Rodeo Houston 2017

This year’s HLSR was my fourth and final year as a committee member.  I loved spending time with the ‘kids’ that we serve on the Special Children’s Committee, but it is time for me to focus on other things.

God has recently impressed it upon my heart that I have to let go of the ‘good’ to get the ‘great’ in my life.  I can’t keep saying yes to everything, I have to focus on what God has called me to, not everything that comes my way, even if they are worthy events/activities. 

I was always saying yes to being on this committee, or volunteering at this event but I wasn’t able to focus on the things that truly matter to me.  And I’m not just talking about the rodeo activities, I’m talking about all activities that I’ve been involved in.  I have been emptying things off my plate for a few months now and it is so freeing!  I don’t have to be at this activity or that activity, I can focus on what matters most in my life.

So, the rodeo.  I volunteered on my specific dates and was a little sad that this was my last year, especially on my last night.  I was saying goodbye to everyone and realizing that I would never dance in the aisle at one of the concerts with the ‘kids’ anymore (I say ‘kids’ because most of them are technically adults but they have disabilities so it is the Special Children’s Committee).

We went to the Agventure part one day with Kali, but other than that I didn’t go at all this year (besides my volunteer shifts), usually I go to at least one concert or the carnival.  Kali had a fun time seeing the cows, rabbits and other animals.  She is into gardening so she planted sunflower seeds in a cup and brought it home.  I love that the HLSR has a ton of information and hands on learning opportunities for kids.  Super cool.

Did you go to the rodeo this year?

Rodeo Houston

It’s Rodeo time in Houston!  Tonight is my last night volunteering for my committee and boy am I tired.  The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo has over 31,000 volunteers that spend their free time helping to raise money for scholarships.  This is my second year on as a volunteer and it is very rewarding.  All committees raise money for scholarships, but my committee also does good in another way.  We are the Special Children’s Committee and we take special needs adults and children around the rodeo and also 3 concerts.  I love seeing the children’s face light up when they dance or when they see their favorite animal.  

I have gone a few times with friends and family to the rodeo and I wanted to include some pictures!  We have one more concert to work (tonight, Dierk's Bentley) and then we have a committee party.  I am tired (it's Monday!) so I might not make it to the party. I am getting old. LOL. :)

Centerpieces for Rodeo Week at work that I helped coordinate

Centerpiece #2 for Rodeo Week at work that I helped coordinate

SCC bandana that everyone has to wear

I love this flower box art!  Students compete in a competition during the rodeo and this is one of the entries

Me and Cole!  I am not exactly sure what happened to my camera phone.  I think it was just the sun.

Rainy day at the carnival.  Sad carnival.

My tomato was in the shape of a heart!  Does this mean love is in the air?! ;)

Rodeo Bling

Me and Cole again!  We were watching the muttin' bustin' competition

Group Selfie (minus Cole)

Rodeo Houston Meeting

Last night was the last HLSR meeting (for my committee) before the Rodeo starts in March!   Our meeting started at 6:30 pm, but everyone gets there a bit early for free drinks and food!  We were able to pick up the 2015 gold committeeman badge and it is awesome looking!  It’s so shiny!

If you don’t know what the badge is for, basically it shows that you are a volunteer for the rodeo on a specific committee.  There are over 31,000 committee members and it would be hard to know who each of them are.  They give each of us a gold badge to get in to the concerts and carnival for free plus one guest.  We can sit anywhere in the arena, but if someone comes and says you are sitting in their seat, you have to move to another one.  Plus, we get a free parking pass as well.  If you are interested in signing up for a committee, let me know and I will tell you how to do it! :)

At the meeting they gave us updates on the committee, recognized members with year milestones (5, 10, 15 years, etc), and reminded us to sign up for shifts.  They also mentioned that the Houston Rodeo was on track to sell out 13 of their concerts this year!!!  There was also a person who was giving away copies of the art that was won at past years school art auctions.  I was able to take a beautiful piece of art home from the winner of the 2012 art competition.  Isn’t it beautiful??!!!  I can’t wait to frame it and hang it up.  They only reprint 2,500 of each piece and mine was #15.  Pretty cool.

