Love Letters in the Sand: Mutton Bustin'- July 18 2010

This year Arco's big weekend, "Atomic Days," was July 17-19. Roudy got selected to go to Pugent Sound with work that weekend, but the kids and I headed to Arco and stayed with Roudy's parents anyway. Before Roudy left he tried to talk all the kids into doing the Mutton Bustin' at the rodeo. Trason was all for it, Jordy wasn't having any part of it, and Jaxon said maybe- he was sort of uninterested since he won it two years ago. Friday night we got to the Rodeo and none of the kids would do it no matter what I tried to bribe them with. So they watched the other kids ride the sheep and then both boys decided maybe they would try it on Saturday night.
Saturday morning Arco always has a big parade. A plane flys very close to the ground and drops 1000 ping pong balls onto Main street. The kids gather as many as they can and then after the parade is over they take them to the Sheriff's Office and receive a 50 cent piece for each ball they turn in. So, Friday night this was Trason's prayer, "Please help me to get lots of candy in the parade tomorrow. Please help me to hang on tight when I ride that sheep. Amen" It was so funny to hear what he had on his mind.
Saturday when we get to the rodeo Trason kept going back and forth on whether or not he wanted to ride a sheep. I signed both boys up anyway and thought they could back out later if they wanted to. I took the boys over to the shoots and let them watch a few of the kids ride. By that point Trason decided there was no way he was riding a sheep! So, I threw Jaxon down to Roudy's dad, who always helps with the rodeo, and he rode awesome! He got 78 points - the highest score of both nights! Then they were looking for another rider and none of the kids were wanting to go, so I threw Trason down into the shoots with Roudy's dad. Before he even knew what was happening he was on a sheep- and every bit as quickly was thrown off and rolled over! He was so mad! The announcer says, "Boy, he's not very happy with you, mom!" He had dirt up his nose, all over his face, in his hair...everywhere! He wasn't mad very long and decided that he was glad he did it. He was running back over to the stands where grandma and his cousins were sitting and he jumped up in the air and yelled, "I nailed it!" I about died laughing. He didn't "nail it"- got got 41 points!
Jaxon had to do a ride off with the other 6 highest scores. He still rode the farthest and longest, but he slipped a little to the side that time. After he finally fell off the announcer yells, "Man oh man that kids got some grip!" The whole crowd was screaming for him. It was pretty awesome! But because he fell to the side he only got 69 points. There was a little girl that rode after him who got 81 points because her sheep jumped when it came out of the shoots. She fell off, but I think they let her win because she was littler. I put some video coverage on because the boys wanted me to, but it's not good coverage. I couldn't go out into the arena to record because I had to be at the shoots with the boys, so I recorded from there. Plus I just recorded with my point and shoot camera.

Jaxon waiting for his turn during the "Ride Off." All of the other kids were dressed in wranglers and cowboy boots and hats and chaps and the whole nine yards. I love that my little city slicker went in there and rode the best! Two years ago when he won it, he was wearing a cut off shirt and shorts and sandals!