Husker Tailgate with ME!

This little angel came just to take a picture with me!

I woke up early Saturday morning a little sleepy, but mostly nervously ecstatic!  I couldn't believe that the fundraiser was finally going to happen.  For those of you playing a little catch up yourself I, along with one amazing group of women, have been planning this event for a couple months and finally...after hundreds of phone calls, emails, personal visits, requests and prayers, it was finally here.  

The whole event was planned around the Nebraska vs. Penn State football game and everyone helping was eager to get the day started.  When I arrived at the Gering Civic Center that morning I must say I was a little nervous.  Don't get me wrong, everything looked wonderful but it also looked SO big!  I didn't think the room would ever fill up.  Little by little my family and friends started showing up, looking through the silent auction and grabbing some pastries before getting settled at their tables, which were wonderfully decorated might I add! (Misty & Heather)  

About ten minutes before kickoff I stepped outside the room and was welcomed in with cheers and of course a little Nebraska tradition of the tunnel walk, I felt like such a champ with everyone on their feet yelling and cheering for me!  I opened the event with a few words and a song and then on the screen was the amazing sight of both teams kneeling in prayer with Coach Ron Brown.  What an awesome way to start the game and boy was I ready to watch!

Our great cheering section!

My wonderful directors Amy and Jay!

At halftime I was able to perform a couple different songs, one being the one I will be performing at Miss America in less than two months!  It was such a blessing to be with the supporters of the communities that I grew up in.  So many family members and close friends came to watch, even friends that aren't Husker fans put up with the game just for me!  (How dare they not be fans!)

One wild bunch of women :)

The ultimate Husker fan, Bob Neville.

My go-getter, helper and calmer :)

I can truly say that I have been blessed beyond belief with amazing and unique people in my life.  I wouldn't have been able to put this on, or even thought of the idea without the help of my team!  You all know who you are (Heather, Misty, Cindy, Cinda, Mom, Leah, Aunt Becky, Mrs. Mitchell, Melinda, Shardel, Kyla) I will forever be thankful for all the hard work you put in this event.  Some of you I barely knew before this started and I am so grateful that I can now call you friends.  Please know your support means the world to me.  For all the sponsors, donors and contributors, thank you.  I loved watching you all have a great time and in turn in made the day so worth it to me.  

The point of this fundraiser was to raise funds for my wardrobe and expenses for Miss America (and that we did) but I think it was much more than that.  It was communities coming together and supporting me and for that I will not be able to thank you enough!  God blessed this day with wonderful people, a successful event and a beautiful ending.

God is good!

Full of thanks and feeling beyond blessed, 

Kayla

Miss Nebraska

ps.  We are waiting to hear the final dollar amount but I will keep you posted!  Also, I'm headed to California tomorrow so look for oodles of pictures of my adorable nieces soon!

Fall Harvest Convention

With Monday came rain and more rain but also a wonderful event!  I was invited by Alan Perlinger of the Quality Inn and Suites, Sandhills Convention Center of North Platte to be a part of his booth at the Fall Harvest Convention in Lincoln.  And as a red carpet movie theme I was thrilled to play dress up!  I didn't know what I was in for but learned quickly about the convention and the process of it.  There were hotels and motels from across Nebraska that set up booths advertising their services.  Then party planners come around and see what each place has to offer for a possible event or convention.  I guess you could say I was the advertisement for the North Platte booth!  As customers walked by I offered to take a picture with them and send it through email.  

It was such a great time meeting so many people from the hotel/motel industry.  I had such a fabulous time with Alan and Darrell and enjoyed being dressed up like red carpet royalty. 

Alan Beerman was one of my judges this year at Miss Nebraska!

Lt. Governor Rick Sheehy

The wonderful Darrell Drullinger!

All dolled up,

Kayla

Miss Nebraska 

Miss Chadron/Northwest Pageant

Jessica Littlejohn, Miss Chadron & Monica DelaCruz, Miss Northwest

After spending the day in Chadron helping here and there, and watching the Huskers get beat by Northwestern, I was ready for the pageant to begin!  I had the honor of emceeing with the wonderful Mariah Cook and we had an exciting night!  It started with some jokes, great stories, insight and then Mariah broke the piano.  Okay, so she didn't really break it, but she definitely injured it temporarily.  When she got through about ten seconds of her talent piece all the black keys on the bottom half of the keyboard were stuck.  In all my years of playing piano, I had never seen anything like it!  It became quite the talent show then, how many people does it take to fix a piano?  Not to worry, we did get it fixed!

Miss Rodeo Nebraska, Becky Grimm

Some of my fans!

With all the adventures of the night and stories from my year as Miss Nebraska and Mariah's wild cheerleading experiences, we had finally made it to the end of the night and crowned the new Miss Chadron and Miss Northwest.  I had such a great time with some of the most wonderful people!  Thank you to the volunteers of the pageant and the directors Marleta and Renae for making it such a great day and night!

