Miss Ocharovashka Contests 2016

Life has been super busy here and I just realized that we haven't posted in over two months. A lot has happened since then, so we'll try to catch up as much as we can.

Our family is doomed! Just like their parents, all of our kids volunteer and get involved in everything, big or small! February was full of activities at the kids' school, including “Miss Ocharovashka” (Miss Enchantment) contest for the Elementary School grades, the same one they did last year. This year our youngest three decided to participate in a true Kazakh manner (meaning with only three days notice!). They had to do a little presentation about themselves in a poem style, make a dress out of whatever they find around the house, and show a talent. For a mother of three cute little contestants it was a no easy task. Fortunately we saved Nika's dress from last year's contest, so I only had to make one more dress for the other twin, and Lina's contest was on a different day, so she shared the dress.

The only reason our twins wanted to participate is because they really wanted to sing a famous Russian song that they learned earlier in the month and were enthusiastically singing just about every night on their way home from school. And the only reason Lina wanted to participate is because she really wanted to play her guitar. These were the classroom competitions, and whoever won would go on to the school competition. I was really hoping that we would somehow avoid it remembering all the hassle with it last year when Nika won her classroom contest. Well, this year Lina won. I guess it just runs in the family. All the girls had the blast though, and we were really proud of them.

Lexa and Sophie, ready to start!

Twins with their best friend, Dariya.

They are just so cute!

Lina is waiting for the contest to start.

Their teacher really went above and beyond in organizing this contest.

Lina is playing Lizginka (a Georgian folk dance) on her guitar.

Fashion show

Coronation!

The three contestants with their awesome teacher!

Afterwards they had a tea party

Lina's class

Here is the video of Lina playing her guitar.

Polina's Miss Ocharovashka - School Contest 2016

Lina won her classroom Miss Ocharovashka (Miss Enchanting) contest and went on to the school one which they did in honor of the International Women's Day. It is a pretty big deal because it is turned into a big show, and so they spent two hours at school after their classes ended every day for the next two weeks just practicing for the event. It was really crazy at times but Lina did it, and we were very proud of her. It was amazing to me how much talent the kids have. We had singers, dancers, gymnastics, a guitar player, a flute player, magic show, puppet show. It was fun! Lina didn't win the contest but she got the title “Miss Elegance”, which is the exact title Nika got last year! Sisters!

Lina waiting for her turn to go on stage.

On stage

All of the contestants did a little dance together.

Doing her introductions.

She was pretty pleased that high school kids were serving her!

Playing her piece on the guitar

Getting ready for the talent show.

Happy Kid

About to go on a stage again

Doing the fashion run

These are some of the costumes that other contestants made. These two are out of crepe paper and plastic cups.

Wrapping paper and foil

More crepe paper

Garbage bags and napkins on the left and groceries bags and napkins on the right 

Lina had the loudest cheering group! Those are her classmates that came to cheer for her.

She got her title of Miss Elegance

A few of the contestants.

Fiesta Days Rodeo in Spanish Fork

I always wanted to go to a rodeo but in all my years of living in America, I've never been to one. This summer while we were vacationing in Utah, they had a couple of big rodeo events, and so we bought the tickets to the Fiesta Days Rodeo in Spanish Fork.

New Rodeo stadium in Spanish Fork, Utah

The Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Rodeo is held every July and has been a Fiesta Days Tradition for over 70 years. World champions compete using a back-to-back format. The twelve fastest contestants during each morning move to the evenings performance allowing the audience to see the best contestants each night as well as a potential event winner any given night. Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Rodeo was also voted the #1 Rodeo in the Intermountain Area in 2014. Pretty cool!

Nika, Brennen, and Lina watching the rodeo.

It doesn't matter what we are doing, these two are always having fun.

We went with our family, my sister-in-law and my nephew on July 21, the first night of the Rodeo. The stadium was full! We got there about 45 minutes early, so we could find some parking and were entertained by mutton bustin' done by little kids (some of them were as little as 5-year old!)

See the flying hat!

See the flying boot and the flying kid!

This one won the competition! We noticed that if the kids rode backwards, they could hang on a lot longer.

All the sheep that lost their riders would gather together in one spot.

Then the Rodeo started with the opening ceremonies.

Rodeo committee and royalty

Bringing the American flag

The first event was Bareback Bronc Riding where the rider attempts to stay on the bucking horse for 8 seconds without touching the horse with his free hand. It was pretty impressive.

Here are the guys getting the rider off the bucking horse after he stayed on it for 8 seconds.

Then they had steer wrestling in which a horse-mounted rider chases a steer, drops from the horse to the steer and wrestles it to the ground by twisting it's horns.

Team roping in which there are two mounted riders The first roper is referred to as the "header", the person who ropes the front of the steer, usually around the horns, Once the steer is caught, the header must dally (wrap the rope around the rubber covered saddle horn) and use his horse to turn the steer to the left. The second is the "heeler", who ropes the steer by its hind feet after the "header" has turned the steer. Team roping is the only rodeo event where men and women compete equally together in professionally sanctioned competition, in both single-gender or mixed-gender teams.

Saddle bronc riding.

Women's barrel racing is a rodeo event in which a horse and rider attempt to complete a cloverleaf pattern around preset barrels in the fastest time. It is usually done by women.

Look at that sharp turn!

And finally bull riding. It was really hard to get a good picture of this particular event because riders didn't stay long enough on the bull (and we didn't have a really good view of them).

Run for dear life!

They also had a rodeo clown who was actually really funny and entertained us in between the events.

One of my favorite shows was the one with Texas longhorns performed by “One Armed Bandit”. The rider rounded up these beautiful animals on the top of a huge trailer!

They are beautiful and mighty beasts!

I just love the pattern on their backs

Holly cow! Really!

We had a great time!

I took this picture at sunset during the rodeo. I just love it!