January 28-29/Spokane Pagaent and Ellensburg Coronation

On Friday the 28th I made the 3 hour drive to Spokane Washington to support the girls who were competing for the title of Spokane Interstate Rodeo Queen which is one of the many Washington PRCA rodeos.

The contestants were Jamie Cutshall of Usk, Washington, Kristany Fitzthum of Spokane, Washington, Jessie Tennant of Deer Park, Washington, Brianna Williamson of West Richland, Washington. I had the pleasure of helping the girls pick out their fashion show outfit at HAV western wear. We also were featured on the Spokane radio station to promote the event and tell a little about what rodeo queens do.
        Saturday morning was horsemanship which went awesome and all the girls did amazing after that I had to take off so that I could make to Ellensburg in time for the coronation. Crowned as the 2011 MSIR was Jamie Cutshall.  Additional awards winners are as follows - 

• Interviews (sponsored by 2010 MSIR Emily Houger) - Jamie Cutshall 
• Congeniality (sponsored by Del's Feed and Big R on Trent) - Jessie Tennant 
• Horsemanship (sponsored by Indiana Harness) - Jamie Cutshall 
• Most Photogenic (sponsored by Jessica Davisson) - Jessie Tennant 
• Speech / Modeling (sponsored by Aslin Finch) - Jessie Tennant 
• Written Test (sponsored by Rhinestone Rebels) - Jessie Tennant

Great job girls you all did wonderful and any of you would have done amazing!

    To Ellensburg I go....there were three contestants competing for Ellensburg rodeo queen and princess. Saturday’s competition was emceed by new rodeo barrelman, clown and entertainer J.J. Harrison. The queen candidates were judged on modeling, their speech and impromptu questions. They also were judged on a riding presentation on Oct. 2. This competition a unique one because instead of the regular 4 judges there are 28. All three of the girls speeches were inspiring and very entertaining and all did a great job displaying the gowns they were given to wear that night from Riding High USA. Jessica Hansberry, 18, was crowned the 2011 Ellensburg Rodeo queen and Marisa Wickerath, 17, the Ellensburg Rodeo princess during a sold-out ceremony Saturday night in the Central Washington University SURC Ballroom.

January 22/ Miss Teen Rodeo WA Coronation-Taylor Gainer

Taylor and I before the crowning

Hurrying to blow up balloons to make the amazing arch in the picture and putting out auction items was the start to the day of Taylor's coronation. Many people don't realize how much work it takes to put on such an important event to begin your year. As Taylor and I rushed back to the house to get ready we completely forgot to put gas in the car, luckily we had a ride to the coronation that night:) The night went well and I'm glad I could be there to help. Taylor looked beautiful and I want to thank everyone who came to support her. 

January 17-21/ National Western Stock Show in Denver

I was so excited for this first trip I showed up to the airport 4 hours early, not even kidding! To my surprise I made it through security fairly fast and before I knew it was time to board the plane. I landed in Denver with so much excitement and just was ready for whatever was waiting for me there. I was so proud of myself for not getting lost of the way to baggage claim, I met the guy who gave me a ride to my hotel there and he was even nice enough to give me a many tour on the way.

First event was an autograph signing these were some of the kids that wanted our pics:)

Finally it was time to head over to the rodeo and get the horses ready for the first performance of the day, I got lucky enough to have Yuma which is the most laid back horse I've ever met. I also had a chance to walk out into the arena and be introduced with Miss Rodeo America, as the picture shows below.

The rodeos in Denver seemed do go very smoothly and it was an amazing experience to be able to carry flags and just help out with the rodeo. Another exciting event I got to do while I was there was visit Colorado's state capitol and be introduced in front of the House of Representatives and Senate. When here our bio's were read and I was fortunate enough to have a Senator come up and tell me about a great opportunity I have in their state for being Native America I could go to school there free.  I was speechless at this offer and am looking forward to learning more about this.

Now a little something to make you laugh, in Denver there are a lot of one way streets well when walking to the capital we were getting ready to cross one and Utah-Martina Wardle being the one in front made sure to look both ways on the one way and all we could do was crack up laughing because all of us did the same thing:) As I have learned from meeting the young ladies from other states we all speak a little different from one another and Mississippi for example was trying to say boil one and day and it came out bowl, we were all so confused at first but soon figured it out.

                                        Miss Rodeo Colorado, Bennie Cervi, and Myself

I had a blast and I just can't wait for my next trip and what it will have in store thank you to everyone who is following along on my travels and for supporting me.

Happy Trials & God Bless

January 15/ Outhouse Races of Conconully

My Favorite one :)

I know it sounds strange that people would build outhouses just to race, but in my community it is a huge event drawing people from all over. There were even a group from Alaska that came down this year to race their outhouse. How the race goes is two outhouses are lined up next to each other with a person inside the outhouse and two pushers and then they race down main street which is turned into straight ice just for this day. It is definitely a must see event :)

January 8th/ "A Salute To Rodeo" My Coronation!

As I got dressed, did my make up, and hurried down to the Elks Lodge before my guests arrived. I couldn't help, but think "this is it, I am going to be Miss Rodeo Washington after tonight" the excitement was rushing through my body. JJ Harrison being my Master of Ceremonies met with me before the night started and I explained to him what all was going to be happening that night.

JJ Harrison and I, I am sure he told me something funny here:)

Before I could blink the night had started and the grand opening was my famous trick roping skills which seemed to be majorly lacking that night, but everyone got a good laugh from it. After that JJ made some introductions and then passed the mic off to me to explain the Dessert Dash which if you have never done it, its a blast! Your table is secretly competing against every other table in the room for first choice of desserts. Then was dinner which the tables that got to go first had to answer questions about me.

                                         Explaining the dessert dash


Finally it's time for my crowning!! As the Miss Rodeo Washington board was being announced and called up to the front. It was time for me to be escorted in, my grandfather and step-dad were my escorts. As I got to the front Roy Chance the president of Miss Rodeo Washington had the honor of crowning me.

After the crowning ceremony I thanked everyone who stand behind me and have supported me to follow my dreams, which have all come true through hard work:). Now it's time for the money making part of the night, so the auction begins. I would like to thank everyone who generously donated auction items for my coronation and helped to make the night such a huge success!!

Finally it's a official I am Miss Rodeo Washington 2011!

My Parents and I