of Miles City, so I knew something was wrong. I found a place I could pull over in the middle of nowhere and turned my pickup off. When I turned it back on it was blowing white exhaust. Not a good sign! Thankfully my dad was with me and I left it in his hands not knowing what to do. It wasn’t safe to drive so we had to leave the pickup with my name and Miss Rodeo Montana written all over it stranded on the side of the interstate. A few phone calls were made (thanks to the modern cell phone convenience) and one of my sponsors, Rathert-Fox Ford, drove all the way from Wolf Point to where my pickup was stranded to not only bring us a new pickup to haul the trailer load of colts to Billings but also towed Forest back to the shop in Wolf Point to get worked on. A huge thank you goes to Bill Rathert for going out of your way to help me and my family out. We got to Billings much later than we wanted to but at least we got there! I am just glad it happened when I wasn’t traveling alone!

Saturday was the horse sale and I helped my family prep the colts to sell and we all had a pretty good time. We sell our colts there every fall and it’s almost a tradition for us. With my brother and my sister both living in Billings now the whole Hardy family was together! I had a table outside the main entrance where I advertised my bronze and signed autographs. Thanks to BLS and Bill and Jan Parker for letting me do a fundraiser during their sale.

For an update on my vehicle situation, after a large number of people saw poor Forest either stranded or being towed and then parked at the shop, it’s not as bad as we first thought. I am still without a vehicle here in Bozeman and will probably be that way for awhile. But my pickup will be repaired soon!

Montana Fur Trappers Convention

2007-09-10T10:10:00.000-06:00

This was definitely an interesting trip to Lewistown. Lorissa and I were scheduled to leave Bozeman to go to Lewistown on Saturday morning at 9. It didn’t really work out that way because as Lorissa will tell you, she had a bad Burger King experience that kept her feeling pretty ill that morning. Due to our late departure I drove the necessary speed it took to get us there as close to on time as we could while Lorissa slept off her flu. Luckily I made it there just about at the time we needed to be there and went to the Yogo Hotel where we were told the convention would be taking place this year. Lewistown was flooded with Choke Cherry Festival go-ers so we had to take a detour to get to the hotel. Once we got there no one knew anything about the Fur Trappers so we were left to find the Fur Trappers in the small town of Lewistown amidst all of the Choke Cherry people. Finally we discovered they were at the Fairgrounds and when we arrived…we were early! Whew, thank goodness!

The convention was filled with fun activities for all ages. They had trapping contests for men, women, and kids. Unfortunately, Lorissa and I didn’t get a trap setting lesson before we went and since we value our fingers we chose not to partake in that event. But there were some pretty fast times! We also got to see a beaver get skinned which was fascinating, once you got past the smell. The ever-so-famous skillet toss was pretty fun. The skillet wasn’t nearly as heavy as I thought it was going to be so we were able to throw it pretty far.

After the games and demonstrations was the fashion show and banquet. Lorissa and I got to model fur coats from Paparazzi Fur. The coats we modeled would be up for a drawing later in the evening. My favorite coat was a white sheared and bleached beaver; it was even featured in the magazine Vogue! Neither Lorissa nor I won the drawing but it was a lot of fun to wear the coats. After we helped with the live auction we left the fairgrounds and couldn’t believe that it was snowing! Thankfully for me, I didn’t have to drive in a snow storm the next morning. The hotel we stayed out was a little old but the room was very big. Good thing Lorissa and I like each other because it was one small bed for two queens! The room was very cold and neither one of us knew how to run the propane heater so for fear we would turn it on and gas ourselves to death we decided to bear the freezing cold and bundle up in whatever we had in our bags! Both of us made it through the night but we were both ready to be back in Bozeman on Sunday. I had a great time and I think Lorissa did too, even though it was quite an interesting day. Thanks to the Hebbe’s for being so generous to us all year and all evening. It was so nice getting to talk to them and listen to all of their fun stories!

Ellensburg, Washington

2007-09-05T14:00:00.000-06:00

What a week! I was in Ellensburg, Washington for eight days for the rodeo and Miss Rodeo Washington pageant. They kept me pretty busy during my stay. I arrived on Sunday evening in time for the pageant pajama party where I met all of the contestants running for Teen and Miss. There were 4 in both categories and after spending a week with them I am pretty happy that I am not a queen in Washington. These girls were amazing.

The pajama party was fun as always and everyone should be proud to know that I took 2nd place in the Chubby Bunny competition, fitting six huge marshmallows in my mouth and still being able to mutter “I’m a chubby bunny!” The next few days were packed with pageant activities. I got to do a queen buzz during their horsemanship competition. Unfortunately, I was put on the horse that was rejected to the queen draw because he couldn’t carry flags. Little did I know he doesn’t like queen buzzes either because I soon as I got in the arena he immediately started bucking. I was able to ride him and keep waving at the same time so he must not have been bucking that hard. Later in the week we all had lunch at one of the Miss Rodeo Washington board member’s house. We were fed great all week but this lunch was special because Santa happens to have a workshop in Ellensburg and this is his busiest time of the year. He requested the rodeo queens to help out wrapping presents! He is definitely a busy guy but a smart one too for asking 10 or so girls help wrap Christmas gifts! We wrapped a ton and felt like we were a really big help.

The girls competing had the most amazing clothes provided by Riding High USA from right there in Washington. They were all dressed fit to compete at Miss Rodeo America and I couldn’t believe how polished they were. The style show was incredible. Their theme was “Pink Acres” and the association donated most of the proceeds to a local girl diagnosed with cancer. I even got to tell a joke during the Hee Haw portion of the show, “How many Montana State Freshman does it take to screw in a light bulb?” “None, that’s a sophomore course!” That was my only line and I nailed it! I was pretty proud of myself and even though my role was small, it was definitely a crowd pleaser!

The rodeo started on Friday and that was also the day of coronation. It was the closest pageant I have ever watched; the judges really had a tough job throughout the week. Congratulations to Mandy Melovich, the new teen, and Jessica Crouch, the 2008 Miss Rodeo Washington, they will both do an outstanding job next year. The rodeo in Ellensburg was pretty big and it attracted the top cowboys in the standings. Each day I felt like I was at Tour Finale rodeo because of the cowboys and also the stock. There were a total of 7 or 8 stock contractors who brought only the best bulls and broncs. The day of the finals I got to see the 3-time bucking horse of the year, Grated Coconut and his mom buck.

The girls and I rode in the huge grand entry and had a queen buzz every day. There were at least 150 people in the grand entries. We would enter at a fast lope and make it all the way around the arena and then slow down a bit, following the person in front of you, doing a serpentine pattern around 4 people stationed with American flags. I was very well mounted all weekend. Gary Rempel was a pickup man there so I rode his horses all weekend and during the parade. Sunday served to be an interesting grand entry for me. I was riding Gary’s horse Quizno and as we make our first buzz around the arena, my stirrup leather broke! The stirrup fell clean off into the arena dirt and my fender was hanging, slapping poor Quizno in the knee. He didn’t seem to mind at all and we finished the buzz and serpentine with one stirrup. Thank goodness Gary had another horse saddled for me to ride for my queen buzz after bareback.

I was amazed at how many people showed up to the parade on Saturday! It was the biggest one, by far, of the year…including Cheyenne. Ellensburg is a town of only about 30,000 people but Seattle is only 100 miles away and Spokane isn’t real far either. Labor Day is the official end to summer so now I progress my preparation for the Miss Rodeo America pageant. If you have any good impromptu questions, rodeo knowledge or something you think you can stump me on, I need all the practice I can get. Send ‘em on! Next week Lorissa and I go to Lewistown to visit the Montana Trappers Association. I am glad to be back in Montana!

Clothes for sale!!!

2007-08-22T14:35:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone. Since I have a whole week to get some “housekeeping” stuff done before I am back on the road I am beginning to get my wardrobe ready for Miss Rodeo America. I have a lot of clothes that I can’t or won’t be wearing anymore or haven’t worn all year! If there is anyone interested in seeing what I have for sale please contact me! I have a variety of quality from princess on up and I have everything from dresses, skirts, jackets, and arena shirts and boots up to my neck! I wear a size 7-8 in boots, a size 7x36/34 or 9x36/34 in jeans, and medium jackets and shirts. I will try and start getting some pictures of some of the stuff I am selling and I can post them on here or email them to you. You can call me at (406) 209-1931 or email me at missrodeomt07@hotmail.com. Please help me get some of this stuff off my hands!!!!

Also, my family has a package deal on NFR tickets. We have 4 tickets for all 10 days of the rodeo and we are selling what we aren’t using to whoever would like them. They are balcony tickets and going fast! Please let me know what night and how many tickets you would like and we will reserve them for you. They will be waiting for you when you get to Vegas!

North Western Fair and Pro Rodeo

2007-08-20T19:14:00.000-06:00

Well I am finally home now for about a week between events for Miss Rodeo Montana. I just returned from Kalispell where the Northwestern fair, rodeo and pageant took place. After traveling through the smoke where visibility was down to only a half a mile with some delays I arrived in Kalispell with a heavy heart from the sights of my beautiful state on fire.

Thursday night was the first night of Kessler rodeo in Kalispell. I met up with Bob Tallman, the talented NFR announcer, and we caught up since seeing him last in Calgary. The rodeo went great every night. All the Little Miss, Princess and Queen contestants participated and were announced every night which they all enjoyed immensely! Friday morning was the parade. What a turnout! Kalispell and the surrounding communities really take pride in their week of fair and rodeo and it is evident. After the rodeo that night the contestants, parents, committee members and myself had a pizza party where we all shared our most memorable and embarrassing stories of being a queen or queen contestant. It was a ball listening to all the girls’ stories and it was obvious that those girls were having a good time getting to know each other. I didn’t realize it but I have A LOT of embarrassing moments as Miss Rodeo Montana. I think everyone was pretty entertained that night!

Saturday the coronation was held and I have to say it was my first coronation that I have attended in a sale barn! It was a great venue to have it though because they got a pretty good crowd. Congratulations to all of the girls who won the titles and everyone who competed. The newly crowned girls were announced that night at the rodeo and I enjoyed showing them the “ropes” of chasing out cattle and helping where we were needed during the rodeo. Saturday night was also pretty special because once again Fred Whitfield made an appearance during the performance. He has made it to a handful of Montana rodeos this summer and each time he’s in the performance he is willing to meet fans and sign autographs. Overall I had a really nice time in Kalispell. Driving back to Bozeman I was again a little sad the fires have not let up. Please keep the people working on the fires in your thoughts and let’s all pray for rain!

