Balance

Today is a test of balance. The balance between what is necessary in life and what we would like to do.

It is of course the Friday before Memorial weekend. We have a very busy weekend scheduled. We have a rodeo tonight in Panguitch, tomorrow in Nephi and then Saturday and Sunday in Panguitch.

I have a lot of time off coming up for horse shows and rodeos. I was originally scheduled off for today. Then Racheal decided not to enter the rodeo tonight and just go the rest of the weekend. It is the last day of school for her freshman year. So I decided to work today and stay home with her tonight. We have a big project at work with the launch of a new product. There are a ton of things left to do and it releases in a couple of weeks.

Brent is up in the rodeo tonight. He went with his dad today. I know my kids rodeo a lot and I will continue to get to see them rodeo, but I still struggle with not being there for every single one. Every time I miss one I think what if they do something really great tonight and I am not there. My logical side says they will be fine and it is good for them to be independent. My emotional side worries that they think I don't care enough to make the time to go.

I know that work is necessary. It is what allows us to spend all the time doing what we love to do. I am very fortunate that company has provided a stable and decent income for the last several years. I am also fortunate that I have the flexibility to go to major events with the kids. Some days, I would just like to not be obligated to work and be able to focus full time on my kids.

I think this is a constant struggle for mothers who also have a career. I love my career but hate it when it interferes with my family.

First 4H Show of the Season

On Saturday, we had our first 4H Show for this year. The show went really well. The kids had a lot of fun.

Racheal and Brent prefer to rodeo than show. However, I love to watch them show. I like rodeo too but I love to watch them shine in the show ring.

This year we were planning on Brent riding a young horse named Sass but that did not work out. So for the last two week's we have been working really hard on Racheal's barrel horse Dee Dee to get them both ready to show together. I think Brent has really learned a lot by riding her the last two weeks. Luckily, we showed Dee Dee a lot as colt.

Brent did well for his first time showing her. He placed 4th in Showmanship, 6th in Horsemanship, 2nd in Reining, and 3rd in Barrels. Dee Dee has never run poles. We have only been teaching her the last 2 weeks. Brent made a real effort to lope her all the way through the pattern but he missed the 5th pole. So he had to go back and it made his time slow. There are a few areas that he could really improve. Hopefully, we can continue to work on those for the next couple of weeks.

Racheal had a great show. She placed 1st in Showmanship, Horsemanship, and Poles. She placed 3rd in Reining. She hit a barrel. She has never hit a barrel with Dasher before, so I am not sure what happened. She does such an excellent job in showmanship.

Pictures

As many of you know, I love pictures. Pictures capture moments, feeling or emotions. I could spend hours just going back through pictures of my kids when they were younger.

Since I love to look at them, I take a lot of pictures. I am still learning how to take better pictures. There are some people who have a natural talent for this. They see things differently than most of us. It is like they can imagine exactly how the picture is going to turn out. They capture the right light, pose, or expression effortlessly. I am working on this.

I have a couple of pictures of Racheal that I have taken during High School Rodeo that I just love. I am not really sure what it is about them but they just shine for me. So I thought I should post them.

I know that I am probably just being the proud mom. I think these are really beautiful pictures of her. They really show her in her element on a horse and getting ready to rodeo.

Since I love pictures, I also love to scrapbook. I am getting ready to start on Racheal's High School Rodeo album. I picked out a cute denim covered album from Creative Memories to use. I can not wait to see it put together. However, since it is summer and full rodeo and show season, it will have to wait a few weeks (months) before I can start it.

Family Support

I could not have been more lucky then when I married to get such wonderful in-laws. Coy's family is amazing. They are so supportive of each other. I am especially grateful of how much they support my children in all that they do.

This weekend we had 2 high school rodeos. One of them was the rodeo our high school rodeo. So it was really important that we had all of the help that we could at our arena. Coy stayed to help our school and I hauled Racheal to Spanish Fork.

I know a lot about several horse events but I am really a novice when it comes to roping. I am not comfortable making sure that the children have everything they need before they rope. They have to check their cattle, their rope, and then have someone push their cow to make sure it comes out straight. Usually Coy takes care of the roping events. Since he could not be there, he called his brother Troy to come help. As usual Troy was right there to help her. Above is a picture of him in the box with her in team roping.

Racheal had a really good rodeo in Spanish Fork. She caught her breakaway calf in 4.95 seconds. That is her best run so far in high school rodeo. She ran a little slower pole pattern only 23 but it was clean. She did miss in the team roping. She was not prepared to rope when her partner caught.

