Cheyenne, WY - Part II

Our last full day in Cheyenne was spent at the rodeo, Merle Haggard concert, and carnival. We let ourselves sleep in late Sunday morning and got out to the rodeo grounds around lunch time…I mean, who can resist a corn dog and funnel cake? Not this girl!



{Lane Frost memorial}



We did a little shopping before the rodeo started. I bought one of my all-time favorite rodeo purchases. It’s two cushions that can be used at rodeo’s, sporting events, etc and they’re in this fancy ol’ bag. We made use of them that day at the rodeo and we were able to use them at another rodeo this past weekend!

We had old-timey pictures made of the four of us – which was SO much fun!

Then, we made it to our seats just as the rodeo was beginning! I’ve got to tell you, this was by far the best and most exciting rodeo I’ve ever been to. I don’t know if it was because of the large venue or just because of the history of this rodeo. But it was great!

My two favorite parts of the rodeo, which I’d never seen in another rodeo were the colt race and the wild horse race. For the colt race, they bring all the mama horses on one end of the track and all the baby horses on the other end and let the babies go…and those little babies HAUL it down the track to their mama’s. It was adorable.

Then, the wild horse race is, well….wild. Apparently, it’s been outlawed {i.e. illegal} in all other states but Wyoming {don’t hold me to that, but that’s just what I’ve heard!}. And I can see why! We saw one guy get a broken leg and countless others were pretty beat up! But the goal is to take a wild horse and get him saddled and one guy has to ride him all the way around the track and the first one wins. Sounds easy except these horses are CRAAAAZY!

After the rodeo we went back to our room and rested a bit and got ready for the evening activities. We had tickets to the Merle Haggard concert, which was truly amazing. Mr. Haggard is such a country music legend and he’s getting on up there in age, yet he still puts on an awesome show! I’m so glad I got to see him live!

Then, of course we had to ride a few rides…and my rodeo partners had to choose this one…

I was terrified {as evidenced by the video Cody and Lauren took while we were on the ride and all you can hear is me screaming bloody murder – I’m going to try and get my hands on that}. We rode one other ride that made us all a little dizzy after we got off and that was about as much fun with rides as we were gonna have.

After all, the next day was our white water rafting adventure…

Cheyenne, WY - Part I

We just got back from a trip to Wyoming with our friends Cody and Lauren. With the amount of pictures I took, I decided I’d break this up into two {or three} posts! We’ve gone to rodeos for years with Cody and Lauren, so this year we wanted to go to the Daddy of ‘Em All, which is the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo. We decided to leave our kiddo’s at home and just make it an adult trip {we’ll definitely be taking them next time cause I sure missed that little girl a TON}. We had such a blast, though. The scenery was beautiful, the rodeo was the best I’d ever been to, and there was no shortage of laughs!

We left last Thursday evening and drove through the night. We went up through Oklahoma and Kansas and then cut over through Denver and went right on up to Cheyenne. We had one potty break at the Riverwind casino, which was kind of nice because it broke up the trips inside the gas stations! After our 10 minute stop we were back on the road! Early that next morning we started hearing on the radio about the shooting in Aurora, CO. Then, low and behold, we were driving through it. My heart still breaks for those victims and their families.

{potty break}

{it felt good to stretch our legs - and we were only in Oklahoma!}

{we still had a LONG way}

We arrived in Cheyenne around 10am and got to it! We parked and walked downtown for a little while and went into the Boot Barn to get a shirt for Blake and some jeans for Cody. We grabbed some fast food and checked into our hotel cause we were in desperate need of a nap after that long, 15 hour drive.

{our "home away from home" in Cheyenne}

We ended up hanging out in downtown that night. That city was made for cowboy’s. There are big, oversized boot monument-things around the Cheyenne Depot Plaza and it seems that all of their capitol buildings each have some sort of “cowboy” type monument in front of them.

That next morning was the parade through town, so we woke up early to go grab some breakfast {best gravy ever!} and got an up front seat for the parade!

After the parade we had Mexican food and they had WHITE queso – my all-time favorite! If I could have shipped it back home I would not have hesitated.

Later that afternoon we saw the coolest magic show. My head is literally still spinning with how in the world they pulled off some of that stuff. Blake is pretty sure that he had all the tricks figured out ;)

We ate at T-Joe’s steakhouse that evening { we laughed when we pulled in because it was more like a truck stop}! But it was fun and delicious nonetheless! Then, we headed to Cadillac Ranch for a little honky-tonking and two-steppin’!

  

{I had to take a pic just because I thought the name of their gas stations were so funny}



Dallas World Aquarium

First, let me say that I know I should probably win “the most inconsistent blogger” award, but July has been SO busy, y’all! And I’ve been loving every crazy minute. Work’s been a little tough lately, which means I want nothing to do with the computer when I come home!

Stella has been growing like a weed. It just amazes me how smart she is. She picks up on things so quickly and I just love watching her as she sees and experiences new things. She’s just a breath of fresh air every time I have a bad day. And it’s on those days that it hits me most that I will never get this day back in her life and so I try and cherish every single moment. I just love being Stella’s mommy!

I’d been wanting to take Stella to an aquarium for a while. She LOVES the fish tank at the doctor’s office so I thought she might really enjoy the aquarium. We have plans of taking her to the zoo, but it’s just too hot right now for us and the animals! My most recent aquarium experience was in Atlanta {most of my family lives in Georgia} and we went a few years ago when their new aquarium opened {and the rest of the UGA football was there – Go Bulldogs!}. However, since that is the largest indoor aquarium, my hopes were a little dashed once we were in the Dallas World Aquarium.

We really did have a great time despite how crowded it was {which, duh, I should have known it would be crazy on a Saturday afternoon}. We went with Sheli and Steve, my precious in-laws, and I enjoyed seeing all the creatures. So many of the animals were sort of camouflaged into their surroundings that I think it was hard for Stella to actually see that there was something there. She definitely was intrigued by the fish though…but I’m a party-pooper and I do NOT want a fish tank in my house. So, she’ll have to love them from afar!

{The big turtle - the concept of the "glass" was new at first! Stella couldn't figure out why she was having trouble actually touching the turtle}

{Sweetest Grammy ever - Stella sure loves her Grammy!}

{Loved this guy - so did everyone else so I couldn't get a good shot}

{Polka-Dot Sting Rays}

{Huge alligator - well, I guess he could have been a crocodile for all I know}

{by far my favorite - Mr. Sloth}

{Ant-eater type thing, but they're hard to see with the glare of the glass}

{this guy gives a whole new meaning to "crabbing" on the beach at night - he was HUGE}