Brownell Elementary Visit

Friday afternoon I walked into Brownell Elementary and had such a warm welcome!  I had the opportunity to speak with the entire school, K-5th grades and all their teachers.  I spoke about who I was and why being a part of pageants is important to me.  I really wanted to stress the importance of my platform to these kids and they responded so well!

And of course they were very curious about many things, like why I was wearing a "thing" on my head and a "ribbon" and if I was married or not.  But it really struck me when they were asking a lot of questions that actually dug deeper into my platform and career.  They asked things like what appealed to me about pageants and how did I deal with the people who made fun of me for being in music, it was a great time!

And before they went on their way in anticipation of the snow storm on Saturday we all agreed to sing "Jingle Bells!"  I am so happy that this gets to be a part of my job!

Glad to see snow on the ground,

Kayla 

Miss Nebraska 

All the kiddos!

Festival of Trees

My beautiful little sister Brooke!

The day after Thanksgiving and after the Husker win (yay!), it was off to North Platte for the third annual Festival of Trees lighting ceremony.  In its' third year we had 26 trees and 10 wreaths and it's an understatement to say they were only beautiful, they were so wonderfully decorated it was unbelievable.  Menards provided most of the trees for the event and then businesses in North Platte donated their time and creativity decorating trees to different themes.  There was a snowman tree, wine tree, cake tree, rhinestoned tree and trees with homemade decorations!

I really, really liked this tree :)

We spent that Friday evening walking around to each tree with a description and lighting them one at a time, it was really an unbelievable experience.  Such beauty came from lighting them.  Brooke and I had the opportunity to entertain as well which brings me to a funny story.  Darrell had specifically requested that we sing Christmas songs and out of my stubbornness to wait until after Thanksgiving to listen to Christmas music, I didn't practice until the car ride from Alliance to North Platte.  I had decided that I was going to sing "The First Noel" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."  I sneakily brought the words to "The First Noel" in with me and cheated a couple times while singing that one, never thought to bring words for "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" because everyone knows the words to that song.  Well, because of my lack of practice and the first day to acceptably be listening to Christmas music day, I forgot the words.  Oh, ya.  I even looked around the room for help and felt relieved at the people there who didn't remember them either!  I wasn't the only one in that boat...unless they just weren't listening to me sing, therefore not knowing where I was in the song which is a good possibility as well.  Either way, we made it to the end of the song with some laughter (I'm good at that) and closed the evening with a few thank you's.  

This one took home the most awards!

Miss Douglas Co Meghan Thalken, Brooke and I

The wonderful Darrell who's short tie is part of a costume :)

I was back Sunday afternoon for the auction of the trees (with a real live auctioneer!).  It was amazing to see the community coming together again to purchase/donate the decorated trees.  I guess I forgot to mention until now that this event is a fundraiser for the Miss Nebraska Scholarship Pageant as well as the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.  So 100% of the funds went towards both of those organizations!  We successfully made around $10,000 on the event which is a HUGE success!

Jay really captured this photo.

One of the Husker themed trees.

The incredible Wine Tree!

I even took one home with me!  Not that I have a place for him but I now how a tree and a Keurig (which I've been wanting for months)!  I am so thankful for all the donors and volunteers that made this event happen!  It is always an incredible feeling watching a community come together for something so great.

This little guy came home with me along with a Keurig :)

Tis' the season,

Kayla

Miss Nebraska

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