Country Fest 2008

For the weekend we headed down to the South Jordan city park and took in some good old western festivities as part of the cities summer festival. Tyse has been asking since the first rodeo he went to when the day would come that he could "ride a sheep." We relented and let him compete in the muttin' bustin' event. Here he is in all his glory...

It was definitely short lived, and of the experience he said, "yeah, I want to do it again. But only if I don't get that super fast one (sheep) again." The rodeo started with the 8 year olds and went down from there, finally getting to the 4 year olds (the youngest group). I was getting a little worried about the back out when about 80% of the kids that did it came up crying, but he wasn't swayed by the tears. And he shed none- until he found out that he didn't get a trophy. Just like a kid of ours... didn't cry when falling off a speeding vessel, but a basketcase when his 3 second ride (optimistically) didn't land him a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd place trophy. BUT... he did get his first rodeo pay check- a whole 2 dollar bill!

Other than the main event, we had a great time- we went to the draft horse pull on friday night and watched these GIGANTIC horses pull over 10,000 lbs! I have never seen an animal that big... at least one that wasn't an elephant!

We also headed over to the free concert and fireworks and had a great time! The city is really good at getting a good performer and then everyone brings picnics and blankets and has a great time! This year it was Darryl Worley, a smaller name country singer that sing quite a few songs that I like- Kent took Tyse up close to the stage for a good look, as he is an aspiring bass guitarist (he decided that since the bass is the first instrument played in his favorite Steve Miller Band song). Emitt enjoyed playing at the playground that was in the middle of the action, and Ollie took a nap while mom sang along. It was also Emitt's first memorable set of fireworks for the year and he didn't disappoint with a chorus of WOOOOOOW!'s and excited pointing and grunting. He loved it... for the first 10 minutes or so, and then the rest of the show was spent keeping him busy with "jelly"- which at present is about his only source of caloric intake, and an occasional fruit snack. Ollie woke up with assistance from his bigger brother, and he also just sat and stared at the sky as the fireworks lit up the sky. It is still such a neat experience for me, especially when they pair the fireworks with patriotic music. It was such a beautiful night with a wonderful celebration!