Eagle Project

This afternoon I attended Robert Anderson's Eagle Project called STaND (Robert is the young man on the left). It was a six hour workshop on protecting your dignity for teens. Eagle is the highest rank in Boy Scouts. The eagle project can take months to coordinate, and even after the event there is more to do. This project teaches a lot of valuable life lessons like time management, money management and leadership skills. Each project is a community service. Some require building something like a handicap access or play ground and others, like Robert's, provide education.

Last year alone in the Denver Area Council there were 453 Eagle Scouts resulting in 57,486 hours of service and $1,769,835 in project costs and labor value to our communities. Now, imagine that number multiplied across the country. Boy Scouts is a wise investment.


The morning began with a workshop on car safety. The next session featured Barbara and her husband. They shared her struggle with HIV and their commitment to their relationship. They have shared 15 years of marriage. Their workshop focussed on safety of the heart and how to protect yourself from dangerous situations.


The final workshop was the physical aspect of self defence. The participants all had an opportunity to learn various ways to escape a potentially dangerous situation as well as how to avoid them all together. This was a valuable community service. I hope Robert will make this curriculum available for others to use.


Of course, food is important at all Boy Scout functions!

Books For Gaza

This morning I took books to the WAY-FM book drive for Books For Gaza. This was a book drive for the children of the American International School. Their school was bombed and they lost all their books.


I has the opportunity to hang out with Michelle from WAY-FM. We had a great time at the Mardel Christian Store.

AHA CPRU Ready

Today the Pepsi Center wasn't all about the Nuggets. It was an opportunity to help save lives. The American Heart Association held a Family and Friends CPR mass training. We had almost 400 people receive training that could potentially save a life. We were trying to break the record of 480. The important thing was that all these people could one day make a difference.


Tom and Erin were hosting a booth to write thank you notes to Senator Nancy Spence and Rep. Dianne Primavera for sponsoring the AED bill that recently passed the Colorado Legislature. This bill will protect business and institutions from civil liability. This will mean a greater number of AED's available and more lives saved.


Knowing your numbers is an important part of protecting your heart. I had my blood pressure checked by Dr. Jeff Bushnell of On Point Urgent Care. You can find out more information at On Point .


These wonderful Doctors donated their time to take event participant's blood pressure. They are (L-R) Dr. Paul Norton, Dr. Jeff Bushness, both from On Point Urgent Care and Dr. John Torres from Premier Urgent Care. His web site is Premier .


Of course all the volunteers are wonderful. I had so much fun working with Jeff and Sarah. Both had different reasons for volunteering, but both found the experience rewarding. If you would like to volunteer for the American Heart Association, go to Heart.org .

Cub Scout Graduation

Tuesday night was Pack 175's graduation ceremony. This marks the boys completion of an age appropriate rank and their advancement to the next one. There are five ranks in Cub Scouts. Boys can start in first grade with Tiger, second is Wolf, third is Bear and forth/fifth is a rank called Webelos. That last rank covers two years. The word Webelos actually means We'll Be Loyal Scouts. It is the "middle" rank between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. The fifth rank is actually the first rank required no matter what year a boy enters Cub Scouts called Bobcat. It focuses on safety in Scouting.

In our Pack, the parents receive a ribbon that marks each boys advancement with a pin. Here my son Matt is pinning my new Webelos pin on my ribbon. All the boys in my den also received their compas badge that tracks how many achievements each boy completes at the Webelos level. We are an ambitios bunch. Our goal is to earn the 20er patch for completing all the achievements. Goal setting is an important life lesson taught in Scouting. Go for it!

Colorado Nobility Association

The Colorado Nobility Association held it's first luncheon at the Crown Plaza hotel. A fitting venue for such a gathering of queens and delegates.

Elba Seilhan (L) and Brooke Taylor (R) are the visionaries behind this wonderful association. It's purpose is a charity focused group of pageant queens/delegates coming together to celebrate our different systems and work to better our communities.


The key note speaker was Deborah Wright, Mrs. Galaxy 2009. She shared her journey through pageantry to become a national title holder.


Deborah is a gracious queen who has also held the titles Mrs. Maryland International 2005 and Mrs. Pennsylvania International 2007.

Of course almost no post is complete without a picture of myself with my good friend and pageant supporter, Chaplain Rourk.

Cystic Fibrosis Walk, Denver

Jamie Patrick, Miss Colorado International and I met for coffee before the festivities.


I had such a memorable time at the Cystic Fibrosis walk in Denver. I was there with my sister queens to support this fundraising event. We helped Chaplain Rourk hand out Drug Demand Reduction goodies and to walk. This is an important event to Chaplain Rourk because his grandson has CF. Here are all the queens with Chaplain Rourk.


The Civil Air Patrol was the Color Guard for the opening Ceremony.

These fine young men are all members of the Civil Air Patrol.

It was an honor to have my picture taken with this little girl who has CF. Also pictured is Jamie Patrick, Miss Colorado International.

At the Kool 105 booth.


We had a beautiful day for a walk in spite of all the rain the night before. Here I am with Jamie, Erin Feltes, Mrs. Colorado Galaxy and Jessica Smith, Miss Colorado Galaxy.

Scholar Achievement

This week we finished our Scholar Achievement. I taught the boys about the B.E.S.T. steps they can take to be successful in school. Believe it can happen, Expect success, Set your mind and Try, try, try. Each of the boys wrote down things they can do now because of what they learned in school. They gave examples of being able to sign their name in cursive and multiply decimals. Each of the parents listed what they thought was the best thing about our school and one way to improve our school. The boys then voted on who gave the best answer. Mr. Belin won for his topic on the Silent Auction. Then we discussed various full-time positions in the field of education. I shared about my different teaching positions I have had over the years. We finished the evening with the boys each giving an example of how they had helped another student with schoolwork. I am proud to say that they all had helped another student at school. After all, whether a boy is doing chores around the house, playing soccar or doing schoolwork, scouting is about "Do your Best!"

Sherridan Middle School

I was invited by Chaplain Rourk to attend the 9 health fair held at Sherridan Middle School to encourage the students to make healthy choices. It was a blast to see my friend and fellow queen, Erin Feltes, Mrs. Colorado Galaxy 2009. This was my first time to meet Taylor Shettler, Miss Colorado Teen USA. She is so sweet.These two handsom young men are both members of the Civil Air Patrol. Joshua (L) and Adam (R) are both didicated to this wonderful volunteer service.

Coronation Reception and Go Red

A big THANK YOU to all who supported my coronation reception. The biggest thank you goes to my wonderful mom who helped organize this event.

The silent auction table with wonderful gifts from Cherry Creek businesses.

The Go Red information table.