Ipa battles a bee...

Cream of the Crop

The last of the 2009 Miss Washington Contestants were crowned yesterday afternoon during the Sweeper Pageant. The pageant was highly entertaining and filled with well qualified girls.

The new Miss Northwest is Tonie Duchemin

Miss Tahoma is Cara Rudd


Miss Liberty Felicia Rouston

First runner up is Brenna Gardner-Brown and second runner up is Zandra Dennis.

The lineup was full of energetic dances, opera, show tunes, and some truly lively showmanship.

I was thoroughly impressed with all the young ladies and the counties they represented. Miss Washington 2008, Janet Harding was a wonderful M.C. even in a crunch and the audience was highly entertained. Miss Washington's Outstanding Teen Tori Knight sang 3 wonderful pieces of entertainment.

Charlotte Smith-Shores entertained us with a funny and on point performance.



On stage questions were answered with poise, intelligence and skill.



The evening gowns were marvelous and the young women truly wow'ed us.





I was particularly proud of my younger sister Tonie who entered the competition as a new comer, and first runner up to Miss Pierce County this year.

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Another exciting aspect to this pageant was the amount of involvement and attendance by the class of 2007. Liz Lamb-Ferro helped with production, Charlotte Smith-Shores performed, I am currently the Pine Cone Princess Coordinator, and there were many others in attendance and supporting this program at their local levels. Devanni Partridge is Miss Seattle 2009, Angie Lewis is Miss Clark County 2009, Kelly Backous is a volunteer with Clark County, Kara-Anne Pedrini, Sarah Rosborough-Talbot was in attendance and is still in close contact with the program. It is so cool to see girls returning to support this program.

What a show this was! Congrats to Felicia, Tonie, and Cara for a job well done.

Pine Cone Princesses

The deadline is quickly approaching for those young ladies who want to participate in the Pine Cone Princess Program. The young ladies will be paired with a Miss Washington's Outstanding Teen contestant in a mentoring relationship. There are 2 major weekend commitments. Spring Forum May 1st-3rd where they will receive self-improvement workshops, attend a tea party and princess movie girls night. Then again in July during the Miss Washington and Miss Washington Outstanding Teen competitions, July 8th-11th they will learn their dance number, and perform ALL THREE nights of competition.



“Every young person is beautifully and wonderfully made and they hold the seeds of great promise in their hearts and minds.”

The Pine Cone Princess program is designed to benefit young ladies 7 to 11 years of age. It allows them to be exposed to the magical world of “Miss America” and “Miss Washington” before they are of competition age.


This is an opportunity to be involved with the Miss Washington’s Outstanding Teen
as each Princess serves and works with an Outstanding Teen mentor from across the state.

It is our intent to provide positive life experiences during Spring Forum and Pageant Week, to teach manners, etiquette, poise and confidence. These tools will enable our princesses to make good first impressions as they interact with those in their schools and communities.

As a result of participating in the Princess Program, your young lady will have practiced and applied skills that will serve her well in her teen and adult years.


To answer frequently asked questions view the 2009 Pine Cone Princess Information Form on the Miss Washington site. If you are interested in the Pine Cone Princess Program you can contact me at alex@misswashington.org. If you are planning to participate in the Pine Cone Princess Program please print off the 4 forms on the Miss Washington Outstanding Teen site www.misswashington.org under the Pine Cone Princess tab and submit them no later the May 1, 2009.





I hope you and your young ladies can become a part of this wonderful program!

Our adventure watching "Janet's Journey" to Miss America!

My husband Ben and I were able to attend the 2009 Miss America pageant in Las Vegas, at the Planet Hollywood. It was incredible to see the pageant so promoted, Kirsten Haglund's face was everywhere as were all 52 contestants. We were so impressed with the show and had a wonderful time cheering on our Miss Washington, Janet Harding. She represented us so well. We are so proud of her. Check out her blog at www.misswashington.org called "Janet's Journey" for more of her take on her experience and life beyond the show.

We traveled with dear friend Mitchell and luckily he was more than willing to help us document our trip.

We landed in Vegas late morning, got checked into our hotel and made the most of our first day on "the strip." What fun!









Waiting for the show to start - such anticipation.




The Show... was amazing.





Waiting to see our girl.




After our first night of preliminary - with the lovely Janet Harding.




Spice Market Buffet - here we come!

The crab might have been our favorite part.



YUM!



We tried almost everything.



Dessert - in honor of it being Janet's favorite thing to eat, we tried EVERYTHING!





Touring the city.








LOVE!



We got to see The Beattles Love - Cirque de Sole! Simply amazing.



We might be her BIGGEST fans.


The INCREDIBLE Miss America stage.


In the end the state of Indiana got their first Miss America, and Katie Stam was crowned the new Miss America 2009.



What a trip this was for Ben and I.



Awaiting our hugs and congratulations for a job well done!




It's setting in, she's coming home to us!



Ben get's greeted by Jan.



We were astounded when they released Janet after the final performance to head to Cheeseburger restraunt for a get together in her honor.



Early rise tiem for our flight, and LOTS of cribbage to be played.




Headed home on Alaska Air.