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July 30, 2010 Wow, time flies when you are having fun or when you are out on the “Rodeo Road.” I can’t believe it is already the end of July. The last time I wrote in we were celebrating my son, Cade’s two-year old birthday and now we are celebrating with our two week old son Jameson William. He was born on July 15 right before I had to head to Salinas and back on the road. I was so thankful to be able to be home for this very special event. He weighed just over 8 lbs and was 20.5 inches long. It was tough to leave right after he arrived, but now I am excited to be back to see my family this weekend. Cade has been enjoying being a big brother calling Jameson “mine.” Cade came out to Cheyenne this week with my parents so that was my highlight for the week before heading back home to see baby J and Lindsay. I get to be home for a couple days before heading to Santa Barbara, Calif. My Fourth of July run was so-so. My best finish was in Greeley (Colo.) where I finished second in the average and pocketed $5,855. I was able to be home for a few days after the Fourth before heading to Calgary. We thought that baby J would come before I headed to Calgary for the first four rounds but he wasn’t quite ready. I finished seventh in the first group and won $5,000 but I had to be in the top four to automatically advance to the final round. So after the first group I headed back home, to welcome our second child into the world. I went back to Calgary that following weekend but didn’t have any luck. Cade is becoming quite the little man. Lindsay took him to see Despicable Me the other day and she said the movie was cute but it wasn’t as cute as listening to Cade say “despicable me.” I can only imagine. Thanks to everyone who has been helping Lindsay while I am out on the road. We only have two months left in the 2010 rodeo season before the field is set for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. For those of you on Facebook be sure to “like” the Luke Branquinho Fan Club page to stay up with information in addition to my website. Thanks for reading and will talk to you soon. Until next time, Luke Two-time PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler June 7, 2010 I can’t believe that my little boy Cade is two years old today. The time sure has flown by and it has been so much fun watching him grow up. We had a birthday party for him on Sunday (June 6) and we all had a great time. My lovely wife Lindsay went all out. The theme for this year’s party was a circus theme and she decorated our house accordingly. Cade was decked out with a black top hat, a tie, suspenders with his jeans and an orange striped shirt. The cake was the perfect center piece for the whole event. Cade enjoyed being the center of attention and of course all his gifts. The rodeo season is about to be full speed ahead with the summer run of rodeos. This last month has been great being home for the most part and just going to rodeos in California and Oregon on the weekend. The month of May started out with a win in Bakersfield, Calif., and then a second place finish in Riverdale. My biggest win in May came at the Redding (Calif.) Rodeo picking up $4,494 in earnings. This past weekend I competed at my hometown rodeo in Santa Maria. I had more luck on my first steer than my second. I won second in the first round in a time of 5.8 seconds to pick up a check worth $874 but that is all I would get done there. Oh well, that is the way it goes sometimes. In addition to practicing at home, spending time with the family and competing on the weekends, I traveled to Utah for a steer wrestling school. Kody Jacobs with the Ropin Pen in St. George, Utah, set it all up. I flew out on the 27th and returned on the 30th. It was a great school. The guys were very talented with a lot of potential. If they keep it up in Utah, we will have a strong group of bulldoggers coming up through the ranks. Thanks Kody for setting up the school and for all those that participated. Well in about a month our family will welcome another little boy into the world. Both Lindsay and I are very excited and I think Cade is looking forward to having a little brother. The interesting piece of it all is that he is due on July 8 but if he is like Cade he might come early. We are hoping he will come into the world around July 5, so I can be home for the big day but it is out of our control. I will keep everyone posted. I am just about $30,000 out of first right now in the world, so I have some catching up to do this summer. Here’s hoping for a very profitable summer. Be sure to check my schedule page on my website at www.lukebranquinho.net to see where I will be next. Until next time, Luke Two-time PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler April 21, 2010 As they say during the month of April – April showers bring May flowers and with all the rain we have been having out here in California lately, we should have lots of flowers. It is good to finally see green grass again. We haven’t had good green grass for a few years now but things are looking up this year already in that regard. I have enjoyed the rodeos out in California because it allows be to be home more and see my family. Last weekend, Lindsay went to Prescott (Ariz.) to see her sister, who had a baby, so Cade, my dad and I loaded up and headed to Red Bluff. It was fun having them along and Cade enjoyed seeing all the horses, bulls, calves and steers. He is becoming quite a little man. The rodeo