manure, easter egg hunts, and rodeo queens

Last Saturday (March 22) the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo (DNCFR) came to town. Once again the Holt called me up and asked if I could work the event for some extra moolah. I graciously agreed to both the matinée and night sessions (hoping to pay off the pair of shoes I'd just bought online!). The morning session was pretty empty, and instead of having me take tickets at the door like last year, they put me on the floor near the front row (like I was at the concert). Unfortunately for those on the front row, their seats were below the rodeo fence, so they had quite possibly the worst seat in the house ! Anyway, near the end of the morning session I begged to be released (there was nothing for me to do) so I could bring Ellie to our ward's easter egg hunt. I picked El up from my mom's house and she asked me if I was going to bring my sister's girls too?, why the heck not . . . so I packed up 4 little girls and ran up to the church. I had left the Holt a few minutes too late and by the time we got there all the kids had already found the eggs. But the high priests still gave my four cute girls all of the leftovers they had, so they still scored! but it wasn't quite as fun to just have it handed to you. I brought the girls back and I spent a few hours playing at my mom's house before heading back to the Holt to reclaim my first-row position for the night's sold out performance (the final competitions to qualify for finals in Vegas). As I said I had crappy seats and everyone was telling me that I was going to have a bunch of mean drunks complaining to me. So I made sure I made friends with another usher and said I might need backup and he agreed to help if needed. I stood there for the first few hours helping everyone get to their correct bleacher seats and clearing people out who weren't supposed to be there. By the time opening ceremonies (?is that what you call it?) were over the bleachers were packed and everyone was in there seats. I looked around -- there was literally nowhere for me to stand where I wasn't in the way of either people seeing the rodeo or of people walking up and down the stairs to the foyer. It was like standing in the middle of a busy freeway. And for those of you who know that I have people-claustrophobia, you know that just doesn't go over well. So I ended up getting a mini-anxiety attack and went to take a break in the offices (I asked another usher to watch my spot but he didn't know I wouldn't come back) after I took a break I looked down at my spot and it was more crowded than ever and I knew I couldn't go back. I took of my uniform, clocked out, and went and watched some rodeo. Anyway, I had to apologize to Darik's boss for flaking out and was so embarrassed I thus decided I would never work as an usher in that place again -- seriously it's a crappy job -- be paid minimum wage to be the mean person dealing with all the angry people about their seats and kicking out the ones that are stealing seats and then just standing there bored out of your mind for the rest of the time and meanwhile I could have been getting stuff done at home and hangin out with Ellie. Not for me. So this should be my last rodeo post -- In memoriam I posted the pictures of Darik and I that we took near the Dodge exhibit a few hours before the rodeo started: (I love D's face in this one!) Cowboy up, y'all!