They call the thing a R-O-D-E-O

The story I am about to tell you is true. The names have not been changed, although they needed to be protected!

Allison decided to round up the fam and head to the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo. I thought it sounded like a really good idea. I had to work that night, so I got there a little bit later than everybody else. When I got there, I called Allison to see where everybody was sitting. She sent me a text (since I really couldn't hear her) and said they were over by the ambulance on the Northwest side. So, I decide to head on over. When I get there, the paramedics were checking out Levi and I could just tell that everybody was frazzled and something was going on. I asked Brian what had happened and he said "I don't know, I wasn't there." typical answer from him!

Come to find out....Lauren had been standing on the fence, outside of the arena. It was the type of fence that they had put together to let the trucks in and out of the 'area'. It was held together with a chain and a lock. My parents and Brett and Gretchen & kids were waiting for Allison to come because she had the tickets for the kids...since it was her idea, she decided to buy for the nieces and nephews! Thanks Alli! As my parents were standing there waiting, my mom, who was holding Levi...6 mo....was looking inside at the crowd and noticed that a small bull (since I am not familiar with rodeo's or country, or farm, or anything of the like, I don't know the actual TERM used for this animal...sorry! I will subsequently use * * marks to name things, or animals, that I am not sure of their technical name...) had gotten loose and was heading straight for the fence, and subsequently the little skinny girl hanging onto said fence. My mom reached to get her just as the *small bull* lowered his head and RAMMED into the fence. As the fence bowed out, it struck Levi in the head, and knocked my mom down to the ground, landing on her back. I'm sure during which time Levi crashed into the ground as well. My dad was knocked to the ground as he was trying to keep my mom from falling. My mom lost her shoe under the fence, she was knocked so hard, and had a few cuts on her arm. My dad had some scrapes on his hand. Levi had a lovely bump on one side of his head and some nice road rash on the other. Lauren, somehow, came away unharmed....nobody knows how! Gavin was absolutely TERRIFIED (which is easy to have happen, since he is petrified of dogs, cats, and small children!) Allison mentioned that as she was walking from the east side to the west side of the arena, she can hear Lauren screaming and she sees a *cowboy* on his horse chasing after something with his rope in *lasso mode*. She thinks, "that's odd, but we are at a rodeo". It turns out that the *cowboy* was going after that *small bull* and was taken down by 7 or 8 blood thirsty *cowboy wannabee's*. Luckily, everybody was ok, and as they say, the show must go on!

After we all calmed down and got over the initial shock of what had just happened, and the sun set, we were able to enjoy the rest of the evening. The kids did pretty good, considering how HOT it was. Brison had a hard time holding still, and the time during the different events seemed to take FOREVER and that was hard on the kids. But, when there was an actual event going on, they enjoyed it. Brison absolutely LOVED the motocross riders...which is what you should get to see at a RODEO. Brian got to re-live some of his younger days when he worked the rodeos for a summer with his brothers. He even got out his cowboy hat and wore that to the rodeo...along with a black t-shirt, khaki shorts and tennis shoes...apparently there is a *cowboy hat dress code*?

It really was fun, and no calves were injured or killed during the rodeo, which is good, since that happened at the first rodeo I ever went to.

I'm just glad we all survived. Maybe next time we go, we can enter Levi into the *mutton bustin* event!