Catching Up...Part 2

Discover USA Military Kids Benefit Concert

3/22-
Had a great time helping to sell raffle tickets at a benefit concert to help send kids of military families to camp. This concert was organized by Miss Spokane's Outstanding Teen JJ Brown. She is truly a great role model with a huge heart!  Great music and a great cause. 


Leavenworth-Fundraiser for Simply Found and Mrs. Washington America Commercial Shoot

4/21-4/22-
This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting and carpooling with the other ladies from the Spokane area.  It was wonderful to meet them and hear about what their platforms are and why they are so passionate about them.  What a great group of women!
We traveled to Leavenworth to help Kristine Dowell (Mrs. Leavenworth) with a fundraiser for Simply Found.  It's a wonderful group that helps homeless women find jobs by giving them interview attire and professional looking clothing.  Kristine was beyond hospitable, and a gracious hostess.
We also filmed a commercial for the pageant.  It was fun to be a part of the process and the final project looked great!




KHQ Food Drive for Northwest Harvest

4/28-
Woke up bright and early to help out the KHQ food drive for Northwest Harvest.  It was such a fun morning hanging out with some of our local news team.  They made me feel welcome and kept me entertained with the rivalry between SWX and KHQ.  I was even interviewed on the news :)
 The highlight of my morning was meeting Julie Delaney.  She does such an amazing job promoting Northwest Harvest and informing the public about how prevelent hunger is in our community and how easy it is to help a family in need.  Julie is also on the board for the Angel Ball Gala, a huge fundraiser for juvenile diabetes, and is a great lady I now count as a friend.
  It was encouraging to see so many people support the food drive and help stomp out hunger in our community.



March of Dimes-March for Babies

4/28-
After the food drive, I headed over to the Gonzaga campus to walk in the March for Babies.  This is the second year I have walked with my friend, Angee Lawhorns' team.  It's always both inspiring and sad to see the many families who have been effected by premature birth.  It is so important to continue to fund research to help prevent premature birth, as well as help those babies who are born premature live healthy, happy lives.


Moses Lake dance rehearsal

5/5-
Today I got to spend time with a few of my pageant sisters and director rehearsing for the Moses Lake Spring Festival.  We had a great time learning the routine and chatting over lunch. 

Catch Up Time...Again (Part One)

Whew!  Time to catch up on my blogging!  Sometimes the best intentions...

Contestent Orientation

In January, our wonderful pageant director, Pam Curnel, hosted an orientation brunch in the Space Needle for the former queens and current contestents.  It was a great way to meet the new contestants and reconnect with friends.  The only downside was the huge snowstorm that made navigating the road home a little treacherous.  Luckily I had my amazing husband with me to get me home safely!

MDA Muscle Walk

Also in January, I had the honor of helping with the MDA Muscle Walk.  The Muscle Walk is a great family-oriented event that raises awareness and funds to support nueromuscular research.  It was inspiring to see so many people come show their support for this great cause.

My youth group student, Amy, came to help support

Miss Spokane 100th Anniversary and Miss Spokane Pageant

Last year I started volunteering some time with the Miss Spokane Scholarship Organization.  In February they celebrated 100 years of Miss Spokane with a fabulous dinner and presentation.  It was fun to watch the slideshow of the queens from years past, and watch some of the former queens showcase the talents that helped them earn their titles.  I was blessed to have Jessica Riggs, Mrs. Washington 2012 accompany me for the festivities.

The next day was the Miss Spokane pageant.  I was in charge of all of the princesses.  The princess program is a mentoring program for young girls.  They are paired with one of the contestants and share in different aspects of the pageant and community service.  These 20+ girls were so fun to hang out with through all of the pageant festivities, but boy was I tired at the end of the day!  Big congratulations to Kenzie Novell-Miss Spokane, Brittany Cozza-Miss Inland Empire, JJ Brown-Miss Spokane Outstanding Teen, and Whitney Demarest-Miss Inland Empire's Outstanding Teen!

Pixie Dust Chocolates

I teamed up with the Miss Spokane Organization to help one of their sponsors at the Jim Custer Arts and Crafts Show.  We helped Pixie Dust Chocolates by handing out samples and spreading the word about this amazing local business.  She makes beautiful creations out of chocolate and they taste amazing!!

