Thank you for a Wonderful Year

As I make the last post on this blog, I would like to say thank you for following Brittany on her journey as Miss Arizona Sweetheart 2006. It was such an amazing year filled with fun events and great times with some amazing young women that we now call family. The bond that Brittany, Ally, Andrea, Tana and Tiffany formed is absolutely amazing. From the moment they were crowned it was like they had known each other all their lives. The personalities and values of these girls blended together beautifully. Even to this day they communicate on at least a weekly if not daily basis. Which is amazing considering each of them has a full schedule of activities.

To the new group of Arizona queens: I truly hope that each one of you has a truly amazing year full of wonderful memories.

The 2007 Arizona Queens at Nationals

One of the big changes at Nationals this year is all the contestants went to Disney on the same day. Looks like the Arizona girls had a great time together. Thanks for the picture Danielle.

Don't tell me the queens are in jail! Danielle, Gloria, and Alyson what crime could you have possibly committed...must be too much fun at Disney World

Richelle being crowned as the National Teen Speech winner.

Melody placed in the top 15 in the Coed division. Way to go Melody, we are so proud of you!!

Added note: I recently found out that Melody took 6th overall. That is absolutely amazing considering she had been extremely ill prior to the start of competition. As I said before WAY TO GO MELODY!!!

I finally got a picture of Richelle being crowned as the Miss American Teen 2008.

Arizona has a National Queen!!!

I just found out today that Richelle, our 2007 Arizona Teen Queen was crowned as the National Teen Queen this afternoon in Florida. We are so excited for her and her family. It is going to be such an amazing year for all of them. Richelle is an amazing young woman who has an extremely bright future. As soon as I have any photos I will post them on here.

WAY TO GO RICHELLE!!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!


Richelle being crowned at the Arizona state pageant in July.

Pageant Finale - The Crowning

Ready for the opening number.


Brittany got to crown Brittany, how confusing is that?




Tana crowning Richelle as the new Arizona Teen Queen.

Brittany (Sweetheart) and Gloria (PreTeen)two of the new Arizona queens.

Meet the 2007 Arizona queens. (standing) Gloria (PreTeen), Danielle (Jr. Teen) and Melody (Coed) (sitting) Brittany (Sweetheart), Devyn (Princess), Richelle (Teen) and Simarah (Sweetheart Hostess)







All the queens together for one last group photo.

Tana and Melody the new Coed queen.

Last Rehearsal

This is it, the last chance to work on the dance before the pageant finale. In a matter of hours all the hard work of the rehearsals will be revealed with the opening numbers. I was hanging out in the lobby with a group of extremely nervous moms. Each one hoping their daughter, I truly wish we were able to crown more than one winner in each division. The girls and moms that I met during this weekend were absolutely amazing. I do not envy the job of the judges, all I can say is I will never be a pageant judge.

What queens do when they have down time....

Practice the talent they will be performing at the pageant finale...
Stuff their face full of food....
Make faces at the camera....
Enjoy the view from the hotel room.

Interview Competition

I followed the girls into the ball room to get some photos while they were waiting for interview. If I could have I would have followed them into the interview room for some snapshots, but that would have been too distracting for the girls and judges.

Brittany offered some tips to the girls before they met with the judges. She reminded them to smile, have fun and be themselves.
Always ready to make silly faces for the camera.

Family Brunch

The queens and a few of the contestants ready for breakfast on Saturday morning. This is a great event where the contestants, family members, queens, judges and directors all have a relaxing fun-filled breakfast. It's a great time to relax and get to know the other families that are attending the pageant. I love how the American Coed Pageant is truly about being a family.
At the breakfast the girls were surprised with the spirit award from Marlene. We had no idea they were going to receive this award. Marlene had told them they were going to just talk a little about the volunteer work and other activities that they had done through the year. After each girl spoke a little about the year, Marlene presented them with the awards. As a mother, I couldn't have been prouder of each of these girls. They truly encompass what it means to be a queen, caring, compassionate and ready to help others at a moments notice.

Mister Pageant

A fun part of the weekend for the gentlemen is the Mister Pageant. This is the chance for the guys to get up on stage and strut their stuff. Brittany talked her brother into competiting. He had such a great time that he wants to do it again. He loved the on-stage questions. I also think he loved strutting his stuff on stage.
He ended up being first runner-up. I thought that was amazing since he has never been on stage in front of an audience before!
The queens with the Mister winner, Brandon, and first runner-up also a Brandon! Congrats guys!!

Optionals

One of my favorite parts about the pageant is the optional competition. I am always amazed at the amount of talent within the contestants. A tradition with the Arizona pageant has been a fashion prior to all the girls to the fashion wear optional. I think this is a great chance for the girls to work out any last nervousness prior to being judged. The queens always have a color theme. This year it was bright colors. The girls had a blast coordinating their outfits. Then of course there was the shopping (thanks Tana and Tiffany for helping Brittany pick out her shirt and accessories.)

