Farmington Duck Race!

My director and friend, Frannie !! :)

Miss Farmington and her court! Love these girls!!

Mama Duck and me!

Bill Dwyer and me

Holiday Inn helped sponsored the duck race and they also sponsor the Miss Michigan pageant during the state competition!

We're walking down the river trying to help the ducks find there way!

It was very slippery, but we helped each other! It's all about team work!

One of my favorite pictures! She even tried on my crown! :)


I was so honored to be able to come out and join this wonderful event in Farmington! It was my first time ever attending a duck race! It was a ton of fun and the water was so refreshing on such a warm and sunny day! We had over 4,000 ducks in the competition and we all helped them down stream. We also had the Decoy corporate ducks in the beginning of the race which is all of the people who helped sponsor the event. I met alot of wonderful people and had the chance to interact with kids! One darling little girl even tried on my crown! Hopefully I'll have another chance to be in a duck race in the near future! :)

Farmington Parade

Getting ready for the parade!

Everyone was so kind and very accepting of me. I truly appreciate it! :)

We had such a beautiful day for a parade!

My beautiful and amazing director Francesca!

Walking to Page's for lunch

Joelle and me in front of the Govenors Mansion

Teaching someone how to play one of the Victorian Games

Calling out the numbers for Bingo!

Morgan and me at Coldstone!

Chelsea Lide Miss Farmington's 2nd runner up and me

I had the honor to be a part of the Farmington Parade! It was such a beautiful day out, perfect for a parade! There were so many unique floats and it was a ton of fun! It was nice to see Joelle and Brenna, two contestants from the Miss Oakland County pageant come out and be a part of the parade and games at the Govenors Mansion!

After the parade was over we all walked down to Page's to get a bite to eat and it was delicious! It was also nice to catch up on things with everyone!

After lunch we walked down to the Govenors Mansion where each of us worked at different locations to teach kids how to play each of the games. After they played all of them they won a prize!

We walked downtown to see some of the tents that were up and I also had the chance to call off the numbers for Bingo! It was alot of fun and I know the participents were enjoying themselves as well!

Farmington Idol Finals and Masonic Temple Booth

The Farmington Idol finals was so much fun!! We had a beautiful day out! It was a bit windy, but it was a nice breeze from the warm weather! Everyone did a fantastic job and I am so proud of each and every one of them!

I also had the opportunity to speak to Kirsten Haglund, Miss America 2008! I have known her for a couple of years and I met her mom Iora Haglund when I was 12 years old!! Kirsten's family has a special spot in my heart! She is such a wonderful and geninue person,! Just being around her is fun and she just lights up the room and everyones day when she is around! Everyone competing in the competition was honored that she was one of the judges for the finals!!

I even had the chance to sing my song "Orange Colored Sky" while the judges were finishing their scoring for the winner!

Jenny Fernandez won the Farmington Idol and Angelica Payne was Peoples Choice. They did an outstanding job!! I am so happy for them for having the confidence to sing on that stage! Congrats to you and all of the contestants!

After the Farmington Idol finals I helped work at the Masonic Temple Booth with some of the Miss Oakland County contestants as well as Morgan, Miss Oakland Countys Outstanding Teen! We all had a fun time making snow cones and cotton candy!

Farmington Idol Auditions

Before the auditions started Angelica and I played DDR. It was my first time playing, I wasn't very good, but it was fun!!

BATMAN! He was very kind to come in and take some photos with the contestants!

I helped with the raffle tickets

Miss Farmington contestants. Jenny Fernandez (Miss Farmington 2010), Gina Tomlinson, Makayla McCoskey (First Runner Up), Kayla Pingel (Miss Farmington 2009), me, Chelsea Lide (Second Runner Up), and Cara Whinnery (Miss Spirit 2010).

The power went out and we all screamed and shared some laughs!

The top 10 finalests for the Farmington Idol!

I had the opportunity to join the fun of watching the Farmington Idol auditions. Everyone was truly outstanding!! They all had to sing a cappella (no background mucis) with a 90 second song (just like MAO!: ) ) They chose 10 finalists who were wonderful singers! We even had a special guest! Batman! He only made a quick appearance before the show started!

I also had the opportunity to pull the raffle tickets for free prizes from Zap Zone. At first it looked like I was cheating because one of the judges won, and so did the former Miss Farmington, it was a hoot!

The fun didn't end there though! Once the intermission began the power went out! Everyone started screaming because we didn't realize the storm and already come in! Thankfully all of the singing was finished so we went out into the game area to announce the top 10 finalists.

The moment that really meant the most to me was speaking to a little girl who competed for the Farmington Idol auditions. She was only 10 years old and when she went up to the microphone she started to sing (and it was beautiful) but she became very nervous and stopped singing. She asked to start over and the judges were so sweet and supportive of letting her try again. She decided she wasn't ready and didn't want to. Once everything calmed down I had the opportunity to go and speak to her. It was something I knew I had to do especially with being a singer and struggling for so many years as a kid with singing in front of people by myself. I told her that I was SO proud of her for having the courage to even try! I couldn't have done that at her age. I wasn't ready to sing solos until I was 18 years old! So to see her give it her best was truly inspirational and that I hope she never gives up because if you love music and your passionate about it, you will learn and become stronger about your talent. I told her that she had a wonderful voice and that I hope she considers to try out again next year!

Looking at the pictures above of me hugging her it brought tears to my eyes because it reminded me of the time when Jennifer Berry, Miss America 2006 spoke to me after she made a speach at the Miss Michigan's Outstanding Teen orientation. Jennifer was someone who changed my life and gave me the confidence to find out who I was and to continue to do something I love which is compete in pageants. And that is something that I have always prayed is that I would be able to give back to someone the way that Jennifer Berry had done for me, with or without a title. I hope I helped that little girl to feel great about giving her all in something even though it was hard. She is a true winner in my eyes!