Yes, those are edible!

An Evening With Harley Davidson benefiting the MDA

I was honored to sing The Star-Spangled Banner for this great event.  This is an annual fundraiser that reaises money to help the MDA send kids to camp.  It was a wonderful evening where people from the local H.O.G. (Harley Owners Group) chapter gave generously to help send kids to what they describe as the best week of their whole year.  I loved watching the videos of camp from the previous year and seeing these tough bikers melt at the hands of the kids.  I'm honored to be friends with these men and women who are so giving and look forward to spending a day with them when they attend camp this summer.

I'm Back!!!

Well, after taking some time off to spend with my family, I am officially back!  The biggest news is that I will be competing for the Mrs. Washington title one more time.  I feel that I haven't completed what I set out to do.  There are still many things I want to accomplish with my title; including establishing youth workers training workshops, partnering with local mentoring organizations, and helping other wonderful causes.  Of course my work with Fusion youth group will continue-I love my girls!

In November, I competed for Mrs. Washington 2012.  This was my first pageant experience and it was so much fun!  I had a wonderful time with amazing women whom I now count as friends.  Everyone was kind, helpful and giving.  No "Miss Congeniality" moments here!  When all was said and done I ended up being 2nd runner up and Mrs. Photogenic (big thanks go out to Richard with Image 1 Photography).  It was wonderful to feel the support from my family and friends and can't wait to do it again next year!

Thank you Veteran's!

Every year as I plan the Veteran's Day assembly at school, I am reminded of the tremendous sacrifice our men and women in uniform make for us on a daily basis.  This year I was lucky enough to have a friend and Washington State Women Veterans Advisory Committee Member, Jurene Mason, speak to our school about the importance of Veteran's Day.  She gave a wonderful speech about service, teamwork, and what a veteran "looks" like.

This year, our school built a "Wall of Remembrance and Thanks".  Each brick had the name of a friend or family member of staff and students from our school who is a veteran.  What I thought might be a small 5x5 foot wall, ended up taking up the whole wall!  It was so touching to see kids and parents alike stop and look at all the names.  I'm glad we were able to honor our veteran's in that way.

Thank you again to those who have given of themselves so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have!

My favorite veteran-my dad, me, and Jurene

Crowns For Kids

Last Saturday I was honored to model in the 2nd annual Crowns For Kids fashion show benefiting The Children's Miracle Network and the Miss Spokane Scholarship Organization. 

Some of Spokane's best boutique's were on hand to show off the latest fashions modeled by current and previous local royalty.  I had the pleasure of modeling for Fringe and Tangerine.  Both stores have incredible clothing and jewelry and are owned by amazing women that were a lot of fun to work with.  Take a peak at their facebook pages and go check them out!

A big thank you to all the volunteers and boutiques that made this event a success-especially Cheri Moore, Richard Learnard of Image 1 Photography, Bev Ottoson Wood, and Angela Stepp Monson.  Thank you!

Fusion Youth Group

It's been a while since I posted about my girls.  We've started a new school year, which has brought some new faces and great additions to our junior high girls group.  Unfortunately, that also means that we've lost some girls to the high school group.  They will be missed!

My co-leader, Lindsey, and I continue to try and provide an atmosphere where our girls feel welcome, safe, and loved.  So many of our girls don't come from the ideal living situations, and we strive to provide them with the consistency and support they need to navigate through the difficult junior high years. 

Wednesdays are long days, but I wouldn't trade my time with these girls.  Love you all!

Best of Spokane Party

Last night I was lucky enough to work the "Best of Spokane" party hosted by Bozzi Media and Spokane Coeur d'Alene Magazine.  This was a sold out event to honor all of the best businesses and organizations in our area.  There was an awards presentation, local vendors, food, drinks and dancing.  It was definitely the party of the year.

I had the opportunity to work with representatives from the Miss Spokane organization by working the coat check and VIP swag bag area.  It was a great way to serve by welcoming everyone to the party.  Cheri Moore did a wonderful job organizing and leading the volunteers.  I had a lot of fun working with Genay Tucker-Miss Spokane, and a few Miss Spokane Outstanding Teen hopeful's.  It was a busy night, but a lot of fun.