Day 29 - March 1. We decided to stay at Buckeye today - the girls had some school works and tests to complete and I had some work to catch up on. The girls did go to roping practice later in the morning and stayed for several hours - they love roping practice! I went to check in on them and encouraged the ropers to put them to work! The girls then helped move a pen of steers (really bull and heifer calves) to the practice pen and then the cattle were run through the chute to remove their protective horn wraps that were on from the roping this past weekend. The ropers could remove 3 wraps to our 1! The girls then did some conditioning work with the mares and then went and roped with Minnesota Bruce (not to be confused with Uncle Bruce). 

We came back to the trailer, did some work and school work, took a quick nap, and then went back over to Bruce's trailer for jambalaya and a fire. Surprisingly, the girls loved Mary's jambalaya and corn bread - I think it's the first time we've had jambalaya! There were also carrots and dip and brownie bites for dessert. We then sat around the fire and chatted and the girls roped some more - the Minnesota folks are so fun and wonderful to hang out with!  

Trailer Update - Now that we've lived in the trail for 30+ days, there are some tweaks that are needed. There is one (I repeat, one!) mirror in the bathroom. This can be very challenging with two teenagers and me, especially when one teenager really loved the mirror (Montana)! We now have identified two places for mirrors! There are also no, as in zero, hooks inside the trailer - this means no place to hang jackets, towels, dish towels, etc. Although we've converted the mid-tack into a walk-in closet, we still need hooks! The temporary (and unattractive) command hooks have done their job and we now know where to place permanent hooks in the future. 

Day 30 - March 2. Today is our last day at Buckeye - everyone would like to stay longer, but it's probably time to get back to reality! Plus, Chad is flying in today to drive us back. Due to work commitments, my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Gai are helping out by picking him up at the airport. We are hoping they can get here in time to watch the girls run this afternoon at Buckeye. It was another sunny, but windy day that started out with work and school work. The girls again went to roping practice and it was only them and two of the experienced ropers. The experienced ropers were wonderful and basically gave them a 2-hour private roping lesson. The girls came back and were just pumped with all that they had learned! I think they are hooked on roping!

The girls got themselves entered in the barrel race and Matalyn ran Pippa fist and had a clean run (20.3). We had asked that Breezy and Gin run at the end of the race so Chad and I could both watch (I had work commitments). I made it in time to watch both girls have clean runs - Montana and Gin ran an 18.5 and Matalyn and Breezy a 20.6. Unfortunately, Chad, Uncle Bruce, and Aunt Gai walked in as they were announcing the placings. Although Chad's flight was early, they sat on the tarmac for about 30 minutes waiting for a gate to open. Uncle Bruce tried hard to get them there in time by going "Rodeo Mode" (code for FAST)! 

We visited a bit with Uncle Bruce and Aunt Gai and then we had to start packing. We actually ended up with 17 bales of grass hay and brought a few out to the yard as cool-season grass hay is hard to come by in Arizona. We fueled up, added DEF (first time since getting to Arizona), and grabbed dinner. We finished the night off with a fire at Bruce's trailer with the Minnesota folks and more roping. The Minnesota folks have become our "Arizona family" during our time at Buckeye and we were glad Chad got to meet them.  

Funny story - As we were running our errands, Matalyn told us to hurry up so we would not miss "happy hour(s)" at Bruce's trailer - LOL!