I wish I could say Saturday went as well. Her horse does not like to run poles in a short arena. He is really afraid of running up to the panel. So he dove on the fifth pole and she got a no time. It is hard to be really mad at the horse because he is only trying to protect himself but it is frustrating for her not being able to get him past this issue. She missed in the breakaway and her partner missed in the team roping. So she did not have a very good night.

I would love to do more for her but she will need to find the confidence in herself. She will get there we just need to keep teaching her the correct things. With all of the support from her family, she has a great start.

High School Rodeo Results

This last weekend we went to Lehi and Farmington for High School Rodeo. We entered up in Lehi Friday night and Farmington Saturday morning.

It was a cold weekend. However, we were very fortunate in Lehi. It had been raining all day. When we got there, it cleared up and the wind slowed. So for Racheal's 3 events the weather was cold but not miserable.

She had a really good pole run in Lehi. It was the best run she has had in a while. She run a 22 second clean pattern. Hopefully with this run and winning in Panguitch, she will start to get her confidence back up.

Her breakaway looked really good but the loop did not go over the calf's nose. So her rope broke and I thought she had caught but the judge flagged it off.

I think she will be changing team roping partners again. Her partner missed again. We realize that it is their first year roping on this level but he has yet to catch. He also has not made it one time to practice with her. His parents asked if Coy could give them some pointers. He told that he had to forget that he was roping with a girl. It was so funny. I guess Racheal is quite a distraction.

Farmington did not go so well. It was cold and wet. She hit a pole and her partner missed again. By the time they got to breakaway, there was a 30 mph wind. Her horse refused to stand in the box facing the wind. Then the rain mixed with snow started to pelt her and the horse. So she just nodded and went out and threw her rope. She just wanted to be done and so did Dasher. You can blame them in that weather. Coy said after he should have just turned out in breakaway.

I am glad to see the new progress she is making with Dasher. He is getting better in poles and in the box for roping. It is always important to be making progress.

A trainer that we rode with recently said, "If you are not improving the performance of your horse, then you are going backwards with your horse. You need to work on something new each time you ride." I think this is true. It is very easy to go out and always do the same thing with your horse but what do you get? The same thing.

Panguitch Results

Last weekend we went to Panguitch for the Little Britches Rodeo. We had a lot of fun. We got to stay with good friends and relax in the warm sun.

Racheal had a really good rodeo. She took first in Poles on Friday and second in Poles on Saturday. She also placed third in Speed Trail on Friday and second in Speed Trail on Saturday. She had never done Speed Trail. You have to take your horse through an obstacle course as fast as you can. She had to carry mail and put it in a mail box, open and close a gate, back through 2 barrels, jump and cross a bridge. The first night her mare Dee Dee did not want to go over the bridge because she had never seen one like that before. The second day she shaved 14 seconds off her time. To the right are a couple of picture of Racheal at the rodeo.

I love the top one where she is warming up. She is seriously thinking about her run. The second one is her coming off the second barrel. The picture should have been zoomed more but I still like it. Hopefully placing in this show will get her confidence back up. She has really been struggling to believe in her abilities to rodeo lately.

Brent had his best goat run yet. It was 14 seconds. He was 10 seconds faster on Saturday than on Friday. He was especially proud that he finally beat Dixon. He has always looked up to him and it was good for him to be able to feel like he could compete on his level. There are also goat pictures to the right.

I am also attaching a picture of him warming up for breakaway roping. I love the determination on his face. He did miss both runs in breakaway but his roping is coming along.

Good Friends

We went to Panquitch over the weekend for a Little Britches rodeo. I will post their results and pictures tomorrow. The kids did really well.

You have to be really grateful after spending a weekend like that. It was so nice to travel with good friends. We also traveled with new people that we did not know very well but they were so helpful and nice. It turned out to be a great experience.

We all parked next to one another and we had living quarters trailers. So we camped right there at the rodeo arena. Everyone was so helpful with all of the kids and horses. Whatever you needed you could count on one of them to help. We all cheered for each other and tried to help the kids do their best.

On Friday night, we built a fire in a barrel and the kids loved it. They all hung out together and later went and got marshmallows. It was good just to be there and enjoy the company.

It was also nice to be away for the highly competitive world of high school rodeo. Everyone there was much more relaxed than a high school rodeo. The parents were all really encouraging.