Every Friday and Saturday night of summer, there are pig races in Leader, Minnesota at the local bar. Leader is a small town a few minutes west of Pequot Lakes. To give you an idea of how small this town really is, the population there is 7 people and downtown consists of a bar, church, historical museum, and a gas station. When I showed up at the place where the pig races were being held, I didn't realize I was right in downtown Leader! I think Leader tops the list of the smallest town I've ever been to :)

The pig races are something new and different, and I wanted to try something new and different so this was the perfect thing! I put on my cowboy boots and was set to go :) I went with Lauren, Miss Twin Cities, and Melanie, Miss Minnesota's Outstanding Teen princess. I always have a good time with them!

When the actual pig races started, I didn't know what to expect. I had never seen a pig race (Who has? Haha!), and it was surprisingly pretty exciting! 5 pigs raced at a time, and people from the audience got to pick which pig they thought would win, and if they picked the winning pig, they won a prize! Sounds exciting right? The 3 of us even got called down to the arena, and helped them pick people to bet on the pigs. I had a fun time, and would do it again in a heartbeat!

I would like to send good luck to our Outstanding Teen, Alexis Houle, who left for Miss America's Outstanding Teen on Friday and who I'm sure is having an incredible time making appearances and friends in Orlando, Florida! Praying for you Alexis!

Always,
Bailey

Pageants, send-offs, and public speaking... Oh my!

It was yet another busy weekend in the life of Bailey. Does this surprise you?

The weekend was packed with many fun events! Right after work on Friday I headed down to Ellendale, Minnesota (a small town by Owatonna) where my Grandma, aunt and uncle, and cousins live. It was perfect because the next night was the Miss Waseca County/South Central pageants and Ellendale is just a few minutes away.

After a tiring day of shopping and spending money (I'm sure you're tired just thinking about it!), it was time for the pageant! Congrats to the new Miss South Central, Kalli Randall (from Brainerd!) and the new Miss Waseca County Sleigh and Cutter, Rachel Hoverstad! They are going to have so much fun at Miss Minnesota! I'm thinking that Miss Minnesota 2012 will be a good pageant :)

Then on Sunday, I headed back up to attend our Miss Minnesota's Outstanding Teen, Alexis', sendoff to Miss America's Outstanding Teen! She leaves on Friday... I'm so excited for her! It will be an amazing week, and I hope I am blessed enough to get the chance to experience such a thing! I wish her the best of luck :)

And today, I just got home from a pretty crazy day! I woke up early to go and workout with my trainer, then hurried home to get ready to head to the Brainerd Kiwanis Club meeting. We were the speakers today, and my Mom and I spoke about our journey with my Dad and the upcoming Walk to End Alzheimer's! I hope that this will open more doors to grow our Walk this year and fundraise to find a cure. A few hours later, I found myself at our Walk to End Alzheimer's committee meeting. It was a Walk-to-End-Alzheimer's-packed day! All fun of course :)

Until next time,
Bailey

Queens at the Miss Waseca County/South Central pageant

Corrina and I at Alexis' sendoff

Busy weekend!

This weekend was absolutely packed! On Friday,  Mom and I headed up to the Miss Perham and Miss Heart of the Lakes pageant to cheer on some pretty amazing young women. I knew at least 2/3 of the contestants, so it was a very fun pageant to watch.

Paige Meyer is the new Miss Perham and I am so honored to call her a really good friend! Paige and I met at the 2010 Miss Minnesota's Outstanding Teen pageant when she was 1st runner up and I was 2nd runner up. We had an instant connection after the pageant and our friendship has grown so much over the past year. I admire her strength and determination! Love you Paige!

Also, Caitlyn Thompson is the new Miss Heart of the Lakes, who I have also gotten to know a little bit. She is also an amazing young woman who is going to go so far in life.

