MHSRA Rodeo Queen Pageant ~ Missoula

            The Montana High School Rodeo Queen Pageant was fun and brought back some nervous memories from the state pageant in January. For the first night I was there, we had an orientation/question and answer time. I even got the chance to do a little modeling with the girls after that. And I couldn’t wait to hear them do their speeches and watch the modeling the next day.

All of the girls were outstanding in every way and looked great too! One of them even had to model and recite her speech in her working rodeo clothes because she had an event to run in right after she finished! She still did great though and did even better in the modeling.

 I didn’t get to know who won until a few days after when I read the paper. Congratulations to our new queen, Carley Sikes! She is going to represent Montana very well! I hope I will be seeing her in the near future at some rodeos.

Until next time, I wish you all the best!

 

God Bless,

 

Jennifer Marshall

MTRM 2008

 

Arlee Rodeo

This rodeo was very special to me because I had the chance to share it with my grandparents who live out of state. It also gave me the chance to sit down and share everything about my favorite sport!

It was pretty nice to only have to drive an hour and a half to get to a rodeo, since most of them are over 4 hours away! Another change for me was getting to ride one of my own horses. Unfortunately, about an hour into the trip I realized that I had forgotten a very essential item to any rodeo queens’ wardrobe… my buckle! Let’s just say I was REALLY glad to see one of my very good friends at the rodeo, especially when I saw they were wearing a big silver belt buckle! So after I ran off with my friends buckle, I headed back to the arena gate for grand entry. However, when I got to the one and only entrance to the arena, the gate was padlocked and no one was around to open it… So I immediately started to make a lap around the arena, trying to find another way in. And about 5 minutes before the rodeo started, Lynn (Audrey’s mom) saw me running past the gate and quickly waved me over. As I walked up to the gate I was going to ask where the key to it was when she opened the gate up. Little did I know that the lock wasn’t closed! So for the first run in the arena, I ended up not wearing my chaps because I didn’t have time to put them on! Nevertheless, the rodeo went very well after that and I still had a ton of fun.

The next night went A LOT smoother than the first. I remembered my buckle and got to wear my chaps for grand entry! Another great thing was riding up with Scott and Hannah Burlingham, who always make me laugh! We both rode in our home-town Memorial Day parade earlier that morning and raced up to Arlee after that. Hannah attended as Miss Rodeo Western MT Princess, and helped with grand entry and pushing cows.

Even though my first rodeo of the year as MRTM 2008 started off a little rough, the rodeo was a ton of fun and I can’t wait to go back next year! Until next time, I wish you all the best!

 

God Bless,

 

Jennifer Marshall

MTRM 2008

FFA State Convention

            This was probably one of the slowest drives I have been on all year. Mostly because there isn’t much in the way of radio stations, I forgot my CD’s, and my cell phone was dead… So needless to say it was a very quiet drive! Thank you so much to Toby and Sarah Capp who let me stay with them while I was in Bozeman.

            When I finally got there, I was really happy to see Jourdan, Lorissa, and Audrey. We all sat in on the opening of the State Convention, but I had no idea that MRA ’07 Ashley Andrews would also be speaking that night. It was great listening to stories of her year. One thing I learned about while I was there was the “power clap.” I was never in 4-H or FFA so I thought it was a cute idea. Instead of 10-20 seconds of applause, they would just do one clap in unison which made things move a lot quicker.

            The next morning, Audrey and I were off set up the MRM booth. We talked to many different girls about competing for the Miss Teen and Miss Rodeo Montana titles. It was a lot of fun to be able to share all the things that I have done as MTRM, and the numerous opportunities you get and things you learn. We also walked around and got to see everyone else that had set up a booth and visit with them. Audrey also had a surprise for me in her truck… She had all of my autograph sheets! Scott Breum did a fabulous job on my pictures and I can’t wait to work with him again!

            On the last day of my trip in Bozeman Sarah Capp was gracious enough to drive around town and help me find sponsors for my fundraiser. She knew some great places to go to such as Yellowstone Gateway Sports and Frank Long and Company. They both donated items to my fundraiser and I can’t say thank you enough!

Until next time, I wish you all the best!

 

God Bless,

 

Jennifer Marshall

MTRM 2008

MRM Coronation Ball

           This was my chance to see first hand how a fundraiser should really go! So my mom and I took some mental notes and enjoyed a fun evening.

            The evening started with a silent auction and some tasty treats provided by the Hilton Garden Inn. Then there was a live auction with so many great items I couldn’t keep track of them all. My mom decided she wanted to get in on it all, so she bid on a “Six Pack and a Symphony.” When she bid on it, she thought it was just a six pack and tickets to see the symphony for two. But I couldn’t believe what we had won when my mom went to claim her prize. It turns out that this was tickets to six nights of top country performers at the State Fair in Great Falls and the symphony. And we actually won it for just $30! I was pretty happy to find that out!