Montana Fairs!

2007-08-14T16:52:00.000-06:00

Oh my goodness I have been so busy lately I don’t know if I am coming or going! It’s been two weeks since I have even had time to write on my blog! In the past two weeks I have made a complete circle of the Big Sky state. You never know how big Montana really is until you spend the majority of the time on the highway. I was first in Great Falls for the State Fair, Big Sky Pro Rodeo Roundup and the Roundup Queen pageant. I was kept very busy but I had one of my favorite queens to assist me in my appearances, Miss Rodeo America, Ashley Andrews. Ashley and I have known each other since high school so it was great getting to hang out with her again. The girls running in the pageant had a great opportunity to ask her all sorts of questions about what she does and her experiences as MRA.

The rodeo went great each night. I was on my favorite queen horse, Cisco again and got to hang out with Sue and Bailey Thompson which is always a great time. Congratulations to Kirsten, Tiffany, and Jennika on winning 2007-2008 Big Sky Pro Rodeo royalty. Lorissa was there to help with the pageant too but unfortunately we didn’t get to see much of each other because our schedules didn’t line up the same.

I was home for one day until I drove to Missoula for their fair and pageant. I went a day early to be at the Auto Spa for a mini-fundraiser. They gave me $1 for every car that was washed that day. At this point in my year that is wonderful because every dollar matters! Thanks Auto Spa! I felt right at home staying at Laura Bakker’s house with her two little dogs. We had a great time while I was there. The contestants had a BBQ and kicked off the fair by all of us riding the Merry-Go-Round at the carnival. I am glad they picked that ride because I am pretty sure my stomach couldn’t handle anything faster than that! Wednesday night was the PBR and I carried the American Flag. It was an almost sold out performance and of course Flint Rasmussen was there to entertain the crowd.

The rest of the fair and rodeos flew by! Lorissa and I were kept pretty busy emceeing the style show and horsemanship portion of the pageant, hosting kiddie rodeos, signing autographs, and even handing out cake at the Wells Fargo bank. I tried my best not to raise to much controversy over the fact that I was in Grizzly country but I couldn’t help but say “Go Bobcats”, during the style show. I definitely wasn’t the most popular emcee at that point! Friday night was coronation for the contestants and congratulations to all the girls who won, Leslie, Reagan, Skylar, and Hannah. All of our new Montana royalty are going to represent the state and rodeo very well all year!

Saturday Lorissa and I drank a lot of coffee in order to drive all the way to Glasgow for their North East Montana Fair and rodeo. We witnessed a different kind of kiddie rodeo at the fair grounds. Instead of barrels and roping they had greased pig race and a chicken race where the kids had to catch a greased pig and chickens and put them in a barrel. It was pretty entertaining to watch but the best part was when a pig got out of the pen and ran through the arena and into the fair with a herd of kids chasing after him. Thankfully the pig farmer didn’t have to cut his profit because the kids finally caught him somehow. We put on a standard kiddie rodeo at the Elderly Home in Glasgow. One of my favorite parts of being Miss Rodeo Montana is visiting with the residents; they are always so happy to see a smiling girl. My sister, Vanessa, brought in her horse Topaz for me to ride during the rodeo so I was very well mounted once again! Kirsten, the new Miss Big Sky Pro Rodeo Queen, Lorissa and I carried flags at the rodeos and helped Tessa Weifrich chase cattle out of the arena. I had a pretty good time because Glasgow is practically home for me being only 45 miles west of Wolf Point. So of course I ran into many people who were glad to see me so close to home again.

Last Chance Stampede

2007-07-31T09:16:00.000-06:00

I am definitely in the middle of the busiest time of my summer. I am sitting in my hotel room in Great Falls waiting for the State Fair and Big Sky Pro Rodeo festivities to begin. The Last Chance Stampede just wrapped up this weekend and boy did I like that rodeo!

I drove up on Wednesday morning to help out with the stick horse rodeo that took place at Capital Sports and Western Wear. There were so many kids that showed up in the 90 degree heat; what a great turn out! They participated in the barrels, roping, and bull riding. That morning I also met Libby, Miss Last Chance Stampede Rodeo and Fair. She is only 15 but shows a lot of promise and interest in getting more involved with the queen pageants. Thursday morning was the official kick off to stampede weekend that started with a kid’s parade. I always enjoy the kid’s parades because you get to see everyone dressed up like its Halloween! At the conclusion of the parade they drew to give out brand new bikes! Another great turnout brought several hundred kids to the park to participate and Lorissa and I signed a lot of autographs. It was also good to see Kirsten, Miss Big Sky Pro Rodeo Princess, who was in town for just one day.

Every night proved to be a great rodeo combined with Kesler stock, 2005 Announcer of the Year, Wayne Brooks and rodeo clown, Brian Potter. Sue and Bailey Thompson of Western Sky Equine brought down horses for all of us girls. I was reunited with Cisco and love him even more every time I ride him! The parade was on Saturday and I think I am getting used to being able to sit in the blazing sun with chaps on without feeling like I am going to pass out! After the parade I went to one of my favorite sponsors, Murdoch's, to sign autographs at their store in Helena. I think I did more shopping than signing!! That night at the rodeo Lorissa and I didn’t realize it but parked next to Fred Whitfield and his travel partner. It was great seeing such a legendary cowboy make an appearance in Helena. I returned to Bozeman that night after the rodeo.

While I was in Cheyenne I was very disappointed that I was going to miss the Thunderbirds air show. The queens got to go but I had to leave before the show. Well it must have been meant to be because this weekend the Blue Angels air show was in Bozeman and flying on Sunday; the one day I was going to be home! I wasn’t going to miss it for anything. They were well worth sitting in the 100 degree heat. I can not imagine what an adrenaline rush it must be to fly one of the FA-18 jets! If you ever have the opportunity to see an air show I strongly suggest taking advantage. It’s an experience I can’t describe in words. It’s truly amazing what those pilots and their planes can do!

The Daddy of 'em All

2007-07-24T17:22:00.000-06:00

I only have a day to update everyone on my trip to Cheyenne before I am gone to the Helena Last Chance Stampede. I had a wonderful time in Cheyenne the past week. Before I went, Lorissa and I met up in Billings to attend the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame scholarship awards BBQ. We got to see top high school cowboys and cowgirls get awarded with scholarships from the Hall of Fame. They award opportunities for the seniors every year through these scholarships and the amount just get better every year.

I stayed with my brother in Billings that night and began the trip to Cheyenne the next day. You wouldn’t think it would be such a long drive but I felt much like I was driving across eastern Montana again as the only landmarks for miles were the mile marker signs and sagebrush! I arrived at my host family in time to unpack and pick up Miss Rodeo Tennessee to head over to a BBQ at Esther’s, the gal who would be taking care of us all week. I got to meet some girls I hadn’t met before, Miss Rodeo Florida and the NEW Miss Rodeo Texas, Alyssa. We bonded instantly! I told of the southern queens that they rubbed off on me every time I went out of state because when I return to Montana I find myself saying “y’all” and “fixin’ to”!

Friday morning was the rodeo queen luncheon. The Cheyenne Frontier Day’s queens were the hostesses. I have never seen so many queens in my life! There were only eight of us state queens and the rest were up and coming queens and princesses from Wyoming and Colorado mostly. Someone said that there would be 60 some girls there! What a great sight it was to see so many girls that are the future of rodeo. The rest of the day was open to us girls to do some serious shopping. I tried my best to stay away from the Rickrageous booth! It was a great beginning to soak in the fact that I was at the legendary Daddy of ‘em All.
Saturday morning was kicked off by the parade. Harry Vold brought in his black horses for us to ride for the parades and rodeos. These horses are FAST but you would have never guessed it if you saw us in the parades. There were thousands of people that made it out for the occasion and people from all over the country were there. The population of Cheyenne is about 50,000 and they say that doubles every day during the Cheyenne Frontier Days. I could definitely see that happening as I walked through the parade and saw so many people lined up against the streets. After having lunch with some of the committee members we were ready to rodeo!

All of us state queens were going to be introduced in the “running grand entry”. They call it that for good reason. The rodeo arena is set up on the infield of the track with the track running all the way around it. It’s the biggest arena I have ever seen! Well, they run the grand entry not in the arena but on the track. The state queens perform the infamous “fly by.” The name is fitting because that is exactly what we did. We were on the fast Harry Vold horses that have been on the track doing this for many years and they get faster as the years and the days go by. I was last and of course Spanky, my horse, did not want to be the last one to the barn! He ran at break neck speed and I waved, although we were going so fast you might not have noticed that I actually was waving! I have ran barrels and poles all of my life but never have I gone quite as fast as the fly by’s in Cheyenne and never have I experienced such an adrenaline rush as when they announced my name as Miss Rodeo Montana at the Cheyenne Frontier Days as I am zooming past the crowd of 15,000 people. The guy helping us with our horses, Kip, came buy after the second day of fly by’s and commented to me, “Most people try to hold this one back but you just kind of rode the speed. I have never seen him or any of these horses go quite that fast. WOW!” What can I say; I have a need for speed!

Saturday and Sunday nights were the Reba McEntire concerts. Trisha Yearwood was opening for her and it was my first time to see both of them so I was pretty excited. The ladies were amazing in concert; all of us girls had such a blast! Reba even let us take a picture at the front of the stage. While she was singing she bent down to take a picture with all of us girls. It was such an incredible experience for me as you all know I get kind of star struck!

My last day in Cheyenne was Monday and we were up at dawn for the pancake breakfast. It was no ordinary breakfast though! There were thousands of people waiting already as early as 7am for pancakes! All of us girls got to introduce ourselves and cook pancakes. I was well practiced after my trip to Calgary! Later that morning we got to visit the Cheyenne Frontier Days Museum. It was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. As expected there were tributes to two of my very favorite cowboys, Lane Frost and Chris LeDoux. It was time for me to return home after that. Thank you to Cheyenne and everyone involved in the great production for having me and allowing me to be part of a legendary event!

Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede

2007-07-17T16:41:00.001-06:00

After what has probably been my busiest week so far this summer I am roasting in the heat in Bozeman trying to catch up on some sleep before I leave again. After Calgary I was home in Wolf Point for the much anticipated Wild Horse Stampede. As a rodeo competitor they always say that the toughest rodeo to compete in is your hometown rodeo. Even though I am a rodeo queen and not a competitor it’s not much different for us rodeo queens. I was overwhelmed with the attention I got in Wolf Point. Everyone who has ever met me or any member of my family was sure to say hello. It was so great getting to see so many of my neighbors, distant relatives, and old friends. I heard the phrases “You probably don’t remember me….” Or “Wow, you sure grew up fast, I knew you when you were in diapers” a lot!

