Thursday, August 20, 2009

~CNR~

Another thing I love about Summer is the Caldwell Night Rodeo! It's a tradition to go every year and I love it! We always start out with eating at the Kiwanis Chuckwagon Dinner and all you can eat Crookham corn on the cob, Mmmmm! This year it was just Annie, me, and my mom for the dinner, my mom was on call so she couldn't make it to the rodeo. Heather, Brandon, and my Dad weren't able to make it this year either. Annie invited one of her co-workers and her husband along to the rodeo with us and we had a good time hanging out with them. I got smart this year and purchased some bleacher seats to sit on, no more sore back for me! I also bought a portable battery operated fan. (I got the idea from Brandon's Dad when we were at their 4th of July party.) It was a last minute purchase as I was trying to race home from work to get changed and head to Caldwell. Let me just say that the seats and the fan were the best ideas I've ever had. I don't think I've ever enjoyed the rodeo so much before. :) We were also smart this year and sat on the Civies side of the arena. We used to sit there growing up, then for some reason we moved over to the Rowdies side. The problem with the Rowdies side is one, you have to deal with more alcohol drinkers, and two you sit in the blazing hot sun for a couple of hours before the rodeo starts and then for another 30-45 minutes after the rodeo starts before the sun is down behind the arena. Annie prompted the change of seats as did her friend Billie. We got to the rodeo about 6:30-6:45ish and got really good seats, we were right by the bull shoots and three rows up. Perfect spot for taking pictures. :) And without further ado, prepare yourself for picture over load of bulls and broncs at the rodeo. (The other events were too hard to get pictures of because they were on the other side of the arena, and I didn't feel like getting up and walking down to the other side to get pictures. :)

Annie and I very happy sitting in the shade, with our bleacher seats, and a nice cool breeze from the fan!

What's a rodeo without a Dodge truck!

The Rowdies roasting in the hot sun. I don't think the bleachers on that side really filled up until about 9:00 that night. It was 100 degrees that day!







Finally can take the sunglasses off. Having fun at the rodeo!



Billie and her husband Justin

This cowboy dislocated his shoulder, cause as you can see, the bull landed on it's back side, right on top of the cowboy.
The bulls were quite surly this year. No one stayed on the full 8 seconds and I think there were at least 4 cowboys that ended up getting hurt.

These next few are a sequence of a cowboy that literally flew in the air off the bull.









These next 11 shots are a sequence of the bull that broke it's leg. Quite sad. If you hate seeing animals hurt, I suggest you scroll past.

Everything was going well once the bull was out of the shoot...

the cowboy was looking good...

then there was trouble on the horizon, as the cowboy lost his grip...

and started to slid off the back...

bringing the bull down with him...

the bull tried to run, everyone scrambled...

but, then it started acting funny...

it kept falling on it's rump trying to get up and out of the arena...

then a shocked gasp ran throughout the area...

as the crowd realized it's left leg was broken.

Up close shot of the poor bull and it's broken leg.

The clown in the middle finally got some action with the bulls this year.

This always causes a rush of excitement, though I'm sure it's a rush of something else for the clown in the barrel.

You couldn't pay me enough to be in that barrel.


Another bull taking another charge at it. Luckily neither bull hit it, they just ran after it, then ran past.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Sunflower photoshoot

One of our neighbors is growing a patch of these huge sunflowers, so I decided to go and have a little photo session with them.



I love that I caught the bee coming in for a landing

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Idaho City

A few weekends ago Annie and I went up to Idaho City for a quick little day trip. Mostly cause I wanted some fresh mountain air and wanted to take some pictures. It didn't take too much convincing to get Annie to come along. We stopped and had lunch at Trudy's Kitchen and had the best huckleberry cheesecake. Mmm, so good! It was a pretty short trip cause Annie had to get back to her softball game later that evening and we got a late start that morning, so I didn't get quite as many pictures as I wanted. Whenever I see pictures from peoples trips to Idaho City, there are always pictures of this place. I don't even know what it's called, but it's pretty cool. So here are the pictures I ended up with.









And last but not least....my favorite shot from the day...

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Swiss Picnic

I love summer for so many reasons, one of them being that we get to have the annual Swiss Picnic. It seems to get bigger and bigger every year. The food is always delicious and there's always great company.


Heather having too much fun with my camera



Heather took on the task of making the Birchermuesli this year. Mmmm, I love this stuff!

So much great food!

Summer and Jerry Zaugg. We've been friends with this family for I don't know how many years.


We had to get a shot of my Dad wearing his sunglasses with his reading glasses on top.

Cute kids all dressed up in their Swiss clothes

Yup, Heather playing with the camera again.

This little girl belongs to a woman that goes to church with Heather.

Dad and his girls.


My Dad being silly with one of the little kids hats.