Burley Idaho

Life brings a lot of firsts...first steps, first solid food, first day of school, first love etc.

All so memorable and touching. 

But folks, none as memorable as the first time your foreign hubs sees a real life cowboy.

Run down:

Phil's glance around turns into wide eyes.

Wide eyes turns into a wide-eyed stare.

Mouth drops open.

"Kaylee, they actually live and dress like this. In REAL life."

And then you walk into the county fair's photography display and a pleased with this masterpiece...

Yesir. That most certainly is a bride and a gun and a truck.

and the only response I can muster is, "Phil, it's Burley, Idaho!"

Yes folks, that's about all we could say many-a-time throughout our weekend.

You see, it was the only explanation we could give.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's the real reason we came to Burley. These two beauts...

Jamie and Cole. Jamie is one of the best people you'll ever meet. 

We bonded our freshman year with help from mutual friends Pocahontas and Clark Kent. thanks guys!

So naturally we had to go to Burley, Idaho to see them. Luck would have it that our visit was during the Cassia Country fair.

Well, not luck, more like elegant planning on mine and Jamie's part. We knew Phil needed to experience this and by golly was it an experience!

Jamie and Cole gave us the grand tour. We were at the fair every day taking it all in. Remember old time county fairs? Burley has kept it real.

Judging of pies? Check.

Judging of home grown flowers? Check.

Judging of fruits and veggies? Check.

Complete with ribbons and all.

We feel like we the whole experience because one night we meandered into Idaho Falls for a ritzy wedding reception. Sure we had to drive on a 90 degree slope to get there and peek in the door to make sure we were in the right place but we made it and it was gorgeous.

It was down in the canyon and had a beautiful view and the food consisted of salmon, prime rib and endless desserts.

We couldn't get over how posh we felt, even in Idaho. Who would've thought?

And then it was straight back to Burley for night one of the rodeo.

Gee whiz was it a ro-dee-O!

We were laughing, ooing, gawking, laughing, eating, learning, yearning, churning, burning....

ok minus the last few but we were educated by Cole as to what gets points and what a "broken barrier" is.

Speaking of broken barriers, definitely was included in the pre-rodeo prayer along with the beautiful pastures in heaven above with knee high grass and horses.

Can I have an AMEN?

Anyway, we had so much fun and seriously were in love with the wild cow chase and the rodeo queens/princesses. Phil just kept shaking his head in unbelief. Oh my foreigner. :)

I'll let the video Phil made do the rest of the talking. Just realize that the way the contestants are dressed is really how everyone was dressed there. We were certainly the odd ones out in our shorts and t-shirts.
Plus we didn't have a cowboy hat or belt buckle.
ps. a belt buckle was the reward for the wild cow chase. You tell me if you think it's worth it after watching the vid...

And that's one side of Burley...to be continued!