Only In Montana...

So after leaving Glacier we traveled a few hours to the central part of the state (Lewistown) where my relatives live. Ryan got to be in the Lewistown parade with his cousins. Notice Jace in the front holding a shot gun. Yes folks a real shot gun. It was not loaded, of course, but I am pretty sure you would get in a whole heap of trouble in California for letting a 6 year old ride down the street holding a gun.

Ryan sitting on the floor of the wagon.
One of the most enjoyable parts was listening to Ryan yell, "I want my Mommy" as they passed where we were sitting.
Ryan and his cousin Ammon enjoying the rides at the fair.
Okay, so there is a really funny story behind this picture. Earlier in the day my cousin, Ross, asked if my sister and and I would like be in the calf dressing competition that followed the rodeo. We both thought it sounded harmless enough and agreed to help their friend fill in two extra spots left vacant on her team in the last minute. Kari and I assumed it would just be a fun little thing where we ran up to a cow and threw some clothes on it. Haha. I thought a few people would be sitting around watching us...try more like 300-400 people. This was way more hard core than I realized. The audience had an opportunity to bet on each of the teams before the competition started. Someone bet $400 of us! What in the heck were they thinking? I then learned that these were not little calves...more like small cows, and the kicker was that we had to sprint across this huge arena and catch one. We then had to put a T Shirt on it and drag it back across the finish line. I began to get really nervous when I started to look around and realized that all of the other teams had done it many times and where all decked out for the occasion. I am just a simple California girl who hasn't been around a cow since I was 12 years old. Yikes! We started the foot race to go get them which I learned was by far the hardest part. I was the third girl to reach the pack, but the first girl had scattered them the other direction away from me. After running across this huge arena 3 times to catch one I finally nabbed one, I was so tired by that point that I didn't care if the cow dragged me across the entire arena I was not letting go!!! Unfortunately, by the time we started dressing our cow a team had already won and the competition was over. It was a lot of fun, but I had no idea how much running was involved. I am going to have to hit the gym a little harder before I give that a go again.
Our team...Kari, Karla, Shannon, and Kristen
Like I said in the title only in Montana would I be presented with these types of opportunities. What a fun experience!