The wonderful Miss Nebraska State Fair, Mariah Cook

Thankful,

Kayla

Miss Nebraska

Petersburg's Punkin' Chunkin'

The day before Halloween I made my way to Petersburg, Nebraska where I found one of the most interesting and exciting events I've been to yet.  It's an annual event called Punkin' Chunkin' and what an event at that.  I didn't really know what to expect when I pulled into the open bean field filled with giant air tanks with canons coming out of the end.  I'm not even joking, there were at least ten of them some professional some amateurs all competing in the same events; distance shot, still target shot, and moving target shot.  Unfortunately, I was unable to watch all the competitions because I was busy signing autographs, but I heard all the shots.

I learned that there is actually a national competition for pumpkin chunking where the same type of challenges are had.  Because it was such a windy day there weren't any teams that set any records but their shots still went super far, like three cornfields far (for those of you who can estimate how much that is).  

Despite the wind and cold, I had such an amazing time!  Vans, pickups and cars pulled around my table to block the wind from getting to me and I was wrapped up in a blanket to stay warm, what more could I ask for?  I had such a great time meeting the kids and visiting with all the volunteers and staff making the event happen.  I think this is definitively going to be an event I come back to, maybe a tradition even. :)

A little wind blown,

Kayla

Miss Nebraska

Miss Omaha/Douglas County & Outstanding Teen Pageant

Love you I do, Darrell

After my Chicago trip I had the opportunity to spend the weekend with some of my favorite people at the Miss Omaha pageant.  I was Miss Omaha before being crowned Miss Nebraska in June so I have quite a soft spot for all the volunteers!  Friday evening was the judges cocktail dinner at the wonderful Bob Kropp's house and it was such a blast!  It was great getting to know the judges and spend time with the directors and families too!  It was a late night and an early Saturday morning.

My sparkly Brooke :)

My favorite Jenn Curtis!

The day flew by with rehearsals, laughs and catching up and then it was showtime!  I had such a wonderful time emceeing with Brooke and Bob, we had the crowd rolling with laughter quite a few times, maybe even with a few tears :)

The wonderful Nicki Haverland :)

 By the end of the evening and with a few hiccups, we had crowned four wonderful ladies.  Payton Merritt, Miss Omaha's Outstanding Teen and Raeann Bronder, Miss Douglas County's Outstanding Teen and Miss Omaha, Mindy Schreiber and Meghan Thalken, Miss Douglas County!  What a great time you will all have at state!

The winners and Runner Up's

The wonderful Gary Umemoto from Washington!

The fabulous Dot Stewart from Washington too!

Mindy, Marianne and Meghan

My wonderful little sister from last year!

I will return to this pageant years to come because of the wonderful people and amazing volunteers!

Just a former Miss Omaha,
Kayla
Miss Nebraska

Chicago Trip

Hello CHIIIICAGO!  

As a last minute, lets-try-to-avoid-bad weather decision, I was headed to Chicago to try and finalize my Miss America wardrobe.  Of course I didn't want to make the trip alone and because it was on my way I decided to stop in Davenport and pick of my big sister Chabree.  We enjoy traveling together and she is great at giving me honest opinions so I thought she'd be a great addition to the trip.  Plus, she's a little intimidating if I were to run into any trouble in the big city!  

On Tuesday, October 18th I started my trip and drove the first five and a half hours to Davenport.  That night my sister and I discussed our plan of action for the next couple days including rush hour times...so it could be avoided.  We left Wednesday morning around 9am to avoid rush hour and arrived in Chicago, greeted by the lovely 40mph+ winds and 40 degree temperature mixed in with a little rain!  It doesn't make for the best outdoor shopping but we had things to get accomplished!

We made it to most of the stores on my list in the first day while tackling that crazy weather and were very ready to crash that night!  We stayed so busy shopping we forgot to take pictures!  Seriously, with my sister and I this is a HUGE deal.  We love, love, LOVE taking photos and never go anywhere without doing it so it was very unlike us.  After some well needed rest in our little hotel we were ready to take on day two of Chicago.  

Starbucks, Bloomingdales, Neiman Marcus, Macy's and of course the LEGO store!  I found my Miss America interview outfit and many outfits for different appearances while in Vegas.  It was such a relief to find all the things I needed.  

We had decided that we'd leave no later than 5pm so as it was getting closer we made our final trip to the bathroom and loaded up the car and pulled out of the parking garage just to be sitting in traffic.  It took me a little while to realize what was going on but around 5:14pm it hit me as I turned to Chabree, tapping on the clock in my car and said, rush hour.  Ugh, we hadn't even thought about running into it on the way home!  

