Our Diamond Miss State 2015

My Adrianna has been participating in pageants about 

18 months now, and her heart strings are attached to the sport. She decided to weed-out cheer and tumbling so she could focus completely on pageants.

The past few months, she has been counting down the days until state. Spending her weekends at pageant practice & her afternoons in the driveway mastering her walk. When the BIG day arrived, we were both excited and nervous because this was the biggest pageant she has ever entered.  

 Day one, started with a private interview with judges no adults allowed. {Which can be very challenging as the parents!!} The girls get one minute and 90 seconds to make the judges love them! 

Immediately after interview, the Casual Wear started.

She had to race back, change outfits, touch up make-up and hair and get back in line. Casual Wear is my favorite, I love the different outfits! 

Talent started right away Casual Wear. This is optional

 {which means less time to get changed and back in line!}

 but gives you more points. Adrianna's talent is the flute, she performed J.S. Bach's Minuet. All those years of flute lessons that her daddy forced her to take are finally paying off!

Day One was exhausting! We went to dinner with family and back to the hotel. We hung out with the ODM girls and cousins for a while at the pool then it was up to the room to practice, practice, practice...

Day 2, she had to be dressed and ready to model her party dress at 8 AM. Crowning immediately followed. I was up at five rolling her hair, loading the truck and eating breakfast. 

Our goal was to bring home one of the three crowns, instead she brought home two! She was double crowned ODM State Modeling Queen & ODM Glamour Girl Queen! 

As I am writing this post I can't help but smile looking back at the memories from State... Lots of family & friends came to support her, Andrew being her biggest fan. We made new friends and my heart is so proud of this girl that my urge to smile can’t be hidden!

  

Andrew insisted on wearing the same outfit that he wore to her preliminary pageant because he thought it would bring her good luck! 

Jessica recruited and introduced Adrianna 

to the ODM Pageant System. She had to have the

 first hug & picture!

This boy surprised Adrianna by showing up at the pageant! He told her he had to work but was secretly planning with me the whole time. He drove three hours & the pageant started at 8 am in the morning.  Talk about boyfriend of the year!! 

2015 Arkansas State Queens

XOXO

Adrianna & McKenzie's Sweet 16 Party

We celebrated Adrianna & her best friend McKenzie's Sweet 16 Birthday at the Russellville Country Club with lots of friends and family. I want to say a BIG thank you to our Awesome DJ Tras Pfeifer for making this a party 

they will never forget!

The beautiful club house

The ball room

This cake was made by The Cake Place 

All their cakes are delicious.

Adrianna pre-party with her favorite boys

Tras kept everybody on the dance floor

Singing "Happy Birthday" to the birthday girls

I love these teens so much, they are such good kids! 

The highlight of Andrew's Night - He requested ACDC.
It's so fun that Adrianna's friends embrace Andrew like family when we are all together. So very cute.

Not too long ago, these two girls were in grade school playing upward basketball together. Seems like only yesterday, they were in junior high - cheering on the APACHES. How did we get here so fast?? They both are sixteen, finishing up their 10th grade year, driving, looking for summer jobs & going on dates! How I wish I could turn back time... tears are flowing down my face as I type. I don't like that my little girl is growing up however at the same time, I am proud of the lady she has become! Jeremy & I know that with her christian faith and morals, she will go so far in life - I can't wait to see what GOD has in store for you girlie!

XOXO

Happy Sweet 16

Happy Sweet 16 Adrianna!

You were our first miracle. You were the genesis of a marriage, the fulfillment of young love, the promise of our infinity ~ you sustained us through the hamburger years... the first house furnished in "Early Poverty"... our first mode of transportation {1995 Pontiac Sunfire}... the 19 inch tv set with rabbit ears.

You were the new, had unused grandparents and had more clothes than a Barbie doll. You were the "original model" for unsure parents trying to work the bugs out. You were the beginning.

You are my best friend and have me thoroughly convinced that you prefer hanging out with me over anyone else! 

I love you so much!

XOXO

Easter 2015

Happy Easter – no matter how you celebrate – focused on Christ, the Easter bunny, egg hunts, family, friends, good food, sunshine, or if it was simply the first weekend in April… I hope you had a beautiful day! Combining many of these things make it one of my favorite weekends of the year. 

I love any reason to be with the people I love. And spring is such a good reason to celebrate. It’s so full of renewal, rejuvenation, I can feel inspiration in the air to be better. 

I hope you feel it too.  

Since we had to get up early for sunrise service, the Easter Bunny came early this year. He left a note saying "Take these flashlights and find your eggs & egg'tra special surprise!" These three loved looking for eggs in the dark!

XOXO

State, Here We Come

Glimpse of Our Diamond Miss. 

Adrianna competed in her first preliminary pageant in 

December and won talent, most beautiful and first runner up.

In order to advance to state, you must win.

We were blessed to meet Nancy at the preliminary pageant.

In my opinion, she is the best pageant coach in Arkansas.

She immediately seen something in "Red" and invited her to attend 

pageant boot camp and the rest is history. It's amazing how much she has 

improved in a short time, you would think she has been doing this all her life! 

 Adrianna competed in her second preliminary Valentine's Day weekend

 and won talent, most beautiful, and was crowned Miss Queen of Hearts. 

 We will be spending the next few months getting ready for state! 

There are 3 choices in life - giving up, 

giving in or giving it all you've got.

We choice the latter!

XOXO

Cheers to 2015

 There are so many things in life we simply can't control. So my hope for this New Year is to focus on the things that I can. To be more accepting and to be less judgmental. To take more chances and to worry less about failures. To embrace the differences in others, instead of being afraid of them. To focus on the ones I hold dear and sometimes even the ones I don't hold quite as close. To remember that the small things are often the most important things, in the grand scheme of things. To give more, to love more, to be more. So here's to 2015 my friends... Let's do this!

XOXO

Merry Christmas

We hope you had a very special Christmas celebrating with the ones you love the most! Ours was just as I had hoped - filled with both favorite family traditions as well as new ones!

It's one of those times you wish you could somehow hold on to. Make time stand still a little longer. I love watching Christmas through my children's eyes. It's even better than when I was a child. Nothing else beats it! With the exception of Christmas morning: the giggles, flying wrapping paper, and the accompanied jumping up and down. That's kind of amazing too!

Hope your Christmas was Merry & Bright.

XOXO