22 Years Old!!!

Today is my birthday! 22 years and counting... hope it's a good number for me too. :)

Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day!!!

Yesterday (on actual Earth Day) I visited an elementary music classroom where they sang a song that said, "Every day is Earth Day...that means today is too!" And that makes sense. We should take care of Earth everyday, not just on April 22nd. And...I took a bag full of plastic bottles to a recycling collection location today. :)

Art Feeds

I have recently become involved with a wonderful non-profit organization called Art Feeds. It was started by a young woman my age in good ol' Joplin, Missouri where I am attending college! They bring art projects into classrooms of elementary students, primarily those with special needs. They strive to feed each child through art in its many forms. I was honored to join in on a lesson of "paper-mache people". I loved watching their young minds at work and had fun getting to know the kids. I am so excited about this group and the passion of its founders. To learn more about this organization or to make a donation, go to http://www.artfeeds.org/.

Public Forum

A political forum was held at the Opera House in El Dorado Springs. The three El Do Miss MO candidates were hostesses for the evening where we greeted guests and encouraged them to write down questions for the candidates. There were many serious issues and concerns that were addressed and lots of good points were made. However, my favorite underlying theme of the evening was that we are a God-fearing nation and it is completely appropriate to bring faith into our opinions on issues. It was humbling and encouraging to be in a room full of political leaders that were not afraid to stand and say, "I will keep God as my priority and make decisions according to how I believe."

Greater Kansas City Day

On a very early Monday morning, Miss Greater Kansas City (me) and Miss Kansas City Kari Gai joined other Kansas City Celebs and a small Jazz combo as volunteers on Greater Kansas City Day. Greater Kansas City day is celebrated on Royals opening day (hence the baseball diamond shape of this post. Nerdy, I know.) Every year, many volunteers around the Kansas City area set out to sell the morning paper and collect donations that go to a Rotary Club Youth Summer Camp for underpriveleged children. We made our first stop at an intersection before dawn. We had a blast dancing on the median with KC Wolf waving newspapers and a box of Krispy Kremes. (Some lucky generous people got a doughnut with ROYAL blue icing.) Pageants must be considered an athletic event because we were priveleged to join many other very talented athletes. Among these were NFL Hall-of-Famer, Bobby Bell; former KU basketball star, Bud Stallworth, former Chiefs player, Walter White; WWF wrestler the Brut, as well as the Chiefs mascot and Wizards mascot. Shortly after leaving from our first stop, we were slammed with some very heavy rain and hail! So waving the newspapers was put on hold but the cause was NOT. We stopped in at a few local radio stations to give a plug for all of the volunteers and the kids that would benefit. At one of our stops we were fortunate to be introduced to George Brett (BBWAA Hall of Fame Inductee). After our hard day's work we could finally stop for breakfast. :) What a great group of people to spend the morning with! 

**Another non-athlete celebrity with us was Miss Missouri USA 2002 Melana Scantlin who is pictured here with Bobby Bell and me.**

Mountain View Elementary Visit

      Over Spring Break, I visited Mountain View Elementary where my Miss Missouri Little Sisters go to school. John traveled with me as my back-up band. :) We visited all of the Kindergarten and 3rd grade classrooms where we celebrated March as Music In Our Schools Month. John played the guitar, mandolin, and banjo as the kids closed their eyes and tried to guess which instrument he was playing. We also made good use of recycled plastic sacks by putting them on our hands like gloves and rubbing our hands together to make a unique percussion instrument. I talked with the students about what it means to be Miss America, Miss Missouri, and a  Miss Missouri Little Sister.
It was an enlightening experience to actually teach a lesson to Elementary kids. I realized the difference in attention spans between Kindergarteners and third-graders. Both were a lot of fun!

< ---    The first thing I did with the very first class we visited was pass the crown around. They LOVED that! But I quickly discovered that Kindergarteners could spend all day trying it on and trying it on their friends. Haha. I decided to save that for the end of the lesson the next time.

 



They also got a Kick out of seeing their teachers being crowned and practicing the Miss America wave...especially when the teacher was a man. :) --->

After school, my little sisters and some of their family joined us for ICE CREAM!
Yum! They are such sweet kids and so much fun!
Hope I get to visit them again soon. :)

**SNOWY Spring Break**

The Saturday of Spring Break, I was driving home in the snow. And it did NOT stop! Before it was all said and done, we had almost 14" of snow in El Dorado Springs! So much for a nice outdoor run or game of basketball.
But - it was really beautiful... if you were viewing it from inside. :) Outside, the wind was harsh and you could barely open your eyes long enough to look around. There were some drifts that were clear up to my Dad's knees.