Sand In The City 8/27

Mrs. Seattle, Mrs. Snohomish County, Mrs. Washington 2011, Mrs. Lacey, Mrs. Olympia

Mrs. Washington with the Seagull make-n-take

This photo album personalized with Smilebox

What a great time we had at Sand In The City! This event is sponsored by our Hand's on Children's Museum and has become an annual event that our community looks forward to every year. When my boy's were little we spent a lot of time at the Hand's on Children's museum. It's a great way for children to learn and have fun with their friend's and family. So many volunteers help to make the museum and programs successful. Our new museum is being constructed downtown and it is beautiful! It should be open in another year or so. I hate to even say it but someday.... I look forward to bringing my grandchildren there!! Okay that is waaaaaaay off in the future but it will be fun when it happens some day!

The Mrs. Washington contestants joined me in the make-n-take take tent. We were in charge of helping the kids assemble a seagull that hung from a stick. It was so cute! We had a 4 hour shift and once the kids arrived we were slammed non stop! We were helping about 4 kids each at a time to make the birds!! We had to call in backups to pre-glue some beaks in place to make it go faster. The kids were so cute and had so much fun.

Hawks Prairie Rotary 9/26

Sherry Jennings President of Hawks Prairie Rotary

Today I visited the Hawks Prairie Rotary to talk about the Miss Thurston County Pageant. It was a fun group of Rotarians!! I even had a friend from high school who was there and introduced me! I was able to share with the group about our upcoming Scholarship Pageant and how they can get involved. I was also able to share my platform "Unlock Your Potential" and how I am using it to encourage the contestants. I shed a little light onto what pageants are about and how they can help girls to become the best that they can be. I answered a few other questions about what to avoid in pageants especially for younger girls.

I learned so much about what the Rotary stands for and their history just from this one meeting. It is a great organization and is a vital part of our community.

Grant County Fair

Another photo slideshow by Smilebox

I headed over to the Grant County fair this last weekend to cruise the fairgrounds with other Washington Royalty. It was a super HOT day almost 100!! Despite the temperature we had a great time. I had my first space burger!! The space burgers are made using special machines purchased from the World's Fair when it was in Seattle. A space burger is like a pocket sandwich that is sealed all around the edges. The inside consists of ground beef, a sauce that reminded me of big mac sauce, cheese and lettuce. It was delicious!!

We wandered around the fair and visited some 4H booths. I got to pet the sweetest little 2 week old lamb!! I so wanted to take it home. The little Miss Washington's rode some crazy rides while I only rode one the ferris wheel! I just can't handle the rides anymore. Mrs. Seattle, Mrs. Moses Lake and I enjoyed some elephant ears and then oddly enough Mrs. Seattle and I rode an elephant! It was so fun, what a beautiful animal I have always wanted to do that!! We were truly like kids again!!

Amazing Race for Understanding Autism

Slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Saturday I was able to participate in the Amazing Race for Understanding Autism with Mrs. Seattle Tamara DePorter. Justin the race organizer has an autistic brother and wanted to raise money for Autism while helping people to understand Autism better. The race was his eagle scout project. He did a fantastic job. The race raised over $5000!! It was well organized, informative and really a lot of fun.

At one of the stations we had to spin on a chair 10 times to experience vestibular challenges such as imbalance and dizziness. Unfortunately i have some serious motion sickness issues and this got me bad! I was so ill the rest of the day and the next! I thought if we went slow on it I could handle it and I didn't realize till we stopped spinning the chair how dizzy I was! Despite that fact we still had a great time!

Miss Washington America's Homecoming Party

Brittney Henry is our new Miss Washington and last night was her homecoming party. This is a traditional party that is held a month after she won. Since she immediately has so many things to do and engagements to be at they hold off the celebration until thinks slow down a bit. I attended with Diane Partridge Miss Thurston County Executive Director, Kara-Ann PedriniMiss Thurston County 2007, & Dionne Tartar Mrs. Thurston County 2011.

We had a fabulous time! The theme was Brittney & Co. like Tiffany & Co. all decked out inTiffany blue. We all wore black or white and beautiful Brittney was wearing a beautiful silkTiffany blue dress. Many contestants and past Miss Washington's performed, then lastly Brittney played her violin but for the grand finale Brittney, her sisters & her friends performed How Great Thou Art. It was AMAZING!! What a talented family. I learned more about Brittney her life and her passion. I am so impressed with this young lady!

Show & Shine Car Show

Mrs. Wasington at the Show & Shine Car Show in Yelm

Saying goodbye to a friend

Renata Hanson Founder of Cinderella's Closet & me at the Fall Art Walks Fashion Show

Sadly my friend Renata Hanson went to be with the Lord July 31. She is an amazing women whom I got to know through working with her non-profit organization Cinderella's Closet. Cinderellas Closet is like a gown shop that has gowns, cocktail dresses, shoes & accessories that can be borrowed to wear for dances and special occasions. Scholarships are provided for girls and women in need. It is also a mentoring program to show love and compassion for these special women. Renata's passion and giving heart allowed her to touch the lives of so many people in our community. I am missing her dearly but plan to help keep her dream alive by continuing to volunteer with this organization. We are always in need of volunteers and donations to help provide scholarship for girls in need. Please contact me if you are interested in helping out.

Vacation!!

Park City Utah

Las Vegas Venetian hotel and our Limo!

In the beautiful venetian before going to see The Phantom of the Opera!

The Riverwalk San Antonio Texas

The Alamo

We had a whirlwind of a summer vacation! My husband planned the whole trip and wouldn't tell us any of the details! I finally got a location from him but he slipped in one extra surprise. We started out in Park City Utah, stayed at a fabulous ski lodge, rode a land coaster, giant slide like a luge & rode down a zip line!! It was great fun.

Next we stopped in Las Vegas! We even had a limo to take us too and from the hotel!! The boys really liked this (me too I could get used to it!) We had a fabulous dinner, went to see The Phantom of the Opera then walked around a little to look at the sights!

The next morning we headed to San Antonio Texas. We stayed in a family resort with a nice pool and a lazy river. The temperature was in the 100's the whole time we were there, floating in that river was awesome! We went to Sea World one day and then six flags the next. I found the perfect roller coaster for me, it had no loops or going backwards or upside down, just going fast high and big drops!! Everything else makes me ill!!

We moved to a different hotel downtown by the River Walk. It was a fun place full of people and things going on. We visited the Alamo for a history lesson it was very interesting and we learned many new things.

We had a great time and were ready to come home to Washington when we were done!