Miss Rodeo Colorado 2011 Preliminary Pageant

On April 17th mom and I left the house at 6:45 and headed north to Greeley, Colorado.
Once we got to the fairgrounds we fed Rhianna's horse, Jim Bob and then headed to the fair office.
I was quickly welcomed with hugs from my MRC family.  The MRC committee are some of the most amazing people and I have always considered them family. I ran 6 times for the Miss Rodeo Colorado title, so they got to know me really well. They all just kept saying how happy they where for me and how much I deserved to win this title.
The current MRC Kasie Pigg is a great gal who I have competed with many times. She introduced me to the 8 contestants, even though I knew most of them! They where excited to have me, but I just might have been more excited to be there!
I was then asked to write the questions for the girls to answer on stage, this was fun!
Once the girls where all introduced to the judges, I headed over to the 4-H building to take my place on stage to emcee the speech portion of the pageant. I entertained the crowd between the speeches. I talked all about the NFPB, the pageant, my title, my travels, my sponsors and then I wowed to crowd with some Colorado trivia!
The ladies did their speeches on why someone would want to spend a long weekend in their hometown.
They all did amazing and we learned so much about each town.
My mom snapped a pic of me before I left the stage

Next I joined the ladies who where wrapping up in their interviews and took each one outside and did photos of them, my skills as a photographer where put to work!

Next we enjoyed a great lunch and the girls all tried to wow the judges with their skills of eating while making conversation! A great skill for a rodeo queen to have.

As people made their way in for the fashion show, 2 of my favorite people came to see me. Both of these ladies where Larimer Fair and Rodeo Queen title holders. Here I am with Pelar and Sarah.

Next it was time for fashion show! Each lady modeled a dress and answered a personality question and then modeled a pants outfit and answered a rodeo question. I wrote up some great questions and I loved hearing each lady's answer.
My mom was put to work in the dressing room, taking care of each girl, zipping and fluffing! She is such a good queen mom.
I also used this as a chance to get some shots with the girls.

With Cassidy Cabot

The most adorable future rodeo queen

With Rhianna Russell and Megan McCullough

With Kellsie Purdy, last years 1st runner-up

I found a jacket I need to steal from Cassidy, and then I found out my friend Jenna Johnson(last years Miss Rodeo Minnesota) made this. So Jenna you will be getting a call :>

Rhianna and I, we love brown hats

With April Biernat, first time we met was this day, but she is such a sweetie!

Once the ladies wowed us with their modeling skills, it was time to saddle up!

We looked outside to see pouring rain and it was raining more each minute.

Up to the covered crows nest mom and I went and Leroy too, yes my pup came with me!

I once again did the emceeing as the ladies rode a set pattern and did a queens run.

I am so beyond proud of these cowgirls for making riding in the rain look so good!

Here I am after horsemanship......

I was cold and wet! Mom and I used this as the perfect moment to drive down the block to get some coffee at the gas station.
Back to the 4-H building we all waited for a while, the judges scores where added up.
When the moment came, they decided to take all 8 ladies to the finals pageant! I was so proud of them all.
The pageant will be June 28-July 2 during the World's Largest 4th of July Celebration, the Greeley Stampede.

Then I grabbed a few shots with my friend Kasie Pigg...

 Kasie trying to be as tall as me! Its never gonna happen girl ;>

Thank you MRC committee for having me, I was so honored.

Greeley, Colorado

On Friday April 16th I had lunch with one of my best friends and babysat my niece and nephew. Then I headed to Greeley, Colorado. I met with my friend Rhianna Russell who was up there to run for Miss Rodeo Colorado. Her and I went over all the ins and outs of the prelims pageant. I did this pageant 6 times! So I feel like an old pro.

We headed to one of my most favorite places in this state, Greeley Hat Works!
We got our hats all cleaned up. I am so picky about my hats and I only let them work on them. Trent and all the guys there have always been so great to me.