Are you ready for the Rodeo?????  I am!  I can’t wait to see the concerts and ride the carnival rides.  Speaking of the carnival, don’t forget to purchase half price carnival tickets NOW (GO HERE).

Volunteering at the Rodeo Houston

Wow!  My final shift at the HLSR for the Special Children's Committee was last night and boy was it a long week!  I had a ton of fun and it was super rewarding, but it was exhausting.

I had to volunteer 5 times total (one being the Top Hands Horse Show), 3 concert nights and 1 day tour.

The HLSR is a huge event and has over 28,000 volunteers (plus a small staff) that puts on the rodeo each year and gives out a ton of money in scholarships.

The committee I volunteer for is the Special Children's Committee, which hosts mentally and physically handicapped kids and adults (plus chaperones) during day tours and concerts.  During the concerts we have a special entrance and special seats reserved for them.  We greet them off the bus, walk them to their seats, give them popcorn and drinks, and dance with them and help them back to their vehicles when the concert is over.  Normally I just helped them to their car, but during my break last night (Jake Owen Concert) I stayed with them and danced.  I had hte most fun!  I 'slow danced' in the aisle with a few of the kids and when they went to leave, I was going to shake their hands, but two of them kissed me on my cheek.  It was so cute! :)  I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of this committee this year.  It was a blessing to hang out with them!

My day started super early, so I of course had to get some coffee when I got to the park.  We had a concert the night before (REO Speedwagon) and I didn't get home until past midnight.  The next day (Tuesday) I woke up to my annoyingly cute alarm to get dressed and head to Reliant.  I knew I would be there all day, so coffee was a must!

On Tuesday (typing this out of order), we had a day tour with the kids. They came on buses and we escorted them throughout the rodeo to see the different animals (petting zoos and attractions) and we also gave them lunch.  There is section with pig races that the kids all loved.  They have four sections and each section has a colored flag.  Whatever section you are in, you cheer that pig on during the race (I think my groups section was orange).  They would tell you about each of them and how fast they were, then they would race down a shoot (looking for food I'm sure!).  The kids would cheer and cheer for there little pig.  It was sweet to watch.

About 1 pm all of the groups headed back to their buses to head home for the day.  My sister was supposed to bring my nephew to the carnival around 3 pm, so I went to hang out with one of my friends who was volunteering too.

Laura and Cole got there and we bought some carnival tickets.  We rode the slide and Cole loved it.  I swear, that kid is fearless. He rode tons of rides (well, as many as $20 worth of tickets gets you, LOL) and then we went inside to look at the animals and to eat lunch.  I wanted to get some fried food, but I was good and didn't (I still have over a week though!).  While Laura was in line for the bathroom, Cole wanted to ride the escalator over and over and over and over and over again.  We shouldn't have bought carnival tickets, we could have just stuck him on that thing and he would have been happy. I couldn't say no to this cute face. :)

 Part of the rodeo is art work that students submit.  They were all wonderful and some of them go for a lot of money at auction.  I love this pig one!  I do not know what the different ribbons mean though.  I know they are different prizes, but I am not sure what is the top prize and I didn't see a sign, but I could have missed it.

So overall I was at the rodeo from 4:30 pm-12:30 pm on Monday, 8 am-9:30 pm on Tuesday and 5 pm til 1:30 pm on Wednesday.  So tired, but it was super fun and worth it!  Tonight is the Veronica Mars premier at AMC in Sugarland!!  Can't wait.

Top Hands Horse Show

This past Saturday was the HLSR's Top Hands Horse Show and I was lucky enough to volunteer for it!  I am on the Special Children's Committee and we help put on the event for the kids. 

