Volunteer Opportunity

Here is a volunteer opportunity for those who live in the St. Joseph and Kansas City area: Kansas City Irish Fest! Sign ups start June 1st, which is tomorrow! Sign up early to get a job and time that will work for you. To sign up, go to: www.kcirishfest.com/volunteer. To learn more about Irish Fest, visit this website: kcirishfest.blogspot.com

Off and Running!

This morning I got with Anne Marie Chappell, Ryleigh, the girl I ran the Spring Parkway 5K Run with, and Lucy, another running friend. We went for a 50 minute run on some paths in Krug Park. The wilderness is so amazing back there! We saw waterfalls, ran over creeks and just enjoyed the run and being outside. Breathing in the fresh air was exhilarating; try to get outside and enjoy the weather like this! It won't last for long. :-)

2012 Missouri Champion

CMN, Children's Miracle Network, started a program called Champions Across America; this program rewards a child from every state that has battled a serious medical condition and won. When a child becomes the Champion for their state, they then become an ambassador for all the other children that have received help from CMN. The Champions Across America program is sponsored by Sam's Club and Wal-Mart who pay for the children and their famililies to travel to Walt Disney World and Washington D.C. to meet with their senators on Capitol Hill. You can visit the Missouri Champion's blog at: http://missourichampion2012.blogspot.com/2012/05/story-of-jayla.html This just goes to prove that the money that you donate to CMN at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club really does make a difference. :-)

Send off party!

Yesterday, I traveled to Hannibal, Missouri one last time before state for my send off party! I can't believe that a week from today I will be arriving in Mexico, Missouri to start a week I will never forget. Thank you to my pageant board! You all have worked so hard in preparing me for MMOT that I can't thank you enough. Best wishes to my sister queen, Emily Wood, at state!

Memorial Day

I would just like to thank all fallen men and women across all branches of the United States Armed Forces. I am thinking especially of my great grandparents who served in World War II.

Barrel Bob

I got to meet Barrel Bob, a work zone "spokesperson" for MoDOT, Missouri's Department of Transportation, who helps promote and bring awareness to construction work zones. Barrel Bob is 11 feet tall and is made out of recycled orange and white barrels that were used in construction zones. "Don't Barrel Through Work Zones" is the slogan that goes along with Barrel Bob. 

"Oh I thought I was meeting a celebrity..."

While volunteering at Jiggle Jam, someone mistook me for Miss America! They saw the Miss America's Outstanding Teen logo on the top of my sash and asked me if I was Miss America. I explained that I am competing for the title of Miss America's Outstanding Teen, but as of right now, I am a local title holder and if I would win the state title then I would compete for Miss America's Outstanding Teen. The lady then said in a dejected voice, "Oh I thought I was meeting a celebrity or something." This just goes to prove that even on the local level, we still represent Miss America and are Miss Americas for the people that we come in contact with.

Jiggle Jam!

After refreshing from the 5K I headed down to Crown Center in Kansas City to volunteer at Jiggle Jam, a kids' music festival. I was assinged to the Face Painting tent, where I took money for face painting and chatted with the kids in line. I met a woman who had competed in the Miss Missouri pageant for four years and said that she had once held the title of Miss Heartland! She wished me good luck and asked if the pageant was still held in Mexico, Missouri in the first week of June. I also got to meet the daughter of Billy Butler, a Royal's baseball player! All of the kids were so excited to get their face painted and had tons of creative ideas for the face painters!

The coolest thing happened as I was leaving Jiggle Jam after being relieved by a new set of volunteers: I heard Seize the Day, my talent music, being sung by a show choir! :-) You can imagine how surprised I was! I had never heard of the song before my sister's choir teacher showed it to me as a possible idea for my talent. I have a video of them singing it; I'll just have to figure out how to get it to work...

Archeology at Crown Center!

Checking out the dinosaurs at Crown Center

Checking out the dinosaurs at Crown Center

Cool Lego creation

This was the show choir that was singing my song!

Jiggle Jam mascott

They were so cute!

So creative!

Club JJ! My initials are JJ :-)

The face painting was amazing! This little girl got a tiger

Jiggle Jam entrance

The volunteer check in is behind me

34th Annual Spring Parkway Run!

This man was an official at many of my track meets!

Ryleigh's cheer squad!

Finishing the race



Awards!

