Tyler Time and Sparkly Headgear

Sian, Nathan, and my darling grandson, Tyler, came up to visit us last Thursday. Nathan was unfortunately let go from his internship because they did not have any permanent job openings in his department, so he is in the process of finding another job. It's difficult because he's overqualified for just about every place that is currently hiring, so the kids took a break from that stress and came up to give us some Tyler time.

I had so much fun. Tyler and I took a little walk outside, played with fridge magnets, and spent quite a bit of time playing the piano, with Tyler very happy to wear the headphones. Nathan saw how much fun we were having at the piano and came over to document the moment.

I loved their visit, but I was exhausted when they left. Having babies is for the young people.

On Saturday, Elannah competed in the final events of the Miss [Our City] Pageant. Because of covid, parents were not allowed to be present, so the city did a Facebook livestream on the city's Facebook page from the new police station's commons room, where the final events were staged. That was actually really nice because it allowed any of our family members, no matter where they are in the world, to watch and cheer on Elannah, who did an absolutely fantastic job (and I say that with a mother's bias, yes, but she really did do a good job). The competition was really stiff this year, with ten very talented girls competing for the crown. 

In the end, Elannah was not crowned the new queen, but she was crowned as one of the two co-attendants. She was a little disappointed not to get the crown, but she was very gracious about it--and, after all, she ended up in the top three when seven other girls were disappointed not to get any crown or tiara. I'm proud of her. She worked hard--she practiced both her interview skills and her talent for hours and hours--and she doesn't think she could have done any better than she did, so she has no regrets. The young lady who was crowned queen is poised, elegant, and can sing like an angel; she and Elannah were in show choir together in high school and get along just fine. Elannah's co-attendant, who is intelligent and sweet, played a Bach violin piece with so much skill that my jaw dropped. She's also a lovely young woman, and she and Elannah have become friends during this competition. All this musical talent means that Elannah's co-attendant can play the violin while Elannah (an alto) and the queen (a soprano) sing the national anthem during their activities next week.

[Our City] Royalty, 2020. Elannah (on the left) was wearing some pretty tall platform heels here (she was as tall as I am with those shoes on, so she's standing about 5' 9"), and she looks like a giant compared to the other girls. Sadly, there will be no 4th of July or 24th of July parades this year, so they don't get to ride a float and show off their fancy dresses and sparkly headgear to parade-goers.

Another way in which I am proud of Elannah is that she went out of her way to try and be friendly with every one of the other girls. One of them in particular, Kate, has been competing in this pageant since Sophia was crowned a couple years ago, so this was Kate's third competition. Kate doesn't expect to win, but she enjoys the journey, and each year we have watched as she has become more poised and confident. Elannah made sure that Kate was always included in everything, and Elannah told me privately yesterday that she loved seeing how Kate blossomed with happiness and confidence when she felt like she was accepted and welcomed by the other girls. Elannah really enjoyed helping that happen.

After the pageant--which was held earlier in the afternoon than originally scheduled because of some planned protests--the three girls, their parents, the four city councilors and their spouses, and the mayor and her husband all headed over to one of the city councilor's houses for a BBQ. It was a small but enjoyable gathering. The town paper's photographer took a million photos of the girls before we finally got to chow down on pulled sweet pork sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad, chips, lemonade, and brownies for dessert. In truly Utah fashion, the food was blessed before we ate. I really enjoyed sitting at a table with Elannah, the mayor and her husband, and one of the city council members and his wife, who look very young (or am I just getting so old that just about anyone who looks to be anywhere near my oldest daughter's age seems like a baby?).

The mayor is a very down-to-earth woman. I've met her several times, and she loves my daughters so she feels like she knows me, but it took a couple times meeting her over the years before I realized she was the mayor. There is no air of self-importance or smarminess about her, and I really enjoyed our conversation during lunch. I asked her what it's like being the mayor, and she had some fun and interesting stories to tell. When we left, she gave me a hug, which we both realized too late was not exactly social distancing--not that many people in our city have been overly concerned with social distancing for the last few weeks.

With good food and good conversation, it was late evening before I knew it. We went home exhausted, and I made steak quesadillas for Husband and the boys (Husband had to go home from the BBQ because he didn't feel well, but lying down helped), and Elannah had some celebratory Taco Bell. Sophia was out of town with friends or she would have taken Elannah out to celebrate. I should have thought of that myself, actually, but I was so tired it didn't occur to me. Husband and I will probably take her out sometime next week when she has time, as this coming week is the busiest she'll be for the next year as [Our City] royalty, what with Independence Day on Saturday.