The Top Hand Hands Horse Show is for mentally and physically handicapped kids/adults, where they get to participate in rodeo events.  As part of their therapy, many children go to horse camps and ride horses.  Once a year, they participate in the Top Hands Horse Show to win awards.  They go at their own pace, with helpers walking along side of them. 

My scheduled volunteer time was from 7 am - 1 pm, but I ended up staying all day and left around 8:30 pm.  I stayed in the hospitality suite most of the time helping to ensure all snacks and drinks were stocked and also helping to serve lunch and dinner.  I got to wear my new badge holder!  It's is pretty, so full of bling! :)

The kids would come in to get drinks and show us their awards, it was so cute!  They were very proud of their awards, and for many of them it was their first award ever!  The first place winners got a cool belt buckle and the other winners either got this cool trophy (below) or a ribbon.

It was a great day and I am glad I was able to be a part of it.  I have several other  nights I have to volunteer and I cannot wait til they come!  We have a day tour scheduled and three concerts that I will be working.  More to come!

Rodeo Continued

Last night I went back to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (HLSR) for another concert, which makes it 3 times in one week!  I am draggggggggging at work today, so tired.  My works has two sets of four tickets that they use to take clients out.  A few weeks ago they offered a raffle for four different shows that were free, one of them was Pitbull.  I didn't win the tickets from that drawing, but yesterday morning the person who did win them wasn't going to use two of them, so he sent an email out saying whoever was the first one to respond would get the tickets.  I responded first and was no the happy owner of two Pitbull tickets.

I wasn't a huge fan of Pitbull, but the seats were great (club level) and I wanted to go!  I posted on FB that I had an extra ticket, and my friend/old neighbor Stephanie said she wanted to go if I could pick her up.  I got off a bit early and headed home to change clothes and feed the monster.  We got to the carnival and went shopping for a while.  I am looking for a small everyday ring that I can bring with me to Kenya next month, but I couldn't find one!  I talked for a while with one lady from a broken china jewelry store and found a ring that was a .5 size to big. :/  I really wanted it. No such luck.  After shopping (well, browsing) we headed inside to our seats.

The club level of Reliant Stadium (at least during the HSLR) has $5 drink tickets where you can buy well drinks, instead of just beer.  I got a margarita (of course), but my new favorite drink is a dirty martini (they didn't have them), I think Stephanie got a crown and coke.  We also got nachos and a funnel cake that we shared. After our bellies were full, we headed to our seats to watch the finale of the rodeo and the start of the concert.

My favorite part of the rodeo is the calf scramble, then the wagon races, and then the mutton bustin'.  The mutton bustin' is when a group of 5 and 6 year olds hang on to a sheet and ride it until they fall off.  Whoever has the most points (not sure how they calculate that though) wins a belt buckle.  Last night, this little boy got a score of 95, which was the highest of the entire rodeo so far.  Once he was done riding the sheep (mutton?) he put his hands in the air like he was the boss. After he won, they did a mini interview of him and he wants to be a professional bull rider and that he and his dad always practice riding on sheep.  So cute! 

Back to the concert...Pitbull came out and from the very beginning he was FULL of energy.  Most concerts at the rodeo have everyone sitting down, but halfway through the concerts everyone were all their feet dancing!  So. Much. Fun.  Like I said, previously I wasn't a fan and didn't even know what he sang, but as he was singing I realized that I have at least two songs of his downloaded to my iPod.  LOL.  Interesting.

As his set went on he kept getting sweatier and sweatier, it was gross!  :) Finally he got a towel and wiped off the sweat, but then things got all sorts of real when he took of his jacket! Some of his opening songs were classics songs that we were all jammin' too, then one of the chorus' in a song was the "baby" song from Dirty Dancing.  Loved it, jammed to it!  Awesome, awesome show.

