July 2010: Evanston Rodeo

On our second-to-last day at Bear Lake, Elsie, Ana and I went with Jonah's parents and Tal and Anita (Jonah's bro and wife) to nearby Evanston, Wyoming for the last night of the rodeo festivities. It was one of the best rodeos I've ever been to! Super organized and effecient and fun.


The girls really wanted to be in the animal chasing competition for kids, hoping that their daily animal chasing on our farm would finally pay off and win them the $5 and a t-shirt.


Elsie tried her hardest to catch the chicken in the midst of 50 3-year-olds, but she came out empty handed. She was especially sad until I told her that the kid who caught the chicken doesn't get to keep the chicken... then she was okay.


For the 40 older kids, they released some fairly big calves and the kids had to grab a flag off of one of the four calf's tails. I told Ana to channel her memories of all the animal herding we've done together and to think about how herd animals move and react. She was ready. I was worried she wouldn't be able to beat the odds...


But after a few minutes of observing the chaos, she took off at a full run far from the crowds. She figured out where the calf would be coming and where she would be best unseen and she just booked it in that direction.


And she did it! She was the first to grab a flag and the only girl to do it!


The announcer even talked about her amazing and clever catch when she was handed her prize. We were all proud as peacocks. I'm glad all this farm rustling over the last six years has finally paid off...


I love the faces in the background of these photos. And the bull slobber.


Yeah!