Then on Saturday, I drove alone to Frazee for the Miss Frazee and Outstanding Teen pageants. This was my first time ever going to a local pageant without my Mom. I think this means I might be growing up... The pageant was a small, but entertaining pageant! There was just 3 girls running for Miss Frazee and 4 for Miss Frazee Outstanding Teen. Congrats to Katie Winter, Miss Frazee 2011 and Hailey Jutz, Miss Frazee Outstanding Teen 2011!

This was the first local Outstanding Teen pageant of the year, and it pumped me up for MMOT 2012! I'm so excited to compete with Hailey next April.

After the Frazee pageants, I stayed overnight with Paige. It's always nice to have some girl time and since she is leaving for college soon, this was the perfect time! Today, Paige was in her first parade as Miss Perham. It was an exciting day :)

Enjoy the rest of summer!
Bailey

Lauren and I

My 2 favorite people :)

Paige, the new Miss Perham!

Queens at the Miss Perham and Heart of the Lakes pageant

Libby!

The new Miss Frazee Outstanding Teen!

Paige and I at her first parade!

Walk to End Alzheimer's Kick-off

Last Thursday (I know I'm really late) I attended the first annual Brainerd Walk to End Alzheimer's kickoff event. My mom and I are the co-chairs for this years Walk, and after attending the national Walk to End Alzheimer's conference in Atlanta, Georgia, we thought it was a great idea to have a kickoff. Basically, this event was just to rally everyone and get them excited for the Walk. Stephanie Dix from the MN-ND Alzheimer's Association came and spoke about the best ways to fundraise and recruit people for your team. Famous Daves provided us food for the event and Becky Kubesh provided us wonderful cookies. Thanks to both of them!! :)

Although it was not a big of a success as we had hoped for, it was still a great kickoff. My cousin, Sara, came up and stayed with us and help us set up and take down.

Now that the kickoff is over, the Walk is my main focus now. I'm getting so excited for it this year! We always hope for bigger and better. Praying it will all go well!

I hope everyone is having an amazing summer and enjoying this nice weather that we are finally getting!
Bailey

Alzheimer's Twins game!

On Friday, I headed down to the cities with my Mom to attend a Twins game with Corrina (Miss Scout County's Outstanding Teen) and Chris Swiggum at Target Field. It had been raining all morning, and I prayed and prayed and prayed that it would clear up by the game. As part of buying our tickets to the baseball game, the Twins organization donated a portion of profits to the Alzheimer's Association. With that, all of the people who bought their tickets through the Alzheimer's Association got to sit together and walk the field.

My mom, Dad, and I all attended a game like this last year, and getting to walk the field was one of the coolest things I have ever done! Naturally, I was really looking forward to getting to walk the field again this year and watch the players warm up. According to Mother Nature, she did not want us to walk the field that day because when we arrived at Target Field, it was still raining and Twins officials had to cancel the walk on the field in order to keep the field looking as pristine as possible. I was really bummed! But as soon as the game started, the clouds parted and the rain stopped. Thank you GOD!

It turned out to be a very fun game and my sister queen, Bethany, was there too along with Miss North Metro 2009, Tiffany! The only 3 "North Metro" titleholders in the state of Minnesota were at the same Twins game. Pretty crazy if you ask me!

The Twins were playing the the Kansas City Royals, and in the Top of the 9th inning they were winning. Wanting to beat the crowd, we left, thinking that the 1-0 lead they had was enough to hold them over through one more inning. Right as we were getting into our car, the crowd roared and I quickly checked my phone only to find out that the game went into the 10th inning and Kansas City ended up winning. Is that what I get for leaving the game early?

The next day, we got up early to do a little shopping. Mall of America is always the best place to go! Corrina came with us, and we found alot of stuff for the Miss North Metro Outstanding Teen pageant that she will be competing in and I will be giving up my title.

Visit http://www.missnorthmetro.com/ if you are interested in competing!
With love,
Bailey

 Many of you know that I am a huge baseball fan, and an even bigger fan of Joe Mauer! Look how close I was to my future husband... ALMOST touching :)