The Rodeo- Yee Haw!!

Scott and I went to a rodeo last night. This was Scott's first time to a rodeo, my second. It's amazing how different a cowboy's life is from mine. We saw a lot of people with boots, tight jeans, and cowboy hats on. The announcer sounded a lot like Mater from the movie "Cars" and seemed a bit sexist to me (or at least he liked to make fun of his wife a lot). They played a lot of country music, which I don't mind, but I'm more of an R and B girl myself. It's just amazing how different a city girl is from the simple life of those who live in the country. However, I did have a lot of fun and enjoyed watching some of the cowboys get bucked off their horses and bulls.


They had a lot of events going on during the rodeo. A few of the events involved tackling, strangling, and completely tying up a little calf. I must admit that I almost cried every time this happened because I felt sorry for the poor little thing. I don't know if you can see it in the above picture because we used our tiny, crappy HP camera, but it is a picture of a cowboy tackling the calf.

Anybody else find it funny that this flag they gave us was made in China? It is seriously sad to me that we are so cheap that we can't even produce our own flags here in America.
They also had a small segment with a couple of motorcyclists. This was actually my favorite part of the rodeo because these guys were awesome, but I missed most of it because I was trying to get a good picture with our camera, which obviously didn't happen.
At the end of the rodeo, they let all of the horses and bulls out to run around the arena. I thought it was amazing that they all ran around together like wild horses do. We also saw a bull trying to hump another bull, which we thought was pretty hilarious.

Although I had tons of fun, I find it sad that these animals are getting hurt for our pleasure. I know people say that they are not getting hurt, but would you like your privates squeezed together to the point where you would start jumping around like a wild bull? I certainly would not. I also don't get why the cowboys are willing to hurt themselves for the little amount of money they receive. One of the cowboys at this rodeo had already broken his neck once, but was still willing to continue bull riding. It makes no sense to me, but maybe it's because I didn't grow up a cowgirl.

Reading and Writing!

I haven't blogged in the past week because I have been reading this:


That's right...I finally started reading the Twilight series. After I read the Harry Potter books, I told myself that I would have to read the Book of Mormon straight through before I could read another book. It took me over three months to read it, but I did it. The Book of Mormon is definitely harder to read than many other books, which is why it took me so long to read, but it was so worth it. I got so much more out of it this time than I have any other time I've read it. I understood more and grew a deep love for that book. The Book of Mormon is over 5oo pages, and the sad thing is that I finished it last Sunday and started the Twilight series and have already finished the first two books and am well into the third one. Each book is also over 5oo pages (granted, The Book of Mormon has a lot more words on one page, but still). So yeah, it took me over three months to read The Book of Mormon and it will probably be about a week and half by the time I finish all 3 of the Twilight books.

Why is this? Because I'm a sucker for romance. Seriously, there's something intriguing about an extremely hot vampire who is SO in love with a human being but also wants to suck her blood at the same time. It's very interesting. I will admit that I get annoyed with some of the characters in the book and I took a break tonight to write a blog because I just don't understand why Bella keeps running back to Jacob when she has Edward (who is WAY too over protective in my opinion, but hey, if you like that kind of thing). Even though I get annoyed with some of the characters, I just can't seem to put the book down. The author of this book is very good at keeping her readers interested, which is why she has sold millions of copies.

Why are some people lucky/smart enough to write interesting books, like the Harry Potter series and the Twilight series, and become filthy rich off of them? I want to become filthy rich off of a series and make it into a movie. I used to love to write stories as a child (I had a really good one about quintuplets that I believe was over 100 hand written pages long), but somewhere along my path of life I lost my imagination and couldn't think of things to write about. In fact, English was generally my least favorite subject in high school because I hated reading the books that were assigned. But anyway, I would love to think of some awesome action/romance story that I could write a few novels about. Let's be honest, even if I had a good subject, I'm not an awesome writer, so it would never work out. But hey, if you have any good ideas on a good subject for a novel, shout them out:)

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to all 4 of our dads! Yes, we have a lot of dads but we love them all and are grateful for every one of them. Each one has awesome qualities and they are all wonderful grandpas to Hannah. Here are just a few of some of their awesome qualities:

My Dad:
1. Very strong in our church
2. Wants everyone to be happy/caring
3. Hard working

Scott's Dad:
1. Funny
2. So giving
3. Easy going

My step-dad:
1. Plays with all of his grandkids for hours
2. Good listener
3. Nonjudgmental/ seems to love everyone unconditionally

Scott's step-dad:
1. Awesome cook
2. Constantly serving people
3. Great handyman

This is not to say that you guys don't have some of the same qualities as each other, but I didn't want to put the same thing on your lists. I hope that you all had a wonderful Father's Day!!