On Thursday I did a radio spot and the rodeo that night. The Stampede has a history of being held on the hottest week of the summer and I think this year was no different. I think I sweat off an extra five pounds in the three days I was there. On Friday we had a parade and I had enough time to walk around and visit my sponsors before the rodeo. Many Wolf Point business have been so gracious in helping me out financially this year; one afternoon wasn’t enough time to thank everyone. That evening held another great rodeo by Brookman Rodeo Company. Everyone attending the rodeo got a pretty good laugh as once again my infamous ski story from Pocatello came up during the calf roping. I have to admit though, the story sounds much scarier when Dave Weifrich tells it the way he witnessed it! Saturday was the last day of the Stampede and in years past, Miss Rodeo Montana has not been able to stay for the last day because of the rodeo in Stanford. I was lucky and got to stay in my home town all three days. I am glad I did too because the Stick Horse Rodeo was Saturday. It’s always a pretty big event held at the Faith Luthern Elderly Care Home. I visited with some of the residents and of course the stick horse rodeo was a big hit. A special thank you to my A-Crew, Vanessa and Quinn, who helped me set up, tear down, and stay organized. It would have taken me twice as long if I hadn’t had the help! The daily parade was directly after the kid’s rodeo and the heat about did me in; I heard it got all the way up to 115 degrees! The last rodeo performance went smoothly and the weekend wasn’t over.

I was off at the crack of dawn again on Sunday for the Stanford rodeo. I was glad to see Lorissa and Jennika O’Neil there to help me with sponsor flags. It was once again an extremely hot rodeo but the queens survived! I would like to say a really big thank you to tie-down roper, Travis Caldwell for letting me use his horse and also to Dr. Gee for bringing in Lorissa’s horse and an extra horse if needed. I drove back to Bozeman that night and crashed immediately after my very long week. My adventures continue this week as I head down to “The Daddy of ‘Em All” the Cheyenne Frontier Days!

Calgary Stampede

2007-07-11T21:10:00.000-06:00

What an amazing past couple of days I have had! I just returned from the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta Canada. It was quite the drive to get there and an even longer drive to get back to my home town of Wolf Point for my next rodeo. To see the legendary Stampede was well worth the drive though!

I rested for a day or two after my fourth of July weekend and was off and running on a start of what is going to be a very busy month of July. I drove up to beautiful Wilsall to present the American flag for the Montana Reining Horse Association. What an honor it was to be involved in such a prestigious association in Montana. They were truly thankful for having me there and I got to visit with some old friends and meet new ones who were very eager to hear about what I have been up to. Leaving early Sunday morning and meeting up with my family in Shelby, close to the border, got us in Calgary just in time for my sister and I to take in our first Chuck Wagon Race experience. Who better to learn about it than from Jody who has been going to the Stampede with her husband, Gary, for about 15 years now! I was allowed one companion pass that got that person behind the scenes pretty much anywhere we wanted to go. My sister, Vanessa, was the lucky one out of the family that got to come with me. We were in awe of all the activity, new sights, and big name celebrities that were in our presence.

Monday morning was a pretty early morning for Vanessa and me. We were hosted that day which meant we were going to be driven around to different functions meeting people and seeing Calgary. Well not only was it about 40 degrees outside and sleeting but there was a slight mix up with the courtesy car that was supposed to pick us up. We ended up waiting for over an hour because someone crossed me off the list to be picked up! Everything got straightened out but we did need some extra time to warm up and a special thanks goes to the courtesy car drivers that picked up and dropped off my family and I the entire time we were there. That morning our hosts brought me and some of the Canadian royalty around to different pancake breakfasts to meet the public, we saw the history of the Calgary Stampede queens and walked around the Roundup center that had lots of good shopping!

Off to the rodeo after that! The Calgary Stampede is such a prestigious rodeo that the cowboys and cowgirls compete on invitation only. So prestigious that the one and only Dan Mortenson came out of retirement for this rodeo only and I happy to report he won the performance on Tuesday along with bull rider Beau Hill from Montana as well. It is not a PRCA or CPRA sanctioned rodeo yet but is on its way. This rodeo pays up to $1.75 million after the competition is over!! The format changed slightly this year to a tournament style rodeo where there are two groups of 10 competitors that ride 4 days in a row. After both groups ride they take the top 12 to the semi-finals round and the top 4 contestants for the final round. With our VIP passes Vanessa and I got to be right down in the middle of the action…my favorite place to be! I was introduced on stage in front of over 20,000 people that afternoon; what an experience. Later on that evening we took in the chuck wagon races again and the night show. The night show was like nothing I have ever seen before. It was 3 hours long but felt like 30 minutes. I felt like such a little kid again watching my first fireworks show. They had so many fireworks that the entire metropolis of Calgary had a plume of smoke above it. The night show had every sort of entertainment for the viewers, comedy, drama, singing, dancing, daring stunts…you name it! I was in such awe!!!

After the long and somewhat overwhelming day on Monday I needed a little time on Tuesday morning to sleep but the city of Calgary would have none of it. At 7am our hotel hosted a Tough Enough to Wear Pink benefit concert…right outside our hotel room window. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep in that morning! My family and I took in the rodeo again on Tuesday afternoon and walked around the grounds to see more of what the Stampede had to offer. I saw a dog show, a marching band competition, miniature horse show, miniature chuck wagon races, a cutting horse show, a break dancing competition, 2-time World Champion Indian hoola-hoop dancer and ate some good fried food off the mid-way! The experience in Calgary was definitely a memorable one. I was so honored to be there and represent my state of Montana across the border. With all of that in mind nothing could overshadow the excitement in appearing at my home town rodeo, the oldest rodeo in Montana, the Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede! Take care and God Bless.

Cowboy Christmas

2007-07-06T16:19:00.000-06:00

During what is known as Cowboy Christmas there is a total of $2.5 million prize money available at 32 sanctioned PRCA rodeos across the country. I was only able to make it to two of the 32 but that kept me plenty busy! I started out in Cody Wyoming at the Buffalo Bill Cody Stampede. What a blast it was too! I got to hang out and room with Crystal Rivers, Miss Rodeo Wyoming. We have been at several rodeos together before but in Cody we had a lot of time for some quality rodeo queen bonding by shopping in down town Cody! Ashley Andrews, Miss Rodeo America also met up with us later on Saturday. Our first event was the kick off breakfast where we learned the Grand Marshall was none other than Donnie Gay. Later on that day Crystal and I felt like little kids going up to Donnie and asking him to take a picture with us. I don’t have it yet, but I assure you, it happened! Saturday night was the Extreme Bulls; I had a feeling of being star struck that night but that feeling seemed to follow me around the remainder of the weekend. Sankey Rodeo brought in some rank bulls and world champions B.J. Schumacher and Dustin Elliot made some pretty good rides. Although all of the queens were kept pretty busy there was enough down time to experience the local history behind the town named after Buffalo Bill Cody. On Sunday we were up early to do a little sight seeing and later that day was one of the highlight of my trip: white water rafting. The river our guides took us down was fairly tame as far as white water goes but Ashley, Crystal and I had such a good time and even got wet! That night was the PRCA rodeo and the only performance I would be able to stay around for in Cody. I rode in the Grand Entry and Crystal and the rodeo committee were nice enough to let me stay in the arena to chase out cattle. The other highlight of my trip to Cody was getting my picture taken with my favorite cowboy…Trevor Brazile! He was so nice to Crystal and I as once again we felt like small children wanting an autograph.

Monday morning I awoke early to get to Livingston in time for the parade; it was a blistering hot next few days in Livingston. I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Katie Krouse the Miss Livingston Roundup queen and Chanda, Miss Big Sky Pro Rodeo was also there to help out with sponsor flags. We survived the heat through the parade and rodeo in Livingston. (I was pretty excited when I saw that Trevor Brazile was up in the performance in Livingston that night too!) I got to talk on my favorite radio station XL Country 100.7 with Mark Longie, host a kiddie parade on Tuesday, and of course watched the fireworks every night. This coming week holds a very busy schedule for me. I can not wait for it to get under way because I am off to the infamous Calgary Stampede and my hometown rodeo the Wolf Point Wild Horse Stampede! Stay cool Montana!

Chinook and Augusta Rodeos

2007-06-25T19:25:00.000-06:00

It is HOT, HOT, HOT!!! I have just returned from the Chinook and Augusta rodeos this past weekend and even though they are in relatively different parts of the state they were both very HOT rodeos! I am sure that it was just a precursor to what I will encounter during the July and August rodeos. Through the heat Lorissa and I managed to have a pretty great time; we kept well hydrated thanks to our lovely mom’s and my sister. Thursday night was a BBQ and Calcutta in Chinook to kick off the weekend of rodeo. Chinook is a pretty small town on the hi-line so when the rodeo wasn’t going on there wasn’t a whole lot to do but thankfully I had my mom and sister with me this weekend to keep me company. I really enjoyed spending my down time with them. The rodeo on Friday had a few minor glitches, like the sound system shorting out, but once we got them worked out it proved to be a pretty great rodeo with a beautiful sunset. Saturday there was a parade and like I said, Chinook is a pretty small town, so in order to make the parade longer, we went through town twice! The rodeo that night went as smooth as glass and it was a beautiful evening. Shane and Heather Schwanke with the rest of the Bear Paw Roundup committee and of course Brookman rodeo provided the spectators with really great rodeo action.

Sunday morning Lorissa and I left Chinook at the crack of dawn in order to get to Augusta to sign autographs before the afternoon rodeo. The Augusta rodeo has a reputation for being the “Wildest One Day Rodeo in the West” ; I have never been so I was curious to see just how wild it got in Augusta. I can tell you now, it lives up to its reputation! When we arrived at ten the streets were already busy with people shopping, eating, and socializing. Lorissa and I signed autographs at a cute little store called Latigo & Lace where we met many tourists, locals and familiar faces we would see at the rodeo. The afternoon brought so many people into the tiny rodeo grounds of Augusta, MT! There were people everywhere; thank goodness I was on trusty Cisco again! Kesler’s brought in the stock to Augusta so of course the stock performed wonderfully! I will be doing the usual catching up on things like my laundry this week before I start “Cowboy Christmas” for the Fourth of July. I will be in Cody, Wyoming and Livingston this weekend through next week. Happy summer everyone!

