Ah Summer Time

Well with Cowboy Christmas and Calgary behind us you'd think things would start slowing down but it seems like they're just as crazy. Houston and I drove out to our good friends house last night after Hunter roped at Spanish Fork, UT. Clint and Robyn live outside of town and we love to hang out here whenever possible. Hunter and Jerome were supposed to fly out to Salinas, CA this morning but they changed their plans and drove out with Houston Hutto last night. It was a 14 hour drive and they got there about an hour before slack started. Hunter made an awesome run and was 9.4 on his first calf, he's winning the first round right now and ropes his second later tonight. Hopefully it goes as good as the first and he makes the short round on Sunday. Then Monday we're back at Ogden, UT, Deadwood, SD on Wednesday and Thursday and then off to the "Daddy" in Cheyenne, WY on Friday and Saturday and hopefully short round there on Sunday. HOME right after that!! Can't wait, except we are loving this weather we've been in. While in Canada we wore our jackets almost everyday! It was amazing! I know as soon as we get close we're going to be dying though!
So the last time I wrote we were headed to Calgary! Hunter did really good in his set, even though it was a really tough set. He ended up the second highest money winner right behind Shane Hanchey. Hunter won 15,000.00 and Shane won 15,500. Hunter decided not to go back down to the states to a few rodeos in between the second set and Sunday. Since Hunter did so good he went straight to Sunday instead of having to go to the wild card round. Made me breath a little easier. Houston had plenty of friends to play with while we  were there. We had huge baseball and dodge ball games every night in between the trailers. It got pretty wild a few times. When the kids weren't playing ball they had all their ropes out roping the dummy. It was the best entertainment! A few days it rained like crazy, the drains actually got clogged up so the water was deep right in the middle of our playing field. But other than that it was a good 10 days. Sunday was the finals for Calgary, and it didn't go as planned but we still got out of there with good money. Just wasn't our year! When we left the arena we were planning on going half ways then finishing off the rest the next day headed to Salt Lake, well....we made in about 5 miles and the truck was kinda running funny and the gauge said to check the fuel filter. Well there just happened to be a station open on Sunday. So we pulled off and got in line. About 45 minutes later they got to us and started pulling stuff out. The color was awful and said the injectors were pretty clogged. So they got us fixed up and we hooked back onto the trailer. Hunter walked back to check Hustler before we pulled off and he noticed a wheel on the trailer was messed up. So we back it up on the block and sure enough we were close to running it off and had ruined the bearings. We were lucky to find a place to change our filter, so we knew it was going to be close to impossible to find someone to fix that. Hunter got a hold of some people and they gave us a man's name that was about 45 miles away and he said he'd fix us up. So we took off on three wheels...crazy I know! We finally made it and they got us in and out and we were on our way. It officially took us 6 hours to drive 60 miles!!! Ugh! After what seemed like forever we finally made it to Salt :Lake the next day an hour before the rodeo started. It didn't go any better than our day before. It was off to Ogden, UT next. We were pretty excited, my best friend Robyn and her new baby Calder were going to be there. This would be the first time I got to meet him and I couldn't hardly wait. And Houston had a much anticipated birthday party for Addie Mass! They had a pink castle bounce house and a unicorn cake. It was really awesome and we were really happy to celebrate with good friends!! After Ogden we headed straight to Nampa, ID. It was hot and it was crappy too. Spanish Fork was bad also, and now Houston and I are hanging out and Hunter is in Salinas, CA. I just got the news that he was 10.4 on his second calf. So as of right now he is winning the average and making the short round on Sunday! Great news, keep your fingers crossed and say a prayer, Hunter has always wanted to win that rodeo. We are back at Ogden Monday, Deadwood, SD Wednesday and Thursday and then down to Cheyenne Friday and Saturday on Hunter's Birthday!!!! The short round on Sunday would be a nice present! Anways until next time God Bless!!

H and Treston Brazile Team Roping at Calgary

Calgary Stampede

Baseball Game

I'm sure telling someone how to play

Love these 2 guys

H hangin like a monkey

Sweet Calder

Riley and H

H, Riley (his girlfriend), and her little sis Payton

Birthday party!