They decieded that if I was going to be the queen of bullriding then it would only make since if I wore a hat just like the bullriders wear. Cause we all know bullriders do not wear they exact same shape and style as the queens do.
So here is a picture of me in a bullriding hat, what do you think??

Not quite the most flattering style on me, but a fun idea to consider :>

But if you are ever in Northern Colorado, you have to stop at Greeley Hat Works.

Tell em I sent ya!

http://www.greeleyhatworks.com/

Back in Colorado

Once I completed my 9 hour journey, I was so happy to be home. I could not wait to hug my dad!
I spent the next few days making plans for my year. Talking to sponsors and making arrangments for my fundraiser. I also made plans for my first journey which would be to Mason City, Iowa.

One of my best friends was getting ready to compete in the preliminary pageant for the 2011 Miss Rodeo Colorado title. So I spent some of the week with her and  was asked to come to the pageant as the special guest and help emcee the event.

We then helped my grandma Kelderman celebrate her 80th birthday. Here is a picure of my family and I, and yes my dog Leroy is in the blanket. More on him in a future post.

Before we left St. Joe

That Sunday night with my family was a really fun one. We headed to the Rib Crib for dinner. I took this as the first opportunity to go out in crown and banner. I took the time to meet the Manager, Angie, and shake her hand and thank her for the dinner they served us at the arena a few nights before.

We also stopped by a gift shop, so my sister could do a lil shopping for some brain shaped pencil sharpeners. Hey what ever makes her happy. Here Mitchell is showing off his brain shaped yo-yo.

At Rib Crib, Mitchell and I got a birthday picture.

The next morning, I took my family to the airport. It made me so happy they had been with me. I then headed back to St. Joe and dropped by the Stetson Hat Outlet. I picked up the hat I had picked earlier in the week. I will have pictures of it soon, its getting a lil work done to it now.

I then packed up the van and it was time to hit the road to go back home.

I took the Nebraska route and I had a great drive. 9 hours later I was home!

Awards Banquet and Crowning

The morning of April 11th, 2010 is a day that changed my life forever.

All of us girls slept in until about 8am and then packed up all of our things, moved out of our room and got ready for the day. I moved into my family's room just down the hall. My nephew Mitchell was celebrating his 4th birthday this day and I woke him up by singing happy birthday to him. Then he helped my by becoming a make-up artist and putting my eyeshadow on for me, he actually did a pretty good job!  

I got dressed in one of my favorite dresses, made once again by Janelle Baldwin. We packed up all the children and hit the road to travel once again to Terribles's casino for the banquet.
The lunch they provided was super good, fried chicken and mashed potatoes is what filled me up.

All the ladies looked great!

When Kelsea headed up to introduce us girls, I felt like you could cut the tension with a knife. I was so nervous and so excited.

Congrats to Suzy Fife of Iowa for winning, Photogenics, People Choice Award and Ad Sales. Suzy was such a sweetie and I really enjoyed getting to know her. I look forward to seeing her in Iowa this year.

Congrats to my new friend and fellow Coloradoan Sunni Patin, Sunni won the Spirit Award. And she won my heart, we shared a bed during the pageant and had so much in common, I can't wait utill she is back in CO this summer and we can hang out.

Next was my new friend Micki Musick. When I helped photograph the Miss Rodeo America pageant this past December, I met Micki while she was Miss Rodeo Arkansas. She is such a sweet girl and she won the Speech Award and 1st Runner-up!

I then was awared the Horsemanship award, which is a huge honor!

Well then it came down to the moment of truth, I was looking at the faces of my family and that where literally on the edge of their seats.
As Kelsea read off the prizes I would be receiving I was curling up my toes in my boots, so ready if she was to call my name! and then she did! I can't express how I felt at that moment, cause I was so in shock

As Rachel placed the crown on my head, I felt like I was in a dream. All the years of my hard work was finally paying off.