Belt PRCA Rodeo

2007-06-20T15:58:00.000-06:00

I survived yet another wet and cold rodeo weekend. The rain just seems to follow me around the state and even out of state! I haven’t been to a rodeo thus far where we haven’t got rained on. Coming from a ranching and farming family in eastern Montana, I have learned not to complain about the rain regardless of the circumstances!! This past weekend I met with Lorissa again in Belt along with Janneka O’Neil and Hannah Heckman, Little Miss Big Sky Pro Rodeo 2006. I had a great time getting to know these girls a little better. Montana truly has a promising future of rodeo queens.

I got to sign several rodeo programs for the rodeos daily give-a-ways which I thought was pretty cool. I felt like a celebrity every time Kyle Shobe, the announcer, told everyone to open their programs if they have a signature from me they won something! Carrying the Dodge Pickup flag on Cody’s Royal Cisco was another thrill for me. I never had to worry about my horse spooking or not standing still. He was a dream to ride and I am so thankful to Jeff and Sue Thompson for letting me use him this summer. The other queens, Lorissa, and me were pleased that quite a few kids showed up for the kiddie rodeo and of course the entire town of Belt attended the annual parade through town. Thanks to those girls who helped with the kids rodeo! Overall, the 47th annual Belt rodeo was a blast and the rain didn’t keep away any die hard fans.

On Tuesday I was a model in an Ariat boots and apparel style show here in Bozeman. It was a lot of fun to model and see first hand what Ariat will be coming out with next season. I’ll give you a hint; there will be some pretty ‘exotic’ fall boots and very trendy clothes! After just a few short days home with my dogs, whom I think are beginning to feel pretty rejected because I am never home, I am driving up to Chinook and Augusta for their rodeos this weekend. I hope to see you all there!

NEBRASKAland Days

2007-06-15T12:46:00.000-06:00

What a great time I have had in the last week or so! I ran over to Billings on Friday morning to meet up with Lorissa so we could have our photo shoot together. We drove to Miles City where Kara with On the Move Photography was ready for a day of taking pictures. Overall I think we got some really nice shots taken of me for the Miss Rodeo America pageant and of Lorissa and me for the Miss Rodeo Montana pageant. I can’t believe we are already talking about either of those!
The next day I was scheduled to fly out of Billings for the NEBRASKAland Days and Miss Rodeo Nebraska Pageant in North Platte. The queens weren’t scheduled to do anything until Sunday but my connecting flights wouldn’t get me there in time so I chose to go a day early. The plane ride into North Platte was a little shaky. I think there were only eight seats total and there wasn’t even a curtain dividing the cabin and the pilots. I had no idea what to expect out of Nebraska after that plane ride!

I wasn’t disappointed though, North Platte always arranges for the visiting queens (usually around 15 of us) to stay in host homes across the city. My host home was Jody and Cindy Smith; they were truly amazing hosts to me and I couldn’t have asked for better. They showed me what true Nebraska hospitality was!

Since I was crowned this January I have had several first time experiences. This trip served me no different. I got to ride my first motorcycle, a Harley, and I got to ride on a jet ski for the first time. Of course I let Jody of my host family drive the motorcycle and show me the town but the jet ski was a little different. On Sunday since we didn’t have anything scheduled the Smith’s took me to the local lake along with Katie, the newly crowned Miss Rodeo Arizona and Lindsay, Miss Rodeo Alabama. I hadn’t met either of those girls yet so it was great hanging out with them; we really had a blast. After watching the other girls who have jet skied before I decided to try my hand on one. I was hesitant starting off but really got the hang of it and was really glad to find out that this was something that I could crash…and it was fun to do it! When the day was done I even got to bring back a little piece of Nebraska sun as I improved my tan!

With the fun came some business matters. All the queens attended the horsemanship portion of the Miss Rodeo Nebraska 2008 contest. I have to say, Nebraska girls sure know how to ride. Later that evening the contestants and visiting queens all gathered for a get acquainted BBQ. For those of us queens not from the Midwest we got a little nervous when a huge thunderstorm brought in some pretty nasty looking clouds and severe winds. Needless to say we were moved to the garage and thank goodness I didn’t have to see my first tornado while I was there! My host family spoiled me so bad during my stay there that they let me drive a Grand Prix right off the car lot they own in North Platte. Most of the other girls were pretty jealous!
The next three days held a lot of fun events for the visiting queens. I signed over 500 autographs at local sponsors, banks, western stores and my favorite was the kid’s parade. It was the official kick off to the NEBRASKAland days and allowed kids to put on their costumes and parade around the block. I saw some pretty neat costumes while walking with the kids and signing autographs. Of course we were busy with the pageant events. This year was the second year they had a Miss Teen Rodeo Nebraska so I got to see those girls model, speak, and ride. They were great girls. The Miss Rodeo Nebraska contestants were no different. The five young ladies competing for the title were obviously having fun and all did very well. Among the many highlights of the trip was the cowboy bowling where we bowled with the PRCA cowboys. We didn’t get to stay very long but that was probably a good thing because I was losing to Miss Rodeo Wyoming pretty bad when we had to leave. Before going out to the rodeo the last night there was a big group dinner including the Miss Rodeo Nebraska committee, queens, host families, etc. Paula Stobbs, one of the drivers during the week gave us all special queen awards for the week. One state girl was the Queen of Bling and wouldn’t you know I was the Queen of Crashing! The ski trip from Pocatello seems to be sticking with me and I was pretty excited to tell everyone about my bravery of crashing on the jet ski. Although on my trip back to Montana I was thinking I should be the queen of lost luggage because I haven’t flown anywhere without the airlines losing my luggage…ever! Queen or not, regardless of the length of layover, I think my bags are marked for it! I spent the rest of the day in Billings waiting on my bags which finally did show up. I was relieved to have them back and really glad to be back in Montana even though I had a blast in North Platte!

Shodair Telethon and Great Falls

2007-06-07T11:54:00.000-06:00

Just another busy week for Miss Rodeo Montana! This past Saturday I traveled to Helena for a very exciting event at the Shodair Children’s Hospital; it was the hospital’s annual telethon fundraiser. Not only was it televised state wide but Miss Rodeo Montana has never been involved with this event, needless to say, I was pretty excited to be there! This event really meant a lot to me because the Children’s Miracle Network (Shodair’s) formed a soft spot in my heart after raising money for them while I was in Pocatello. The telethon rose over $200,000!!!! All of that money stays right here in Montana to help anyone who gets treatment at Shodair. I was again accompanied by Miss Montana, Christy Hageman. It was so nice to spend some more time with her; she is such a great girl and I will be sad to see her pass on her crown this month. The telethon lasted well into the night and by the end Christy and I were still having fun answering phones and being interviewed on TV but by 1am we were getting pretty giggly and tired!

After the telethon I drove over to Great Falls for a few more days to take care of a number of things. First, I had the wonderful time staying with the Thompson’s at Western Sky Equine. What a great family they are! Jeff, Sue, Tyrell, and Bailey all were so generous for welcoming me into their home and family for three days. On Monday I spent much of the day with Jody and the crew at KRTV taping media interviews for the upcoming rodeos in June. We drove out to Jody’s place to record three media commercials for the Augusta, Chinook, and Stanford rodeos. It was definitely harder than I thought it was going to be! By the end of the shoot everyone was just wishing I could remember my lines! Eventually we got it all taped and once they are edited I think they will turn out to be great commercials. On Tuesday I had some spare time to spend with the Thompson’s and Sue presented me with the wonderful opportunity to ride their stud, Cody’s Royal Cisco. He and I got along great; he is such a fun horse to ride! I spent the morning riding with Sue and that evening I traveled over to Stanford to meet with their rodeo committee about the upcoming rodeo in July. It sounds like it’s going to be a great rodeo and the guys are working hard already to get everything in line. Wednesday was my last day in Great Falls. I was the guest of Bill Beckman during the Great Falls Optimist Club meeting. The Optimists were wonderful to talk to and really appreciated someone coming into meet and talk to them. I am home for just one day before I am on the road to Miles City to shoot my second photo session with On the Move Photography; Lorissa will be joining me. Not only will I be glad to hang out with her again but I am excited for the opportunity to have someone else behind the wheel for a change!!

Rodeo Season Begins!

2007-05-29T12:18:00.000-06:00

Even though the weather in Bozeman the last couple of weeks has not indicated that summer is any where near, I can assure you it is! I woke up to snow this morning and I am really glad it waited until today because I had just another busy week. Memorial Day weekend is the weekend America hits the road as the weekend that summer has officially begun. I didn’t wait until the weekend to hit the road. I left early Wednesday morning to talk to the Junior High students at Lewistown Junior High School. I talked to seven different classes for an hour each! It was interesting to see how the older students responded to what I was there to speak about. I changed the message in my presentation so they would be able to relate a bit better, as opposed to the elementary school presentation. I talked to all the young adults that day about dreams and goals and the importance of having them; some were a little more eager to share than others! After a hanging out with my friends Kate Ruland and Laura Lake in Lewistown that night, I went to a day care in Lewistown and the Moore Elementary School the next day. Both of these places were so happy to have me and I enjoyed myself immensely. I was able to sign autographs and hand out the coloring books that Audrey Sholte started with “Eat Smart and Play Hard;” they were all very gracious. The elementary school in Moore only had about 30 students in the whole school but they were so eager to learn about what I do and had the most wonderful questions for me!

After I returned to Bozeman I was off again on Saturday to Helena. I was taking place in a Celebrity Team Penning with the Montana Team Penning Association. A few weeks ago I sneaked over to practice with them for a few hours so I was ready to show up with my “A game”! The team penners recruited about a dozen “celebrities” to participate in this event in order to raise money for breast cancer. Most of these celebrities were significant members of the community or people who have been personally affected by cancer. Each of the celebrities was paired with two team penners and that team was auctioned off in a Calcutta. I wish I could tell you that not only was I the most expensive celebrity but that I won the whole thing…but I would be lying. The event raised $2600 for breast cancer awareness, which was amazing considering it was not a highly advertised event; and no I didn’t win. Actually, I didn’t even come close but I gave it my all!!

