Things I Learned At The Houston RODEO!

Annnnd we're back...

 Good morning!

How was your St. Patrick's Day?

This year, for the first time in many years, we actually stayed pretty low key for it.
 I think we are still recovering from our trip and I've been needing to catch up on my sleep! Good news is that I did catch up on my sleep so I woke up yesterday feeling like a new lady. 

Before I get into our first day at the rodeo (click here if you missed day 1), I have to take a moment to tell you to run out to your closest Bath and Body Works and buy the 'Lemon Mint Leaf' 3-wick candle. Don't even question it, just do it. I'm already planning my next trip to buy more and I've only had it one day.

Ok, phew. Now that that is out of the way....

There were so many highlights from our first day at the rodeo.  
So many things we had no idea even existed.
So many things you just don't see living in Ohio!

like for one..

Have you seen young kids hop on the back of a sheep to see how long they can hold on without falling off?

This would be called Mutton Busting.

WHO.KNEW?
We definitely didn't! 

So, without further adieu...

 Things I Learned at the Rodeo:

{Beau, Me, Steph, Brian (Beau's best friend), Steph's mom, Shay, Billy, Drew}

-They have a birthing center.
Exactly what it sounds like! Piglets upon piglets. Chickens (it was so cute to see one chick help his friend chick crack out of his egg! then I instantly felt bad for eating eggs..). Sheep. You name it.

-When you enter, don't be surprised when it smells like a mixture of bleach and horse manure.

This is normal (?)

-Best place to party? The Chute Club and Stockman's Club. 

We went here both times we went to the rodeo, thanks to Beau being on the committee! 

-There's no way to avoid all the fried foods and delicious BBQ, so you might as well get one of each. 

We tried the fried oreos and let me tell you-they were nothing short of amazing.

The BBQ? My husband was DROOLING! We wanted to try it all.

-Blinged out belts are acceptable to wear here.

(and we saw A LOT of them...)

-Chuck wagon racing was our favorite event to watch (aside from the crazy bull riding)

This is where sets of horses with a wagon behind race each other in the arena. 

Maybe it's because I'm partial to horses, but we loved it.

-There is a concert at the end of every night at the rodeo and this night we saw The Band Perry! (our 2nd day at the rodeo, which you'll read about soon, we saw Jason Aldean)

 

-People will look at your husband funny if he's wearing Nike's and not cowboy boots. Or a cowboy hat.

If you ever go to the rodeo, make sure your man has a pair!
 Beau offered some to Billy but they didn't fit him, so I'm thinking next time we visit we need to get him (and myself-duh) some... ;)

 {beau's hat and my morning champs}

 {Steph had me try on this amazing pair...}

After the rodeo, we went to a honky tonk bar called Mo's place, where Steph actually bartended for many years. This place was legit! I got to meet one of Steph's best friend's, Julie, and our time was spent grinding on the dance floor (hey-they played some rap songs..), two stepping, making random friends ("you want a piece of me?" may or may not have been said after a girl hit on Billy), and then Steph and I decided to slow dance together for a few songs before we left.

All couples then there's us.

...not mad about it at ALL! 

Not to mention we took these shots that were literally on fire (Stephs likes to call them flaming Dr. Pepper's-I like to call them Flaming Terrible's...), the night ended looking a little like this back at the Howard casa....

 {me-yellow pants under pillow somewhere, steph, shay}

{top right: our first time trying tres leches for dessert--ah! so good!}

The next morning after getting the best TEX MEX of our life at Lupe Tortilla (Oh my goodness, mexican food for us will NEVER be the same! Too too good. "Can we get more tomatoes?"), we said our goodbye's to Shay and Drew :( but not without a mini photo shoot first! 

to this...

love them.

Also-since these recaps take me forever to write and I know you are probably just interested in the pictures {the best part!}, I decided I'm going to combine the next 2 1/2 days for my last post to round it up! And if I can't, well, you'll get two more. But it'll be good - I promise. My favorite days comin' up!

I know everyone is addressing this so I'll keep it short and sweet...
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PS-Only a little time left to enter my stand out this spring giveaway :)