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.

Campin' and Crabs

The weekend started with a birthday celebration for my sister - a pirate theme! With booty and eye patches. What a blast.

Then ... a campin' trip filled with crabs. We took some good friends out to Seabeck to go camping a couple of weekends ago. What a time we had.





First after setting up the tents we hit the water to go crabbing. The gentlemen had dropped to pots early that morning so first we hit up Pleasant Cove for lunch. I had a great chicken pesto sandwich, but the French Dip was to die for. (Yes Carol, I still LOVE them!)





After lunch we headed to pull up the pots. Which... were filled with 12 crabs! Back to the campsite we went where we boiled the crabs, played a little Phase 10 and then ate to our heart's content.





It truly was a feast. And lucky for us, my sister was there and likes to crack but doesn't like to eat it as much. :)







In the morning we made breakfast over the coleman stove.



A laid back evening at home, filled with more crab and games was the perfect conclusion to our camping extravaganza!