Did I mention we are in Wyoming??? Which means...we are in the Cowboy State people, that's right, if you didn't know - Wyoming = Cowboys. So it's only fitting that Aaron and I spent our New Years Eve at the Buck n' Ball - "Buck" for the rodeo, "Ball" for the dance following the rodeo.
When we walked into the arena, we were met with the smell of livestock, cowboy sweat and lots and lots of poo. Aaron said he may barf, and I felt right at home!!
The rodeo was a blast, they only had "rough stock" which consists of the best parts of a rodeo - buckin' horses and bull riding (no roping, barrels, poles and all that jazz). The cowboys are from all over the country, most coming directly from the NFR in Vegas - were big time ya know!! They started the evening with introductions, a pitch black arena except for the spotlight on the beautiful beasts, and a feeling of nostalgia of my younger days watching all my friends chase those wrangler butts!! (Not me, no way!!!!)
For the next couple hours we watched the cowboys try for their eight seconds of being twisted, slammed and catapulted from the horses and bulls. Some succeeded easily, sliding smoothly from the bucking horse onto the pickup horse; some amazed us and, as the bronc bucked, they let go, got bucked up and landed on their feet; others got bucked off and scampered out of the way just in time not to get stepped on and crushed.
The rodeo was awesome and I can't wait to take the kids to the next one! After the rodeo was over we walked to another building (it was -4 outside) for the dance. My husband and I cut a rug for nearly four hours, dancing, spinning, dipping and sweating to the beat....NOT! We stood around in a circle and Aaron and our friend Kevin made up a random points game that went something like this: 3 points for a handle bar mustache, 1 point for a toothpick in a cowboy hat, 2 points for a feather in a cowboy hat, 10 points for a celebrity lookalike, 5 points for a mullet, there may, or may not have been, points for fake boobs (like 20, if it were true) but I don't want to embarrass anyone for being that crass! The winner got... well nothing really, nothing at all - that's how the best games end right?!?!
The rest of the evening was pretty anti-climatic - we ended up at a bar at midnight and home by 12:20. Party ANIMALS I tell ya! We had a blast though, everyone made it home safe and sound despite the terrible snowy roads, and we are all excited to make 2011 our best one yet!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I apologize in advance for the terrible photo quality - someday I will have a super fancy good camera but until then, please enjoy my blurry action photos!
The livestock arena and cowboys gearing up!
The National Anthem
Here we go!
THESE had to have a mention - Judy (my mother-in-law) sent me these new snazzy rain boots for Xmas - they are amazing and I just HAD to wear them to the rodeo - and I got about a million compliments - THANKS MIMA!!!!
The end!