Memorial Day weekend is a three day weekend so as you might expect I had another stop to make on this busy holiday. I drove to Arlee for the Memorial Day PRCA rodeo, the first of the season on the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit! I had a really good time meeting up with some old friends that I usually only get to see at rodeos and also meeting new acquaintances that I am sure I will continue to see through out the summer. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t cooperate very well and we spent the rodeo in the rain on Sunday night and the cold on Monday afternoon. I have no idea what I was thinking leaving the house for a rodeo in Montana because I did not bring a rain jacket or even a coat; I managed though! It was a very exciting weekend of rodeo. I had the great opportunity to meet and work with the great Hadley Barrett, who was announcing, and Leon Coffee, who was the rodeo clown. What great guys they are and it truly added to the already exciting rodeo.

Special Olympics

2007-05-20T18:12:00.000-06:00

Whew! What a big week I have had! I just returned on my “tour” of western Montana. On Wednesday morning I left for Great Falls where I was a guest at the Montana State Special Olympics. They kept me extremely busy all three days! I was first a member of the high five team at gymnastics. This required me to be nothing more than a cheerleader for all of the athletes. As they would tell me all week, they were very glad that I could be there. Next I met up with Miss Montana, Christy Hageman, where we left our hotel room together to meet and greet all 1,000 athletes and teams from all across the state. There were a lot of hand shaking and hugs! After the meet and greeting of the athletes Christy and I got to attend the opening ceremonies. This was my favorite event to attend; we got to lead the parade of athletes into the 4-seasons. It was the opening ceremonies just like you see on TV! Among the honorary talented guests was Montana’s own PBR and PRCA rodeo clown, Flint Rasmussen. He was entertaining as always. On Thursday I had a full day at the Eagle Mount Equestrian center. I was first assigned to take pictures and award medals to the athletes but was fast recruited to be the announcer. I felt right at home! It was a beautiful day to be at the arena and the athletes competing in the events had obviously worked hard to get there. The day’s events didn’t stop there. Christy and I attended a team BBQ where all the athletes were eager to tell us the day’s accomplishments; and then there was the dance! To be honest, this event was a little overwhelming. Everyone at the dance either wanted an autograph or wanted to dance with Christy and me or both. The attention we received was amazing and it was a good thing there was two of us because we certainly couldn’t have accommodated for all of the people wanting to talk to us alone! Christy and I were exhausted after our busy day but were up and at it again on Friday where we helped give away the final medals of the week at track and field. This was a humbling experience seeing how excited the athletes were to be awarded their medals. After the closing ceremonies I took a moment to reflect on what a great event I just took place in. The support Great Falls has for the Special Olympics is astronomical with almost a 1 to 1 ratio of volunteers to athletes and several dozen equally supportive sponsors. Great Falls will be the host for the state summer games one more year until it moves to Bozeman.

In between the chaos of the Olympics I got to stop downtown to visit with Mike from Hogland’s, one of my supportive sponsors. He set me up with a great pair of boots. While I was visiting with him I got stuck with a $3 parking ticket! I was the brunt of jokes the rest of the week because I thought I was innocent until Christy, Miss Montana, asked me if I paid the parking meter before I went in to the store. She thought I was crazy when I told her that I have never had to pay a parking meter in all my life, so naturally I didn’t think the meter applied to me at that time. Another lesson learned!

After the closing ceremonies at the Olympics I jumped in the pickup and drove to the Paws Up arena by Missoula. I had never been to the Paws Up so I was in for a real treat. What a beautiful resort and arena! Paws Up was host to the 2nd annual Cowgirl U event. Last year it was at a resort in Texas so it is an honor to have it here in Montana this year. Cowgirl U is hosted by the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas. Basically, it is a cowgirl camp where 30 ladies from around the US apply to come and learn how to be a cowgirl, which was to include roping, trail riding, branding, etc. Well instead of regular instructors the Hall of Fame brought in five ladies who are in the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame! So I got to mingle with the honorees and other ladies for the night. The Paws Up arena had an open house where there was a marketplace set up with different vendors from around the state. I met up with Sarah Capp who helped me with my booth. There were a lot of people interested in Miss Rodeo Montana and my duties!

Sarah and I stayed at a beautiful cabin between Seely Lake and Condon that night and drove to Kalispell the next day. Here there was to be the 2nd Annual LWI, Luke Warner Invitational. It was called Broncs, Bruises, and Braggin Rights which was a bronc riding only. I carried the American Flag, greeted the audience, and signed autographs. The horse I got to ride was extremely special! If you have ever seen the movie Open Range with Kevin Costner I got to ride Coyote who was the horse Kevin rode throughout the movie! Needless to say, I had a good mount for this already special event! It was a busy week and I am glad to be back in Bozeman for a few days until I am on the road again!

Helena Middle School

2007-05-14T12:12:00.000-06:00

Well the weather is starting to really warm up fast across the Big Sky state which is a good indicator that the rodeos will be in full swing in just a matter of days or weeks. This week I got to go to Helena on Friday morning to visit with the Helena Middle School students. I had so much fun! It was their Vigil Annie days which involved the whole school in a parade and dressing up western. Their day started off with a special treat, an assembly with several special guests including myself. Cowboy poetry was read to them by Montana’s own cowboy poet Mike Logan. I talked to them about setting goals relating to my own experiences through rodeo and Miss Rodeo Montana. Then a crew of cowboys and I explained and demonstrated all of the rodeo events to the school. Thinking I would be the one to explain the girls’ events was a big mistake. The school voted and wanted me to demonstrate the bull riding, of all events. I am competitive by nature so the last thing I was going to do in front of a whole school was fall off! I stayed on for 8 seconds and scored 90 points! I am definitely not cut out to be a bull rider; I was fairly sore in various places the next day. I guess you can say my bull riding muscles have scarcely been used! I signed autographs and talked to some very curious girls who could be Montana’s up and coming barrel racers and future Miss Rodeo Montana’s! It was a great morning.

Saturday was MSU’s graduation so there were many friends in town and in the graduating class. It was a bit of a sad day around here because one of my room mates graduated and the other moved out of the house to go back home, not to mention many of my other friends moving back home or to new jobs after graduation. On the positive side, I was lucky enough to be in town for part of the day and join in on graduation parties, meeting family, and catching up with friends. I have a big weekend ahead of me now. I will be in Great Falls, Missoula, and Kalispell in a matter of three days! Check back next week to hear about that! Best wishes!

Wolf Point School Tour

2007-05-07T15:31:00.000-06:00

Looking back on my blog history it’s been about two weeks since I have been able to inform everyone on what I have been doing! Well it’s been so long not because I have been too busy but just the opposite! I sincerely have not had anything “blog worthy” to report on! Since my last blog I have just been spending my down time working at Murdoch’s (who has become one of my latest sponsors!) and continuing to keep up on preparation for this summer.

This past weekend was my first weekend back “on the job” since Lorissa’s Gala. I traveled the seven hours back to my home town of Wolf Point. Located in the far north eastern corner of Montana it is a full day drive to get there! I had been really looking forward to this weekend as it was my homecoming since I have been crowned. The tiny town of Wolf Point didn’t let me down. I was treated like nothing less than a celebrity. During my time home I visited the three elementary schools including the one I attended in grade school, the Faith Luthern Rest home, and was the guest of honor at a mixer for the Chamber of Commerce. Not only that, but I got to help my folks on the ranch halter breaking the first of the spring foals. It was a busy weekend!!

At the three elementary schools the principals introduced me to the entire schools during an assembly. I gave my “Real Cowboy” demonstration and everyone loved it. Wolf Point is very educated in rodeo merely because the oldest rodeo in Montana takes place there. It is truly one of Montana’s greatest small town rodeos with big town heart. The families in Wolf Point and beyond make a holiday of the Wolf Point Stampede. I was proud to announce I would be able to attend all three nights of the legendary rodeo. So when I asked questions like what are some of the events seen at a rodeo, the students were able to cover them all with out too much thought. I signed autographs at every school and every other stop along the way. I think after the weekend was over everyone in Wolf Point and the surrounding communities have an autographed picture of me! I even had a line outside my pickup window at the gas station as I attempted to fill up!

The next thing was the visit to the rest home. With each visit to assisted living homes and rest homes I become more appreciative of what the elderly have to offer. It can sometimes be difficult but the reward is far worth it. My family has been in Wolf Point for over 100 years so no matter where I go there is someone who knows my family. It was such a treat seeing old friends and hearing stories about new friends and how they are connected to my family.

My hope is to get back to Wolf Point as much as I can. With it being in such a north eastern corner of a huge state it would be almost impossible for me to live back home and be able to travel as much as I do. The people in Wolf Point are eager to help me in my quest to become the first girl from Montana to win Miss Rodeo America but they couldn’t be more proud of Miss Rodeo Montana being from their tiny one horse town.

Miss Teen Rodeo Montana Gala

2007-04-16T10:00:00.000-06:00

It has finally slowed down the past week or so where I was home long enough to do my own laundry! I was in Bozeman for the Easter weekend and spent it with some close friends. I also had a style show for the Montana State University College Rodeo Alumnus. The college rodeo has been in Bozeman 50 years this year and it welcomed back some of the graduates of MSU who were involved or competed in college rodeo for MSU. During the banquet the guests were treated with a small style show. Featured models were girls currently on the rodeo team, Myriah Allen - Miss Rodeo Montana 1999, and myself. Easter weekend had a big treat for me as well because my chaps came in the mail…finally! For the last several months I have been wearing Cassidy Han’s, Miss Rodeo Montana 2006, chaps. So thankfully Cassidy got to have her chaps back and I can wear my own now! I love them! I designed them myself and had Chuck Serr from Bismarck, North Dakota make them. As you can see in the picture, they feature my favorite color, purple!

On Friday I headed over to Billings for Lorissa’s Gala! I was so excited to see how all of her hard work paid off. I was so impressed by the set up! She had it at the Holiday Inn Atrium and many family and friends showed up to support her. I got to meet some more Montana royalty who I am sure I will spend plenty of time with this summer. Lorissa’s auction went very well. She had me helping with things here and there but she didn’t keep me busy enough to keep me away from the silent auction! I won 2 oil changes to Lithia Dodge and some note cards which always come in handy! It was such an honor to be there for Lorissa and I am sure she will comment on the fact that it was a real success!

Now I am in for a week of work at Murdoch’s before I go off on a special trip to Austin, Texas! I can’t wait and I am sure I will have some interesting comments about my trip!

