My Day at Miss Utah

In past years, this blog title would have read "My WEEK at Miss Utah" but things just didn't work out that way this time. Oh well - a day spent away from my duties as a mom is better than nothing at all!!

I got up early last Saturday morning and drove into Salt Lake City to attend the Miss Utah breakfast. I picked up DEl at his hotel, as he'd been gone from home all week going to a conference for work during the day and attending Miss Utah at night. The breakfast was a very nice affair, giving the contestants a chance to relax with their directors and families after a week of stressful preliminaries. Traditionally, the outgoing Miss Utah and her family speak to the girls at the end of the breakfast. When it was Jill's turn to speak in her final role as Miss Utah, she did something quite unexpected. She credited much of her pageant success to the person who believed in her from the very beginning - DEl. Jill called him up to the front and gave him a touching tribute.

Many of you know that Jill is a soldier and served a year in Afghanistan. A military tradition of showing honor to an officer at the end of a campaign is to give them a coin engraved with special symbols. Jill had some coins specially made to give to those individuals who have made a positive impact in her life, and the first one she handed out went to DEl.

It's hard to see the details of the coin in this picture, but the front has a flag in the middle, with a crystal in the very center of it. This stone is from Jill's Miss Utah crown - and was the only coin to have one in it. Around the edge are the words "Miss Utah 2007 - America's Choice", and the backside has digital camo print, a medical sign (Jill is a nurse, and the words "Sgt Jill Stevens - Lock and Load".
It is a wonderful keepsake, and I know it meant a great deal to my husband to finally receive recognition for the countless hours he's devoted to helping young women in the Miss America system.

We had a few hours to kill in the afternoon, so we went to the Gateway. We shopped, then watched a movie. At 5 p.m. we went to Olive Garden to have dinner with some pageant friends. The "few" friends ended up being a party of 20, so we had quite a wait! It was worth it; we had a fun time making our predictions of who was going to be in the top 10, and the food was delicious.

The pageant began at 7 p.m. We were specifically rooting for two girls - Dani Tremelling, who is Miss CEU, and Shawnee Gubler, who is Miss Washington County and my youngest sister :) Although neither one made it into the top 10, both young women represented themselves and their communities very well and each won a special award.

DEl and Dani at the luncheon


Me and Shawnee after the pageant


The new Miss Utah is a cute girl from Sanpete County; I think a lot of the contestants from the bigger cities were surprised when she was announced as the winner - although DEl had her picked as one of his top two.

After the pageant, I made the 2 hour drive home. It was a quick trip, but well worth it as I was able to spend time with my husband and support my sister. And who knows - maybe I'll get to spend all week at Miss Utah next year!