When I was a teenager, I participated in the Washington City Royalty Pageants. I had a lot of fun participating and made friends while doing it. When I saw the sign for the Hyrum Royalty Pageant, I asked Emily and Charlotte if they wanted to try out for Hyrum Princess. They were excited to try out and be a part of the Royalty. Usually the Hyrum Pageant is only for 16-18 year old girls but this year the pageant was extended to include girls ages 5-15. There were three categories of girls. The 5-10 year olds were the Little Miss Princesses. The 11-15 year old girls were the Junior Princess category. The 16-18 year old girls were the Hyrum Queen Contestants.
The girls were excited to compete in the pageant but it also meant some work on our part. First they had to come up with a talent to perform. Emily had been working really hard on her AIM Tests for piano lessons so she chose one of her performance songs to play for the pageant. We didn't know what to do for Charlotte so we looked through her Let's Play Music songs and she decided to play her bells to the Dinosaur Song. That song showed her playing scales on her bells. With their talents selected, it was time to practice, practice, practice!
Next we had to write a paragraph for each one of them. The paragraph explained their talents, goals, personalities, and reasons why they want to be part of the Hyrum Royalty. Here are their paragraphs:
"Emily Elizabeth Farnsworth is the 13 year old daughter of Russell and Tiffany Farnsworth. She is in 7th Grade and maintains a 4.0 GPA. Emily’s hobbies include playing the piano, jamming on her drum set, mountain biking through the hills, quoting Studio C, and playing with her dog, Truly. When she is not doing these things, you can find her curled up with a good book because she loves to read. In the future, Emily hopes to become an Elementary School Teacher so she can pass on her love of learning to her students. Emily is very kindhearted and caring and always puts others' needs before her own. For this reason, Emily would love to represent and serve the City of Hyrum as part of the Royalty. She would love to give back to the community she has grown to love."
"Charlotte Ellen Farnsworth is the 5 year old daughter of Russell and Tiffany Farnsworth. She is currently attending preschool and learning to read and write. Charlotte loves to play Barbies, sing and play music, jump on the trampoline, and play with her friends. She is learning to ride her bike and tries to do everything her older siblings do. Charlotte is very friendly and her smile wins her friends everywhere she goes. Being born and raised in Hyrum has given her a love for this community. She is excited at the possibility of representing this great city as part of the Royalty."
The hardest part of preparing for the pageant was finding a dress for Emily. Charlotte already had a pretty pink dress that was perfect for her to wear for the pageant. Emily, though, did not have a good dress. We didn't really know where to look for a pageant dress so we asked the girls in our ward where they got their prom dresses. Multiple people told us about a little shop in Logan called "Gown Town." This little shop is a consignment shop for prom dresses. They sell and rent formals for all occasions. We made an appointment and went to try on dresses. There were so many dresses! It took us about two hours to narrow the choices down to two dresses. We liked a purple sparkly one and a yellow one that looked like Belle from Beauty and the Beast. After sending pictures to Russell, Grandmas and some other friends, we decided on the purple dress. This was the best decision because this dress it more versatile and useful than the yellow one and more pretty! We decided to buy the dress rather than rent it because we loved it so much and we can use it a lot in the future. Then we had to find shoes which was another adventure...
We were not really sure what the pageant would entail so I made them practice walking in their dresses over and over. I made them practice turning and smiling and the whole thing. They were really getting tired walking especially Emily!
Finally it was the night of the pageant! The girls were so excited and nervous at the same time. Okay I will admit I was a little nervous for them as well. We still did not know what to expect from the pageant. We only knew that they had to perform their talents.
Here are the pretty girls before the pageant! They wanted to stand by the crowns because they just knew they were going to get one.
The pageant started by introducing all of the contestants. There were 27 girls in all. As the girls were escorted in by the Hyrum City Youth Council and the previous year's Hyrum Royalty, the pageant director read their bio paragraph. When the girls got to the center in front of the audience, the director asked them one on stage question. The question they asked Charlotte was "Why do you want to be a Princess?" Charlotte was so cute and said "I want to be in the parades, and my dad always called me a princess so I am one!" That got laughs and awes from the whole audience so it was perfect! We didn't even know she was going to say that. While they were reading Emily's bio, she did the little walk that we had practiced at home. She didn't know if she should have because she was the only one who did but she said she thought it was better than just standing there. Emily's questions was "Why do you want to be part of the Hyrum Royalty?" She also answered perfectly by saying, "I love to serve and help people. I also love living in Hyrum. Being part of the royalty will enable me to serve the community I love." (Something like that.)
Next it was time for the talent portion of the pageant. This was the longest part because there were so many contestants. The girls did amazing! Charlotte was so brave because this was her first time performing. She got up there and announced her name and her song so clearly.
She played her bells so well along with the music and did it perfectly, even doing a little dance in between verses. The audience loved it.
Emily's song was amazing and got a loud applause. She played "The Great Smoky Mountains." It is definitely a showy piece using the whole piano.
She did a great job, playing the song perfectly. This song is one of my favorite ones she plays.
Once all 27 girls had performed their talents, it was time for the judges to calculate the winners. While they were out of the room discussing, we had cookies and just got more nervous. We had no idea how things would turn out. To ease some nerves, Emily went outside with the older girls and had a good time talking and laughing with them. Charlotte just wanted to eat the cookies but I wouldn't let her eat the chocolate or red velvet ones because I didn't want her to get messy. Finally, the judges came back in the room and it was time to reveal the winners.
First they did the Little Miss Princess group. This was the largest group of the three categories and Charlotte was one of the youngest in the group.
When they announced the winners, we were so excited to hear: "4th attendant... Charlotte Farnsworth!" We could not believe it! Charlotte had won a place in the Hyrum Royalty! She was so happy to get to wear a crown and get flowers. She could not stop smiling and neither could we! I don't know who else was announced as winners because I was too busy cheering for Charlotte.
Next the winners of the Junior Princess category was announced. There were only five girls in this group so we knew all of them would win something but we didn't know what order they would be in.
As they were announcing the other girls' names, Colby looked over at me and said "Emily won!" Sure enough, right after he said that, the announcer said, "And our Junior Princess is... Emily Farnsworth!!" She had done it! Emily had won the Princess crown! We were ecstatic! There might have even been a few tears shed. Emily was so happy and like Charlotte could not stop smiling. I could not be more proud of how well Emily did. She definitely deserved this.
The Queen Contestant were announced next and we were happy to hear our friends Emma Oyler and Layne Bunce had won attendants in that group. This will be a fun royalty year.
Here are our two princesses!
These are the three winners of the three categories. It will be a fun year getting to know all of these beautiful girls. As part of their duties as a royalty they get to be in all of the parades and also do a talent show and take part in the Patriotic program the city puts on on the 4th of July.
We were all on a natural high by the time we got home from the pageant. We were all so excited for Emily and Charlotte and so happy they won.
Here are a few more pictures of these beautiful girls!
We had to get a family photo as well:
Congratulations Emily and Charlotte our two princesses! They both did amazing and we are so proud of them. This will be a busy summer of parades but it will definitely be worth it.
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