Dance Marathon

  

   With several of the Miracle Kids at the UNL Dance Marathon! I just love spending time with them - I even got autographs from some of the kids!

    Four events spread out over nearly 24 hours, Five hours of practice, and another appearance - needless to say I am exhausted now that the weekend is over! Honestly, I wouldn't have traded this weekend for the world though!
     Despite the snow, several of us Miss Nebraska contestants made the trek out to Lincoln Friday night to take part in the Dance Marathon - a truly unique and unbelievably fun fundraiser for the Children's Miracle Network.

     After a brief dinner and a stop at Starbucks (which would be necessary looking at the twelve hours of dancing ahead of us), we entered the packed UNL Student Union and made our way through the crowds of carefree college kids. After taking some pictures together, Aleah Peters, Mindy Schreiber, Rachel Foehlinger, Charissa Hauge, Meghan Thalken, and I went down to visit the Family Room where the Miracle Families that we were celebrating were hanging out and playing games. If you truly want to be inspired, talk with any of these kids or their families for five minutes.  

Quick photo-op!

One of the miracle kids - he was just too cute!

     While we were in the family room, we met many of the kids and their families who seemed to be truly enjoying the evening. One of the girls we met however, truly inspired all of us.

     Hope started the evening by saying how much she wanted to wear a crown like ours, so we quickly made that dream come true, and Charissa put the crown upon Hope's head. To see the way Hope's eyes lit up - the feeling was indescribable, but it certainly melted my heart!

     You probably need to watch out for Hope on the Miss Nebraska stage someday too - she went on to lead a rap session with us, singing "hey big daddy, hey big daddy, hey" and beat-boxing when we took over the rapping! Talk about a little girl who is completely comfortable in who she is and what she has to offer the world! Everyone could take a few notes from Hope!

 

 Glow-sticks!

Having fun dancing!

     After we left the family room, we finally hit the dance floor upstairs. Last year, I was really kind of on my own in terms of the things I did before Miss Nebraska. I have felt so honored and blessed to be able to experience so many things with my sister queens this year, including the Marathon. It was so fun to just forget about all of our pageant responsibilities and to just get to know each other better and to enjoy each others company! It was so fun dancing with the girls and we even got to sneak away for some girl talk for a little bit! 

 

2A.M. - Waiting for the Bathtub Dogs to start!

      The organizers of the event also provided food for us throughout the night, and I don't think anyone moved faster toward the Raising Cane's that was provided than the pageant girls!
      Although I was prepped for a whole 12 hours of fun and dancing with the girls, several of them were tired and had important things going on the next day. At about 2:30 Meghan, Rachel, Charissa, and I finally decided to turn in and Charissa and I began the trek back to Omaha. I am happy to say that I was very awake for the hour drive back to my house, but I am thankful that I was able to snag about four hours of sleep before my first event Saturday morning!