Little Miss Utah

Lucky Ellie got the chance to be a "little miss" in the Miss Utah pageant this last week. My brother Devin's girlfriend, Ashley, chose her to be her little miss and so we were "pageanting" the whole second week in July. I must say I have a new respect for these girls (and their mothers). The work that goes into this pageant is amazing!!! And the girls are so talented! I don't know if I could be a career pageant mom, thought. Ellie had more than a few breakdowns and tantrums, and we were done by the end of the week. But we had so much fun cheering for Ashley - she is so amazing!!!! This is a pic of Ellie and Ashley practicing the evening gown portion. Ellie got to bring Ashley a flower as her "escort" for the night. It was her favorite part.

This is one of the production numbers that the Little Misses had to do everynight. Sorry about the poor picture quality - I wasn't even supposed to have my camera with me, but i snuck it in and took a few anyways.... She loves that crown and parasol ("its an umbrella, mom"). She loved that she got to put on makeup to. My little princess performer!!
We never knew what Ellie would do on stage. Each night was a new surprise. The first night she almost fell off of the stage because she was waving and Matt and her grandma and uncles. The second night, she came out on stage with this frog stuffed in her shirt to do her first production number. I was mortified. She couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. "Kella" just wanted to do the dance, too, mom.
Ellie is on the bottom, second from the left. The last night, she was pointing her parasol at the audience and kept popping it open and closed. When I asked her after what she had been doing, she said she was "shooting" Deving and Casey ( her uncle's out in the audience). Seriously, i dont know where she comes from.
My mom, Ashley (isn't she gorgeous?), Ashley's mom, me and Ellie. ( oh and Kella the frog in Ellie's shirt). Thanks for letting us play Ashley! We had a lot of fun!!! We think you were robbed!!!