Montana Governor's Conference on Tourism

2007-04-09T20:18:00.000-06:00

I didn’t have any time to recuperate from coronation on Sunday as I was off to my first executive meeting as Miss Rodeo Montana. It was convenient to meet here in Bozeman with the members of my executive committee as most of them attended my coronation the night before. We addressed my goals as Miss Rodeo Montana and started the planning for my quest to be Miss Rodeo America 2008. They had some great insight on how to prepare myself during my “slow months” and gave me suggestions on how to get my wardrobe started! I took their advice and words of wisdom to heart immediately and am currently scrambling to get everything done ASAP before summer hits!

After the executive meeting I packed my bags and I was on the road again! I was to be in Helena at 8am the next morning and since the week was pretty grueling I decided to drive over that night so I wasn’t so tired the next day! I was pretty lucky this trip because my mom and my favorite little sister, Vanessa, wanted to travel with me to Helena. Thank goodness they did because I was one tired girl and they kept me company during my down time. The Governor’s Conference on Tourism was very interesting. I learned even more about Montana as a state and most importantly I learned some tips on how to market Montana out of state. The most fun part of the trip was going on a field trip to Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks Department where they had several stations set up to practice outdoor activities. I tried the shooting (with a laser) and the archery! I was a pro at the shooting and impressed many of the other people with me. However, at the archery I was a bit of a handicap student because I am left handed and of course no one plans for such a thing! Like many things, I learned to cope and I didn’t end up being too bad at it!

After I returned to Bozeman I caught up on some much needed rest and “chores” that had been piling up around the house. I couldn’t slow down much though because of the pile of work that had to be done post-coronation. Next week I am off to Lorissa’s Gala in Billings! I know she is getting nervous so that must be indication that it’s going to be a lot of fun! I can’t wait to see how it turns out as I know her and her mom, Linda, have been putting a lot of work into it! Until next time, Happy Trails!

Coronation!

2007-04-03T22:55:00.000-06:00

What a whirlwind the last 10 days or so has been for me! I was off last week to Billings for the State FFA Convention where I would meet up with my favorite teen queen, Lorissa. Since she had school all week and was competing in FFA herself I set up the booth on Wednesday. She was in the booth off and on between competing in her events as a FFA member. We had a great time together and never seemed to get bored during the trade show, this was all thanks to the ‘Lil Blue Heeler from Grizzly Saddlery in Great Falls. This little contraption was a hit throughout the week! There were people who had their own booth and would come to visit ours just because ours was so fun! We had some interest from some FFA girls who wanted to know more about being rodeo queens and we were more than glad to answer their eager questions. Among the highlights was being able to meet Miss Montana, Christie Hageman, who is from Billings. We traded “pageant talk” over lunch and learned a lot about each others’ passions. One of hers happens to be opera singing. Well I definitely could not relate to that but I can most certainly say she has a talent in singing!

I left Lorissa in charge of the booth on Friday afternoon because I had to get back to Bozeman for the Western Underground concert! I was so excited for this event because I think it was the biggest crowd I have ever been in front of. Western Underground is the Late Chris LeDoux’s band and a very popular favorite in Bozeman. By the time I was introduced on stage after the opening band, Night Ride, the crowd was beginning to get a little rowdy so as soon as they saw a girl with sparkles all over you can imagine they went wild. What a feeling to have hundreds of screaming fans and friends and know they were screaming for me! I threw prizes into the crowd and talked briefly about my coronation. As expected, the concert was great and I had such a wonderful time!

Saturday was the big day. We spent all day setting up from 10am until right up to 5 when the event was supposed to start. The whole day went by in a blur. Thank goodness for all of the help I had in setting up and getting the final touches taken care of. Sarah Capp has been a true lifesaver in pulling off a successful coronation. She planned most everything and had it not been for her none of it would have happened! After everyone arrived and got acquainted during social hour a very delicious meal was served by the Gourmet Gas Station from Gallatin Gateway. Sarah and I exchanged a few teary thanks to each other and the live auction began! I had such great items thanks to all of the surrounding businesses that contributed. The night ended after Bobby Chitwood and the Hard Ride band had played for several hours. They are such an amazing band. They have a recording contract and everything so I am so glad they were able to play at my event. I was even able to snag a CD from them, take my word for it, it’s good! I had a few visiting royalty and was especially happy to see my traveling friend, Morgan, Miss Rodeo Idaho. I saw so many familiar faces and some that I hadn’t seen in many years. Thank you to everyone who came and contributed to my fundraiser. The numbers are still being counted but I can easily say it was a success. For those of you who couldn’t make it, I hope to see you sometime during my year!

Malmstrom Air Force Base

2007-03-25T14:16:00.000-06:00

After the DNCFR I didn’t even return to Bozeman before I was off to another appearance. I drove from Pocatello straight to Great Falls for the Wing Standup for the Wild Wild West Event on Malmstrom Air Force Base. I wasn’t sure what awaited me because I am very unfamiliar with most military branches so I was a little out of my own element. I had two ladies that work in Services on the base, Joann and Staci, who chaperoned me around the base all day. I was introduced at the weekly Wing Standup meeting which is a meeting where the different squadrons report their weekly duties and what’s been going on to the Colonel of the base. Along with that, Services usually have a presentation on what is going on for extracurricular events on base. That is why I was there! I announced the Wild West event and gave out the Buckaroo Bucks they would be playing with on Friday. The Wild West event is a social event for the air men and their families; basically it is a fun poker night with Black Jack, Roulette, and Texas Hold ‘Em and the best part is you gamble with fake money! At the end of the night they auction of items with their fake money and I just happened to be an item. So on Monday I was bussed around the base and participated in several different tours as I promoted Wild West night.

On Friday I returned to Great Falls for the event. I had some spare time so I visited an assisted living home in Great Falls. Things like that is one of the many reasons why I love my job. To know that I can touch a person’s life in just a few minutes of talking with them and giving them a picture of me is such an amazing feeling. I also stopped in to Grizzly Saddlery to pick up a fun little roping toy called “Lil Blue Heeler” that Lorissa and I will be using at our booth at the Montana State FFA Convention Trade Show. I am sure it will be a hit! Once I arrived on base I checked into the cowgirl suite. This was by far the best hotel room I have stayed in so far this year! Dedicated to a Miss Rodeo Montana theme, this room was decorated in the utmost western fashion! I was truly treated like a queen! The Wild West event was a hit among the air men on base. I ended up winning $375,000 playing Black Jack!!! Too bad it was fake money and since I was an auction item I had to give it all away. At the end of the night they sold off a dance with me for almost $400,000!

During the few short days I was home this week I was running around Bozeman like crazy promoting my fundraiser. Pete Hanson let me talk on XL Country again. On Thursday I had an awesome time in Miss Tollefeson’s 5th grade class at Longfellow Elementary. I brought my saddle in and talked to them about the qualities of a real cowboy and showed them what the saddle does and how it works. They were so intrigued! Everyone liked my presentation so well that I have three more teachers getting back to me on when I can come in to talk with their class! It was a blast and a great start to what I hope to be a very successful school tour.

This coming week is a busy one for me. I get to read to the 1st graders at Longfellow Elementary on Monday, I do a quick radio spot for my coronation on XL Country on Tuesday morning and then I am off to Billings for the FFA trade booth set up. I get back on Friday night just in time to meet up with the guys from XL Country at the Western Underground concert. Western Underground is the late Chris LeDoux’s band and I get to be a guest! I am going to plug my coronation and I get to introduce the band! For some reason, I am incredibly nervous for this event! And of course, Saturday is the big day! Don’t forget my coronation is at the Rockin’ TJ Ranch here in Bozeman and everything kicks off at 5pm. Call me or Sarah Capp if you need directions, everyone is invited and it is going to be a lot of fun! My number is 406-209-1931 and Sarah’s is 406-539-4386.

More at the DNCFR

2007-03-20T15:17:00.000-06:00

I left off last time on my exciting experiences in Pocatello. I am back in Bozeman and am attempting to catch up on my rest. The events in Idaho continued to be exciting for me. I left off on Wednesday so…Thursday was another early morning as the 17 queens (local queens included) broke up into groups to tour the Pocatello and surrounding communities schools. I was grouped with Miss Rodeo Arizona, Elizabeth Scott and Miss Rodeo Arkansas, Brittany Sing. Dennis Helstad the rodeo clown also joined us and had some funny tricks up his sleeve for the younger students. I felt right at home in the schools because that has been my field of comfort for so long. In front of 2 groups of about 40 to 60 kids I led a discussion on what it takes to be a cowboy and what happens at the DNCFR. They were full of questions!

The next event was skiing up on Pebble Creek ski hill outside of Pocatello. There wasn’t any snow in town so we were all questioning what kind of skiing it would be. Well there were several days of 60 degree weather so it was extremely icy. Many of the girls had never even seen snow before! Needless to say, they were a little shaky in learning, but everyone at least tried! Myself, I am not the most seasoned skier but I mastered the bunny hill so I ventured to the second out of the three chair lifts and went to a more intermediate slope with Miss Rodeo Arkansas. She was about the same level of skier as I was so we felt comfortable going together. Things started a little shaky because of the ice but I gathered my footing and was going along just fine when somehow I fell (I do that often) but this time I couldn’t stop. I lost both my skis and slid right into the thicket of trees on my rear end. I hit at least three trees on my way down and still couldn’t stop! I am not sure how or what stopped me but finally I did stop. I was hurting pretty good but I seemed to be all right. After laying on the slab of I ice for awhile a nice man came to help me up and search the mountain side for my skis. We finally did find them somewhere in the trees. After he came up to hand them to me he asked if I was “one of those queens”. I said yes and when he asked me which state I sheepishly said Montana, embarrassed because the queen from Montana should have been able to ski better than she did! He laughed and said “Well I had better introduce myself then.” It turned out to be Dave Wiefrich from Brookman Rodeo! He said he’s sorry we had to meet this way but he’s glad I am ok. It was extremely difficult to ski down the rest of the hill because I was so scared but I felt it was kind of like getting back on your horse again not to mention I was too stubborn to let them cart me off on a snow mobile as long as I could still walk! I went down the bunny hill once more to ensure I wouldn’t be too scared to ski again and after that, I was done for the day! My new nicknames are “ice burn” and “digger” amongst the stock contractors from Montana and by the time rodeo rolled around everyone had heard about the queen from Montana. I promise I represented Montana much better on horseback than on the ski hill!