Scott's grandpa and dad are shown above with Scott and Hannah.
The picture below is of my dad and all of his 5 children. We love you both, dads!

Onto my own husband...I already did a blog talking about how wonderful he is so I will spare you all today from that gargantuan list and just tell you that I am grateful for what a good father he is to Hannah. Here are a couple of pictures from today:

Hannah colored for Scott in the above picture.

Last night I asked Scott what he wanted for dinner tonight and here was what was on the menu:
1. Chicken Fajita wraps with a yummy dipping sauce (a copycat recipe from Applebees)
2. French Fries
3. Chocolate Banana milkshake

And for dessert, I will be eating some blueberry cheesecake ice cream by Meadow Gold, which is currently my favorite ice cream. Seriously, if you like cheesecake or the Cheesecake Fantasy ice cream from Cold Stone, you are going to love this ice cream....mmmmm....mmmmm! It even has little chunks of real cheesecake in it...ooohhh, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

As a present to Scott for Father's Day, Hannah counted to 10 all by herself today for the first time ever. She did it twice, and we kept trying to get her to do it again but she got her numbers out of order. I was so surprised because I didn't know that she could do that yet. Scott just told her to count to 10 and she busted it out without any help. What a smarty!!

**Ok...today is Monday and I thought I would try to get Hannah on video counting. So, here's a video. She skips the number 9 and puts a 6 after 3, but then she redeems herself after the 3. Yesterday she did it perfect, though. Either way, I had no idea that she could count that high.

Click To Play

And finally, here is a Father's Day present to you all. Even if you don't like The Office, you might still find this video funny, but a titch racist. Seriously, I love Steve Carell.

Do you recognize this man?

Well, the chances that you recognize him are pretty slim. Unless you have been watching ESPN lately, you might not know that this man's name is Tim Donaghy. His was at one time a referee in the NBA. Let me fill you in on the story... From Wikipedia... Donaghy resigned from the league on July 9, 2007^[5] prior to reports of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegations that he bet on games that he officiated during his last two seasons and that he made calls affecting the point spread in those games.^[6] On August 15, 2007, Donaghy pleaded guilty to two federal charges related to the investigation. However, he could face more charges at the state level if it is determined that he deliberately miscalled individual games.

Well, I am sure that most of you, if any are still reading at this point, are thinking..."Who gives a rip about this guy?" I do, and what I am about to write makes me sick to my stomach. Yesterday Donaghy's lawyer filed a document making comments about the 2002 NBA playoffs. From the report.."Referees A, F and G were officiating a playoff series between Teams 5 and 6 in May of 2002. It was the sixth game of a seven-game series, and a Team 5 victory that night would have ended the series. However, Tim learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew referees A and F to be 'company men,' always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series. Referees A and F heavily favored Team 6. Personal fouls [resulting in obviously injured players] were ignored even when they occurred in full view of the referees. Conversely, the referees called made-up fouls on Team 5 in order to give additional free throw opportunities for Team 6. Their foul-calling also led to the ejection of two Team 5 players. The referees' favoring of Team 6 led to that team's victory that night, and Team 6 came back from behind to win that series."
Now, this is where things get bad. There was only one series that playoffs that went to seven games, yep, you guessed it, Sacramento Kings and the LA Lakers. Now, in game 6 of that series, the Kings went into the 4th quarter with a lead. While most teams don't even shoot 27 free-throws a game, the Lakers shot 27 free-throws in the fourth quarter alone. Needless to say, the Lakers won the game, won the series, and won the NBA Title that year.

Now, to clear things up, most likely the only reason that this guy is now making these allegations is because he is desperate. He is trying to do everything he can to reduce the 25 years in prison that he is now facing. So, do I believe this guy....? Yes and no. I love basketball, I love the Kings, and I love the NBA. I have a hard time believing that the NBA actually told the referees to do what Donaghy says they did. I do, though, think that referees fixed that game, and plenty of others. On a poll taken at espn.com 90% of the people taking the poll think that the refs conspired to make the series a seven game series (meaning the Kings would lose)and 82% believe that they have seen a fixed game. Tom Ziller from Sactown Royalty said this about the situation...

