Distinguished Young Women

If there were ever a girl that were so busy, she would meet herself coming and going... it would be our Alyssa. If she ever happens to get a moment of "free" time, she absolutely uses it to sleep, because that is what she's always short of. I look at what she does and am amazed by her, because NONE of her friends ever are as busy as she is. (And the one that comes closest is actually Darcie!)

None of her friends have the daily grind of Early-Morning Seminary, and AP courses, and Band, and Gold Voices, and school- & travel-softball (or even a different sport, if it were a friend). And then the weekly schedule inserts of a job, and Young Women's and church, and ward choir, and home chores. And then the occasional inserts like dance committee, and church or school dances. None of her friends do all that. She has friends in each of those activities, but no ONE friend in all of them.

And it's not enough that she participates, it's also that she goes the extra mile. She has a 4.0 GPA. I'm not trying to brag here, just stating a fact, and you have to work hard to maintain that. She has completed her reading of the Old Testament for Seminary (3 months early). She brings homemade food for extra credit in French class. She works out 2-3 times per week in the softball off-season, and 5-6 times per week during Season. She was in the small Band group that traveled with the basketball team to State. She was in the small Gold Voices group that organized all the Singing Valentines.

She makes me tired, just thinking about it all.

And then, came Distinguished Young Women. A.K.A. Junior Miss!

My poor photos are taken the night of Dress Rehearsal. Can I just say how thankful I am that the softball double-header that day was rained out? Because I'm not sure how she would have survived pitching a game before the long dress rehearsal evening.

Distinguished Young Women has a time committment that is roughly equivilent to a season of a sport. Practices to learn the routines, a fitness level equal to many sports, plus studying for the interview portion, and then performing the poise, talent, and self-expression portions on stage with grace, beauty and style. Oh, yes -- these last 2 months have been pretty hectic for her!

There were 12 girls that participated this year. That number is down from last year's 22 girls. I'm sure you can pick out our Alyssa in this photo -- she's the one with sleeves on her dress.

Alyssa asked her Aunt Kerry to be her backstage mom, and what an amazing backstage mom she was! On dress rehearsal night, the hair and makeup was done by a local beauty school. Alys and Kerry decided they could do better on their own, so for the actual performance, Kerry did her hair and makeup. Alyssa tells me that all the other girls commented on what a good job Kerry did. So these "night before" photos are not Kerry's makeup job...

But this performance night photo IS Kerry's work:  (We sent Alys some flowers and she got a few other gifts from friends and church leaders, too)

The long blue dress was for her talent performance. She sang, Lauren Alaina's "Like My Mother Does". And can I just say that as the mom, .... that's a really hard thing to sit through without tearing up? You can see the Lauren Alaina version here on YouTube. The pink t-shirt and capris was for the fitness routine, which came first on the program. Kerry snapped this photo on her phone before the performance began.

Alyssa didn't come away with any of the scholarship awards, but she did have a great experience, and made some new friends as well.  And lest you think that she is some perfect angel, I'll clue you in that she does have her faults.... I just don't want to say anything embarrassing here. Except that part about how she leaves dirty clothes on the floor and is really grumpy when she's sleep-deprived, and ....

Oh, whoops. Did I say that?

Love you, Sis!!

We're proud of her and the choices that she makes in her life. We're so blessed to have her (and each one of our kids) in our family.