Friday we all went to Wal-Mart to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network. Together we raised over $700 in just three hours. I met a little angel by the name of Anna who is only three years old. She was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago and just finished treatment a few months ago. She won’t be completely clear of her cancer for at least 4 more years of checkups every three months. She was a courageous little girl and has never complained a day in her life. She was amazing and I felt like I really made a difference because of all the money we raised for the hospital that treats children like her.

Other than that the weekend was full of incredible rodeo! Sadly the Montanan’s didn’t take home a national championship from any of the standard rodeo events but JC Mortenson did come back on Saturday for the mutton bustin’ and came back to Montana $1000 richer! He won more money than the cowboys that walked away with a Dodge pickup won! What an honor that must have been for him. Dale Stoller, Brett Fleming and Ryan Seimsen were the cowboys that made it to the Wrangler Round and made a really good run for the national championship. Well that is a pretty good review of my trip to Pocatello. It was definitely a trip I won’t forget. And for those of you who are concerned, my bumps and bruises from my skiing accident are healing beautifully!

DNCFR

2007-03-16T17:12:00.000-06:00

I couldn’t wait to share all of my amazing experiences from the DNCFR with everyone that visits my blog so since I bring my laptop on the road and had some down time I thought I would let everyone know what has gone on so far this week. The DNCFR is the crowning rodeo of the PRCA circuit system of regional competition. National circuit champions are determined in the elimination-style event. The rodeo consists of five performances and is broken into preliminary, semi-finals, and the finals or the Wrangler Round. The top eight contestants in each event qualify for the semi-finals round, all of the cowboy’s scores are erased. After that, the top four contestants from that round qualify for the Wrangler Round where again, their previous scores or times are erased. This is when your national champions are determined! Each event champion will receive a one year lease on a brand new Dodge pickup and will automatically be qualified in the first two rounds of the Wrangler ProRodeo Tour Playoffs later in the year. Pocatello, Idaho has hosted this event since it’s beginning in 1987!

There were 14 state queens selected to appear for their circuit and I was one of the lucky ones. Every state queen hopes to represent their circuit in March at the Holt Arena. I can not describe the feeling as Tim Fuller introduces me as Miss Rodeo Montana carrying the Montana Circuit flag every night. It is an honor to be here for Montana representing the entire state and its people. I can easily say I was able to touch the lives of many people while I was in Pocatello. I spent the week visiting sponsors, the assisted living homes, schools, and hospitals and I feel I left a piece of Montana with them and made a special place in my heart for all of the people I encountered during my visit. Thank you Pocatello!

I arrived safely in Pocatello on Tuesday evening in time to get checked into my hotel room with Miss Rodeo Oregon and Idaho. We quickly changed into our dresses and headed to the kick off party for the rodeo. I got to meet a lot of the other state queens I haven’t gotten to meet yet this year. After getting to know them this week they are really great girls and we all had such a great time together.

On Wednesday we woke up early for rehearsal at the arena. We rode Sutton horses and luckily I was already familiar with them from the Rapid City Stock Show. They are great horses to ride and some of the horses have been there almost every year since 87! They know the routine! After lunch all of the queens split into groups as our “official queen drivers” drove us around to different sponsors. We signed a lot of autographs and did some shopping. Next, my group was off to the assisted living home and then the hospital. It was a difficult but very touching afternoon. We met elderly people that didn’t have much to look forward to in their days but to have a group of 3 or 4 rodeo queens come in to visit and sign pictures pretty much gave them hope for another day. One man cried and another woman who could not move from her bed said she no longer had to pray to sleep because she could look at our beautiful pictures as she lay in her bed.

The Montana cowboys have been going strong! Curt LaDuke, Steven Lambert, and Andy Bolich are some of our best cowboys and are here to compete. Some of them will be making it back tonight (Friday) for the semi-finals round. We are so close to home there are plenty of Montana fans to help me in cheering them on to a National Championship! I will let everyone know how it turns out on my next blog. I can not forget to mention we already have a champion that will be returning home and he is J.C. Mortenson, one of Montana’s up and comings, he won the Mutton Bustin’ last night! I was once again proud to be from Montana! Check back on my blog soon and I will update everyone on the rest of the results and more of what I have been up to this week in Pocatello!

Outdoor Show and Coronation Preparation

2007-03-11T16:46:00.000-06:00

It’s been a pretty busy week for me here in Bozeman. I worked a lot of the week to get some cash flow into my bank account! I never realized how much time it takes to keep up with the paper work I have to take care of and follow ups on things like sponsors and getting auction donations. I’ve been making some real progress in getting sponsors for my year, thanks to all the generous friends and businesses out there that want to support me throughout my year. I have to admit at the beginning it wasn’t all smooth sailing and I thought I would never be able to raise any money outside of my coronation. Thankfully I turned out to be wrong!

Plans for coronation are still going well. The invitations came in last week and they will be sent out this coming week. Because the prices for invitations are so high, we cut down the mailing list so we are doing more public invitations. So, if you don’t get one, don’t worry, you are invited!!! My coronation committee and I have been putting up posters like crazy and I have some advertisement on 100.7 XL Country. We also plan to put invitations in free ad newspapers. In case you didn’t know already my coronation will be held on Saturday, March 31st at the Rockin’ TJ Ranch in Bozeman. Social hour starts at 5pm and you can get tickets online or at the door or by RSVP to myself or Sarah Capp!

After the crazy week of working at the store and working on coronation I was off to Kalispell on Saturday. Miss Teen Rodeo Montana met up with me in Bozeman and we left the morning and returned that night. It made out for a pretty long day being a 5 hour drive from my house. We were going to the Outdoor Show at the Majestic Valley Arena to be guests at the Montana Trappers Association booths. We didn’t really know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised at what was in store for us! I am just a beginner hunter so I don’t know a whole lot about the hunting, fishing, and trapping kind of thing but I was amazed at all the different booths they had. We walked around, visited, and signed autographs. Lorissa and I learned more than we expected about fur trapping. Ask me anything, I feel I could answer any question after this weekend! Fran, Bill, and Ed the 3rd were very nice and told us great trapping stories!

The trip didn’t end with the fur trappers though. Lorissa and I got two auction items for us each out of the trip and matching bobcat tail key chains! Of course with it being our first official road trip together we had to come up with some kind of crazy story and Lorissa thought on the way to Kalispell it would be “funny” if we got pulled over to see if the crown really worked to our advantage. Well someone forgot to knock on wood because on the way back to Bozeman we did get pulled over! Just outside of Townsend I must have missed the sign that said 65 at night. I won’t say how fast I was going but the officer was nice enough to give me a citation and lowered my fine so, in way I guess the crown did work in our favor.

I have a couple of very busy weeks ahead of me so I will probably have plenty of exciting stories to come! Thanks for visiting my blog and happy trails!

Kids Care Fair and Preparation for Coronation!

2007-03-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

Well it’s been about two weeks since I updated on what I have been doing since the NRA finals in Billings. I have actually had about two weeks of down time, if you could call it that! After returning home from the NRA finals and San Antonio I caught up on sleep and laundry and I have had a little bit of time to work. My bosses appreciate me coming in every now and then to justify me keeping my employee discount! I am very lucky that they have agreed to be so flexible with my schedule. I can pretty much call in on Monday’s and ask if it’s all right if I work a couple days this week. It’s pretty nice!

This past Saturday I made a quick day trip to Helena for a kiddie rodeo at the Kids Care Fair and I finally got a hold of my first printing of autograph sheets! Jody and I were in question that it was never going to happen. The Kids Care Fair was held at the mall in Helena where different organizations around the state set up booths aiming towards the kids. Booths such as Eagle Mount, dental hygiene and healthy diets were on display. Between booths and exhibits was the event room where every hour there was a presentation by a “celebrity.” I happened to be one of the celebrities! I put on a kiddie rodeo and although attendance was down the children and parents that were there loved it! The girls (and some boys) got paper Miss Rodeo America crowns and I signed autographs after the rodeo. It was a fun day!

In a week I head off to Pocatello, Idaho for the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo. I am really excited for this event because it’s not a long drive for me and I will get to meet some of the state queens I haven’t met already. Not to mention that the DNCFR is like second to the NFR. There is a selection process for the queens that actually get to go and this year I was selected so that’s exciting in itself! I am sure they will keep us very busy throughout the week.

The rest of March is pretty busy for me so I am spending this week working hard on my preparations for my coronation fundraiser. Finding silent and live auction items is a time consuming and sometimes difficult task. If anyone has an idea for an auction item or knows someone who would like to donate please contact me! My coronation committee and I need all the help we can get! Happy trails everyone!

San Antonio and NRA Finals

2007-02-20T10:54:00.000-07:00

In the top pictures are Miss Rodeo Texas, Joanna Blackwell, Margarie Murphy, Texas National Director, and Julie my hostess.

Boy I am glad to be home! I was gone for 8 days but it felt like a month! I have just returned from Billings where I flew down to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo and the Northern Rodeo Association Finals in Billings. I am beginning to get this traveling and packing thing down. I drove to Billings on the 11th to fly out to Texas. I was hoping it would be really nice weather but it turned out to be only about 40 or 50 degrees. I thought it wasn’t too bad but those poor Texans are so used to the warm weather they were out in their ski masks and beanie caps! I was fortunate enough to have a hostess to stay with. Julie picked me up from the airport that night; I ended up getting to know her very well and we had a lot of fun together. The San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo takes pride on being voted two years in a row the Large Indoor Rodeo of the Year and is the first regular-season rodeo to offer $1 million in prize money! Needless to say, I was in the big time! I got to see my favorite cowboy, Trevor Brazile up close and in action! Once again Montana was very well represented, Rod Lyman made a run in the bull dogging, Shaun Stroh, Shelly Anzick and Will Stovall also made impressions in Texas. I can’t go without mentioning the stock. A spectator would hear Hadley Barrett announce the state of Montana countless times during the rough stock events because both Sankey and Kesler rodeo brought their best stock to town. After each rodeo performance was a concert and I was there during what I thought were the best three concerts! I got to see Willie Nelson, The Beach Boys, and Neal McCoy. I definitely can not choose a favorite from those three! Miss Rodeo Texas, Joanna Blackwell and I spoke at daily school tour events, visited sponsors and shopped at the huge trade show and signed hundreds of autographs after each rodeo. Joanna is a real class act and after getting to know her throughout the week I know I have gained a new friend!

