And the winner is...

Well, it was a night of firsts... just not the sort of firsts we were hoping for! Courtney ran for Miss Moses Lake and Kendall ran for Miss Moses Lake's Outstanding Teen. They both were first runner ups! They did so great. I was the proudest mom ever!

Courtney, David & Kendall

Courtney came home for the weekend. We had gotten $49 tickets on Southwest so it wasn't too much trouble to fly her home for the weekend. Although, unbeknownst to Courtney, we had gotten her a new car a few weeks before the pageant. We decided since she was coming home in a few weeks, we just waited and gave it to her then and she drove it back. It is a Chevy Malibu and we are hoping that it doesn't share the same fate as our two previous Chevy Malibus (both were rolled by Kristy. She managed to total both hers and Kacey's - no, not at the same time.)

Anyway, Kacey was also here for the weekend and my sister Julie was here as well. We had a great time doing total girl pageant stuff. Kendall wore Kylie's red dress that she wore when she won Outstanding Teen. Courtney wore Sara Rosborough's dress that the pageant committee owns and with a few alterations it looked fabulous on her. She also wore Danielle's back up swimsuit and interview suit from when she was MML so we didn't have to buy much of anything which is really nice.

Courtney & Kendall giving us the serious supermodel face.

Kendall sang a song called "Show Off" from the broadway musical, "The Drowsy Chaperone" and Courtney did the same dance that she did for Junior Miss with some minor changes. It is a jazz dance with some tumbling to "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend." Kendall had struggled to figure out her character and to really get into the song but when showtime came she did so awesome. She is so fun to watch. Courtney did a fabulous job on her dance. She did not really enjoy parading around on the stage in a swimsuit (as most don't) but she looked unbelievable. Honestly, you could hear a collective gasp from the audience when she took the stage. She is so tall with long legs and so much lean muscle. So many people told her they would kill for that body.

Well, Moses Lake's pageant has become an open pageant this year which means anyone in the state can come and run for our title. That means that girls who have previously run for Miss Washington and want to have another shot at it can come and run for Miss Moses Lake so that they can go to the state pageant again. So there were 8 contestants and 5 of them were from out of town. They gave away two titles, MML and Miss Columbia Basin and both of them went to out of town contestants. One girl was 23 and the other was 21. Most of us thought Courtney was a shoe in for MML and were quite surprised by the outcome, but that's the way it goes. The future of the pageant as an open pageant doesn't really look too good. In the past, there was a lot more scholarship money and a free trip to Japan which made it all worthwhile. Then going to Miss Washington was an extra added bonus. Now it will all be about going to the state pageant and there is very little scholarship money at the local level. Doesn't sound too good for local girls but we'll see...

Brittany, Kendall, McKenna & Breanna chilling at dress rehearsal

Kendall had a great bunch of girls she was running with and many of them were her friends. It was a really strong year this year and she was thrilled and honored to be 1st runner up. Breanna Haddican won the title who is one of Kylie's best friends. I wish I had some better pictures to share but I didn't take that many. I was a little busy. We should be getting some professional ones back in a short time. If any of them are good I will post them later. It was a fun weekend and it was awesome to have Kacey and Julie here to share it with. They were such a big help especially since we had to get Courtney ready in one weekend. She flew in Thursday. Practiced Friday night and competed Saturday. I wish I had a picture that captured how stunning she looked and how poised she was. No one would have ever guessed that so little preparation went into the whole thing. That's just who she is!

Kendall surprised everyone because she looked so gorgeous and so much older on stage. She usually just dresses casual and is a book worm. Even though we know all the sides to Kendall, I think she surprised a lot of people. She was voted "Miss Congeniality" which was very nice. The poor thing had all of her older sisters saying "Don't do it like that! Don't say that! Don't walk like that!" In the end, she made them all so proud.

Kendall & Breanna Haddican

What a great weekend! Glad it's over though...