mutton bustin'

this past friday night we went to the rodeo with our friend liz, her two boys, and her cousin cory. we had been talking to luke about mutton bustin’ and he was excited to sign up. when we got to the sign up both, we were told children 55 pounds and under could enter to ride and i told luke, “for once, you not weighing much is going to work in your favor! Horray!!” they made him weigh in and he was a big 39.7 pounds. i filed out the entry form and dropped it in. not going to lie, i did not for one minute think he would be chosen.

from the moment we sat down to watch the rodeo luke kept saying how he really wanted to ride the sheep. i continually reminded him that only eight kids would get picked, but we would see. i also reminded him that he would not cry if he did not get picked.

liz had taken one of her boys to the bathroom and returned with a big smile on her face. the list of mutton bustin’ riders for the night had been posted and luke was chosen!! i could not believe it and luke was thrilled!!

i took luke down to get ready and josh stayed behind to watch from the stands. liz brought her camera and came back with us to take pictures. luke went over to get his helmet and vest. he wore vest number five….so fitting for my five year old little cowboy! he was so excited to be behind the scenes. he was watching the cowboys, the bulls, and dancing to the music.

at one point, i told liz, i do not know about luke, but I am getting nervous i am so excited! we had a wait a while, but finally, they lined up the children to walk to the chutes, and luke would ride last. i reminded him to hold on as tight as he could, and for as long as he could.

when the kids went to the chutes, the adults were allowed to walk out into the arena and watch from the wall. i could hardly stand it waiting for luke’s turn. then he was announced, “and from mesquite, texas, we have five year old Luke Stewart!” he was out of the chute and rode a pretty good ways before falling under. one of the cowboys picked him up and brought him over to me.
luke was shaken up a some and crying. i asked him what was wrong and he said he did bad because he fell off. we all assured him that he did great and all the kids fell off at the end. he received a trophy for riding and when we returned to the stands cory told us luke was only one point behind the winner! in all he hustle and bustle in the back, we had not heard his score.

it was a great night and a fun time. our only regret was later we realized josh could have videoed the entire thing from our camera and he did not! oh well.....maybe there will be a next time and we will film it then. liz took many great pictures, here are some of my favorites.


my cute little rider.

mommy tellling luke to hold on tight.

a great ride!

a good cowboy to pick him up

a proud mutton bustin'rider and his trophy