The rodeo and stock show were only a fraction of my experience in San Antonio. Since I was staying with Julie she knew all the really cool places to eat and all the sight seeing experiences I needed to see. On this trip there were a lot of firsts including trying caviar for the first time and experiencing valet parking. I don’t think I have ever been to a zoo before either and San Antonio’s zoo is ranked 3rd best in the nation! You can bet I was going to see that zoo! San Antonio’s leading industry is their tourism so I had plenty to see. I spent some time on the beautiful Riverwalk, did some local shopping, and ate at the Tower of America’s restaurant. The Tower of America’s was built in 1968 during the World’s Fair. It is a close resemblance to the Space Needle in Seattle and when you are eating in the restaurant the floor rotates around so you can see every angle of San Antonio as it stretches for miles in each direction. If you’re afraid of heights this is a restaurant you probably want to skip when you’re in San Antone. I had such a blast and once again met a ton of people all wanting to connect with Miss Rodeo Montana in some way.

A slight damper in my trip was missing my plane because of a mix up with the gate numbers so once I finally got back to Billings of course my luggage was no where to be found. Well, thankfully it came in and it was all undamaged so I survived more rough traveling accommodations.

I wasn’t ready to go home yet. I had the NRA finals right there in Billings for the weekend. I was so excited to be at a Montana rodeo and I was able to carry flags with Miss Teen Rodeo Montana, Lorissa Harris for the first time since we were crowned together in Great Falls. I also had the chance to meet Jessica the Ravalli County Queen. She traveled 10 hours to carry flags at the NRA!! The two girls and I had a blast. Lorissa and I had a small radio spot on Friday and we all signed autographs after the rodeo with the bullfighters and announcers. Many of our family and friends traveled to Billings just to see us in the rodeo! It was a weekend of great entertainment and fast action rodeo. For all of our work the committee was generous enough to give us girls free NRA finals vests!

I have a nice break before I enter a pretty busy month of March. I will be talking on 100.7 XL Country here in Bozeman on Wednesday about my travels. Until next time Montana, Happy Trails!

Rapid City Stock Show and Rodeo

2007-02-05T12:35:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a most interesting and busy week for Miss Rodeo Montana. After a quick day to recuperate after the weekend in Billings and Lewistown I was off to get my Double H custom hat from Jimmy Harrison in Darby. Just so you all know, this small town Montanan girl relies heavily on mapquest.com and not to mention the fact I am just not the best with directions. In order to get to Darby the quickest (in miles) was to go through tiny little western Montana towns like Wisdom according to the all knowing mapquest. I soon found out this is not the best way to go as it took me well over four hours to arrive at my final destination. For a day trip it was quite a drive! But I made it safely and I got my custom hat! It is bone colored with black bound edging. On top of that, Jimmy whip stitched over 500 black Swavorski crystals into the bound edging. He had a silversmith put two custom cut outs on each side: the state of Montana with my initials and a crown with MRM 2007. This is a one-of-a-kind hat you won’t find anywhere! While in Darby, I visited the elementary school and showed a class of third graders my neat hat; they were all very impressed. After finishing up in Darby I traveled up the highway 60 miles to meet with Laura Bakker and Terri Boyer in Missoula; we put our heads together to come up with some good ideas for sponsors and fundraisers. I retreated back to Bozeman that night and it ended up being a much easier drive from Missoula. After the trip through Wisdom I started a list of highways in Montana NOT to take in the winter and if anyone is interested Highway 43 is included in that list, although I would love to take it sometime in the summer!
Next I was off to the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo in Rapid City, SD. Once again I had traveling problems. I planned on taking I-90 the entire way and getting to Rapid with several hours to spare before the first rodeo performance since the drive was only going to be about seven hours. Silly me, I got to Billings where I was to turn south to Wyoming and wouldn’t you know the roads were all closed! After a lot of time on the cell phone with people checking road maps and weather conditions I found out I had no choice but to go the long way. When I say long, I am not exaggerating. I went all the way to Belfield, ND and south from there resulting in a 12 and a half hour drive rather than the “quick” seven hours that I had planned. Of course I didn’t make it to the rodeo in time and thankfully the folks in charge in Rapid City understood completely. I arrived late at night and met Miss Rodeo Oregon and Miss Rodeo Idaho who I roomed with all weekend. We were up bright and early the next morning for the Old Timer’s Breakfast. This was a modest event to attend. I talked to many South Dakota natives ranging from old cowboys, farmers and ranchers or just members of the community. They loved to be among the royalty as about eight state queens attended the breakfast. There was cowboy poetry, country music, and achievement awards presented. What an interesting event to have! Our next stop was Landstrom’s Black Hills Gold. We were taken through the shop where all of the jewelry is made. A person finds a new appreciation for Black Hills Gold after seeing the process each piece goes through to be made. Off to the rodeo! Two performances every day ensured us queens for a lot of good rodeo entertainment and that’s what we saw. Montana was very well represented during each performance. Curt LaDuke, Donna Leibrand, T.K. Leibrand, Colt Gorrell, and Andy Bolich were just some of the Montanan’s who made the Rapid City Stock Show and rodeo from Montana. One of the highlights to the weekend was getting to meet some of the other state queens for the first time. Idaho, Oregon, North and South Dakota, Colorado, Iowa, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Nevada were all very welcoming to me being the “new queen.” Saturday we helped with the auction that sold off old western items for the scholarship fund. I was proud to be from Montana as the historical items that were made here in Montana sold the highest every time! I returned to Bozeman “the short way” this time and it only took me eight hours. Man was I glad to be home! As I survived my first out of state trip I look back and I just never cease to be amazed of the wonderful state I stem from. Everyone I came in contact could relate to someone or something in Montana and was eager to tell me their story. I am so honored to represent this great state and most of all, the people in it; that’s the key ingredient in an honorable state: the people.
I have a week to work on sponsors and other miscellaneous things until I fly off to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. I am hoping it will be warmer there and my travels go a bit smoother since I am flying and not driving! Until next week, best wishes Montana!

A weekend in Lewistown and Billings

2007-01-29T14:54:00.000-07:00

Greetings! I think the realization is finally hitting me that I am Miss Rodeo Montana! I’ll be honest, it seemed like just a dream even a week after everything happened so fast in Great Falls! But I can easily say this week I “got my feet wet” with a couple different events and I am off and running!
My week started out with trying to find some sponsors during any free moment I had. The search for sponsors is going….slow but it has plenty of potential!
On Thursday night I headed to Billings for my first photo shoot on Friday morning with Kara and On the Move Photography. I was driving from Bozeman and by the time I got to Columbus (for those of you who don’t know the area it is only about 25 miles from Billings) I realized I forgot my buckle. Needless to say, I need the Miss Rodeo Montana buckle for my photo shoot! I had no choice but turn around and back track an hour and a half to meet a friend who was nice enough to meet me in Livingston with my buckle. Don’t ask me how I managed to forget such a thing; I even have a checklist I go over! On the positive side, I don’t think I will forget my buckle again the rest of the year. The photo shoot went great though. I wore several different outfits and Kara was a riot. We shot the pictures in the brand new Best Western in Billings. They were generous enough to donate their facilities for a day because they have a beautiful lobby with very nice western décor.
Saturday was a busy day. Miss Teen Rodeo Montana, Lorissa Harris, qualified for state speech so she was not able to travel this weekend; therefore, I drove to Lewistown for the morning and part of the afternoon. It was their winter fair and every year they put on the best kiddie rodeo in the state by many standards. The winter fair was impressive in itself. The small community of Lewistown really reaches out to put this on. The kiddie rodeo had about 85 entries and had everything from a grand entry to cow milking. The kids loved it and each time they finished an event they got a prize. I wasn’t able to stay for very long unfortunately because meanwhile in Billings, I was being inducted into the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall and Wall of Fame! Among the Montana cowboys, past Miss Rodeo Montana’s came for the honor as well and I even got to meet some of them I didn’t already know. The banquet was a scholarship fundraiser and a quite successful one at that. There were so many people there; I felt like Cinderella at the ball! We ate an incredible dinner and mingled with people from every area of business and rodeo. I helped with the live auction which was able to raise a great amount of money for scholarships and got my picture taken with Dan Mortenson. I was star struck! That pretty much summed up my week on the Miss Rodeo Montana trail! Thank you to all of you that are keeping up with my blog. Feel free to leave me a message if you are wondering what I am doing this week! Best wishes until next time!

Miss Rodeo Montana 2007 Megan Hardy

2007-01-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Coming to you from Bozeman, Montana as your newly crowned Miss Rodeo Montana 2007 I would like to welcome you all to my blog! First and foremost thank you for all the kind calls, emails, and cards many of you have sent over this past week. They have all meant a great deal to me and I am so glad I can share my dream of being Miss Rodeo Montana with as many people as possible by keeping up with the Miss Rodeo Montana travel blog. As one of my goals for this year is to try and keep everyone updated on my travels throughout the year. I have my Mom to thank for coming up with this great idea and putting everything together for me.

Well, my first week as the newly crowned Miss Rodeo Montana was hectic and somewhat overwhelming but I survived! My year kicked off with the last performance of the Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit Finals where I carried flags, chased cattle, and handed out awards. I got through the rodeo without any major road blocks. The next morning was an early one; I was interviewed on about five different radio stations and had one TV interview in Great Falls. I am that girl that continues to have problems with driving directions thus I found that one thing I can see myself struggling with this year is getting directions to the different functions because I proceeded to get myself lost in Great Falls at 6:30 in the morning trying to find the radio station. It turns out that the radio stations were “hidden” in the upstairs of a retirement home. Who would have thought! All in all, the many interviews I had in the days after I was crowned ran very smoothly. After I returned to Bozeman I had a very long list of things to be done in just a few days before I was back on the road again headed to Great Falls for the M.A.G.I.E. I have gotten off to a great start and thanks to XL Country here in Bozeman I have already gotten some calls from businesses wanting to sponsor me. I was the co-host on Friday morning on the country morning show and I can now include playing the tambourine to my list of “talents.” It will be just one of the many impromptu things that will happen to me throughout my year as Miss Rodeo Montana I am sure. I spent the weekend in Great Falls for the industrial expo where I met some more potential sponsors. Meeting even more people that day, Cassidy and I then went to “A Night at the Mint” at the Charlie Russell Museum. Continuing to try and find sponsors, plan my coronation, and get some rest when time allows I am now back in Bozeman for a few days before I am off to Billings and Lewistown next weekend. I have already been blessed by so many people offering to help me in however they can and I truly am excited about representing our beautiful state of Montana in the coming year. I will look forward to reading everyone’s responses and emails! See you down the road!