Monday, July 27, 2009

Houston and Riley
Slip -n- Slide at Robyn's

This is at Robyn and Clint's place in Spanish Fork, UT



Finally in Calgary
















After driving all night, we finally made it to Calgary on time, with all our horses and in one piece. What a trip. We got into the arena just in time for the guys to get checked in and for Robyn, Houston and I to get cleaned up before the rodeo started. We were all pretty tired, Hunter, Houston and I slept on the couch the size of a twin bed and RJ slept in the truck. It was pretty cramped quarters to say the least.
Our set of ropers included Hunter, RJ, Clint, Trevor Brazile, Tyson Durfey, Stran Smith, Tuf Cooper, Dean Edge, Jeff Chapman, and Alwin Bouchard. The first round Hunter missed, Clint was second with 7.4 and RJ was fourth with 8.0. Trevor won the round with a 6.8. We were disappointed that it didn’t go better but kept our heads up since we had 3 rounds left. Later that night Deacon Vice and his girlfriend Maggie flew in. Houston was pretty excited to see Deke. We went out and had dinner and then went back to arena to feed our horse. Houston got to see a few Chuckwagons go and thought they went way to fast!! After making sure Cajun was set we were off to the room for some much needed sleep!
The next day we got to the arena and it was a bit chilly and looked like maybe it could rain. It was a good thing we packed jackets that day because sure enough as soon as they sang the Canadian anthem it started pouring and was sooo cold. It lightened up as the calf roping started but Hunter got a no time again, as he was flagged out. RJ was 7.0 and won second. Clint was 13.1 and Trevor won the round again with a 6.5. After the rodeo we were off to a pretty big ropin just up the road a ways in High River. The roping part didn’t go so great but Houston sure did have a good time playing. Thursday was the third round and went a little better for us. Hunter was 7.1 and won third, right behind Clint who was 7.0. RJ also placed fifth. Tyson Durfey won the round with a 6.8. We left there as soon as we finished to head back over to High River to finish the 3rd round of the ropin and the short round. The ropin took up the rest of our night which wasn’t so great for poor Houston. We have finally figured out that his second favorite food, Chinese, makes him beyond constipated. On the way over he kind of streaked his underwear up so I got him changed, but it wasn’t 30 minutes and he did it again. This time I was a little upset so I made him sit in the bathroom since he ruined his last pair of undies, but he still couldn’t go. So outside in the rain and freezing cold I went to hose his underwear out. In the mean time Hunter took H up to the balcony where there wasn’t so many people setting, with H only wearing his boots. He didn’t seem to mind but we didn’t want to risk the chance of filling his boots up so we put his brand new jeans on and let him go back to playing. He mingled around and decided to go stand out in the arena with Hunter and the guys. It was going pretty good, but about 45 minutes later Hunter shot me a look that said it all. I drug H to the bathroom, him kicking and screaming the whole way. I got H squared away on the toilet and told him he had to stay there until he finished and I went to the sink to assess the damage. Luckily for me Robyn walked in around that time and said she would help me get the jeans cleaned up. H came strolling in and said he finished and then I understood why all this took place. I’m sure if you’re a parent this won’t gross you out because chances are you’ve been there, and if you’re not well sorry about your luck! This poop was the longest I’ve ever seen in my life, I made Hunter come look so he’d believe me. Hunter got out of there pretty quick and took H to put his still damp underwear on. However Robyn and I had to stay and get the jeans cleaned up. I’m telling you, if someone is willing to help you clean your kids crap out of a pair of jeans they are a pretty great friend. By the time I got through I pretty much needed a shower but that would have to wait. Finally we finished up and got to go back to the hotel. What an eventful day!!
The next day the roping was about the same, Hunter again got a not time again, but Clint won the round. Hunter and I decided we just needed to go do something and relax so we took h to the movies to see Ice Age 3. It was nice to get out and have some family time. The next day, Saturday 11th, was the wild card round and Hunter had to be one of the top 2, something he’s done before and is pretty good at, but unfortunately it just wasn’t his day. Stran Smith and Scott Kormos made it back with a 6.5 and 7.0. The next day was the championship round and at Clint and RJ both made it back. Clint didn’t make it to the top 4 but RJ did and he ended up winning the whole 100,000! We had fun celebrating but it was on to Nampa the next morning so we had to get out of Canada in a hurry. Sorry it took me so long to get this posted, H and I have been getting some much needed R & R at Robyn’s house in Utah. Much Love, Hunter, Ashley and Houston





Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Dont ever say what else, beacuase what else always bites you in the butt!

