Catching up October and November

Playing a little catch up...

October 29th, 2011
BOO AT THE ZOO!
My first official appearance as Miss Utah's Outstanding Teen was at the annual Hogle Zoo sponsored "Boo at the Zoo." I couldn't have imagined a better way to begin my year! I was introduced to Gary Summers, the marketing president for Meadow Gold and he is delightful man. He is very gracious and does so much for the Miss Utah & MUOT Organizations. Danica and I were dressed as Fairy Princesses and I loved my costume! We spent the day signing autographs and greeting all of the kids that came to the zoo, all dressed up for trick or treating.

November 8th, 2011

I had the incredible opportunity of attending the Pro Hoops Make-A-Wish benefit basketball game with Danica a couple of weeks ago. What a phenomenal experience that was also very humbling and amazing. I met some Make-A-Wish kids, who have stories that are very inspiring. These kids are true champions. Among the athletes I got to meet were, Jimmer Fredette, Ronni Price, and a couple of Utah Jazz players. Even though meeting professional athletes was fun, the true stars of the night were the children having their wishes granted. It was amazing to see so much support for the Make-A-Wish foundation.

November 11th, 2011

MEADOW GOLD PROMOTION

On November 11th, Meadow Gold invited us to attend the Ream's in Springville's annual Holiday Open House. There were hundreds of people throughout the night and it was so much fun! We got to be involved in the trivia game for all of the kids in attendance. The manager of the store would ask a "Christmas related" trivia question over the intercom and then kids would run to us with the answer. It was so fun to see their excitement!

Photo Shoot for Meadow Gold Dairies

I LOVE PROMO SHOOTS! Meadow Gold is a generous sponsor of both the Miss Utah Organization and Miss Utah's Outstanding Teen. We love thier products and are happy to be represenatives of their company!

Boyd from Associated Foods Marketing Dept

I love TRUMOO chocolate milk!

Miss UVU 2012

FACES PHOTOGRAPHY

On Friday, October 7th I was invited to be a performer at the 2012 Miss UVU Scholarship Pageant. I was delighted to share the stage, even for a few minutes with 20 incredible contestants and of course- Miss Utah herself, Danica Olsen! Miss UVU 2011 Camille Echols did a great job hosting with Danica and it was an amazing production! I was blown away with the entire night! Thank you to Carley Condie for inviting me to share my talent with your audience! Congratulations to Miss UVU 2012, Alicia Lee!

FACES PHOTOGRAPHY

Miss Carbon County 2012

I had the wonderful opportunity to emcee the 2012 Miss Carbon County Pageant on October 8th. I was immediately welcomed by the wonderful committee and the delightful contestants. Miss Carbon County 2011, Lydia Jeppson was a perfect co-host and we had a great time with the contestants and the audience. She is quite a phenomenal young woman, she was valedictorian of her graduating high school class in May and is attending Dixie State College now. I was so impressed with all 5 girls and it was a fun night for sure! I was even given the chance to sing!! Thank you to the Miss Carbon County Pageant Committee for letting me be apart of such a great event and CONGRATULATIONS to Shelby Huntington, Miss Carbon County 2012! See you at Miss Utah in June!

There she is...

Congratulations Jessica Richards!

 Miss Utah's Outstanding Teen 2012!

Send Off Celebration!

I was so honored and excited to have a Send Off Celebration held just a few days before leaving for Orlando! I was able to showcase my wardrobe, talent and interview skills. I loved being able to see so many of my friends and family and it was awesome to know I was being so supported!

Tiare and Danica, Miss Utah 2011

Leean, Bonnie, Renita, Tiare, Amy, Jean and Charlene

(Members of the Miss Utah Board)

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL SEND OFF!

You're invited to a SEND OFF CELEBRATION!

Miss Utah Week!

Miss Utah week started off with the Show Me Your Shoes Parade, an honored Miss America tradition that we've adopted here in Utah. The contestants showed amazing creativity and it was a blast! I was dressed as a "Queen Bee!" Afterwards, we danced and gave out awards for the best shoes!

On Tuesday, Sierra West Jewelers sponsored a dinner for all 50 contestants and Christina and I were able to attend as well. We got to try on beautiful rings, learn a lot about diamonds and then each girl got a special pearl necklace as a gift. They sure know how to make a girl feel glamorous!

Each night I was honored to be a guest performer at the pageant. I was able to showcase a piece that I choreographed and it was received by the audience, so well. I will be taking this piece to New York City to compete for the NYCDA Championships.

Picture courtesy of Faces Photography

On Friday, MISS AMERICA came into Utah! I was able to meet her and get my picture taken with her...she is so nice and so beautiful! I will post the picture as soon as I get it :D

On Friday, I also got to visit the ABC4 News station where we sat in on a taping of Good Things Utah!

On Saturday morning we were able to pay recognition to Christina Lowe, Miss Utah 2010 at a Farewell Breakfast. It was so nice to see all of the contestants, former Miss Utah's and our judges, relaxed and enjoying themselves.

I got a chance to talk with some of the Miss Utah Judges- what amazing individuals! And then that night I got to officially meet my new 'big sister!' Congratulations to Danica Olsen, Miss Utah 2011! And congrats to each and every contestant who represented their local programs...it was a fabulous week!

Lately and before!

I was able to host the Miss Payson Scholarship Pageant in March and it was a fantastic night. All of the contestants were wonderful! Good luck to Miss Payson, Jamie Standton as she competes for Miss Utah in June!

I had the opportunity to be apart of the Spanish Fork Easter Egg Hunt! There were THOUSANDS of people there and the whole event was over in a matter of minutes! The kids all had a great time and I got to have my picture taken with a celebrity!

Lately....

