Like last year, our competition started off with a panel interview with the judges. I’d gotten my nails done the night before, thanks to my generous sponsor Marie’s Beauty Salon and Supply, had a bronzed tan thanks to Sunsation, my generous tanning sponsor. Saturday morning I went and my old skating bud, Desiree styled my hair at her salon, Headrush and my friend Shannon came over to do my make-up. My dear friend and Mrs. Alaska mentor met me at Starbucks (where I changed in the bathroom!) and gave me my pre-interview pep talk. Man, did I feel more confident this year-I felt so relaxed, like I really was just there to chat with the judges and let them get to know me. They asked me about what I thought made my nine year marriage a success, where I came up with our girls’ names, what I liked to do and my favorite things about living here in Alaska, if I had any concerns about the future of Alaska, and what portion of the pageant I was looking forward to the most. I came out of there feeling like I totally ROCKED my interview so I think that gave me a boost the rest of the day.
I met Sycely, Ella and Nanny at Sycely’s ballet school (Lem had a class that day-go figure). Sycely and Nanny spent some time shopping while I took Ella home for lunch, snuggling and a nap. I spend some time reading through Proverbs 31 and of course, my new pageant fave, Esther :) and just really stayed resting in God’s peace. Lem got home and I headed off for our pre-pageant rehearsal. After we’d run through each of the on-stage portions and walked through the layout, etc we had a couple of hours to get ready.My loyal beauty team showed up Shannon to do my make-up and Desiree to touch up my hair. Us girls had quite a fun time bonding and getting ready backstage making memories we will all share and cherish for a lifetime. Before we knew it, it was time to take the stage and get started. Renee brought Sycely backstage to see me and she gave me the most precious good luck kiss.
We started by introducing ourselves in our cocktail dresses. My intro went something like, “Good evening. My name is Lyndsay Wheeles and I have been married to the very handsome Lem Wheeles for the last almost 9 years of my life. I’m proud to be here tonight representing Alaska’s married women and my platform, Lifelong Impacts of Early Learning.” 
After our intros we did swimsuit. Man, what a difference a year can make. Not that I thought I looked bad or anything last year. I was definitely back to my skinny self, but I’ve had this whole last year to really tone and be fit, not just skinny. I think it showed.
After swimsuit was the evening gown portion-most people’s favorite. The contestants are escorted onstage by their husbands, do their “walk” in their gown and this year answered two onstage questions-one taken from the info provided in their application and bio, the other drawn randomly from a fishbowl. My two questions were “what is your favorite skating program you’ve performed?” and “given the choice between fame and fortune, which would you choose and why?” I talked about really enjoying my Cinderella program from Riverskate, because it was a no-stress program, not about competing, just skating for the joy of skating and sharing that joy with my daughters who love Cinderella. I answered that given the choice I would choose fame, because though you can certainly do a lot of good and bless a lot of people with unlimited financial resources, you can do a lot of impacting people with nothing more than your words and actions, too, and that given the choice, I’d rather be known for positively impacting people with my life than my money.
After we finished our onstage question we had a bit of time backstage just waiting for the results to be finalized and announced. Lem was able to be with me most of that time, which I was grateful for. I’ve never seen a more proud husband-he even had tears in his eyes as we came off the stage together after the evening gown portion. In his mind, there was no contest, I’d won; to him, at least, I was Mrs. Alaska. Renee shared some encouraging words with me and was lavish with her compliments about my performance. She really thought I’d nailed it. Honestly, I was content. It was all over and done, I couldn’t go back and change anything, and I really didn’t feel like there was anything I could have done better. I had put forth the “very best me I could be” and I felt great about that. I definitely didn’t have a “I totally just won this thing” feeling, but I certainly didn’t feel like it wasn’t a possibility. I felt fairly confident I’d be leaving that night with a title, either Mrs. Anchorage (the runner up title) or Mrs. Alaska. Either way, I knew I’d be savoring some peanut butter pie at the Brewhouse in about 45 minutes ;)
Then we did our parade of gowns and lined up on the stage for the big announcement. The MC started with the runner up title, " The winner of the title of Mrs. Anchorage 2010 is…Ana Forester" (she won the same title at last year’s pageant.) Then I really started realizing it really could be me, I might just have won the pageant…then the second envelop was opened and the MC announced the winner of the most coveted award, the title of Mrs. Alaska United States 2010 is…pause…pause…Lyndsay Wheeles! What a moment of…I don’t even know what. Culmination is the best I can come up with. I was looking at Renee, she’s looking at me and we both just laughed, smiled, cried, hugged, and squealed. She’d been with me since last year through this whole journey and she shared in my feeling of accomplishment, of a dream, a goal, God’s plan coming to fruition and it was surreal but tender. There’s no one else in the world I’d rather have shared that crowning moment with-once it finally happened. We were so distracted just being exited and happy together that she kind of forgot to actually put the crown on my head. It was like…squeal…hug, pull back, laugh…hug, pull back, I’m supposed to give you this stuff…flowers, sash…hug…oh, I didn’t put your crown on. It was perfect and so “us.” I took my first walk as Mrs. Alaska, kissed Sycely and then got to take a lot of pictures-with Renee, with my Mom’s Club posse, with my skating peeps, my pageant girls, the contestants, the MC, the directors, with Lem-phew! And I didn’t have to fake a single smile!
After all the pictures were snapped we headed down to the Glacier Brewhouse for some much needed (and deserved!) dessert. Renee came along with us and my Mom’s Club gals and some of their hubbies were there too. We had a great time snacking on yummy food, eating dessert and celebrating the goodness of God. Turns out I got the last piece of peanut butter pie, so I guess you could say it was about the most perfect an evening could possibly get!
By the way, you can view the crowning moment video on youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaK-0z5RZGw You can also keep up on all my activities as Mrs. Alaska on my Mrs. Alaska blog: http://www.mrsak2010.blogspot.com/ On a side note, I need to raise about $6000 in donations and sponsorships to get me to Vegas for the Mrs. United States pageant in July, so please be in prayer about that for me- we need God’s provision. If you, your business or someone you know is interested in being an individual or business sponsor please send me an email and I can give you more details.
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