How Could I do it Without Family and Friends?

I would like to take a few minutes to thank the people who have been by my side through this journey. To have family and friends at the pageant this year was the amazing. I had my mom and stepdad, dad and stepmom, sisters Edie and Paige, and friends the Glikos, Claire, and Shayla. I have never felt more support as I entered competition for the pageant. To have all of these people encouraging me was the best gift I could have asked for. Thank you so much friends and family! I love you! I also was assisted greatly by master hatter- Jimmy Harrison. I have never met a man kinder or more supportive than Jimmy. If anyone reading this ever needs a hat that they will treasure for life, I highly recommend Double H Hat Company out of Darby, Montana. Currently Jimmy is working on a few hats for me to use during the year, as well as the hat he donates to Miss Rodeo America. I hope everyone is excited to see BIG surprises. As coronation draws near, I am constantly reminded of how I could never do all of the preparation alone. Thank you so much to everyone who is putting together this fundraiser. It is going to be a blast! I wouldn't be here today without my family and friends. Thank you for everything.

Lewistown Winter Fair

If you want to see a kiddie rodeo- come to Lewistown Winter Fair. There were 68 contestants doing three events, one of which I didn't even know existed for kiddie rodeos! Mary Knerr and Bill and Karen from the Back Country Horsemen were on hand to show Sam and I exactly how a kiddie rodeo of this size works. First of all, a prince and princess were drawn from the kids and they recieved a crown, hat, and sash to wear. Then the kids lined up and started the barrel racing. The next event was steer wrestling. The kids had to ride their stick horse into the arena, dismount, then push over a bale of hay that had a steer head on it. We finished with roping and every one of the children recieved a prize. It was a wonderful addition to the winter fair. I perked up when I heard that Sam and I got to help out with the "Death by Chocolate" event. In my imagination, I conjured up taste testing delicous chocolate pies and candies. I was a little off- we walked the chocolate items around for people to bid on with the auction. That was a blessing in disguise because keeping in shape on this schedule in definitely interesting. It was better to walk the chocolate around for me, than eat it. The winter fair has a quilt show and a number of vendors and we got to check everything out. We also did a radio interview with Fred Lark at KXLO radio, which was fun. I would like to thank Lewistown for having us, and Mary for being such an awesome and punctual tour guide. I stayed with Kate Ruland for a night and we had an awesome time together- as usual. Thanks Kate!! I would also like to thank Jody for taking me into her wonderful home. I have never eaten so much good food in a weekend. I appreciate everyone who made the trip successful.

Great Rockies Sport Show-MTA booth

January 17th I headed out to Billings for the Great Rockies Sport Show. It was a pleasure working with Fran and Jim Buell who are members of the Montana Trappers Association. Fran does most of the educational programs for the trappers and she has an awesome way with children. They taught me how to identify many animal tracks and then I had kids come by and stamp their chosen track on a piece of paper. Probably the best part of the show was going around with my fur vest on and talking to people from many different booths. It is amazing how much people enjoy talking to you when you are Miss Rodeo Montana. I really love interaction with lots of people and so far this job has proved to have a lot of that. I met some gentlemen from South Africa who were selling safaris. I think I upset them when I asked if they were Australian (That was before I read the sign). Apparently that is kind of offensive to them. They ended up forgiving me though. It was really good to see Lauren Brunsvold's father because I met him at the pageant and he is an awesome guy. The most entertaining part of the day was when I was leaving and saying all of my goodbye's to Fran and Jim. I started walking off and Jim asked if he should bring my vest to the national convention. I turned around and realized I had left it hanging at the booth. I promise that will never happen again!!! Thank you so much to the Montana Trappers Association. They are such an integral part of Miss Rodeo Montana and I am willing to support them in any way possible. I can't wait for the national convention this year!

Coronation Date Set!!!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! The last 9 days have been great and I can't believe all of the hard work paid off. Today I drove over to Missoula and had a photo shoot with Mark Bryant out of Bryant Photographics. He does an amazing job and took my photos both times I ran for Miss Rodeo Montana and for the Miss Montana pageant. I am excited to see how these turn out. First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone involved in the Miss Rodeo Montana Pageant. I can't believe the changes I have seen in myself and in other people from being involved. This program really has changed my life and my business, people, and speaking skills have improved dramatically from being apart of Miss Rodeo Montana Inc. There are so many people to thank for this. Can I just say first that the website looks amazing!!! Thank you Ed. I really appreciate Jody Rempel for dedicating so much time to overseeing everything that MRM entails. I am truly grateful! To the MRMI board: I love and appreciate each and every one of you. The pageant went smoothly and I know so many people put hours upon hours of prep to get there. Our chaperones this year- Sarah and Barb, were so nice to have around. We were always on time and on the ball with these two!

Day one of being Miss Rodeo Montana kicked off early. They really do mean go back to the hotel for an early night after you win! I was scheduled to do radio interviews at 7 AM. I got directions for the radio station and there was a misunderstanding as to which radio station. Needless to say I showed up at the wrong place. I had planned to be early so that helped out. I had about 15 minutes to find it. Thankfully I got there right on time. But alas, as I was getting out of my truck, I locked my keys inside. I just laughed and ran in for the interviews. I knew this was going to be an entertaining year. After the five different station interviews, I sat down to chat with the general manager and told him my predicament. Fortunately, he had a friend that was a locksmith and jumped on the phone to call him. About ten minutes later a friendly gentleman from Central Lock and Key joined up with us and opened up my truck. "It's on me today" he said, as I tried to pay him. This day just kept getting better. I ended up doing a television interview, met with Jody, and then headed over to Missoula to soak everything in. Since day 1, I literally hit the ground running. Today I have figured out where and when my coronation is!! It will be very similar to Audrey's last year. I have selected March 21st at the Hilton Garden Inn. Thanks to Lynn Sholtey for helping me getting everything started. If there is anyone interested in volunteering, I will be collecting auction items immediately. Thanks so much