On May 21st I was able to attend the Lamb & Wool Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I was there on behalf of Meadow Gold and did some promotion work for them, as well as my platform. The kids were so cute and the animals were too...of course! They even had FREE baby chicks, too bad I wouldn't have any where to raise a chicken!

MY PLATFORM!!

I was able to spend a couple of days touring some schools before they began Summer break! I presented the book I wrote and the coloring book we had made. The kids LOVED the coloring book especially! I was thrilled to be able to speak to so many students on the importance of showing respect. They were very receptive to my message and a lot of the teachers asked me to come back in the fall to share my ideas with their new classes!

Helping a student with one of the puzzles in the coloring book.

EXCITING NEWS!

We have some exciting things to share! Congratulations to Marisa Nielsen, MUOT 2010! She is the 2nd Year Winner of the Best of State Award for her "Buddy Box" platform and idea! She will be honored at the 2011 Best of State Awards in June! Way to go girl!! She will also graduate from Mountain View High School in just a couple of weeks!

Marisa at last years awards banquet

Meredith Gaufin, MUOT 2009 will be competing in the 2011 Miss Provo Scholarship Pageant! We would love to see another of our titleholders graduate on to the Miss Utah Program! GOOD LUCK MERE!

Tasha Smedley, MUOT 2006 will be tying the knot in June! Congratulations on the upcoming nuptials, we are positive she will make a stunning bride!

Jennifer Gulbrandsen, MUOT 2005 will be competing for the 2011 Miss Nevada title coming up in July! For more information on tickets and this event, visit http://www.missnevada.org/ GOOD LUCK JEN!

Miss America's Outstanding Teen in UTAH!

We were so lucky to have Miss America's Outstanding Teen, Lacey Russ visit us here in Utah for a few days! It was a busy few days, with lots of site seeing, fun events and lots of going out to eat!! On Sunday, we were able to visit historic Temple Square, where we listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, it was wonderful! We then took a tour of the LDS Conference Center and our tour guide was SO much fun!

Later that evening, the Miss Utah Board put on a special dinner to welcome Lacey to Utah. It was great to have Marisa and Christina there too! Renita (the Miss Utah Director) put together a fabulous meal and it was fun to sit back and get to know Lacey.

On Monday, Lacey and I got the opportunity (of a lifetime) to be bakery apprentice workers for the day! Hagermann's of Draper let us behind the scenes to see how running their amazing bakery & cafe works! We got to roll dough, cut out cookies, make red velvet cupcakes, take orders and make our own loaves of bread! They were amazing...and the food there...is irresistible!

Meredith stopped by! I always love seeing her!

That evening, Lacey, Christina and myself, were special guests at an autograph party at "Bags That Fit", a boutique in American Fork. That store has the most adorable accesories and clothes! We were all in heaven...each taking home some cute things! We were pretty worn out from our busy day, but ended the evening at the Olive Garden...pass the bread sticks!

On Tuesday, we ventured to Midway to swim in the crater! It was SO MUCH FUN! If you haven't had a chance to do so, I highly recommened going! Water is the perfect warm temperature and we had a blast swimming!

After we went swimming, we shopped in Midway and ate lunch. We then headed back to Provo and went to Farr's Ice Cream...Oh my goodness....we were so stuffed!

That night, Lacey and I spoke to two youth groups in Lehi. The first group was younger girls, ages 8-11 and they were darling. We had a tea party with them, ate cupcakes and just sat and talked. The next group was a group of Young Women and we shared our platforms with them.

We took them back to the airport on Wednesday, after a morning of all you can eat french toast at Maglebys! It was a fantastic visit and I can't wait to see Lacey again in August!!

Playing catch up!

Things have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!

February 1st- I was invited to attend the Renaissance Academy Reflections Award night. Christina was there with me and we had a great time. I performed and Christina spoke and sang as well. Its always a great experience to hear her sing. The kids were great, so full of energy and they had incredible projects! I was so impressed with the things they have accomplished. At the end of the awards, they presented Christina and I with beautiful flowers and balloons as a thank you.

February 17-19th- I traveled to Denver, Colorado to compete in the 2011 Grand Prix Dance competition. It was a great weekend and I was able to see lots friends that I've made through my years of dance. It was fun to see the younger competitors and their excitement for competition. It was a long car ride both ways- but I had my mom and other amazing friends to help pass the time!

February 24th- I put on a benefit concert for my platform. It was a great event and there were so many talented performers. We were able to raise enough money to help get my book printed and a coloring book started. It was very exciting! A special THANK YOU to all who came and performed and for those who supported the event!

February 26th- I was honored to Emcee the Miss Spanish Fork Pageant along with Rebecca Johnson, Miss Spanish Fork 2010. It was a wonderful evening and it was great to be in front of my hometown crowd. The contestants were fabulous and the new Miss Spanish Fork, Whitney Talbert, will do a wonderful job representing our city.

With Lesli Carr, Owner of Veronica Michaels- LOVE HER!

March 16th- Christina and I were able to attend the grand opening of a new Sunflower Market in Salt Lake City. We were guests of Meadow Gold, we got to hand out delicious samples of Meadow Gold products an got to taste lots of food from other vendors. We both had to be brave though because we were set up in the freezer/refrigeration section of the store and we were both freezing!! But we'd do anything for Gary and the amazing people at Meadow Gold & Associated Foods! 

March 19th- I was again honored to host another local pageant. The Miss Payson Scholarship pageant was held at Payson High School and I was able to spend the weekend with the contestants and pageant committee. Everyone was so wonderful and the contestants were a blast to hang out with. Congratulations to Miss Payson 2011- Heather Bolz. She will do a fantastic job for Payson City. I hope to post pictures SOON!