highlight of the month has been capturing the title at the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Pocatello, Idaho, for the second straight year. It was a great event as always. The steers were big and tried hard and there was some tough competition, so I feel very fortunate to have left there with the title. I was riding a new horse called Spiderman that I recently bought from Les Schomps out of Canada. I competed on Spiderman in Laughlin, Nev., before running him in Pocatello. He is an outstanding horse and winning just gave me that much more confidence in him. I would like to thank Ken Lewis for doing a great job of hazing for me. This week, I am heading to the Lakeside Rodeo to steer wrestle and team rope before competing in Clovis, Calif., and then we will make the long drive to Guymon for slack on April 27 and 28. I plan to ride Willie in Guymon but then will be mostly relying on the services of Spiderman as Willie will head back to Canada. I am really looking forward to how he handles everything. If the DNCFR is any indication, I think I will be in good shape. Since the last time I wrote a blog, Lindsay and I have learned that we will be having another little boy in July. We are excited and can’t wait for his arrival. I will keep you posted on that as the time draws closer. Cade had a great time hunting Easter eggs this year. He was really surprised to find out some of the eggs were made of chocolate. Yum! Well, I better go get things ready to head to Lakeside. Thanks for reading and will talk to you soon. Until next time, Luke Two-time PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler March 1, 2010 Welcome to March everyone. February was a good month for me winning the prestigious San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo and a paycheck totaling $17,112. San Antonio is definitely a rodeo you want to win and I am glad things came together for that win. Now it is on to RodeoHouston and hopefully another big win. As many of you probably guessed I was aboard Willy for the win in San Antonio. That horse is just amazing and I am happy to be able to ride him. Actually in the final round in San Antonio there were three of us riding Willy. The three were Cody Cassidy, Dean Gorsuch and myself. I was second in the final round with Cody tied for third but in the overall money standings I finished atop the leaderboard, while Cody was third. After San Antonio, I headed to Tucson, Ariz., for La Fiesta de los Vaqueros. Although things didn’t go that well there my wife Lindsay and my little man Cade came over to see me, which was great. Although there were some rainy days while we were in Arizona, I enjoyed being with them. I also competed in Scottsdale, Ariz., in the steer wrestling and team roping but didn’t place in the money. After I was done in Scottsdale, I loaded up in my new Dodge truck, which I won a yearlong lease last year at the DNCFR, and headed to the finals in San Angelo, Texas. Lindsay and Cade headed back to California. I didn’t have any luck in the finals and finished out of the money. I did place second in the third round winning $1,778 to add to my 2010 season total. Now I am in Houston ready for the first three rounds which get underway for me tomorrow (March 2). I will update my schedule page with the results. The other big news is that I have officially joined the Facebook nation as well as Twitter, so look for me there. I am in the process of getting links added to my site for both but until then either visit www.facebook.com or www.twitter.com and search for Luke Branquinho on both. I had refused for years but finally decided it was the way of the world so I might as well. We will see how it goes. Thanks for visiting. Until next time, Luke Two-time PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler February 6, 2010 Just a quick update for everyone out in internet land. So far this year I have competed in Denver and Rapid City but didn’t have any luck at either of those. I am finally having a little luck in Ft. Worth and will be back for the final round on Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 7), so hopefully I can pick up a nice check there. With San Antonio and Houston right around the corner I am hoping to get it together so I can cash in big at both events. Be sure to keep an eye on my schedule to see where I will be next and how I have done. Some big news it seems that I have failed to post here is that my wife, Lindsay and I are expecting our second child in July. I know good timing right? We are both very excited to add another little one to our family as Cade as been a true blessing. He is always doing something cute and making us laugh or smile. As soon as we find out what we will be having I will try to let everyone know. The other big news is that I have officially joined the Facebook nation as well as Twitter, so look for me there. I am in the process of getting links added to my site for both but until then either visit www.facebook.com or www.twitter.com and search for Luke Branquinho on both. I had refused for years but finally decided it was the way of the world so I might as well. We will see how it goes. I would like to welcome my newest sponsor Boyd Gaming. I looked forward to a great partnership with them for years to come. Well that about covers the news I have for now. Hopefully I will be writing soon about some big wins. Until next time, Luke Two-time PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler |
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