Mutton Bustin

Over the 4th we had Jon's brother's family in town from Minnesota. I loved having them here, and while I had to be a grown up and work the whole time they were here, I was able to go to the Rodeo with everyone. The rodeo is a bit of a tradition in my family...if you can call a doing it a few years in a row a tradition. Growing up we were never in the US to celebrate the 4th, but the past few years we've gone together. I was excited to be able to go with a different family this year, and the parents will have to enjoy the few pictures that I took.



This guy wasn't the best bronco rider, but he did get his arm stuck on the saddle (is that where they stap themselves to?) and that horse was bucking him all over the place. He was flopping around like a rag doll until the other guys in the arena could get him loose. I was amazed that he walked away. I feel bad saying this, but I love when the guys get hurt and they have to bring in the paramedics and everything. It's all so dramatic.



And what is the rodeo with out a little WT? Here for your viewing pleasure was the best mullet we could find in close proximity to us. Enjoy

We of course got a few treats for everyone to share and my nephew concocted a very interesting way to eat a few of them together. I love the way his mind works. We had some kettle corn popcorn and he got some blue cotton candy. He liked to wrap a kernal of that kettle corn in a bit of cotton candy and pop that right into his mouth.


This mouth....missing the two front teeth. He talked with a little lisp and everything. I loved it.

Of course Mutton Bustin is my favorite part of the rodeo. If you're not quite sure what that is let me explain. They have kids ranging from 3-7 years old and they have them ride sheep. They strap a helmet to their head and put them right on the back of a sheep and off they go. Whoever stays on the longest wins. I was too excited about the whole thing to take any pictures, but the kid who was sitting by us won and he was adorable. He got on that sheep and rode it like he was riding a camel. Sitting high on the neck and everything. The kids thought he was so cool and went over to congratulated him after he won the trophy that was bigger than he was.



We had a great time and I'm excited for next year when Tate (my nephew) said he would participate in Mutton Bustin! I'm buying front row seats next year.

Mr. Australia and my day in Provo.

A few weeks ago we had a house guest. A nice, young, Australian boy… accent and all. I have to say I’ve very much enjoyed listening to him talk…and apparently a few others did as well. Steve has bewitched the Utahn’s. The girls at Best Buy were just giving him free stuff. Those accents can make a woman weak in the knees. Jon thought we should have really used that to our benefit and scored more free stuff, but I didn’t feel right about using Steve for his Australian charm.

Although Steve is going to see some big things while he is in the states…New York, Las Vegas, Boston, he was very excited to head down to Provo, UT. It was a very good thing that Jon attended BYU and knows the in’s and out’s of the town. I, however, don’t care much for Provo…or so I thought. Let’s be honest….I had a Provo prejudice. I’m not happy to admit it, but I did.

Our Provo adventure started with a trip to the Cougar Stadium. It was locked of course, so Jon suggested that Steve jump the fence and take a look around. So he did. He snuck in right here.



Take notice the sign


Then he spent a few minutes inside, took some pictures, smelled the grass, sat in a seat, soaked in the cougar stadium experience. Then hopped the fence again and we were on our way.

As we were finishing up some pictures of Steve straddling the cougar, we had a visitor. The BYU campus police.

How nice.

A tall, lanky officer stopped us and said,

“Hello folks, I just wanted to ask you how you got into the Stadium. We had our security cameras catch you.”

Steve frankly replied, “I jumped the fence.”

So the lanky officer asked some other questions and informed us that he was going to talk to his partner. A typical, I-ate-too-many-donuts-and-now-I’m-a-bit-chubby officer. I swear it was Horice and Jasper chatting over there.

A secret photo

After the discussion, Horice came over and, using his rent-a-cop authority, tried to threaten us.

“You seem like a very nice young man and I don’t want to ruin your vacation, so I’m going to issue you a warning today, but I want you to be aware of what could have happened today.”

Then he goes on and on about how he could have arrested Steve and because it was a weekend that the jail would have kept him over the weekend until the judge could see him, and how he would be put on the international flight risk list and they could possibly not make his international flights because of this misdemeanor.It was painful not to laugh at him throwing his campus police authority around.

As we were walking away from the office, Steve said, “I’m pretty sure that could be the highlight of my whole trip.” Steve’s spunky. He fit in well at our house.

The rest of the day consisted checking out the MTC, Provo Temple, and a J-Dawg. I’m pretty sure it was the first hot dog I’ve had in about 12 years. I was nervous, it was intimidating and also….(surprising?)delicious.






After the J-Dawg we attempted to hike the Y.



We made it this far. Do you still see the parking lot? Yep. I was proud. Good for us.




My Provo prejudice has changed. Well done Provonians. I thoroughly enjoyed your quaint town and hope to go back soon....and maybe get a real arrest this time.