Cheers to a New Year!

     

       By 11:30 this morning, I strode out of Prairie Life Fitness in Omaha after finishing an appearance at a New Years Eve Bash. As I was walking out, one of the little girls I had spent the morning with stopped me. She calmly stated "we saw you coming in this morning and I said "this is a gym, lady! Not a mall!"
      Granted - I was a little overdressed for a morning at the gym, but not for ringing in the New Year (a little early) with a great group of kids!
      I was extremely blessed to begin the festivities at 9 o'clock this morning at Prairie Life Fitness.

      We began the morning by coloring New Years pictures and reading a story about New Years Resolutions. It was a lot of fun talking to the kids about New Years Resolutions - I even got to share mine and help them come up with their own resolutions! Many of those kids wanted to focus on being more helpful and eating more healthy food. I was extremely proud of them and I enjoyed seeing them start their work by helping each other and cleaning up all morning!

Helping Elaine with her banner :)

Helping some of the boys finish up

Adding Sparkle!

      Next we created 'Happy New Years' banners. It was a craft close to my heart because I got to work with the kids and it involved sparkles!

Cheers to a New Year!

      After playing a few games, we got ready for our New Years Eve countdown (at a reasonable time). The kids made edible New Years Hats out of ice cream cones, toasted a new year with sparkling juice, and then prepared for a countdown and balloon drop to celebrate the new year!

Ready to drop!

Our attempt at a self-portrait as more and more kids piled in :)

Addison

A new year calls for being a little silly :)

Happy New Year!

A (slightly) better self portrait :)

      The main thing I learned today is that you should never give 14 children noise makers unless you are totally prepared for the chaos that will ensue! But seriously, I am extremely fortunate that I got to begin my festivities ringing in the new year at a wonderful event with wonderful children! I can only hope they had as much fun as I did!

      I hope that 2013 is a year as wonderful as our morning New Years Celebration!
     

There She Is...

What a wonderful Miss Nebraska!

   

   Months after titling together Mariah Cook (our current Miss Nebraska) and I discovered that not only were we sister queens, but we also share a birthday! So when she announced her send-off/birthday party to be held on our birthday, I knew I couldn't miss being there to wish her the best of luck at Miss America!

The Beautiful Kayla Batt!

 



      Saturday morning I picked up our recent Miss Nebraska, Kayla Batt, in Lincoln and we trekked out to North Platte together. Despite spending 6 hours together in a car that day, I don't think there was a moment of silence and it felt like we made it to North Platte in record time!

I love this picture!

 

      When we arrived, I had the pleasure of grabbing some birthday cake and sharing a table with Mariah's Miss Nebraska family and her Miss Nebraska little sister, Emily. I felt blessed to join Emily because she has been an inspiration since the state pageant last June. She was diagnosed with leukemia shortly before the pageant. Despite the hardships and endless hours of treatment, Emily always has a smile and a positive attitude when I see her! I felt so blessed to catch up with her on Saturday!

      Emily also got to be a part of the festivities! As Mariah modeled most of her attire for Miss America and performed her talent beautifully, Emily was able to show off some of Mariah's wardrobe and accessories!

I even won a duck key chain in honor of Mariah!

      A birthday party wouldn't be complete without games and entertainment! In addition to the wonderful fashion show and talent performance, there were fabulous performances by our reining Miss Nebraska's Outstanding Teen and our most recent Miss Nebraska, Kayla Batt! We even had games during the celebration and I won an adorable duck keychain in honor of Miss Nebraska herself!

The always beautiful Miss Nebraska, Mariah Cook, and our current Miss Chadron, Meghan Thalken

 



      In addition to these wonderful festivities, I always feel blessed when I travel west because I love seeing my fellow sister queens and all of the wonderful individuals who work on the Miss Nebraska board! I am truly honored to have such wonderful and inspiring individuals in my life!



 

 



      After the send-off Saturday, I want to wish our Miss Nebraska - Mariah Cook - the best of luck as she competes at Miss America in January! I know she will represent our state in a wonderful way and I can't wait to hear about the impact she has while she is there! To help make that experience even better, we can all go to the Miss America website, watch Mariah's video, and vote for her as the peoples choice finalist in the top 15!
http://www.missamerica.org/videocontest/