Deseret Ranch Rodeo

For those of you who don't know, the LDS church owns a large cattle ranch here in FL. The chunk of land is huge and contains not only cattle, but many citrus groves as well. This piece of land happens to be in our stake boundaries, and every year when I was growing up they would have a rodeo as a fund raiser. As I got older they stopped having them. Well a couple of years ago, they decided to start them up again. We always have a lot of fun eating barbecue and watching the rodeo events. Two years ago Mark, Tallie and Luke came to the rodeo with us.

This year some friends of ours, Jody and Dieter Weiss, were in town visiting my sister Stephanie and her husband Greg. They all came over to enjoy the evening with us. Matt's favorite part of the night is when they let the children go down to the arena and chase baby pigs! Last time Matthew did this with Mattie she was only 6 months old.

Needless to say, it was a little different this time for her.

Matt seems to understand the way those little piggies think, because both times he has done this, he goes to the same spot on the outskirts of the arena, and sure enough all of those pigs run right over to where he is standing! He puts one hand down, grabs hold of that little pig, and then proceeds to put our daughter on top it! It was crazy, but everyone watching thought it was hilarious.



Last summer when we were in Utah visiting Matt's mom (MoMo's Ama), she arranged for the kids to go horseback riding. Mattie took to that horse like a little pro, and ever since when she sees a horse she wants to ride it. Seriously, I had talked to her about chasing a pig so that she would be excited, and when we got there and she saw those horses, it was like the pigs didn't matter. All she wanted to do was get on a horse. We found a very sweet girl who was more than happy to accommodate Mattie's wish.


All in all, it was a great night with family and friends.