Wow!  January is almost over and my beach and sun vacation is just a distant memory.   Tara, Kateri, Nikkole and I attended the Flames vs. Coyotes game on January17th.  It was Western night and we enjoyed greeting hockey fans and cheering on some dance contestants during the intermission.   The belly dive across the ice was my favourite!  

The 16th Annual STARS & SPURS Gala was held in the Roundup Centre on Saturday January 24.  We were able to check out the STARS Helicopter and hopefully in the near future I will be able to go for a ride along.

February is the month when most 4-H Clubs hold their public speaking competition.  This year I am thrilled to be going back to my old 4-H club The Millarville Saddle Sores as a judge.  I am looking forward to hearing their speeches, visiting with the leaders and members  and..the fantastic lunch served up by the dedicated 4-H moms!

Until next time…hope you are all enjoying the warmer weather!

Kerri

Hey everyone!

I hope that you all had awesome holidays! This year started out right, as we cheered on the Calgary Flames and Phoenix Coyotes. I have to tell you that I am a HUGE Flames fan, so going to the game as royalty for the featured theme “Western Night” was yet another dream come true! Oh but my story gets even better! We arrived and started greeting the fans at the door, Nikkole and I perhaps had too much fun doing this! We then were on the Jumbo-tron as we assisted in handing out prizes to lucky contestants for infield tickets to the Stampede Rodeo and a $100 gift certificate to the Stampede Mercantile… Lucky!
We watched the majority of the game right where the big zambonis come in through the gates! I still can’t believe we were so close to the action! We also got to hang out with “the Guns of the Golden West” as they showed off their fancy guns. Then the unbelievable happened, we were asked to go out on the ice during the intermission to cheer on the “dance off” competitors! That was so wild!
The excitement of the night went on, Nikkole got the game puck, and George Canyon himself came and introduced himself to us!! He is so talented! I could go on and on about how awesome this night was, I hardly even noticed that the Flames didn’t triumph this time! But you’ll still hear me cheering… GO FLAMES GO!

Happy Trails!
Kateri

I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful holiday season and were spoiled as much as I was by Santa this Christmas!!  Starting out this new year I started reading back about all the wonderful adventures 2008 gave Nikkole, Kateri, Kerri and I and realized that I haven’t told you anything about myself and how I came to be your Princess!!  Perhaps this has sprung from all the free time I had locked in a hospital room in Punta Cana this past New Years Eve, reflecting upon why things happen to you in life.
I was born and raised in Montreal (QC) until the age of 10 when my family moved out to Okotoks.  So you could say I’m a healthy mix of east and west.  My mother was the inspiration for it all, she was a native Calgarian before she met my father and as it may, the 1976 Calgary Stampede Queen.  My younger brother and I joined the Okotoks Outriders 4H club from who’s peers sprung 2001 Princess Alison Collins and her sister Karen was Queen the next year.  So the 3 of them convinced me to run for local queen contests and that’s how I became the 2005 Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess.   Airdrie being the supportive community it is, convinced me to represent them in Edmonton at the CFR in the Miss Rodeo Canada competition.  2006 had been a tough year for my family as we lost my brother that year so I was undecided as to running, but I figured that horses and rodeo might help me heal.  That is when, in 2007 I became the first lady of professional rodeo representing Canada and the CPRA across the country, the U.S.A and Australia.  When my reign was over I returned to my nursing studies at Mount Royal College and was fortunate enough to work for John Scott in the movie industry for the television series Heartland.  This is where I first met Kateri, and she and my old 4H friend, and classmate; Kerri convinced me to run for Calgary Stampede Royalty.   It did not take too much persuasion, as this had been my dream since I was a little girl growing up watching my Mom ride in the parade with the Alumni every year.

Dreams sure have paid off girls!!