6/24/16 Another very hot and dry week,
too hot for this early in June. The grass is starting to fry and get crunchy. This
week we had Vacation Bible School at Cornerstone in Ames in the evenings. Luke attended
officially as a third grader. He sounds so old these days. Jacob was a helper for
the first time along with many other 180 kids. The first night he was a helper
with 1st grade kids and decided he didn’t like that much at all. He
didn’t care for little kids hanging on him and pestering him. The final nights
he got to help with games with one of his good friends from small group and his
leader Alex “Guns”. He really enjoyed that. The theme this year was
“Submereged” and going deeper into knowing God. The decorations were
outstanding as always and the skits were cute, funny, and professional. During
the song and worship time, Luke would run to the frontm just in front of the
stage to sing along and do the action moves. I am telling you, that kid has the
groove. When he hears music it is natural for him to want to dance.
During the week, the boys spent most of
their days with Rylie at Karen and Orrie’s. One day they went to the hay expo. Orrie
bought Luke a BB gun and let Rylie teach him how to use it. That made me very
upset and I had to have a visit with Grandpa. I had to remind him Luke is only 8 and his Dad needs to teach him gun safety before he can be shooting guns. The boys got some good time in
with their cousin Rylie. It is harder the older they get.
Jayden spent her week doing a variety of
things. She took cousin Jaynie to the Fort Dodge water park and to the movie
Finding Dory. The two of them always have a good time. Jayden was needing some
good girl time as her friend Makenna got upset and won't talk to her. Girls are so
hard to figure out. Jayden spent time riding lots and the horses got new shoes.
Friday Jayden and Jake rode horses
together while Luke, Mark, and I went to the Buhr's for Lizzy’s birthday.
It turned out to be a beautiful night in their backyard. They had a trampoline,
luau décor, relay games, pizza, and cake.
6/25/16 This morning it rained for about 2 minutes. Too little and too light to even dampen the sidewalk. We really need some real rain. Tonight was the Lake City IRCA rodeo. Cousin Jaynie joined us for the rodeo. We could not all fit in the truck so I had to drive the tahoe. We got to the rodeo plenty early before 6:00. It was a good thing we did as later we saw for over a mile, trucks and trailers were parked all along the side of the road. I could not believe how many trailers were parked so far away. It was crazy! I heard there were 360 contestants for this rodeo. It was very hot until the sun went down. During the performance, Jayden and her TMRA friends got to run, Kaylee, Morgan, and Karlee. The arena had a side gate going in. That is something Jayden has not experienced and has never practiced with her horse. We knew it would be a challenge. She got him in and lined up, but her angle going in to the first barrel was off. That is all it takes and the first barrel was knocked. Her time would have been a 15.7. You take the good with the bad. It isn’t an easy sport and some days you are on top and some days you are not. Once they are consistent, they will have much success. Ace didn’t want to load again tonight. We were rushing to get out of the area before the fireworks started. It took several attempts and finally he went. They only ran 10 in the performance and 40 more in slack, then 15 more on Sunday. It was midnight when we all crawled in bed. 
On Sunday jayden hauled with the Nelson's to the IRCA rodeo in Cresco, IA. They live north and I drove Jayden to their house. Morgan, age 11, has been running all season against Jayden. She is a very sweet girl that runs a gray mare named Blueberry. I have seen her make some pretty amazing runs and she is a good little rider. She competed in a National competition and has qualified to run at the youth NFR in Vegas this winter. Jadyen had a fun time hauling and getting to know Morgan. Her dad, Dave drove them. He watched out for Jayden to make sure her horse handled the fireworks ok. We didnt know what he would do. Jayden's run wasnt one of her best, she ran on a tiny naroow race track. They got back to the Nelson's at 2Am where I drove to their house and picked her up. Yeah, I drove there in the wee hours to get her. I am one dedicated rodeo mom. I know what it takes.
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