Derek and Christie: HLSR

If you asked me what my favorite time of the year was I would say without hesitation, "Rodeo Time." That last week in February and the first 2 in March are pretty much the reason I live. Not really, but you can see how much I love the Rodeo. And by rodeo I mean the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. This is the rodeo and livestock show I grew up going to and it's HUGE! So when I visited Utah and other "fairs" I was a little taken aback. Not necessarily disappointed just a little perplexed. I have to admit that there is something neat about the small town rodeos and how the whole town shows up at the local fairgrounds.

But nothing will ever come closer to my heart than the good ole HLSR! This is from the website. "For 80 years, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo™ has been the heartbeat of the Southwest, beating powerfully with more than 27,000 volunteers who annually contribute their time, resources, and talent as part of the world's largest livestock exhibition, world's richest regular-season rodeo, and the Southwest's premier entertainment event." Boy ain't that the truth!

There is a humongous carnival, pig races, truck show, the greasiest, friediest food ever, star entertainment every night, birthing center for farm animals, rodeo event every night, and cowboys, cowboys, cowboys! My favorite events are the steer wrestling and team roping. After the rodeo there is always a big name entertainer that's not always country. I've seen Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift, Boys II Men, John Michael Montgomery, George Strait, Martina McBride, 98 degrees, Brian McKnight, JoDee Messina, Brad Paisley, Alabama, Toby Keith, Tim McGraw and so many more. The very first performer I remember seeing was Crystal Gale with her signature floor length hair.

I try to make it down to Houston every year for the Rodeo. This year I went with my parents, Amy and Brett, and Emily to see Zac Brown Band. They were awesome!!!

Sorry for all the blurry pictures that were taken from my lovely phone.

THE ZAC BROWN BAND

The food is undeniably the best in the world! Every year I have to get a sausage on a stick and the most amazing cinnamon roll.

The chili cheese fries are incredible. Yes, there are french fries under there somewhere.

The Calf Scramble. 20 calves are released and about 30 kids compete to catch them. They get to keep the calf and raise it for a year and then bring it back the next year for show.

That's the Reliant Arena where they have the livestock show and other cool stuff.

That's the Astrodome on the left where we grew up going to the Rodeo before we got the Texans and the Reliant Center was built. You can see a snippet of the magnitude of the Rodeo grounds and carnival.