After the crowning, I helped Rachel and Clint present the awards to all the award winners of the finals. It was really fun! Then it was time to sign my contract, take all my prizes to the van and then back to the Holiday Inn.

We took the kids to the pool and packed up some of the van. It was so nice to relax with my family for the evening. I talked to my dad on the phone and yes I cryed. I so wish my dad could have been there for the moment, just thinking about it now is making me tear up.
love you dad

The rest of Blog #1

Good Morning friends,
So now you get to hear all about the fashion show!

On my last blog I told you we had dance practice twice so we all could really rock it!
Here is a picture of us in our dance practice gear, Shirts from Couture Cowgirl

So now that we where full from eating too much at Whiskey Creek, we put on our donated outfits.
Jeans from CJ Jeans, Shirts from Cowgirl Trailer Trash, Jewelry from Silver Steer Boutique and belts and boots of our choice. As the showroom filled up with people, we all got very excited.

 Here is Rachel and I giving our best "model" pose!

We all did a dance and showed them how we do it! Then each lady modeled her outfit and answered an on stage personality question. Quick change into our fun jeans outfit of our choice.

 I wore an outfit I have always loved, made my friend and designer Janelle Baldwin of Fort Collins, Co.

We then all answered the same on stage question, the question was about if we woke up the next morning and we where suddenly NFPB President Clint Jackson, what would we do all day? It was fun to have him in the audience when we answered this question!

Next we all put on our dressed and modeled them and then it was speech time!
 I was so excited to do my speech and I wore a dress I designed and was made for me by Donna Riva of California.

After speeches we all got back on stage one more time for everyone to have a final look!

 All of the ladies did so good at speeches and we all learned something! Next it was into rodeo attire and we headed to the Stetson Hat Outlet in St. Joe. We all got to shop and have some fun and pick out the hat we would like to have if we won the title.
Rachel decided to try a new style of hat, I don't think it will catch on!

 I found this super cute shirt, I love orange a bit too much!


After lots of fun at Stetson we packed up in Rachel's truck and headed downtown to a Chamber of Commerce social. We met many of the owners of local businesses and sponsors of the NFPB

Here we all are with the representatives from AFLAC, a great new sponsor of the NFPB. Next it was time to help with the pony rides again at the Civic arena before the bull riding began.
The NFPB puts on such a fun night with fire! and I love fire!

   All of us ladies continued to meet and greet the crowd and raise money for the people's choice award. We helped with the mutton busting again and then signed autographs after the performance.
It was such a fun night and we even saw a 90 point ride!

Off to bed we went because Saturday morning was coming early.

As Saturday morning rolled around, we where all pretty excited for the day, it was going to be a long but fun one.
This day I curled my hair, I had been trying different styles since I cut off my hair this past summer. It is still short and I like then I can do it strait and curly!

Breakfast buffet at Terrible's Casino is where we headed. Terrible's had the most amazing breakfast buffet I think I had ever seen, I am allergic to so much breakfast food, but this place must have know I was coming because there was so much for me to eat!

 I really enjoyed our morning at Terrible's, I used to go to Terrible's when I was living in Vegas, but the one there is nothing like the one in St. Joe!
After breakfast we got the permission of our waitress to go outback to the riverfront and do some photos.

 I have been called "long legs" my whole life, and in this photo you can see why!

We grabbed a quick pic with the manager of the buffet and then had a bit more fun posing with the fun decor at Terrible's

After we all where stuffed, we headed to the Civic Arena for the VIP Rodeo. This is one of the most amazing things I have been apart of. When I was there before competing for the title of Miss NFPB, I had so much fun and I couldn't wait to do it again.

I think all of us ladies where looking forward to meeting these VIP people.

After the Special rodeo, we had to get ready for our interviews.
Each girl was given 15 minutes to wow the jugdes.
We each then had a surprise interview where we had to pretend to interview a potential sponsor for the NFPB. This was the funnest interview I have ever had.