During the event I got to meet so many new people and also visit with some old friends. And everyone I talked to was VERY impressed with what a great job Audrey and her family did putting the whole thing together. I know they worked very hard, and it definitely paid off! Now I know a little bit more about what it takes to put on a GREAT fundraiser celebration!

Until next time, I wish you all the best!

 

God Bless,

 

Jennifer Marshall

MTRM 2008

Great Rockies Sport Show ~ Kalispell

           This trip was one of the most interesting and painful I’ve been on as MTRM 2008. What made it painful was an event that happened the night before I left for Kalispell with Audrey.

My mom and I were going to listen to a band at our local Eagles Club when I smashed my thumb really hard in my car door. After that I almost wanted to just sit in the car and nurse my throbbing thumb, but we came all the way in to town to see this band so I headed on inside. As soon as I sat down I ordered a glass of ice water, but not to drink. Instead when the waitress set it down on the table, I slid it over and stuck my thumb in it. I did get a couple of funny looks for doing this but at that point I didn’t really mind.

The next morning when Audrey and I finally got on the road, my thumb looked pretty bad. It had swollen up past the knuckle. But I still had a ton of fun learning more about the different furs and even brushing up on trapping regulations. Even more fun was getting to help the kids make messy ink prints of different animal track molds. It was also great to sit and talk with Fran and Jim.

After a full day of stamping and signing autographs, my thumb was looking even worse. And after I showed Audrey and Fran, they insisted that we visit the hospital to get it looked at. Little did we know that we would have to make four trips back and forth from the Hospital in Whitefish to a clinic in Colombia Falls. So after a good couple of hours and about 100 extra miles on Audrey brand new Avalanche I found out that I had fractured my thumb and had to get the pressure released.

All in all, the trip was fun as always and I got the chance to meet some friends of Audrey’s who were gracious enough to let us stay with them. Thank you so much to the Wirtala Family for the great conversation and tasty food! And the next morning more than made up for a smashed finger.

Audrey invited me to spend the day skiing with her on the Whitefish Ski Mountain. We had a blast and even wore our buckles for a quick picture before we hit the hill. Afterwards, my legs felt like noodles! But it was all worth it.

Until next time, I wish you all the best!

 

God Bless,

 

Jennifer Marshall

MTRM 2008

NRA Finals ~ Billings

The NRA Finals were even bigger and better than I thought it could be.Ty Yost and his crew did an amazing job putting on the rodeo once again. The night started off with a full house and a fire works show, and it only got better from there! I was really excited to see my good friends Scott and Hannah Burlingham (Miss Rodeo Western MT Princess 2007).  For the first night of rodeo, Hannah was so generous to let me use her awesome horse Twister. However, it became a little bit hectic when Hannah and I had to switch off and on Twister while squished in a 10×10 with four other girls. But we made the best of it and had some good laughs too!

            On the second night of the rodeo my friend Hannah had the opportunity to carry Old Glory during opening ceremonies. And I was SO proud of her when she made the perfect run around the arena while our National Anthem played.

Besides the awesome rodeo action, I got the chance to see Little Big Town and Niel McCoy in concert after the rodeos. After listening to Neil sing “She’s a brick House,” I couldn’t help but dance around a little. Then, out of the corner of my eye I spotted Scott the rodeo clown carrying around what looked to be an animal of some sort. When I finally caught up to him I saw that he had one of the chickens from his act perched on his arm. I can’t say that I have EVER seen someone carrying a chicken around, but there is always a first time for everything!

Until the next rodeo rolls around in May at Arlee, I wish you all the best and I’ll see you around!

 

God Bless,

 

Jennifer Marshall

MTRM 2008

 

Great Rockies Sport Show ~ Bozeman

            This was an especially fun event for me because I had the chance to travel with Audrey Sholty, your 2008 Miss Rodeo Montana. The day was a pretty cold one, but we still managed to have fun as always. And of course, we were both beautifully outfitted in the finest of furs from the Montana Trappers as part of our awards.

Our first stop was the Montana Trappers Association booth where I met Jim and Fran Buell. Fran taught us about all sorts of animals, furs, and tracks. And I was loving life when I got to look through and touch all of the beautiful furs for sale in their booth. For the kids, they made rubber molds of all sorts of different animal tracks. We then got some “first hand experience” learning the animal tracks while we helped kids stamp the rubber molds on paper. By the time I was done, my fingers were completely black with ink! Thankfully, Fran remembered the baby wipes!

After that, Audrey and I headed into the sports show to take a look around for ourselves. We saw all sorts of vendors from western wear to safari tours to fishing gear. But one thing that I will never forget is getting to meet Brutus. Now Brutus isn’t your typical guy… he’s a seven foot tall, 500 pound grizzly bear. And when we saw him doing tricks for some marshmallows, we had to go check it out. When we got over to his cage, they had him rolling over on his back, standing up, and making that well known and very scary grizzly roar. However, he seemed very sweet… but you still wouldn’t be able to get me in there with him!

After that, we got on the road once again and headed back home. But until next time…

 

God Bless,

 

Jennifer Marshall

MTRM 2008