The 70s Get Acquainted Party

Who's that queen?? Why it's Tiffany ready for the get acquainted party. This is a great event for the contestants and their families. It's a chance for them to let their hair down and party! This year's theme was the 70's.
Tana, I love the glasses...they kind of give you that bug look.

Love the outfits ladies.

The first rehearsal

Of course I got photos before they went into rehearsal, but I wasn't allowed to follow them :( Rehearsals are closed to parents, that way there aren't any distractions, not to mention the dance is usually a "surprise". Unless of course your daughter just can't stop practicing and spends her free time doing the dance in the hotel room. Rehearsals are the time when mom's sit around the hotel talking or some head back to their room for a little free time. Every pageant mom values this time, it is one of the few times where you can relax, you don't have to worry about hair, clothes etc. All you mom's know exactly what I'm talking about. I love this time because it gives me a chance to talk with "grown-ups". I will say that I have met some of the nicest mom's at Coed pageants, from state to nationals. I have yet to meet one of "those" pageant moms (you know the ones they always show on TV).

Registration and Orientation

Thursday morning started out bright and early with registration. The girls did their part by helping with registration as well as welcoming each contestant to the state pageant.

Catching up with an 'old' friend (Richelle) and making a new friend (Simarah).
My 'girls' with the newly crowned Southern Texas Sweetheart.
The girls ready for orientation, joined by the amazing Kellie, Miss Northern California Teen.
Yara and Gloria, two of our amazing contestants.

Arizona State Pageant - July 2007

It is with mixed emotions that I add this last section. I have been dragging my feet a little (it's now November and the pageant was in July)in adding this last section. It was such an amazing year for Brittany that I was sad to see it end. She had the MOST AMAZING group of sister queens that anyone could ask for, they are literally a part of our family now. I still communicate with the girls on an almost daily basis.

I guess the easiest thing for the Arizona Pageant photos is to add several entries broken down by events. I took several hundred photos at the pageant, so it is extremely difficult for me to select just a few!

The girls headed up a day before the pageant started to get a head start on learning the dance routine. We arrived (after driving through a typical Arizona monsoon storm) to grab some dinner and then head to the ballroom for several hours of dance practice. Okay the girls practiced while the mom's just sat around and talked.
Silly photos while waiting for dinner to arrive.


Learning the dances.
Surprisingly enough I was shocked to learn that Tana CAN dance! I already knew that Tiffany and Andrea could handle it.

Locks of Love

One of the last events that Brittany did as Miss Arizona Sweetheart was donating her hair to Locks of Love. This is actually the second time that she has donated her hair, in fact I was so inspired by her, that I chose to donate my hair too! I just won't be posting my before and after photos. I'm a little upset with myself because I forgot to take a picture of her with the ponytail that was donated.

June Events

Wow, I guess it's been a while since we have updated this blog. June had a couple of events. The month started out with the girls visiting children at Banner Desert Medical Center. It was a very rewarding experience for everyone involved.

On June 23rd, a few of the girls (Brittany, Tiffany, Andrea and Ally)attended the Miss Arizona pageant. While they were there they had the opportunity to meet Mrs. World, who is also from our wonderful state.

The queens also collected school supplies that will be donated to the Thomas Pappas School for homeless children.


Also during the month of June we had a birthday party for Tana our wonderful Teen queen.

It's hard to believe that the year of their reign is almost over. Literally in two weeks each of the girls will be crowning their successors. Of course I will update the page after we return from state. It will be a fun and sad weekend all at the same time.

AVP Pro-Beach Volleyball - (Day Two)

Saturday was a really long day due to the heat. It was at least 102 degrees, I never did get the official weather forecast, I'm just going by what it said on my car thermostat. Our volunteer coordinator, Christie, did an awesome job making sure that everyone stayed hydrated. Unfortunately, there wasn't any shade in the area where we were working the afternoon games. So we had to work in shifts, two volunteers sat out every game. The only shade that was available was under a flatbed truck on the other side of the parking lot. It was rather comical to watch the volunteers sitting on chairs under these trucks, but it worked. The picture to the left is Brittany with Jennifer Boss and April Ross. They were our last game of the afternoon, once we were done with that game we took a little break before the evening games started. It was nice to get out of the heat!

The picture to the right is Brittany shagging during the evening game between Holdren-Nygaard and Hyden-Keenan. We thought it was funny that we shagged for Hyden and Keenan again, two nights in a row. Her job was to get the ball whenever it went to the far side of the court where she was and roll it to the girl nearest to the corner where I was taking the picture.

When the ball was in play Brittany just had to stand there and pay attention to what was going on. You never want to turn your back in a volleyball game because you could get hit by the ball. We left the crown at home since volleyballs and crowns don't mix.

Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor warming up prior to their evening match. Brittany is the small girl on the far side of the net in the yellow shirt. Every time they would hit the ball over the net it was her job to go get it.

Brittany's dream come true was being on the volleyball court with Kerri Walsh. As you can probably guess Brittany plays volleyball.

Another picture of Brittany with Kerri Walsh.