I was trying to keep my sister from throwing up with car sickness while getting out of downtown, but we finally started moving fast than 20mph so we were getting somewhere.  Although we weren't able to do any sort of tourist activities, we had a great time shopping, fun laughs on the drive home and even named my car.  Her name is Judy.  Normally referred to as Judy Attitudy!  I love spending time with my sister and was so glad she came with me.

As if I could ever be shopped out :)

Kayla

Miss Nebraska 

Kids Discover

A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of spending 6 hours at an event sponsored by Bob Spady (one of my favorite sponsors) at Kid's Discover!  I had heard that it was a large event but boy was I surprised when I didn't get a break from signing autographs.  Okay, that's not true!  When Herbie Husker made his entrance I was able to sneak off and grab a bit of lunch while restocking my autograph cards.

It was so great being able to interact with the kids all day and see all the fun things they were doing.  There were numerous games, bounce houses, and treats to enjoy.  I'd hope they took great naps for their parents!

Hanging out with Herbie and the Kool-Aid Man!

Before the event was over all the fame in the state had to do a few photo ops!  Herbie, the Kool-Aid Man and Miss Nebraska take the stage!  Needless to say, I wasn't getting all the attention anymore.  But its okay, I shared the stage.  The best part of the day was when I was getting ready to leave and one of the volunteers stopped me and told me how impressed she was with me.  She admired the patience I had with the children and how I handled the hiccups of the day.  It's those compliments that really touch my heart.  That's why I love this job, it just suits me!

Until next time,

Kayla

Miss Nebraska 

Feeling a little like Superman

You can't tell me that the picture above doesn't get you a little excited, inspired or maybe a little stronger.

Tonight, I'm feeling inspired.  I am feeling ready.  These two months are the push, the drive, and final days until I am welcomed by the warm Nevada air for the Miss America Pageant.  The time I have spent preparing for this is in the back seat and its the future that I look towards.  I have checked many things off my to-do list for wardrobe, preparations, appearances and physical fitness but that doesn't mean I'm done yet.  I will continue to dedicate myself to this job everyday, with more power than the day before.  Sure, I may sound like a wanna-be Superman right now but I'm going to take this opportunity of focus and ambition and hold myself accountable.  Because my actions of one day affect the next and I'm ready to make sure I'm setting the proper example.

I will train like an athlete, sing like a super star, speak like a pro and love endlessly.  I was told once in school not to consider myself as a student, but as a scholar.  I will be the best me I could ever ask for.

I find that every night before bed I get caught up on Pinterest.  Oh don't even tell me that you don't too!  And in the midst of all my fantasy wedding ideas and dream house plans I stumble across some very wise words.  Tonight I ran into this for the second time and rather than overlook it, I decided to jump on here and tell you about it.  When it comes to my everyday I want this, for my workout, my attitude, and my life.

     1.)  I will promise to do my best.  My best will vary from day to day.  From hour to hour.  From minute to         minute.  But in that minute, I will do the very best that I can.

     2.)  Lactic acid is my friend.  The wind is my friend.  Anything that opposes me is actually helping me to become stronger.  If I had no opposition.  I would be weak.

     3.)  If I can run, I run.  If I have to walk.  I walk.  When I am forced to crawl.  I crawl.  And then I rest and live to fight another day.  

     4.)  I fear no man but I fear my workout.  If I don't fear my workout.  It isn't hard enought.

     5.)  I may puke.  I may cry.  But I will not quit.  Ever.

     6.)  I never cheat.  There is no honor in cheating.  What joy can there be in a victory I did not earn?

     7.)  The workout missed is the opportunity missed.  I will not cheat myself of the opportunity to become a better athlete and person.

     8.)  I understand the value of the push-up, the pull-up, the sit-up, the squat, and the deadlift.  Just as there are a million ways to make chicken, so too are there a million ways to squat, sit up, pull up, push up, and deadlift.

     9.)  I will give everything I have.  And then I will find more within myself.

     10.)  I won't complain.  Complaining is for crybabies.  There are 11,232 babies born in the U.S. everyday.  I will leave the crying to them and I will soldier on.

     11.)  I will bite off challenges.  Spit out results.  And beg for more.  What are you going to do?

With every struggle I face and difficulties I cross, I know that I can turn to those closest to me and also my Heavenly Father.  My verse this year and years to come, is James 1:2-4

"Consider it pure JOY, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." 

In my everyday, I think of this.  I pray for this and I thank God for every breath he has given me and especially for every person he has put in my life.  I can confidently say that no matter what happens in life, in the next two months and on January 14th; God has a plan for me.  And that is quite honestly enough for me.  It won't make me stop fighting for my dreams or goals but in the end He knows where He wants me and if I've learned anything in the last few years, He knows best!

Now that all that is out of my system, I think I will head to bed.  I will leave you with a song that inspires my days and keeps me hoping for the future.

I dare you to listen. 

Feeling blessed, inspired, driven and loved,

Kayla

Miss Nebraska