Let Freedom Ring!

                If you have been wondering what I have been up to the past two weeks, let me tell you all about it! It’s pageant prep mode around my house! I have been working around the clock to “try” to get ahead on my to do list! Most of the past two weeks have been making my last quarterly call to all the wonderful sponsors and supporters of the Miss Rodeo USA Association. With nearly a hundred sponsors, it takes a little while to get through with everyone. This is certainly a task that I can complete!
                With my platform of staying focused, I have had the opportunity to teach it to children, communities, organizations, and many others. It’s imperative that I remember to stay focused myself so that I may accomplish my goals. Also on my to do list is creating my scrapbook that will be on display during the pageant. This task is a big one that’s for sure! Actually, I have been preparing for this project all year. If I had some free time during all my travels, I stopped at the nearest Hobby Lobby to check out their sales on scrapbook supplies. I have been stocking up all year so that when the time came for now, I would have all my materials together. I’ve printed off nearly 500 photos and the year isn’t over yet! Get ready to flip through the pages of my year in January!
                Another task that I’m working on is getting together gifts for the pageant, writing down funny stories from the year to tell at the pageant, and writing my final ride speech. All these tasks make reality sit in – that my year is almost over. It seems like yesterday that I was crowned in Oklahoma City and here we are with only a few months left of my reign. I remember Harmony telling me when I won that my year would fly by, don’t blink! I can say that she was definitely right! I look back and wonder where the time went. I am so thankful for all the amazing opportunities, experiences, and people that I have connected with. Forever I will remember this amazing year and time in my life.
                This past weekend I was honored to have been asked to participate in Kentucky’s largest Veteran’s Day parade in my hometown of Madisonville, Kentucky. Knowing that this parade is one of the highlights for the community, I spent nearly all day getting my horse (and lastly me) ready to go! I started by brushing the mud off my “old faithful” mare and making my feeding rounds. I got all the mud off and decided that Fancy was still not as clean as I wanted her to be! So it was bath time next. I finally got her satisfactory and went to rush to do my hair and makeup. We arrived at the parade with an hour before start time, which you would think would be plenty of time to get ready. My mom started helping me put the beautiful Gypsy Tails in, set my parade flowers on, and anything else that needed to be done. I just love my mom! And Fancy just LOVED all the things she got to have on (not!) After rushing around it was time to go stand in line for another hour.
                As I walked down Main Street, I loved seeing all the smiling faces of everyone. I rode by smiling, waving, and talking to various people.  It was such a pleasant feeling to be riding by the people of my own community as the first Miss Rodeo USA to have represented Kentucky in the pageant’s 51 year history. I truly felt blessed to represent such a great town. I would wave all the kids and they would tell me that they remembered me coming to their school. That was over 6 months ago! The kids do pay attention and love a visit from a rodeo queen! A lot of the kids and adults loved the patriotic Hoofies that I had put on my horse! I couldn’t tell you how many times I heard, “oh, look! She painted her horses’ nails!” Little did they know that it only took me 2 minutes to make them look amazing with stickers! As I finished up the parade, it was such a blessing to be one of the many that rode in the parade to honor the Veterans that have fought for our freedom.