Happy 4th of July

Well Cowboy Christmas has officially ended and there were alot of cowboys who did really great. This wasn't our best 4th ever but altogether Hunter won Springdale, AR and made 5,492.00. And then he placed at Prescott, AZ and moved his total 4th of July winnings to 7,700.00. We'll take what we can get and are so thankful to have kept the winning up. Last time I wrote Houston and I were about to pull out to Greeley, CO with the horses. We didn't get started out very good, the day before we were supposed to leave Hunter took our blue truck back to the shop for about the 25th time. We just had the transmission rebuilt and they assured us that our problems were solved. That definitely wasn't the case as Hunter tested it out just to be sure, before H and I got halfway from home and broke down. The dealership said they could find the problem and have it fixed that same day. Well, they called back and said its the same part we've repaired several times and they just didn't know what was going on. As most of you know, we have to have a truck that will pull our big trailer and haul horse across the country. So it seemed that we were in a jam. But after a few phone calls the manager decided he would loan us a truck that would pull everything. It was a much needed break, but they failed to check to make sure it had a gooseneck hitch in it. That's where Brent Bain came to the rescue! He worked until after midnight putting a hitch and plate in the bed!! So it was a very late night for all of us. The next morning we pulled out of Apache at 9am with all our family seeing us off! The drive was pretty uneventful and H and I made it to Greeley about 930 that night. A few times we stopped and H made a beeline straight to the bathroom, at this point I really didn't think much about it. The next day Hunter and Jerome got in just in time for slack and H and I made our way up to the arena. He started dancing around and needed to go to the bathroom again right then. So we ran and made it just in time. Now I'm thinking okay...I think we have a problem. Houston is highly allergic to peanuts and they either give him a bad case of diareah or break him out in hives depending on the nut and how much he's had. So I'm thinking back trying to remember if there was anywhere he could have picked up something with nuts. I couldn't think of anything and he's usually so careful to ask before he eats anything suspicious. Then it dawned on me, we stopped at Burger King and H wanted a cheeseburger. He tore into it and we didn't think twice that it was covered with sesame seeds. Now we know, Sesame Seeds ARE definitely a form of nuts. So all day during slack and the long drive to Oakley, UT poor H was stuck on the pot!! Now we know though. We've steered clear of burger king since then. When we screeched in to Oakley, UT slack had already started so we were definitely in hurry to get up to the arena. Thankfully H grabbed our umbrella since it looked like it might rain. Sure enough about 5 minutes before Hunter roped it started pouring. So he roped in the rain and his calf ended up getting up. We got soaked and the temp dropped to about 55!! It was a little chilly! The next day the guys took the truck to Salt Lake to fly out to St. Paul, OR. That meant that H and I were afoot. The first day we decided there was a diner up the road that we wanted to try. Hunter assured us it wasn't too far but it ended up being like 4 miles one way. It took H and I one hour there and one hour back. Thankfully H was on his bike or it would have taken longer. On the way back we passed about mile 3 and H threw his sucker in the dirt. He was tired and couldn't go any farther. After a small rest I put him on the handlebars of his bike and I got behind the wheel. I pumped him on his little bike for about a mile back to our trailer. I'm sure we looked pretty funny and H and I laughed the whole way. But we made it back quite a bit quicker. Good thing his little bike had good shocks. After that eventful day we decided we would just hang at the trailer until the guys got back. We went to Red Lodge, MT next and then on to Cody which is where we are hanging out now. Neither place went good for us, but Houston has had a ton of fun here in Cody with the Tate girls! He stayed the night with them one night and I thought I'd never get him to come back home. Then last night we went over to their place and popped firecrackers and watched the big firework show. Right in the middle of the big ones it started raining so I think the grand finale went a little quicker than planned. But it was still fun and great to watch. We were sure thinking of all out friends and family back in Oklahoma who can't pop anything because of the burn ban. So glad it's in effect though because my dad and the rest of the firefighters need a break!!! So today we are planning to maybe go white water rafting down the river. It's running pretty fast since all the snow is melting off the mountains still!! Cross your fingers we don't fall in haha!!! And Wednesday it's off to Calgary, Canada for the big one! Keep Hunter in your prayers that he can do good!!!  It will be awhile before I post anything again unless I find wifi since it cost so much for Internet up there. Hopefully the next time I post we have good news though!! Until next time, God Bless!!!

Adios Oklahoma!!

Well today is officialy my last day of work!! Houston and I will be hitting the road Tuesday! Were all pretty excited. Hunter has been gone a week and made some tracks along the way. He won Northeplatte, NE and split a round in Pleasant Grove, UT and then won second in a round at Reno. Not bad for the first week on the road. Let's hope it just gets better and better as the summer goes on. He'll get a short break here at home and then will head to Springdale, AR on Tuesday. H and I will also be leaving bright and early Tuesday morning, only were headed in a different direction. We're taking the rig and horses to Greeley, CO. Hunter will fly in and meet us there on Wednesday. After him and Jerome rope there then we have to jet out and get to Oakley, UT. It's going to be a very busy week to say the least and will last until after the 4th of July. They don't call it Cowboy Christmas for nothing!! Keep yalls fingers crossed for lots of winning!!!
Last weekend we went on a small vacation with my family to SeaWorld in San Antonio, TX. We were all pumped because the way people talk, it'll just blow your mind. I'll tell ya what it did....just blew my money. I will probably never go back to SeaWorld again. We got there at 930 am, which the gates didn't open until 10. Then once we got into the park they informed us that nothing opens until 11 or later. Kind of not sure why you would open a park if it really didn't open until later. But I soon figured out why...the lines to everything are rediculously long for every single thing there. You've got to get in line early if you want to see the shows. Not a very fun thing to do when you're 4 years old. Or heck I'm 24 and I was ready to blow the joint. Anyway Houston found something right away that he loved. They had a pretty big splash park and he was content to stay there all day long. After all day in the sun and walking in circles we decided SeaWorld wasn't all it was cracked up to be. We got some much need grub in our systems then hit the Riverwalk. The next day we decided floating the Comal River in New Braunfels sounded like a great plan. So we packed up pretty early and headed off. We had such a blast!! Anyway that was our big adventure for the week. I'm sure I'll have plenty more coming up. Keep us in your prayers, especially me and H man as we are headed with truck, trailer and 2 horses on a 14 hour drive Tuesday!!!

