Joyful Bells

                Tis’ the season for Christmas parades and joyful bells to your ears! The last few weeks I have truly felt the joy of Christmas season! Christmas lights went up for many across the world and for our wonderful community of Madisonville. I have participated in several local parades and decked out my beautiful quarter horse in her Gypsy Tails, Hoofies, and Twister Saddle. I hauled to three parades and waved to all the community. At one parade, the kids were so excited when I rode by! I mean, jumping up and down, yelling, and grinning from ear to ear! I first thought that by the time I rode by at the end of the parade, they had eaten all of their candy and were bouncing off the sugar. But then the reality set in that I was following a character that I’m pretty sure I can’t top, Santa. Santa rode just ahead of me and the kids carried their excitement through the rest of the parade.

               I attended another parade in a town about 45 minutes away with the beautiful Miss Murray State Rodeo Queen, Shelby Wright. We toughed out the cold and made it through the parade in Princeton, Ky with a smile frozen on our face! To our surprise, there was quite the crowd that still showed up for the most wonderful time of the year.

               During my time at home, I have stayed certainly busy with events every week. My goal has always been to get out in the community and talk about the western way of life and the IPRA. I did just that with another radio interview. I met for the Coalfield Comments show in Madisonville. This show has quite the history and has been going on for many years! Coal lies deep within our area of western Kentucky so it is only fitting to have a talk show called Coalfield Comments. I met my host and we talked for 30 minutes about what my job is as Miss Rodeo USA, the IPRA, and the upcoming 2018 pageant. It was great getting to inform others in my community about our western way of life.

               This year has been nothing but an amazing experience and wonderful opportunity. As if riding horses on the beach and traveling internationally wasn’t enough, I got to cross of another item on my bucket list. I was able to attend Round 6 of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo! I have always been captivated by the NFR and loved to watch it and follow the contestants every year. But this year it was awesome to get to watch the contestants compete in THE Thomas and Mack! Everyone clearly brings their A game and you better not blink or you’re going to miss that 3 second Steer Wrestling run!

             Since it was my first time to the NFR, it was also my first time to get to walk through Cowboy Christmas! Where do you even start?! The first day that I arrived in Vegas, I dropped off my bags at MGM and this sweet lady walked over and I instantly recognized her as Sherry from Pawnee, OK! Next, I basically ran over to Sands with only an hour to spare before the booths close! I met the sweet Ginger with Basin Tack Company, a wonderful sponsor that we are proud to have! I spent a little time with her and then visited Grant’s Leather to meet the wonderful couple who has had that business for years. Lastly, I walked by and looked back to see Jenna in the Whipin’ Wild Rags booth! I met the owner and she so graciously sponsored a wild rag for me! If you don’t know who they are, check them out on social media!

             I spent one whole day (too bad I didn’t have two) at the Las Vegas Convention center going through two floors of Cowboy Christmas! I absolutely loved running into so many fans, friends, and sponsors! I finally got to meet Sarah with Rhinestone Lipgloss at her booth! Sarah so generously provided me with a stunning set of earrings! I have seriously worn them all the time! I also had the chance to meet Mr. Keith Mundee with American Hat Company and thank him again for his wonderful sponsorship! While checking out the Ariat booth, I ran into the sweet Joselyn that I met back in March in Texas! It truly was great to connect with so many people!

              Our flight took us back to Kentucky and that’s a wrap on my last two weeks. As I am finishing this post, I still can’t believe that Christmas is seriously right around the corner. I’m talking 9 days away! And you all know what follows that, the 2018 pageant! In fact, the contestant’s headshots were just posted a few days ago and the excitement is so real!