After all the pressure of  interviews, we all took a written test and did photos with Paula.

One more  outfit change and it was back to the Civic Arena for more pony rides, mutton busting, money raising and autograph signing.

 This was Rachel's last night as queen and she did look amazing!! What a great role model she is to us all.

This was the end of the pageant, because the next morning was the awards banquet and crowing of the new queen.
We all went to bed excited for the next day!

My first post!

Welcome to my blog, thanks for reading~I hope to keep this updated as much as I can, because this girl loves to blog!

I first want to start by talking about the pageant and then I will introduce myself.

On Tuesday April 6th my mom and I hit the road, we where on the road by 8am so we could get to St. Joe in a reasonable hour. We hit rain almost the entire way thru Eastern Colorado and Kansas. It made our drive much longer then it needed to be, but we made the most of it. We stopped alot and laughed alot. My mom is an amazing road trip buddy! We decied to take a senic detour in Kansas City and this turned into about 2 extra hours of driving, I would not recommend this, even thought is was super pretty!

Once we finally arrived in St. Joe at 9pm we checked into our room at the Holiday Inn and got to bed. Then the next morning my "crew" was arriving at the Kansas City Airport.  Even though their flight was delayed because of the snow in Denver, they finally made it! My Grandma, Sister, Niece and Nephew came to support me. My dad stayed home to take care of our critters and my brother was at a car show in Nashville.
We had the night to relax and went to the pool and Houlihans resturant.
The next morning was the start of the pageant.

This is how my day started, a good morning kiss from my sweet Niece Delilah. I always know it will be a good day when it starts like this!

All of us girls checked-in in out Horsemanship outfits.

We had orientation in the Holiday Inn and then headed right to Horsemanship. Since the hotel did not have our room ready, we moved in after riding.

We drew order for how we all would go all weekend, I was #3.

Horsemanship went great and we all rode like champs and the horses where awesome!

We all did a pattern set by Rachel Burton, answered questions in the arena and then we did 2 flag runs and a queens run.

Here is me sharing a laugh with the judges, I laugh alot.

As we all prepared to check-in we learned a 4 of us would share one room! we all had that look of shock, but by the end of the week, we all became really close friends and got to know each other really well.

All the donated items from our amazing sponsor where layed out on our beds! We loved them, here is

Rachel posing with them on the bed Sunni and I shared.
Next we all changed into our outfits for the first performance of the Finals. This was the first night we would be collecting votes for the People Choice award, so we all dressed to impress!

We started off the night by giving pony rides to kids, the money went to help "Camp Hope" a local orgnization for handicapped children. After pony rides it was time to hit the stands and solicite money for the People's Choice Award.  Each girl designed a can of their choice, it had to have our name on it and a picture of ourself.

Before intermission we went to the arena to help with the Mutton Busting. This is always one of the crowd's favorites. This night they gave away a bike to a boy and a girl in the crowd.

When the bullriding was over, we all signed autographs for our fans. Then the Rib Crib had provided us with the best BBQ, it was so good, I ate way too much.

Here is my "Crew" on thursday night

Time for fashion show practice! We all danced pretty fast so we could get some rest.

We all hit the hay pretty quick on thurday night, cause we knew we had a few more busy mornings.

Friday morning brought us a 730am breakfast with President Clint Jackson and Vice President Frank Walkowe. The food was great, everyone ate buffett, I ate oatmeal! It was a great way to start the day.

Then it was back to dance pratice to make sure we knew for sure what we where doing later in the day at the fashion show and speeches.

Well then it was time to eat again and we headed to Whiskey Creek. They are so nice over there and welcomed us with open arms.

Me doing a lil posing :>

After lunch it was time to head back to the Holiday Inn and change for our Fashion Show performance.

I will write all about this on the next post! There are so many pictures from it that I want to share.

keep reading,

Rachel Kelderman

Miss NFPB