Moving, Stuffing, Lake Fun and Rodeo's!

 After spending a week going through all my junk, yes I'm going to call it junk, I was able to move out of my one bedroom apartment into a single bedroom.  Needless to say I got rid of TONS of stuff!  I believe I was on garbage bag number 7 by the end of everything.  My mother always tells me that I'm a horrible junk collector and I may have been in the past, but recently I've become very good at clearing that junk out.  My motto is: If I haven't used it in the last year, I don't need it.  I sent bags of clothes to Goodwill and the Black Market in Lincoln and filled the dumpsters outside my apartment with everything else.  It was fun filing through all of my past memories though, running into paperwork from Miss Nebraska's Outstanding Teen in 2007 to photos from elementary school.  I avoided the sappy mess that could have come to be and just tossed things into the trash pile, it felt SO good!!

The challenge of the move out occurred when I remembered that I needed to take a lot of my stuff back to Alliance.  As many of you know I drive a new Chevy Aveo, not the largest car but great on gas mileage.  So I'm standing outside with my four plastic tubs questioning how on Earth I'm going to get them to fit into little Howie.  (This is my car's name, it took me a couple weeks but he is and will always remain, Howie.)  But low and behold, two in the trunk and two in the back seat with everything else stuffed in an around, I did it!  The weight may have taken a little toll on Howie as we has a teeny trouble going at the green lights.  Needless to say, Howie was pretty stuffed!  We stopped in Clarks for some cabin fun with Joel's family and then it was off to Bridgeport for some 4th of July fun at the Lake.

My friend Sayla :)

Every year our friends from Colorado come down and we have a great time swimming, boating and fishing.  And as always we make our way out to the county fairgrounds for the rodeo.  I was honored to sing the National Anthem both Sunday and Monday night and it was a joy to run into so many people I haven't seen in years!  I ran into family, friends, classmates, and teachers; some of whom I thought would have forgotten about me by now.  Sunday night, I walked around with my little cousin signing autographs and taking donations and Monday we decided to do a 50/50 raffle to help raise money for my expenses.  It was a great turn out and I met so many wonderful people!  It was amazing to me, how many people had been following me over the years and to see how proud they were of me.  That is the joy in coming home for the first time.  I felt so incredibly welcome and honored.  I singed hundreds of autographs, a few t-shirts and my favorite, two cowboy hats!  What a privilege!

DJ and Matthew Hoxworth

It was so great to run into some familiar faces like DJ and Matthew.  We spent many summers together at Angora's Vacation Bible School.  If I remember correctly Matthew used to tell people he was really special because his name was in the Bible!  They've always been family friends and it was great discussing the pageant life with them.  Mom had asked them if they knew what rhinestone dresses were running for these days!

I also had the pleasure of seeing a good friend from high school, Levi Gorsuch.  We reminisced about our first middle school dance that Levi asked me to and then later asked me to be his girlfriend.  Too bad it only lasted a week when he broke up with me the following Friday.  Some of his family members were teasing him because of this and had to tell them that I gave the kid a second chance my freshman year, when I asked Levi to the homecoming dance...too bad he was going to be out of town for a RODEO!  Guess it just wasn't meant to be Levi!

My friend Levi Gorsuch

I have to give a special thank you to my Grandma Mary, Aunt Renee and cousin Ashlee who walked around all the stands selling raffle tickets for me!  I also have to thank my mom, as stubborn as she is and as much as she didn't want too, she followed us around and took pictures for me!  We raised $442 total but went home with $221 after giving the other half to the little girl who won the raffle.  She bought the tickets with her own money and then won $221, she was thrilled!  I am so blessed with amazing people in my life, I won't ever be able to thank them enough.

Aunt Renee, Gma Mary, and Ashlee helped me with a 50/50 raffle!

Feeling so at home, 

Kayla
Miss Nebraska

"But as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving."  2 Corinthians 8:7