You Might As Well Have Fun, We've Already Got Your Money

One of the strange customs in Utah is every city, town, and group of houses near a rest stop has a week during the summer when they celebrate the pride they have for the place where they live. They name their week after the "thing" their town is known for - or the thing their town was known for before every town was known for a bunch of new neighborhoods filled with houses that look exactly like each other. For example, American Fork has "Steel Days" (I've never understood that one - Geneva Steel was in Orem), Pleasant Grove has "Strawberry Days" (I pick my strawberries in Mapleton), Payson has "Onion Days" (because everyone I know from Payson smells like onions), Midway has "Swiss Days" (don't forget to buy a Swiss Taco for lunch at the park). You get the idea. Most of the "days" are celebrated with a 5K or a 10K race, a parade, a chuck wagon breakfast, a ramshackle carnival, and a craft fair.

Our town is no different. Apparently our town's thing is the rodeo. We have lived here for almost 12 years and this was the first year we attended any of the Round-up Rodeo Days events. Unless you count getting caught in inexplicable traffic because we forgot what week it was and listening to the rodeo announcer through our unopened windows four blocks away. We finally saw the mini-float parade. We finally went to the rodeo. Having a child has officially changed everything.

We went to the parade with Dan, Kristi, and Clara. Kristi brought chairs for the girls to sit in and thank goodness she also had one for herself. Otherwise we were completely unprepared. We didn't know the parade route (we followed the chairs), we didn't know how long it would take, we didn't bring any shade. Duh. A nice woman from our ward brought over a giant umbrella she wasn't using. It's a Round-up Rodeo Days Miracle! Bridget cowered when she heard the fire trucks, but she got into it as soon as some kids threw laffy taffy at her. Clara waved, retrieved candy, played pretend drums with the marching band. I'm sure she's the reason we were hooked up with so much candy. Good job being cute, Clara. :)

I've only been to 3, maybe 4, rodeos in my life. I don't understand the rules at all, but it's still amazing to watch. The live violence, though, makes me sick to my stomach. Watching a guy get bucked off a horse and then kicked in the head by that horse is not my idea of a good time. The burgers were great (as they should be at $20 each - it wasn't that much but it was still shocking). Bridget was fascinated most of the time. The rest of the time she was trying to climb up on the bench, then off the bench, then on the bench again. Good, dirty times.

This is Bridget risking her life by standing on this chair to beg me to open yet another piece of candy. Who is resisting this face?! WHO?!