Ute Stampede 2016

The big Ute Stampede weekend has come and gone and we had such a good time!  

Thursday night, the first night, I didn't think we'd be able to make it to any of the festivities because the boys and I had to run north to exchange some new cowboy boots of Tyke's that had fallen apart.  While up there we grabbed dinner and went and visited Daddy for a few minutes (he's working lots the next few weeks).  I was exhausted by the time we headed home but Tyke insisted he wanted to go to the rodeo.  I really debated and ultimately decided that we would go if Aunt Tiffy would go with us.  We ran into the KC & Amanda Lunt and they had three extra tickets, box seats, that they didn't want to go to waste so they gave them to us.  Can't beat a free rodeo in the box seats!  They boys enjoyed the rodeo and kept Tiffany and myself busy trying to keep them under control.  We ended up having to leave around 9:30 because Luke was ready for bed!  Before leaving the fairgrounds I took the boys on one ride, the carousel, and man did that ever make me motion sick!  The boys loved it though and begged to ride again!  Luke giggle the entire ride and Tyke acted like a rodeo cowboy!  We grabbed a couple of carni corn dogs for Tiff and the boys for a late, late dinner and left.  Thanks Aunt Tiffy for hanging out with us!

This year instead of the mammoth parade being held on Friday they moved it to Saturday afternoon.  Instead of the mammoth parade we enjoyed the heritage parade.  Before it began we all met up and walked through the booths on Main Street to check out the crafts and goodies.  Tyke scored himself a new cowboy hat and all of the kids enjoyed yummy snow cones.  We lucked out and were able to find a spot right in front of the court house building to watch the parade.  It was pretty good and the kids had a good time seeing all of the different sized horses and catching a few pieces of candy.  That was all we did for fun on Friday, not rodeo for us.

Daddy had the day off from work (finally) and we had big plans to keep him busy with us.  We of course let him sleep in first.  I got the boys ready for the day and fed and then we woke up Daddy to come and play with us.  First stop was the booths on Main Street to pick up a prize I had one (a really cute American flag made out of pallet boards and barbed wire).  After that we grabbed a quick drink and headed over to Ft. Green for their annual Lamb Days celebration.  Our only intention of going over for it was to get some yummy lamb sandwiches.  We missed the parade and didn't look through any booths at all.  We simply grabbed $20 worth of sandwiches, some t-shirts, visited for a while and then left for home.  We each enjoyed a quick nap before getting freshened up for the big mammoth parade.  We sat at the city park for the parade so the kids were able to score quite a bit of candy (for them).  The boys loved running back and forth from the street to the chair with little fists full of candy and loot.

That night we went to the Ute Stampede rodeo with the Kay family.  We had lots of fun watching the rodeo with our fam.  Tyke and Luke were huge fans this year and enjoyed every minute of the show.  Luke especially loved watching the flag make it's entrance into the arena.  The boys had carni corn dogs for dinner and we had carni cheeseburgers and curly fries.  There's just something about carnival food that hits the spot.  The boys loaded up on corn dogs and treats and finished off their junk food night with a licorice rope.  Luke devoured his but Tyke took it literally that it was a rope and pretended to rope people the rest of the night until we "accidentally" lost it.  We were able to stay to the entire rodeo thanks to Luke being in a good mood and not tired and ready for bed.  After the rodeo we went and walked around the carnival and Tyke begged for us to buy tickets.  The carnival is so dang expensive and it was really late so we didn't want to do rides but he's a good little beggar and one.  We let him and Luke ride a few rides together and then Tyke hopped onto the little roller coaster...by himself!!  He was so brave and never cried one bit on that ride but we could tell he didn't enjoy as much as he thought he would.  He had a look of terror most of the ride and was quick to get off of it once it finished.  At midnight we finally walked away from the carnival and made our way home.  It was a perfect weekend and we can't wait until the rodeo comes to town again next year!