Alright, friends. If you are reading this I assume you purposefully looked up my blog. So you will please forgive me for what I'm about to do. The last post I just did had about a million pictures of Bethany winning the Miss Riverton Scholarship Competition. If you can believe it, I'm not done yet. You see, we are still completely reeling from the whole experience-- blogging and sharing is part of how I process life. So don't mind me over here bragging and being obnoxious. I'm just processing.
Since we had rented her evening wear dress and it had to be returned on Monday (today), I had her get dressed up again on Sunday after church and she and I went over to the Riverton City Park to take some pictures. Considering my photography skills (absolutely none whatsoever), I think they turned out pretty well.
Note to self: Acquire some photography skills.
Alright, alright. Enough already.
Here are my absolute favorites.
This is what it's really all about-- being your best self and being a good example to the people in the world who love you.
Greta is like Bethany was as a child in SO many ways. Raise Bethany over again? Yes, please!
Before I finish up the evening I want to give a shout out to Bethany nearly life-long friend, Jacob. I seriously love him like he is my own child. He has a been a kind a devoted friend to Bethany and when we got her dress on Thursday night and realized it was just a little too long and needed to be tacked up, Jacob jumped right in and said, "I know how to sew! I'll do it for you". And HE DID IT and he did it well. Because one thing I'm actually worse at than photography? Yep... sewing.
Note to self: Acquire some sewing skills. You know what? No. Not going to happen. Acquire friends who have skills you lack.
Saturday evening Bethany competed in the 2019 Miss Riverton Scholarship pageant. She enjoyed the process of preparing her social impact statement (Protecting Children From Pornography Through Community and Family Standards), practicing her talent, picking out dresses, and learning how to do a pageant (it was a cultural experience!). She hoped she would represent herself well, but having no previous pageant experience, she didn't have much expectation beyond doing a "cool thing".
As it turns out, it was, indeed, a very cool thing and she did exceptionally well! SHE WON!
There was a opening "Production Number" that was super cheesy, but very fun and adorable. With all her dance and theater experience, a production number was right up her alley and she had great stage presence. This was not an officially a judged part of the evening.
They danced to "Hey, Look, Ma, I Made It". Like I said, cheesy. But we like cheese at our house-- and the sharper the better!
Next up was the talent portion of the evening. There were eleven girls competing and Bethany was number 10. So she was second to last for all the events.
She played an excerpt from her concerto she played back in December for her senior recital-- Mendelssohn's Concerto in E Minor. She nailed it!
When she got to the flying-fast ending audience members were cheering before she even finished.
So many years of practice for her to make it look effortless.
I wish I could claim credit for these pictures, but they were the official pictures.
Here is a video Abe took:
Next up was the onstage interview question. The judges rotated through each asking a contestant a question. Bethany's question was about her SIS (Social Impact Statement) about what family's can to to protect their children from pornography. In a nutshell she answered that as uncomfortable as it can to talk about pornography, that is exactly what parents need to do.
She thought this was the scariest part of the whole thing because you have to think on your feet in front a crowd. That tends to make people nervous!
What she said was great, but her seeming ease and confidence just blew me away. Shout out to Sam Martineau and the Wasatch Debate League for great public speaking training.
I think this is moment of her listening to the question.
Here is the video:
Then the final event was evening wear. She loved her dress! We rented it from a dress store and now I'm wishing we had bought it! I suppose we still could.
After the girls took a little stroll and circle around the stage they went to the microphone to give a thirty second snippet about their SIS.
Flawless.
The top braces came off on Thursday. That was cutting it a little close:)
The bottom braces are still on for a couple months.
She was so lovely. I had a hard time believing she was our daughter.
The show was hosted by a local actor/celebrity-- Scott Christopher. We though he was hilarious and he did a great job. Before we knew it, it was time for the results.
Here is a series of pictures from the moments after they had announced the 2nd and 1st attendants.
Hugging the outgoing Miss Riverton.
Things I just never expected.
The first attendant (red dress) sang beautifully for her talent and the second attendant (white dress) was a fantastic dancer.
All the girls were lovely and it took some serious guts to get up there and do what they did. I was impressed with all of them.
With the mayor and his daughter and the outgoing Miss Riverton.
I absolutely adore this picture of Bethany with her Grandma-- my step mom. My sister and I grew up always watching the Miss America Pageant with our mom. One year she even took us to the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City. Such a fun memory for us. Bethany has never known my mom in this life because my mom passed away five weeks before she was born. I am quite certain my mom took great delight in Bethany on Saturday night. I am thankful for Bev for stepping in and being a wonderful grandma to Bethany and all of our children.
Here are a few we snapped that night-- not quite the same quality-- but it was just so exciting. We were so proud of our Bethany. Senior year can be a challenging time with lots of important life decisions and upcoming changes. This was a rather unexpected result, but it's wonderful for her to have this direction focus and year of service that will keep her connected to her community. This summer will be very full with lots of parades and city functions. She'll still head up to BYU-Idaho this fall and most likely make more frequent trips home than she otherwise would have. Along with the title of "Miss Riverton" comes a $2000 scholarship-- so that's awesome.
Foxy Ladies celebrating together.
One more evening wear picture I loved.
Congratulations, Bethany. It was a night never to be forgotten and I know you will made this a year to remember!
Alright, alright. Enough already. 
This is what it's really all about-- being your best self and being a good example to the people in the world who love you.
Greta is like Bethany was as a child in SO many ways. Raise Bethany over again? Yes, please!
Before I finish up the evening I want to give a shout out to Bethany nearly life-long friend, Jacob. I seriously love him like he is my own child. He has a been a kind a devoted friend to Bethany and when we got her dress on Thursday night and realized it was just a little too long and needed to be tacked up, Jacob jumped right in and said, "I know how to sew! I'll do it for you". And HE DID IT and he did it well. Because one thing I'm actually worse at than photography? Yep... sewing. 
Love that guy.
