Miss North Dakota

This has been a very exciting week for Maia. This week, she took part in the Little Sisters program during the Miss North Dakota Scholarship Pageant. As part of the program, each girl is matched up with a contestant to be sisters for the week.
Maia was matched up with an incredibly sweet 17-year-old big sister named Megan. She loved every minute of their time together!

Allison Irgens, Maia's personal hair dresser, helps her get ready before the show.

Maia and her big sister, Miss James River Valley Megan Ockert of Cathay, N.D. What a gorgeous pair!

Maia (green dress) and Megan (black dress) unwind after Friday's preliminary competition with some dancing at the Miss N.D. gala.

Joining in to do the Macarena with the other contestants and Little Sisters.

Getting ready to go on stage - Maia smiles for the camera next to her spot in the dressing room.

Maia presents Megan with a rose during the evening gown portion of the competition.

Maia (yellow hat, second from left) and the other Little Sisters play dress-up during their special musical number during the pageant.

Gloves, necklaces, bracelets and heels - what fun to play dress up for the crowd!

Megan and Maia say their good-byes - and Megan signs Maia's program from the event. They had such a good time together!

Maia with Miss North Dakota 2007 Annette Olson.

Our friend Amanda (Alea Photography) did a great photoshoot of us this winter, and she has the pictures available for sale on her Web site.

They are gorgeous, and you should really check them out!

http://www.shutterfly.com/progal/album.jsp?aid=768a5498cf4009c8ca2f

Big day for Ella!

This has been a very, very big day for the baby of the family.

It was the last day of kindergarten (woo-hoo! Here I come first grade!), she lost a tooth and went to a birthday party.

Does it get any better when you're six?

Look at me!

Check it out, I can touch my feet to the back of my head! ~Ella

Playing with Jimmy

Jimmy taking a ride in the doll stroller - he's not sure what to think about that!

Maia and Jimmy

Taking a break for a snuggle.

St. Louis trip

It was a very exciting week for our family. Four of us traveled to St. Louis, Missouri for the national convention of the U.S. Jaycees, and to compete on the national level in the Mungenast (Jaycee family of the year) competition.

(Cameron stayed behind with Grandma and Grandpa because he has perfect attendance, and didn't want to lose it!)

The competition consisted of interviews and judging on a book put together from our family activities throughout the year. And we won! Our family was honored with the Andrew and Charlotte Mungenast Memorial Award.

We made the Herald, too. Here is a story about us getting the national award:

http://www.willistonherald.com/articles/2007/03/17/local_news/news3.txt

While we were in St. Louis, we also had some time to check things out and have a little fun. (Photos to follow....)

St. Louis

Little competitors

Maia and Ella are ready for their interview before a panel of judges.

JCI tour

Among the places we got to visit during our trip was the JCI (Junior Chamber International) headquarters in St. Louis. Here we are (the North Dakota delegates) with Scott Greenlee, the president of the JCI organization. Very exciting place for us to be! There was even art on the walls from New Zealand, and a doll collection with dolls from all over the world. We also got to see lots of interesting history of JCI, and check out the state-of-the-art offices.