February 26/ Washington State Fur Trappers Vest & Miss NPRA Coronation

After receiving my vest they had me do a little spin:)

The drive to Centralia, WA was beautiful and I even arrived about 2 hours early to the Washington State Fur Trappers meeting. I had a blast getting to know some of the trappers and hearing some of their stories and they all laughed because I was for little old Omak:) I was surprised they even knew where it was. After enjoying some pizza with the trappers, the meeting was called to order and I was given my beautiful vest made out of red fox and beaver.                                              

 

Telling about where I've traveled so far and of course about  hog hunting trip!

 Off to Vancouver I went, to Taylor's house! I got there just in time to change into my dress and head to St. Helen's, Oregon for the Miss NPRA Coronation. It was a surprise that I was coming, but everyone was excited that I was there. The auction went well and my table got a great desert from the desert dash, and O my gosh was the Mr. NPRA funny:)

Me, Miss NPRA 2010 and Taylor

Taylor and I at the coronation

Thank you for following me on my adventures:)
 

February 14-21/ Rodeo Queens Take Over Florida:)

After stopping what seemed like a million times, I finally arrived in beautiful Orlando, Florida just in time for Miss Rodeo Utah (Martina Wardle) and I to be rushed to the rodeo grounds for the Silver Spurs Rodeo Pageant. It was a spectacular event and all of the girls did a great job. When the pageant was over Martina and I got to head to our host home for the week to get to know our family, they even made us a pink funnel cake since it was Valentines day:)

Martina, our host father Mr. Baker, and I

Tuesday was our first day of doing school visits, the first school we went to it was kindergarten and first grades. At each visit we would tell about rodeo and what a rodeo queen was, but the best part was letting the kids participate in some of the events such as barrel racing, bull riding, and team roping. A group of queens would demonstrate the events before having the kids try, so I was assigned barrel racing and then being the wonderful steer all week for team roping!

Being roped by Martina and Kelsey

Wednesday was a day I'll never forget we got to go HOG HUNTING!! For those of you who don't know what exactly this entails, what we did was loaded all of us up in a couple of trucks and turned 3 dogs loss that had trackers on them to run out in front of us. The dogs would catch the hogs and get them pended down until one of us got there to tie up there legs to drag them back to the truck. As we hike into these creepy woods waiting for the dogs to get a hog down, finally its time and we take off running until we were at a lake and of course the guys didn't stop and just ran in after some of us talked about some of us girls ran in too. Waist high in water looking for the hog we finally tie it up and drag it out. As we get to shore the guys thought it would be funny to tell us that the lake we were just in is the most gator populated lake around. Not in ten minutes later the dogs had another hog down and we were off on a run again. It was an amazing experience and I wouldn't have traded it for anything.

Rodeo Queens with the hog we caught

After being out till 2 am chasing hogs we didn't get any break we had to be up bright and early to visit schools then it was off to the beach. The sun was shining and we all had a great time laying out on the beach and Miss Rodeo America even learned how to surf, but at the end of the day I was the only girl who didn't get burnt hahaha:) Then it was off to air boating which is like boating only you can drive up on land we got to see several gators, birds, and even a couple cows, but the best was watching the sunset which the drive had timed to take only 2 minutes it was an amazing view.

Can you find me?

< Left: Jumping in the ocean


Right > Writing my name and MRW in the sand.




Friday it was time for the rodeo to begin, we were each given our horse and mine was a black and white paint named Katie. Originally we were all going to be bring in our state flags, but instead we got to do presentation runs and I'm happy to say no one fell off! After grand entry we would break up and go to the VIP section to thank all the sponsors of the rodeo and just get a chance to talk with the crowd.

Miss Rodeo New Mexico and I on our horses

The last day we split up and went to different amusement parks, so my group went to Disney and had a great day riding the rides and getting to go to a 3D show. Also while I was in Florida I got to ride the Farris wheel, Miss Rodeo California and I had never been on one and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try it well as we get on and slowly go around we both decided to stick to horses cause being that far off the ground was not for us.

Me, Laura Kessler, and Miss Rodeo California

 I would like to thank everyone who made this trip so amazing such as my host family the Baker's, Laura Kessler who said I was her favorite;), and all of the girls who are making this year more than anything I ever dreamed of.

Thank You,
Amanda Emerson

Happy Trails and God Bless!

Febuary 1-6/ Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo in Rapid City SD

As the flight attendant says "as we get ready to land in Rapid City the current temperature being -21 degrees." All I could do was stare out the window and get ready to step out into that freezing cold, but me being the smart girl that I am...I already had my long johns on and I thought I was ready. O no though as I stepped out those doors its like an ice wall just hits you and pushes you backwards a little, Miss Rodeo America picked me from the airport and to the hotel we went. Luckily enough I had an hour to change and freshen up before autograph signing that day. Finally it was time for the finals of the Ranch Rodeo which I was looking forward to watching since I'd never seen one before and wow was it an awesome experience. From the trailer races to the cow milking and of course the bronc race which was very interesting and I sure would never try it. I had a blast that first night.

On  Wednesday I had the pleasure of visiting one of the elementary schools with some of the other girls and reading to the kids. The book that I choose to read was White Dynamite and the Curly Kidd, which I think I had memorized after the second class:). After I would read the book I'd ask the kids if they had any questions so of course I got asked what my horse's name was and different normal things. But then one teacher says "well what will you do after this year?" Just as I began to answer a kid says "Marry a rodeo king" after this remark all I could do was laugh and say "No, I will be going back to school." It is true that kids say the darnest things.

Wyoming,Idaho,America,Washington,South Dakota

Finally it was Thursday and time for our first rodeo of the week and it was Tough Enough To Wear Pink, we all looked sharp in our pink outfits and were ready to meet our horses thank you to the Sutton's for providing them. I had a wonderful time riding Gilbert and Garfield while I was in Rapid and enjoyed getting to know some more of the girls. Miss Rodeo South Dakota also scheduled a trip for the girls and I to go visit Mt. Rushmore which was amazing to see up close even though it was freezing cold it was well worth it. The museum that goes with the mountain is incredible from all the facts and picture Mt. Rushmore being built and how much time and effort to get it just right it took.

FEB. 5, 2011-------IT'S MY BIRTHDAY

I was fortunate enough to turn 21 in South Dakota and have a sold out crowd tell me happy birthday. This is one of those times that you could never imagine happening, I want to thank all the girls for making this birthday one I will always remember. They even got me a cake which was so sweet of them and Outback gave us free ice cream:) 

Until next time...Dream Big:)