Cardston Heritage Days

Austin taught horse camp during the same week as Heritage Days. We decided that we already live at the Agridome that week, we might as well have Horse Camp the same week.  He had so many kids this year hat he did two sessions - one in the morning and one in the afternoon.  Hanna was his camp assistant.  They learn about horse safety, tack, anatomy, rodeo events, games, etc. 

Lucy took our goat to the pet show. Carter took the miniature donkey, and Carly took Grandpa's dog, Badger.

Hanna was Grandpa's assistant for the horse driving contest.

Lucy, Carly and I ran the 5k for Heritage Days.  Lucy smoked us. Carly ran it in 32 minutes.

It was a cool morning the day of the parade.  Jill had to work in Waterton.  Lucy and Hanna and Madison Leishman got to carry the flags at the start of the parade. Hanna rode Slick who pranced through much of the parade.

Austin was in the ranch rodeo with Shayne Duce, Cash Duce and Bowdrie Duce. 

Heritage Days is a crazy week for me as the secretary of the Ag Society.  I am happy to say that I retired on Sept 1 from that job.

20 Years

Our 20th Anniversary (Sept 6, 2016) was the first day of school so we celebrated our anniversary early. 

 We went to West Glacier to go white water rafting. We stayed at a cute little place called the Vista Motel. It was clean but very simple. There was no TV so Austin went to the office and they had a little portable DVD player that we watched a movie on. We went to Kalispell for dinner to Applebee's and bought a cheesecake at Costco.

Whitewater rafting was really fun. We had a good guide. We were pretty wet by the time we got back but it was really fun. Austin would like to go earlier in the spring when there are even more rapids. 

The girls survived while we were gone. It's so nice that they are independent!

Enjoying Summer

Lucy and her friends on the last day of school.

Re-creating a picture from the past during our hike at Crandell Lake in Waterton.

Lucy's softball team

Carly's softball team

Hanna and Madison on their horseback ride to the Barn Store in Mountain View.

Cutting and baling the hay in our field was a great adventure (one we hope not to remember)

Working on our outdoor riding arena is something we do want to remember!

Craig, Karma & Steve Albiston came to Canada to visit.

Lucy went to Cougar Basketball Summer Camp.

Canoeing the Milk River

We were brainstorming ideas of fun things to do for Heritage Day. One of our ideas was to canoe down Milk River. Then we invited the Hardy family (Kendall, Jewel, Ava, Mya, Brook, Dane) to see if they could come and they said yes. We were slightly worried about the e-coli warning of the water, but we decided to take the risk. 

We borrowed our ward canoes and had such a fun day. The weather was awesome and we laughed and talked and sang. We switched around a few times.  Towards the end of the river, Lucy ended up in a canoe with Mya and Brook. They were seeing lots of the river, so they ended up putting Lucy in the back to steer. She did awesome.  Austin did have to run out to catch them at the landing place.

The girls voted to make the canoe trip an annual tradition.

Canadian High School Rodeo Breakaway Champion

The top 6 cowboys/cowgirls in each high school rodeo event get to a chance to compete at Canadians. This year it was in Nanton again and Jill qualified in breakaway roping and goat tying. Hanna wasn't in the top six, but enough girls ahead of her didn't choose to go to Canadians, so she was able to roll up in the goat tying.

On the first day, Jill won the breakaway with a 3.3 seconds. She won spurs and $100 for winning the round. She gave us back the $100 since we had paid her entry fees, but she just wanted to hold the envelope for a little while to enjoy the moment.

On Jill's goat run the first day, the goat ran left and kind of fell down so the horse ran across the rope. So with the 10-second penalty, she was 19.5 seconds.  Hanna had trouble with her tie and was 11.2 seconds.

Day 2 was ok. They both got average points.

Day 3 for breakaway, there were only 4 girls that had caught 2 calves. So Jill just needed to catch.  And she did!!! She was actually pretty lucky she caught because her rope was sort of wadded up, then the rope only went over half the calf's head, but he turned just the right way so the rope went on and she got a time. She ended up to be the only girl who caught all 3 calves. She was the Canadian High School Breakaway Champion!

The goat tying on day 3 was really tough and exciting. Hanna was 8.7 seconds and wasn't even in the top 10. Jill tied her goat in 8.1 seconds. Going into the final round, the top two girls were tied going into the final round with 15 seconds on two runs. Then one of them was 7.0 seconds and the next one was 6.9 seconds. It couldn't have been any closer. It was very exciting. Go Jenna Dallyn and Simone Park!

Jill got a sweet collection of prizes. She got a buckle, a certificate for a new pair of boots, skid boots, a shirt, a hat, a giant chocolate bar, a bag, and a $500 scholarship to a school of her choice. 

Between driving to Grande Prairie for Provincials, Gillette for Nationals, and Nanton (4 times) for Canadians, we spend A LOT of hours together in the truck. That's why we only had 4 kids so we could all fit in the truck to go to rodeos together.