2010 Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo

Well ladies and gentlemen, now that it's been a month since the Rodeo ended, I'll take a breather and post some pictures. The fat lady has sung and we'll have to wait til next year to eat more Rodeo funnel cake. I'm pretty bummed. I do love the rodeo. It's my favorite time of the year. And who wouldn't love the Houston Rodeo?? It's the World's largest rodeo! Here's a few highlights:

• 91,000 turkey legs were eaten (we ate one those)
• 100,000 funnel cakes and
• 7500 chocolate covered cheese cakes

Don't even ask about the chicken fried bacon, I am bitter that 6500 other people got to try it and I didn't even know they had it til I read that report.

We saw some crazy record breaking riding this year. I saw someone get a 90 point bull ride-been a while since I've seen that. Saw someone steer wrestle in 3.8 seconds without breaking the barrier, and we watched the barrel racers blow through the arena in barely 14 seconds. Got to watch my absolute favorite events, calf scrambling and mutton busting... It was a great year. I'll have to post pictures of the Rodeo itself later, I'm talking about the shows today!

JONAS BROTHERS with special guest and terrible singer, Demi Levato!

We started out with the Jonas Brothers. This was probably by far Jeff's absolute most favorite concert. I mean, who wouldn't LOVE to go see the Jonas brothers with 70,000 screaming little girls? I didn't even have to twist his arm! He was THRILLED to be there. Actually, it wasn't so bad. We went with Tiffany's family so we got to hang out with the kids the whole day, which was the point. We only spent an hour listening to the actual concert. Mostly we saw all the exhibits and squeezed llamas. The petting zoo even had wallabies. One of the exhibits the Rodeo has is a birthing center. They have pigs, cows and sheep in all stages of gestation. When we went to visit early in the afternoon, Hanna the pig was already a day past her due date (very rare for pigs) and was starting labor. She was breathing heavy and biting the bars of her cage. I felt bad for her in the little cage, but the sign explained that this helps her stay calm, and keeps her from squishing her pigs. It's not as bad as it looks, even if she wasn't in a cage she'd be laying down the entire time. The pig that was NOT in a cage didn't move for 10 hours. Anyway, we went and saw all the other exhibits and went to watch the Rodeo for a couple hours. We left the Jonas concert early to see if she had started having her piglets. We arrived to see she'd already had two and stay to watch 5 be born, they were coming about 10 minutes apart. Look how little they are!

When we came back week later I stopped by to see how they were doing. They had doubled in size! What little pigs!

RASCAL FLATTS

My Dad's friend had extra Rascal Flatt's tickets, so we went and enjoyed that concert. My favorite was that it was the Military night and they had a huge production for our armed forces. They had three Medal of Honor recipients there who shared their stories (brought tears to every one's eyes,) countless other soldiers, a major display by the Marines and a beautiful ceremony. Very patriotic.

Their show was March 8. Exactly three years earlier they were playing in Salt Lake City, and Jeff took me to see them. It was the weekend I realized how fun he was to be around. We spent three full days together and never ran out of something to laugh and talk about. So going to their concert again was really cute. I love, love, love these big boots. They were set out for a special event. If they hadn't been so heavy I would have taken one home.

BRAD PAISLEY

Poor Heather was so sick she wasn't able to make it to the Brad Paisley concert and had to give her tickets away. I ended up being the lucky recipient, and so I grabbed Desiree and we went to the concert. Heather! I can't tell you how guilty Desiree and I felt. The whole time she and I both kept saying, "I feel so bad we're having fun." So I just have to say, thanks again!!! The concert was amazing. I love Brad Paisley, he sings from the heart and LOVES his fans. He walked around the entire arena singing and shaking hands with everyone. We were so close to the front I wanted to run down and say hi, but Desiree and I reminded ourselves that we were adults, we should stay in our seats, and Brad was already swarmed with 10,000 other people. That, and we would have missed the company of the 12 year old boys who were sitting behind us. Every picture we took has their little hands giving us bunny ears. I think they liked us. Their older sisters were in the row in front of us profusely apologizing for their little twerp brothers.

Afterwards we went to the Hideout to hear Honeybrowne. They were pretty good, they sing a song called "Texas Angel." I had a friend who loved that song and used to always call me Texas Angel and sing it to me. Desiree and I practiced our rusty dance moves. I know Des looks really tan in this picture, but up until a few days ago when she stole the sun, I was actually tanner. I took a picture to prove it. All you single ladies! Whoa oh oh, oh oh oh!!! If you liked it you should have put a ring on it!

Tim McGraw

I've been wanting to see Tim McGraw for years. I love everything about this man, especially his wife! I love that he loves her, that they sing together, that they have been married for years, that they support each other, that he wears awesome jeans, that he sings half of my favorite songs... just love Tim McGraw.

It was soooo cold and rainy that night. I curled my hair, but by the time we got out of the car the curls were already gone! Soooo annoying. That's alright, Jeff loves me anyway. We loved how Tim McGraw walked around the arena and shook hands with as many people as he could, he also sang a George Strait song (you have to, when you're in Texas) and forgot the words. That was pretty funny. Anyway, it was a great concert.

Brooks and Dunn

Brooks and Dunn was a bittersweet concert. I've seen them a few times before, but this is their Last Rodeo Tour. They announced last August they were going to go their separate ways, so this concert was sold out and FABULOUS. We went with Heidi and Trever which only made it that much more fun. I heart Brooks and Dunn.

They threw one of the best concerts. Kicks grabbed a few random girls out of the audience to dance with, they walked around the arena, set off little paper rocket thingers, and they threw shirts to the audience. It was such a great concert, and I will definitely miss them at next years Rodeo, they've been playing here consecutively for 19 years.

Now that the Rodeo is over I've managed to survive, but I am already looking forward to next year. I love the Houston Rodeo. As I have said before, I am a fan of anything country. It tends to focus on the important things in life (God, family, hard work..), is conservative, and supports the values I believe in. Can't wait til next year...