Pitbull was honestly my favorite entertainer I have ever seen live.  Previously, my favorite was KISS when I saw them in concert a few years ago at the Woodlands Pavillion when they came with Aerosmith, but they have been nudged out of first place by Pitbull since he was so awesome!

We left about 10-15 before it ended and headed back to our car.  I dropped Stephanie back home in the Hobby area and I got home about 11:30 pm.  So tired this morning, but it was worth it.

Thanks go out to my co-worker Bob who gave me the tickets, my friend Stephanie for going with me, HLSR for hosting the concert, and PITBULL for putting on an awesome show!

It's Rodeo Time!

On Monday afternoon around 4 pm my sister Laura calls me and asks if I wanted to go to the HLSR carnival that night with my nephew Hunter and her.  I said yes of course and left work a few minutes early so I could go home to change clothes and get a jacket. 

I met my sister at the Meyerland Shopping Center so we could save on parking (up to $20 to park!) around 6:00 pm and the traffic was horrendous getting to the event.  We didn't end up getting inside the carnival until around 7:15 but we made the most of our time!  We had tickets to the actual rodeo and performance (Jason Aldean) but Hunter was having so much fun at the carnival, we just stayed there instead of going inside.

The entire way there Hunter kept asking about going on the ferris wheel.  Laura went to meet someone to bring them a ticket, and Hunter and I went to the ferris wheel.  As soon as we got in line, Hunter looked up at the ferris wheel and decided it looked too tall and scary so he didn't want to ride it.  Really kid?!

We went into two fun houses and met back up with my sister to eat dinner. After we had dinner Laura and Hunter went on tons of roller coasters and random games, I took picture.  I am not a fan of carnival fast rides, I will stick to the slow moving stuff!  Give me a Six Flags theme park over a carnival any day!.

We also had a coupon that was buy two fried dessert items and get one free.  When you are at a carnival, especially the HLSR, you have to get the incredibly bad for you but incredibly delicious fried food!  Fried twinkie, fried snickers, and fried oreos.

After each ride Hunter would exclaim "That was the best ride ever!" and then the next ride would be his favorite.  At the end of the night though, he did say it was a tie between the giant slide and the roller coaster.  Right before we were leaving I asked him again if he wanted to go to the ferris wheel, and this time he was brave enough to try it.  We got in line and rode the ferris wheel. I'm not going to lie, I was kinda scared myself, but we got through it (with a prayer to God, asking to keep us safe)!  Laura does not like ferris wheels so Hunter and I went up by ourselves.  He started on one side of the ferris wheel, but when we started moving he quickly came to sit next to me and held on to me. :)

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The next night (Tuesday) my friend invited me to go see Kenny Chesney with him.  Hector had gotten tickets from work so he invited me to come with him.  We got there and walked around the carnival and also inside Reliant Center where the shopping was (I was so close to buying a really pretty emerald ring!).  After walking around we headed to the stadium to watch some of the actual rodeo before the concert started.  Bull riders have their contests then wagon races, my favorite though is the calf scramble.  The calf scramble is when a group of high schoolers race to catch a calf, rope it, and then drag it into this big white box for a scholarship.  The entire HLSR is a non profit that pays scholarships for high schoolers to go on to college.  A lot of performers donate their performance fee back to the rodeo for added $$ in the scholarship pool.  To date, the HLSR has given of $330 million in scholarships.

Kenny Chesney!  It was a great concert and he played new and old songs, it was a good mix.  Hector got his tickets through work so the people we sat by were the ones who took us out. They were talking with Hector about work, trying to get more business (sales people) and they bought us drinks and peanuts. They were super sweet.  We sat in section 123, which were great seats!

Hector is my friend from college that I met through Driving Jacks.  One night at a party (TKE) I was volunteering for Driving Jacks and he came up to me to ask about DJ.  The next few weeks he stalked me all over campus until I told him go to new member orientation.  The next year (after I had graduated) he became the VP of DJ and then later the President (2 years).