Hunter and I woke this morning before our alarm went off, which is unusual, got things loaded to hit the road and I thought to myself, this is the start to a great day!!
We loaded Cajun and Country in the trailer, and pulled out. Clint and Robyn pulled behind us and off we went. We didn’t make it 5 miles from Clint’s house and BOOM, Clint blew a back rear tire! Robyn said she rolled down the window and could hear air! My thinking on this though was well if it was going to happen, it’s a dang good thing it happened so close to town. They pulled in their tire shop and we went ahead because we needed to run a few errands. Well it wasn’t much farther up the road and RJ has a small incident, he had his cell phone plugged in and went to unplug it and the guts of that phone came right out. Talk about blowed…that RJ was some kind of hot!! So we find a Verizon store that is right across from the Walmart…Perfect!! Going to get 2 birds with one rock, plus there was a Super cuts in the Walmart, H was needing a hair cut badly. Maybe things are looking up. 2 hours later, we had groceries, H was looking good with his new cut, RJ didn’t get a new phone but they were going to send it to Calgary for him. Great!
We got back on the road and watched a couple of movies while Hunter drove and RJ slept, I kept thinking maybe H would get a nap in but no such luck there. All of a sudden H turns and looks at us and starts crying saying his butt hurt, great…he’s constipated again but he streaked his undies first. So we pull over, make him set on the pot for a few minutes, get everything cleaned up and get back on the road. All be danged if he doesn’t do the same thing again but Hunter and I have a plan this time, we pulled over at the nearest truck stop and bought us a bag of nuts (for those of you that don’t know H is allergic to nuts and will blow his pants apart with diarrhea…im not exaggerating) anyway I get him set down on the toilet, give him 2 nuts to eat and stood back to wait. Like clockwork it was less than 3 minutes and H was a new man. H and I decided we’d ride in the trailer because he was bouncing off the walls. We were 15 miles from Butte, MT and we pull over abruptly.
Me and H climb out and the wind was a little crisp so we went back in and got our hoodies on and then stepped down to see what was going on. We get to the front of the truck and Hunter said we were leaking some oil. It looked like someone had put a small bomb in the oil pan and set it off. Oil was running out of the grill and was running down the hill we were parked on. Were scrambling trying to get a plan because we are needing to be in Calgary by morning. As the guys are yelling and kicking, me and H are walking around assessing the damage, that’s when I notice under the nose where the jack and propane tanks are is pretty black. We slowly step around to the left side of the rig, our dirty, but shiny silver and white trailer is now black!! My mouth drops completely to the ground!!!
About that time RJ walked around and cocks his head to look at the left tire on the trailer (this is the tire directly in front of the one that caught on fire) and decided to give it a kick, sure enough it wobbles and is just miles from rolling off and passing us down the interstate. Wow! Finally our tow truck arrives to save the day. They get RJ’s truck hooked up and then hook our trailer minus a wheel up to another truck. We start off towards town where and Clint and Robyn have turned around, driven back an hour and a half and are now waiting for us. Thank God for good friends!!! We threw what clean clothes we had into Clint and Robyn’s rig and headed back out again. It’s now 1030 and were still a good 7 hours from there!!
Of course all of this is on top of the tire we’ve already had catch on fire, the slightly bent axel due to a dead deer hitting it, and our two trailer doors that have a tendency to jam up or swing wide open at any given moment, oh and RJ’s truck has a blown shock or something so when we hit a bump it sounds like rough metal on metal!! But the upside is Hunter had finally moved up in the standings and is roping like his old self. Thank you all for your many prayers. They work!! But keep em coming our way!! Hopefully by the end of the week I’m able to say we’ve got a little more money in the bank!! Love you guys!!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Calgary or Bust

Hey guys, this will probably be our last post until next week sometime, we will be in Canada for a week and roaming is so dang expensive up there. Of course I will post when Hunter has won the whole thing!!!:)
Yesterday we roped at Prescott, we got there and the arena was about 3 feet of sticky mud. After trying to work it with big front end loaders they finally decided to turn the buckin horses out on it, and what do ya know it worked wonders! So an hour delay later Hunter ran his first one and won 4th. then in the perf he won the round with a 8.8, and the average also. RJ and Clint both didnt have such great luck there. On the way back to Clint's house we went over the hoover dam, and the new bridge theyre building ACROSS the top is looking pretty dang scary. But amazing nonetheless!!! We stopped just north of Vegas and ate at Houston's favorite chineese place, Kung Fu Panda a.k.a Panada Express!!! Anyway after a pretty short night, we got everything loaded and are now headed out. 900 miles away!!!
Hope all is well back home, we miss yall!!! lots of love, Hunter Ash and H

