Back to the Noke with the Queen of our Hearts

Well, after a long and tiring but very fun weekend, we are back in our hometown! :) I am happy to report that while Savannah is not the Baby Queen of Virginia, she did very well and still brought home seven trophies after competing in six events. You can do your own math, but we thought that added up to a pretty good score. :) Here are the highlights from our trip (there are no pictures of the actual pageant due to child safety/exploitation prevention...we only have our own snapshots of before and after, sorry!)

There were 14 babies in Savannah's age group, the largest of any age group in the whole pageant! :)

The first event was "supermodel search." They wore a t-shirt supplied by the pageant with some type of denim bottoms. No hair clips or anything was allowed...they were looking for natural beauty. :) Savannah was so excited to be out and competing after her long car ride to Richmond!!! :)

Savannah placed as the fourth runner up in this event (out of 14).

The next event was swimwear, and let me tell you there were some interesting swimsuits! (Who knew swimsuits could have sequins and feathers on them?! Not us!) But I think our normal swimsuit look paid off, because Savannah won first runner up in this event! We thought she was just adorable :)

Then, Savannah got a real treat! She got to take a bath in a huge hotel bathtub. Hey, if you bathed in an inflatable rubber ducky every day, you'd think the hotel bathtub was pretty cool too. She was especially facinated by the shiny drain!

First thing in the morning on Saturday, Savannah had her interview. Now they didn't actually interview her, just looked at her up close and personal. This was also a closed event, so it was the only event with no audience. Savannah showed a bit of her personality when she did her excited breathing thing with her nose wrinkled up (I really need to get that on video so some of you can witness it!) Once again, she got to wear the provided t-shirt, but this time she could wear her pretty headband for a touch of something special :)

The next event was daycare wear. It was the only event that our pretty girl didn't place in! (Momma must say though that most kids would NOT have worn their "daycare wear" outfit to daycare...not in a million years!) We thought Savannah looked appropriate she looked very pretty anyhow! :)

The final event was formal beauty. Here are a few shots of our little miss roanoke in action. In this event, Miss Blaire carried Savannah across the stage so Momma could stand in the audience and make Savannah smile. And she just beamed at the judges with Momma standing there! :)

Then we thought we needed a Beckner girl picture :) Here we are! (I don't know how Mimi managed to dodge all of the pictures this weekend, but she was there!!!!)

Then, like true girls on a trip, we found a cool mall, and went shopping! :) The Short Pump mall in Richmond is amazing, and highly recommended by us, although it might be banned by our husbands after they check our bank accounts. :) While we were shopping, we found it necessary to stop for ice cream, and the queen of course wanted some. She'd never had it before, but she loved it. Just look at the last picture and it shows you her face when we took it away!

Then, Daddy called to see how things were going, and Momma filled him in, and then he had to say hi to his little queen. :) She loves to talk on the phone already!

She played some with her sunglasses. She is such a ham!

Then, everybody went to eat at the restaurant Chipotle. Momma got a burrito and it turned out to be sized more for Daddy. :)

Then, on Sunday, the awards were presented at the crowning ceremony. Savannah won the above awards, as well as first runner up in composite, first runner up in portfolio, and third runner up in photogenic competitions.

She finished up with fourth runner up overall for the state of Virginia. Not too bad to be the fourth cutest baby in the state! :)

Here she is with all SEVEN of HER trophies. She just too ridiculously adorable!

All in all, we had a fabulous trip filled with laughter, fun, shopping, food, friends, and family. :) Savannah isn't the baby queen of Virginia, but in closing, its not even that important! We think she is absolutely adorable on the outside, but the most important thing is that she is beautiful on the inside as well. We are striving to raise this girl in a way that she will know that she is always beautiful on the outside, but that God looks at her heart.

"...beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord will be praised!" (Proverbs 31:30)

"...for the Lord sees not as man sees. Man looks as the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." (I Samuel 16:7)

We were a bit overwhelmed by the amount of people at the pageant that only cared about winning and outside beauty. While it would've been fun to win, we know that the outside is only the shell that covers the real captivating beauty of the soul.

Pray for us as we instill these values in this beautiful child that God has entrusted us with! :) And thank you all for cheering on our little queen of roanoke! :)