Saturday morning I got with one of my best friends, Ryleigh, and ran in the 34th Annual Spring Parkway Run. Since we were both in different age divisions, we both managed to get first place! We ran the same exact time and tied for the 2nd woman finisher and 11th overall.

Newsies

The song that I am singing for talent at MMOT, Seize the Day, from the Disney movie, Newsies, will be on Broadway! I picked the song and had no idea that it would be on Broadway about the time of MMOT! It couldn't be more perfect. Here is the description from the Broadway website:

Description

 Set in New York City at the turn of the century, Newsies is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a ragged band of teen aged "newsies," who dreams only of a better life far from the hardship of the streets. But when publishing titans Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack finds a cause to fight for and rallies newsies from across the city to strike for what’s right.

Check it all out at:
http://ppc.broadway.com/shows/newsies/

Volunteer Opportunity

And this volunteer opportunity is a fun one. Help out at the KC Jiggle Jam, click here for details.  Ages 14 and up can help, and you get a tshirt and tickets for the event.

Miss Missouri 5k

Instead of watching the 5K I'm being allowed to run in it! Let's just hope I'm not too tired! ;-) If you want to donate to CMN there is a link from my blog; you'll find it on the right side.

Civil War and Mental Health Program

May 18, the St Joseph Museums Inc hosted Dr Ross Schuman, speaking on war trauma and treatment in the Civil War and how mental health for soldiers has changed since then. I stopped by to help cut-up and plate the pineapple upside down cake that the programming committee served during the free event.

I met a ton of new volunteers that help out at the museum, and they kept thanking me for volunteer! Of course I thanked them for volunteering, too!

Civil War notes: Dorthea Dix helped women into the nursing field during the war, and asked that the women nurses cut their hair and look matronly.

Walt Whitman served as a nurse in the Civil War.

While we might think there were too many amputations in the war, modern science suggests more amputations might have saved lives.

Being a border state kept MO in the heat of battle, Missouri ranks 3rd as the state with the most Civil War battles, behind Virgina and Tennessee. Missouri saw 29 battles.

My St James Classmates Graduate

I can't believe that I will be in high school next year! Before I attended DeKalb, I went to St. James, so of course I went to watch my classmates from St. James graduate! We had the best time talking about our memories we had together.

SUMMER!

I am just SO excited that I have to post about this: SCHOOL IS OUT! :-) Don't get me wrong, I love school, but I enjoy being rewarded for going to school for about 9 months by having SUMMER BREAK! Here are some pictures that I took of my garden:

A Time I Failed

So... I was just thinking and this came to mind:

It was my very first track meet, when I was in 4th grade, I ran part of the mile. That's the thing, I didn't finish the mile because I didn't think I could do it. I think I ran about a half mile before I walked off the track. I never ran the mile after that until I was in the 7th grade. This was a time that I failed because I didn't allow myself to try the mile. Now, I have qualified to go to the state Hershey track meet for running the mile. It just goes to prove that you can do anything you set your mind to.

Me, in the yellow shirt, walking off the track while other girls run the mile in the background.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'd like to wish all mothers a happy Mother's Day! I love and appreciate what my mom does for me. She drives me everywhere for Outstanding Teen and always believes in me, even when I don't. I love you Mom! <3

17th Annual Loafer's Car Show

This car had a heart on it!

One of the streets with cars

Pink car!

Heartland Hot Rods! :-)

Police car!

Rusty car

We couldn't figure out what's on top of this car...

This weekend I got to hang out with my sister queen, Emily Wood, at the 17th Annual Loafer's Car Show in Hannibal, Mo. We saw tons of cool cars, but there was one that really stood out; on the side of it it said, "Heartland Hot Rods." Of course, we got pictures with it!

Doll Club!

This was the last Doll Club of the year; so sad! We had a great time planting flowers and making camp fires for their dolls. To go along with making camp fires, the girls learned about the California and Oregon Trails, and how much they had to pack per person to make it to their destination! The girls all autographed a poster that said, "Good Luck at State!" I will be sure that it makes it state with me.

Shoe Drive

Princess Royal, a local shop, has a shoe drive this weekend to benefit Noyes Home! Being in pageants, I have a ton of shoes, so I pulled out six pairs of shoes to donate. I hope that the girls at the Noyes Home appreciate the shoes! :-) A thank you to Amanda for organizing the shoe drive.