During the night games we were being bombarded by grasshoppers. It was fun to watch people in the stands; every now and then they would jump because a grasshopper flew into them. I was one of those people. In fact one time when I was taking the camera out of my backpack a grasshopper jumped into it.

At the end of the night Brittany was able to get her picture with Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, 2004 Olympic Gold Medalists. They won their match that night and moved on to the semi-finals on Sunday. We decided not to go back and volunteer on Sunday because of the heat we had endured on Saturday afternoon. Thankfully we both stayed hydrated and neither one of us became ill, but I didn't want to risk two days of extreme heat.

On Sunday, Walsh and May moved on to the finals where they ended up winning!

AVP Pro-Beach Volleyball (Day One)

Brittany had an absolutely awesome weekend volunteering her time at the AVP Pro-Beach Volleyball tournament when it made a stop in Arizona. Over the course of two days she volunteered a total of 13 hours. On the first day (Friday) we were joined by Tiffany, our amazing Coed Queen.
There are really only two jobs available for volunteers, keeping score and ball shagging. By the time we got there all the score keeping jobs had been assigned, so we were ball shagging. Ball shagging is when you are out on the court during the match getting the volleyball for the players.
The girls and I shagged for game 2. Which was between, the teams of Lambert-Metzger and Keenan-Hyden. I thought it was a pretty neat experience, I have watched beach volleyball on TV, but it is much more exciting to see it in person. I never realized what a faced paced game it is until I was out there chasing the volleyball on the court.

Brittany and Tiffany with Mike "Lambo" Lambert.


Stein Metzger


Brad Keenan


Holly McPeak, 2004 Olympic Bronze medalist


Logan Tom, teammate of Holly McPeak


Nicole Branagh (left) and Elaine Youngs, 2004 Olympic Bronze medalist

Diva Dash

Bright and early on the morning of May 5th, Brittany and Tiffany headed out for another volunteer opportunity. Actually it wasn't bright when they headed out, since it was 4:30 in the morning. When most people their ages were sleeping they were getting ready to help others. This time they were volunteering at the Diva Dash which is a fundraiser for the Girls on the Run.

Girls on the Run is a wonderful program that teaches girls ages 8-11 to respect themselves for who they are and to develop a healthy active lifestyle. Girls who participate in the program at their schools also participate in the Diva Dash.
The morning started off with helping set-up for the Diva Dash. Then the girls moved to handing out t-shirts and goodie bags at registration. After registration, it was time to hand out water. The girls are becoming experts at this, since they distributed water at Pat's Run too. This time they were out on the race course, which was a wonderful experience. As the girls handed out water they also gave words of encouragement to all of the participants. They made a special point of telling all the younger girls participating that they were doing an "awesome" job, keep up the good work and so many other positive statements. I was so impressed watching these two, they really made a lot of these girls feel better. For the majority of the girls participating this was the first time they had every run or walked a 5k marathon. This is definitely an event we will be helping out with again. It ties in so well with the American Coed philosophy of developing self-confidence.

Fifth-graders help classmate in need

This is one of those stories that you really hate to talk about but if you are in a position to help it would be greatly appreciated. A student at Brittany's school was recently diagnosed with brain cancer. The story was featured on a local tv station. I have provided the story below along with a link for the video that aired on the evening news. You can also access the story for yourself at azfamily.com

Fifth-graders help classmate in need

05:30 PM Mountain Standard Time on Friday, May 4, 2007

By Kirsten Joyce / 3TV reporter

A young fifth-grader has just been diagnosed with a very rare disease for his age and his fellow classmates and the entire school are pitching in to help the family pay for medical bills.

Many tears were shed Friday at Palm Valley Elementary School.

An 11-year-old child, Rene Perez, was just diagnosed with cancer.

He only moved to the Valley a month ago from Texas, but his presence at the school has made quite an impact on fellow students and staff members.

Rene is an honor student, but he wasn't in class today.

"I'm very proud of my grandson," said his grandmother Irene, who said just a week ago he was taken to the ER because he was suffering from terrible headaches.

"They ended up in emergency and found he had a massive tumor -- brain tumor," she said. "Now he's doing radiation and chemo for 42 days -- once a month for five months."

But his classmates at Palm Valley Elementary School have found a way to work through their sadness by raising money for Rene's treatment.

"It's called Hats on for Rene," said Sahil Kapur, a student. "Everyone is wearing hats this Friday and next to support him. Bring a dollar or more to wear a hat."

The idea is the brainchild of Rene's teacher.

Rene is planning to visit his fellow classmates next Friday to thank them.

"Rene does want to come back to see them," his grandmother said. "It really means a lot to him -- what they're doing for him."

Meanwhile, his teacher is also in the process of setting up an account at Washington Mutual.

For donation information: Contact Mrs. Noce (Rene's teacher) phone, 602-295-4745, or Palm Valley Elementary, 623-535-6400, or e-mail manoce@gmail.com.

Link to see video clip that appeared on 3TV http://www.azfamily.com/video/localnews-index.html?nvid=141293&shu=1