"The simple fact that it's so easy to believe Donaghy is the NBA's real problem here. Everyone saw the same Game 6 -- even Lakers fans. And everyone will at least entertain the possibility it was rigged. It's unfortunate it takes a scumbag like Donaghy to bring this discussion back from the shadows, and really, it's unfortunate it had the discussion had to return at all. But that's what happens when there's no transperency in NBA officiating, and that's what happens when something like Game 6 comes to pass.

The NBA could have fixed this by admitting the refs made repeated mistakes in Game 6. Bavetta, Delaney and Bernhardt all worked Finals games that year! Because the NBA stayed silent, and because Stern did not discipline those referees for the worst-called game in league history, this is where we are.

That's why we should be mad at the NBA. They let this -- the reopening of the wound, and the opportunity for numerous future wounds -- happen."

So, for those of you who are still reading, thanks. We may never know what really happened during that game, but you can be sure that I will ask in the next life. Nothing can be done now, but if it was up to me, I would put a big fat asterisk right next to the Lakers name as 2002 NBA Champions.

Also, Maran asked a question in the previous post. Feel free to read and let her know what you think.

What's Your Favorite Condiment?

Since the last few blogs have just mostly been about Hannah being sick, I thought I would do a fun blog today. Scott and I make a really mean steak (I make the seasonings and he grills them). We've made these steaks twice in the past month or so and I have to admit that I almost like them better than any other steak that I've had at a restaurant. Even though I love steak, I also believe that it wouldn't be as good to me if A1 didn't accompany it. I LOVE A1! If I could swim in a big tub of it, I would. I love the tangy, acidic, and vinegary flavor that somewhat burns my tongue. I have to hold myself back from licking the A1 off of my plate when I am done with my steak (this really grosses Scott out....I've done it before). I should probably just save the money on buying steak and just pour some A1 on my plate, but I don't think that would fill me up. It is delicious and is my favorite condiment (right in front of Ranch dressing). So, what's your favorite condiment?

And The Results Are....

I took Hannah to the dermatologist today and it looks like most of you were right.....it is some kind of allergic reaction. The problem is, I don't know what she is allergic to. I haven't been giving her anything different recently. Her appetite seems to be changing a bit, though. She doesn't eat very much anymore. Here are the things that she loves: any kind of fruit (grapes probably being her absolute favorite food), cheese, yogurt, salami, olives, chocolate and other candy, and occasionally crackers. She seems to like hot dogs, too. Other than that, she usually just takes small bites of anything else and will finish it if she's in the mood. She used to love any type of pasta but today I tried giving her spaghetti and she took two bites and said she was done. I don't know what's up with that.

I haven't changed our detergent either. I use Dreft for her clothes because it doesn't have any type of dye in it and she hasn't been wearing any different type of fabric lately. So, I really don't know what is causing this reaction, but the doctor prescribed us some medicine, so hopefully that will at least get rid of the rash.

While I'm on the subject of Hannah, I believe that she is going to be a little perfectionist. As I told you guys a while ago, she is so concerned with her nails. If she has a hang nail, she has to have it clipped right away. Yesterday I tried doing finger paints with her and she was mostly just concerned with the fact that her hands were dirty. She kept wanting me to wipe them. I also caught her fixing her hair in the mirror the other day. It was actually pretty funny! Here's a picture of her finger paint masterpiece:

I Need Some More Advice

Well, as most of you know, sometimes I like to ask for advice in my blogs, and this will be one of those blogs. The first thing that I would like to ask advice on is how to get young children to share with each other. We babysit this little girl twice a week. She and Hannah usually get along great. They are both good little girls but they often have trouble sharing with each other. They always want what the other one has and it gets frustrating because one will start to cry if they can't have it. I try to teach them to share and not take things out of the other one's hand without asking but they just don't seem to get it. Are they too young to know how to share yet? If not, how do I get them to learn it? They are usually pretty cute together, though. This is Kelly tickling Hannah and the one below is them holding hands.They are only a day apart and Kelly is a good 2 or 3 inches taller than Hannah. Hannah is a shrimp and she loves to give that close-eyed smile when I tell her to smile.
Ok, one more question for you all. This morning Hannah woke up to all of these red splotches on her body. They are on her arms, around her belly button, and on her legs. She had that horrible rash around her mouth about 7 months ago and now she's got these. Is this eczema? Anyone know? She is seeing the dermatologist on Thursday again, but I just wanted to ask you all ahead of time in case it was something more serious that needed to be treated right away. Tonight, those big ones on her arms were looking like rings and seemed to be going away but then they got redder after her bath. Hopefully they go away soon.