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July!!!! We are currently riding in the truck heading down to Prescott.AZ to rope tomorrow. We left Greeley this afternoon as soon as Clint and RJ got through at the Short Round, RJ missed and Clint won 3rd. It’s a pretty decent little jaunt down here, about 14 hours! So we’ll drive all night and get there sometime tomorrow, then as soon as we get through roping there we’ll head out again for Calgary, AB. That trip will be a little longer as it is 1550 miles up there..Hello 24 hour drive. We do have to make a small pit stop in Spanish fork, UT and pick up the horses, Clint’s rig; Robyn and “Pepto”, my pink bike, my sis Al named it. Were pretty excited to get up there to Canada and bring home that 100K.
Anyway I’m sure yall have been wondering what me and H have been up to by ourselves out there in Greeley. I can tell you for sure we stayed as far away from those dang carneys as possible. I did feel a little bad because I had to keep telling H they broke down, but I’m sure yall know you can’t get anything by that kid. He did find a pretty decent size sand pile that kept us busy most of the day, until the daily rain showers forced us back into the trailer. We also found us a Corn on the Cob stand that had awesome BBQ and corn, H will be poopin corn for a week as much as he ate. Friday night Kid Rock was in concert so we sat outside in the lawn chairs and enjoyed the music, from a safe distance of course. H was pretty disappointed because they didn’t have a fireworks show afterwards. Before bed that night H needed a snack so he got him some spaghetti “o’s” down and went to town. He didn’t quite finish the bowl off before he got into bed and accidently knocked a bottle of Gatorade down. It hit that bowl right on the side and catapulted it into the air; spaghetti “o’s” went flying all over me, my computer and the couch. H looked at me and said “OOPS!!” The night before I let H break out a couple of his sparklers so maybe he’d quit buggin us so much, but in rolled the Firework Patrol a.k.a security guards on a golf cart and busted H’s bubble. They told him sparklers were too dangerous on the rodeo grounds, guess they didn’t realize H got the Pyro-fireworks gene from the Orf side. He was ticked to say the least!! This morning as we were waiting for the guys to get back from the airport we were hanging under the nose of the trailer sittin in the shade and roping the dummy. H decided he’d start swinging the light connector that hooks up to the truck (it’s a big black socket with 3 hooks on it) anyway he swung it right for my forehead and sure enough I didn’t see it coming, I swear I almost passed out. It hit me dead in the forehead and left a knot. I cried and H wondered why hahah. What a week!! After swimming in the buckets, scoopin poop, taking care of RJ’s horse, and making sand cakes all week we are plum wore out and glad to have to guys back with us. We are sad we had to miss all the Fourth of July celebrations, especially Grand D and Papa John’s house and some of Big Granny’s Peach Cobbler. We love you all…..and are thankful we live in a country where we can do what we love!! God Bless America!!!!
Until next time…..Hunter, Ashley, Houston and RJ

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Pee break...

Get ya a drink H



SO Handsome!!!!






Houston playing in the buckets here at Greeley!!!




Carney's!

So Hunter was the big winner at Ponoka last night. He won the First round, split 2nd and 3rd in the short round, won the average and won the 4 man match for a grand total of 12,000$. not a bad day, and it was much needed for our pockets and the standings. After they got through last night Hunter and RJ started back down to the states as they are flying in to Greeley to rope tonight. Houston and I have been here for a couple of days and plan to stay with RJ's horse until the short round. Hunter and RJ will leave as soon as they rope tonight and drive to Salt Lake where they will catch a plane to St. Paul, OR and rope there and Mallao, OR. Hopefully both will be back here for the short round and then its off to Prescott,AZ and then to Calgary!!!!
Last night H and I were surprised to see our cousin and bullrider, Austin Ambrose. We all piled into the truck and went to chilis to grab a bite before the perf. On our way it came a downpour and then a hailstorm. Sure felt like we were back in good Oklahoma! Finally it quit just in time for us to catch a few rides at the carnival before we went to watch Austin. Of course as soon as we walked by the games H had every intention to play them all. The first game he played was a shooting game and he beat me by a mile and won a goofy dolphin, the next was one of those dart balloon games. The lady there seemed pretty nice and said since H didnt really want a prize he could throw all her darts for 5$. Well he ended up throwing about 20 darts and popping about 10 balloons. Come to find out the lady decided rules were rules and i owed her 20 bucks for all the darts, BUT we got a spiderman doll out of the deal. Talk about a rip off, dang carneys!! Then she had the nerve to hand H another dart to play again. Anyway we made it to the arena and watched Austin ride, his bull didnt quite buck as good as he was supposed to but it was fun. After the bullriding they had an awesome motorcross show where they did huge flips in the air. H thought it was so cool but said it was toooo scary to try. Thank goodness!!! So for now me and H are impatiently waiting on the guys to get here. we'll let you know how it goes here at Greeley!!! We miss you all and love you,!! Ash and H

