Draper's Cutest Cowboy

I cannot believe I have never done this before.  On July 12, we took the family to our local rodeo. It seems that every town in Utah has a rodeo sometime during the summer. And man, is it about the coolest thing ever. I don't think there is anything more American than a good ole' local rodeo.  The first event of the night was by far and away the best: Mutton Bustin'.  

You have to weigh less than 50 lbs. to participate and so I was thrilled to sign up Eli for this event.  Rinar and I took him down to the back side of the rodeo with all of the other little victims children to give it a go.  What exactly was he going to do?  Ride a sheep for as long as he could stay on. Each kid started taking their turn while Eli waited in his dad's arms.  He was very quiet. I was worried that he was getting afraid. I mean, he had no idea what was going on except for the fact that every kid who finished was crying buckets of tears. Oh dear!  What had I signed my child up for? 

Finally, the time had come for Eli to bust the mutton. Rinar put Eli into the arms of one of the cowboys. They put him in the cage with the animal and as soon as he was set, they let him fly.  To say he looked bewildered would be putting it mildly.  But he held on for about 3 seconds and then the sheep took a right turn. Eli fell left, face first into the muddy turf.  Was he going to cry?  I watched him stand up, as quiet as could be, and start spitting profusely.  All the dirt seemed to go into his mouth.  I still wasn't sure how he felt about the whole experience, but I was very surprised to find out that he absolutely loved it and wanted to do it again! The first thing he said to Rinar was that he needed to practice riding sheep more.  Well, all be!!

He was so proud of himself and felt like a real cowboy. Then it was time to watch the big cowboys in action. And we were not disappointed.

At half time, all the little kids got to chase a calf that had dollar bills pinned to it.  All three of them ran hard, and really enjoyed running. I don't think they knew why they were running, but it sure was fun to watch them out their running their best. Dad gave them each a consolation coin and they were all really happy.

The rodeo is just up the street from our house and I know this is going to be a family tradition. Draper Rodeo every year. Good times.