January 26 - January 31st - Miss America in Las Vegas!

So, the next week after PF Chang's, I headed to Vegas to cheer on my friend, Savanna, in her quest for the Miss America crown.  Yes, I am a supporter of the Miss Arizona Scholarship program and have been volunteering at a local preliminary, Miss Twirling Athlete, for over 10 years now.  My twirling coach, Becky Hewitt, is the Executive Director and I have been helping her with her competitions since I returned from Flagstaff in 1998.  Twirling was a huge part of my life for so long and I have lifelong friends as a result, so I give back.  Did I compete in pageants....no, never did but I certainly support these girls earning money to further their education!  We have had two of our twirlers make it to the Miss America stage and I wasn't able to go in 2004 in Atlantic City because I had just been hired at UOPX.  Now, it was closer and I had the opportunity to go.  I figured if I was going to go, I needed to do it all, so I flew out Tuesday.  Ed drove up Wednesday and we drove back Sunday.  Ed even went to the final night so he can say he has been to Miss America.

Yes, that is a very long time to be in Vegas and I don't think I will be doing it again for awhile.  It was a neat experience, to see how the big pageant works and to support Savanna every night of the preliminaries.  On Tuesday night, Savanna performed her talent and she rocked the Miss America stage!  On Wednesday night, she answered her On Stage Question with poise and confidence!  On Thursday night, she looked amazing in her swim wear and stunning in her Evening Gown!  She looked awesome and represented Arizona with class and grace and I am very proud of her accomplishments and all she has done to promote higher education, which is her platform.

Originally, Ed wasn't supposed to be driving up until Thursday, but since he is not employed at this time, he came up earlier.  So, he didn't have tickets to the preliminary nights of competition.  I spent the majority of the week with the Niemiec's, a family I know through twirling.  Katelyn is our Miss Arizona's Outstanding Teen, which is the teen pageant to Miss America.  Katelyn is also a twirler and represented Az in Orlando this past summer and has done amazing as well.  Her and her mom and grandma were staying at the Stratosphere where we were, so I hitched a ride with them to the prelims.  I have known them for awhile now but never spent more than a day or so with them for baton competitions.  I had so much fun hanging out with them during the week and Katelyn and I had some fun adventures.  I am scared that her mom will never leave her alone with me again......HA!  Just kidding.  We just had a lot of fun and I was happy to have that time to get to know her a little better.

My buddy for the week....she will never be the same!  :o)

So, here are some pictures that I took over the span of the week.