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Ponoka Stampede

Hunter was the champ today at Ponoka,AB in Canada...i was to excited i forgot to ask for details, sorry guys. ill post more with details later on. He and the other top 3 will get to rope for another 5000 tonight. keep your fingers crossed!!

Flaming Tires

Hello everyone… seems like we’ve been gone so long, but it’s actually only been a week. I’m happy to report the roping has finally picked up and Hunter is roping like a champ again!! We left out last Wednesday, the 17th with Ryan Jarrett. Houston was pretty excited because were in the “big truck”, RJ drives one of those international semis and he loves it. Anyway after much packing we were finally off to North Platte, NE, where we were up the next morning. We hit some pretty bad weather along the way but managed to swing around it thankfully. The next morning (18th) Hunter and RJ roped both calves and both did really good. Hunter was 9.1 and 10.5 and was good enough to win second in the whole thing right behind RJ. After we roped we got back on the road to go to Cedar City, UT about an 840 mile trip. We stopped in Evanston, WY for the night and it was about 45 degrees, needless to say we weren’t in Oklahoma anymore. The next day we stopped at Clint and Robin Robinsons house in Spanish Fork, UT to rope a few calves before Cedar City. Unfortunately it didn’t go as planned and both Hunter and RJ missed their calves there. It was a short night and early morning as we were off to Reno the next day, (20th) as we pulled in we could barely contain Houston because he had been waiting on that day for quite awhile. It was “Riley Day”. Come to find out she and her new baby sister were napping so H would have to wait till later that night to see her. Hunter was up in slack before the performance that night and he was 14 on his first one. No good for the round or average, but in Hunter like fashion he came back that night with a blazing 7.8, almost a whole second in the lead. And Houston got to see Riley and they were so happy it was hilarious. They giggled and played and hugged all night and finally had to say goodbye. Of course we had to tell them a million times they’d see each other soon. Houston didn’t pout long because we got to stay in a hotel that night and went swimming the next day. We had a pretty big scare later that day, we were getting ready for lunch and I had just gotten out of the shower, H was watching cartoons and Hunter needed to go downstairs to grab us some stuff. Hunter walked out of the room, and I was blow drying my hair and H decided to follow Hunter out the door. Well I got done drying my hair and walked in to talk to H and he was nowhere to be found. My heart was racing and I just knew he had caught the elevator down by himself. I ran out of the room, thankfully flipped the latch so I wouldn’t be locked out, but the funny part is I was only wearing panties. I was so frantic I forgot I didn’t have a shirt on. Sure enough H was standing down at the end of the hall crying for his daddy. I’m sure the hotel security got a kick out of me running down the hall to save my poor baby. I’m telling you H has a way a finding trouble or vice versa because as we were checking out and heading out to meet the rest of our crew Houston got stuck on the revolving door and some couple had to pick him up and ride out with him. We managed to make it the rest of the night problem free and headed back to Spanish Fork later that night after Clint roped. We have spent Monday through today relaxing and roping. The guys left yesterday morning at 5:45 a.m. and headed for Ponoka, AB in Canada. They made it safely but had some trouble along the way…they were almost to Great Falls, MT and realized that one of the tires on the trailer had caught on fire. They got the rig stopped and put it out with a mini fire extinguisher. I’m sure it was quite a sight, 3 cowboys on the side of the road with one extra crispy tire. They all roped this morning, Clint was a 10 and his calf got up, RJ was also a 10 and Hunter was 7.5. They rope again tonight but the rounds won’t be over for a few days, so it’s not definite just yet!! Robyn, Houston and I will stay here until Sunday, then we’ll meet RJ in Salt Lake (he made the short round in Reno and is catching a ride back) and then we’ll head on to Greeley, CO.
Happy Trails until next time, we love and miss you all!!!!!!! Hunter, Ashley and Houston Herrin