My Very Own Homecoming Queen

I'm the Queen Mother.

Yes, I have another queen in the family. This time it's the high school Homecoming Queen of 2018-2019. My very own Elannah.

She's my lovely girl, and look how perfectly she's doing the "pageant T" with her feet! 

She wanted to do a pageant, and this one is a little less intense than most. There were still essays and interviews and evening gowns and all the normal pageant-y things, but her reign would require a week's worth of her time and not a year (unlike her sister). Sadly, there was no scholarship money, but what the heck! Not every girl can say she was the Homecoming Queen of her high school. I certainly can't.

We had a lot of fun shopping for the dress. Having gone through a pageant with Sophia, I am now much more savvy about what type of dress the judges are looking for, and for these small pageants they like something simple but elegant--something that flatters your coloring and figure but nothing so fru-fru or slinky that it detracts from the actual girl inside it. Elannah didn't think she'd like the high-low skirt on this one, but I insisted she try it on for the excellent quality of the material, cut, and color. She ended up loving it immediately. Plus, with no skirt to trip her up, it was very easy to walk in her heels; she just had to perfect the train swish as she turned.

Her dad choked when I told him how much we'd paid to rent it. He's recovered now, but it was a bit touch-and-go for a while.

The Homecoming Queen and her big sister, the queen of our city. They're royalty, sisters, and best friends.

Elannah is done with pageants now. She's tried it out and doesn't see a future in it for her (I'm not complaining: pageants are stressful, time-consuming, and expensive!), and she's certainly not interested in trying to follow in her sister's footsteps for the city pageant. But it was a fun experience, and she got to sing the national anthem for the Powder Puff football game during Homecoming Week.

The one terrible thing in all of this is that I thought I was recording her interview, evening gown competition, and talent, but I forgot to hit the "video" button on my phone and merely took a couple of very bad photographs instead. I'm still kicking myself. Elannah did a musical theater number with singing and tap dancing for her talent, and she did it so well.

I did manage to catch the very end of the pageant.



You can hear Gabrielle mention at the end how stressed she was because we truly weren't sure if it would be Elannah or another girl who won the crown.

I'm loving that Elannah and I are the only two girls in the house now. She loves getting lots of attention from her mom, and she paid me a lovely tribute during the pageant. She's a good kid, and I'm really proud of how hard she's working to develop her character. She's decided to serve a full-time mission in a couple years, and she just got her Patriarchal Blessing last Sunday, which was a wonderful thing.

One last note: I feel bad about this (sort of), but one of Elannah's attendants was also one of Sophia's attendants. The same girl got beat out by two sisters. That's got to rankle just a bit.