MRS. UNITED STATES 2009 (Day 1) - Las Vegas, NV

Well, I decided to throw my hat back in the ring one more time and compete for the title of Mrs. United States. So here I am in Las Vegas! I am SOOOOO behind on my blog and hope to get it updated when I have more time. I swear there are simply not enough hours in the day, especially when you're a MOM!

My flight was on time, however my luggage was not. Since the airline could not guarantee when it would be delivered (they gave me a "window"), I decided to wait at the airport. So I got to see a lot of McCarran Airport, LOL. Luckily I only had to wait about 2 hrs, and at least it wasn't lost (it just came in on the next flight). I arrived at the hotel and checked into my room, got settled in, and went downstairs for Registration. Due to my luggage being delayed, I missed seeing the majority of the contestants, however it was nice to meet Mrs. Alaska, Mrs. Kansas, and Mrs. Indiana.







With Mrs. Kansas, Cydney Boler...she was very friendly, sweet, and 5'10" like me!


















...and Mrs. Alaska is the same! Darling!









After checking in, we had dinner downstairs at the buffet and we were all trying to find healthy food (hard to do in a Las Vegas buffet!). I finally got to meet Ginny Meerman (Mrs. Maryland) and she is awesome! Love her personality, she is sassy and fun and I am all over that, ha ha. I also sat next Mrs. Utah (who is 5 months pregnant and so cute!), Mrs. North Carolina, Mrs. Pennsylvania, Mrs. Arizona, Mrs. Indiana, Mrs. Oklahoma, and Mrs. Florida. There are some beautiful ladies competing this year and lots of tall girls like me! Maybe we should start a basketball team! We enjoyed getting to know each other at dinner and on the way back to our rooms, I ended up chatting with Mrs. Washington Beth Kovacevich who is AWESOME! LOVE her! She was Mrs. Washington America 1996 and competed with my good friend Susan Jackson. Tomorrow kicks off with a bang with our first official rehearsal and the State Gift exchange. Stay tuned...






Dinner at the Orleans Buffet (L to R: FL, Me, MD, UT)












Getting to know Mrs. OK and Mrs. FL.












L to R: FL, IA, HI, MN, OH, SD, WA















Me with the darling Michelle Berndt, Mrs. Iowa United States. Michelle was 1st RU at Mrs. Iowa America this past year. What a great gal!













I had to take this photo of Garianne Gunter, Mrs. United States holding her beautiful (and obviously tuckered out) little girl Isabella. Isabella was wearing the CUTEST patriotic outfit and seeing her made me really miss my little one!















L to R: Guam, WA, MN, RI