Miss Hillcrest

I mentioned earlier that Malia auditioned for Miss Hillcrest and was chosen as a participant. I am so grateful that Malia is so independent.  Malia did this whole thing with very little help from me.  She found her own sponsors, sold and delivered all her tickets, scheduled and  recorded mock interviews, and then studied the recordings by herself, wrote everything by herself (I didn't even proof read), learned her piano song by herself (her piano teacher moved to St. George, but mailed Malia some music with her comments written throughout), and then when it came down to the day, because of work I realized I wouldn't be able to help as much as I would have liked to.  In desperation I called Rik's little sister Ana, who was visiting from New Mexico, and asked if she could come help for the two days.  She gladly came and was pageant mom for me.  She did Malia's hair and make-up, and went to the luncheon with her (THANK YOU SO MUCH ANA!!)

(Do you like my armful of math homework we were trying to get done through the performance?)

Because of my lack of involvement I was surprisingly blown away the night of Miss Hillcrest.  I had no idea what to expect, and she was stunning!  She was so poised, and her piano song was near perfect.  I sat in my chair teary-eyed the whole evening.  I was grateful for her loud cheering section in the audience, as I could barely get a squeak out.  Malia's platform had to do with WORK.  During her interview she expressed how important it is for youth of today to learn to work.  She focused on helping teens find and keep a job.  When I asked her why that's what she wanted to focus on, she told me that's what our family does.  We work hard, no matter what we are doing, and she was more than comfortable talking about how much working hard has helped her in her life.  Thank you so much to everyone who helped, sponsored, supported, cheered, interviewed, and made this a memorable experience for her!!