Let Summer Begin!

Hunter and H after his homerun game!!

Nice swing H

Thumbs up after his Homerun

diving for his pool tools

These goggles were pretty tricky. The first time we put them on him he paniced because he couldn't breath. I guess he forgot that you can breath through your mouth and nose.

 Houston and I officialy sent Hunter off today! This is the first time in 5 years we haven't left with him. A little sad but I'm keeping my hopes up that he kicks some major butt out there. And Houston and I may eventually fly out but as of right now we are hangin out here at home. Well T-ball finally ended...we didn't win the tournament, not even a game in the tournament but we were pretty successful. Houston hit 2 homeruns in his last 2 games!! They were Huge hits and you would have thought we just won the world series. Heck in my book it was just as sweet as winning it but I'm kind of partial. We were all so proud of him and he loved all the attention he got. I think he made close to 60.00 from all his family. Hahah we have quite a few family members and he kind of robbed his Dad. But you only hit your first homerun once!!! Now that T-ball is over Houston pretty much lives in someone's pool. My parents, Hunter's parents and our good friends John and Diane have a pool so he thinks everyday he has to be to the closest body of water. And it doesn't matter who takes him as long as someone is willing. Here's a list of rodeos Hunter will be. I will add more as he enters them and I will try to keep you guys updated on how he does at each one of them. Anyway hope to see some of you down the road and hopefully I can keep you as entertained as possible with stories from the road!! God Bless

June
15-16- Northplatte, NE
17- Pleasant Grove, UT
21- Reno, NV
22-23- Santa Fe, NM
24- Pecos, TX
29- Greeley, CO
July
1- St. Paul, OR
2- Cody, WY
3- Prescott, AZ
8-11- Calgary Stampede, Calgary, Alberta Short Round is the 16 and 17

Right where we want to be

Read about Hunter at Ft. Smith, AR. Hope he keeps this pace all summer!!!

http://www.prorodeo.com/Story.aspx?xu=2783

Where has the time gone?!

Where has the time gone? Seems like we're in full swing of things. Rodeo has picked up and we're right in the middle of t-ball season. I need a minute to catch my breath haha!! Houston is loving playing ball. He plays first base and bats second! His team isn't bad for them all being first-timers. We've won a few games but mainly lost but it's still fun to see the goofy things they do. This week one of the kids whose dad coaches a high school baseball team started singing "Hey Batter Batter" so that got the rest of the team chattering right along with him! Pretty cute! H is still working hard for a home-run. I think everyone in the family has told him they'd give him 5 dollars if he hit one, with the exception of a few people who he's negotiated all the way up to 10 dollars. He's going to rake it in when he finally hits one. Hunter has moved up in the standings all the way to Number 2!! He's been pretty hot all winter so we're hoping it carries right on over through the summer! After the ciruit finals in OKC he flew to Logandale, NV where he won 2nd. Then he had a week off and flew out Clovis, CA where he won that and then was at Corpus Christi, TX the same weekend and won that one too!! It was much needed and sure has us feeling much better about where he is this year as compared to last. He also went to Guymon the first week of May. He went into the progessive round winning 10th in the average and was 7.0. He ended up 2nd overall. Our good friend Jerome Schneeburger won it. It won't be long before we hit the road for the summer. I'm sure if it's like all of our other summers I'll have an abundant amount of stories to tell!! Until then...God Bless!!

My baby is growing up, carrying his bad to his first t-ball game!

Hunter and H

First at bat of his career!

He just couldn't resist sticking his hand in that nice pile of white chalk

So fast he was kickin up dust!!

Cruisin on by while they fight over the ball

Pics

Snake measuring on Sunday. My dad is holding the head.

Dad holding him up

Pretty one

H feeding the birds at the Zoo. He was scared at first because they're pretty greedy.

Silly kid!