Jump Rope for Heart

Thursday was my final day at Rock Canyon Elementary working with the students and the Jump Rope for Heart program :( Fortunately, I will be continueing my platform soon with Franklin Elementary in Provo-even though the pageant is over, they need my help and I LOVE playing with the little kids, so I am excited!!
Well on Thursday, it was a LOT of fun! There were about 4 different PE classes that came in while I was there and we jump-roped and had relays and contest, etc.! Something really funny and cute happened! As the second class came running in, a little blonde boy that looks just like my nephew dove straight to the floor and began doing push-ups! So I ran over to him and said-"Good job! You're doing awesome!!" and then I asked him why he was doing so many. He said, "BECAUSE...when I'm big and STRONG, I want to be able to hold the world!" Then I laughed and said WOW, and told him that he needed to come get me when he is able to do that because I want to see it! Then he laughed and said "OK, but I'm ALSO going to be carrying Jupiter too!" Haha! So I thought that was really really cute! I love little kids! They are just so innocent and have their little ideas that I love! Ha! Something else that was cool was that all these girls like formed a circle around me while we were jump-roping just so I could see how many times they were jumping! It was like a competition for them-that was cool to see and to see how much fun they were having! This was definitely a great experience for me and I am so grateful for all the help that was put into getting my program started :) Thanks everyone! Love ya!

The Latest!

Wow! So much has happened in the past few months! It's crazy, but exciting!! I have a lot to tell :)
Since I haven't really written about the Pageant, I'll talk about that first:) The pageant was April 12, 2008. It was an amazing experience, as usual, I recommend it to anyone :) I decided to participate again this year because I loved the amazing amount I grew as a person last year and I felt like I needed that little boost again this year! Plus I love to work with people in the community :)

This year, my platform was with the American Heart Association's Jump Rope for Heart program. I went and promoted the program to so many elementary schools and, unfortunately, only 2 schools accepted, but I was still very happy! We encourage the students to gain a heart healthy lifestyle while at the same time allowing them to contribute to the community by collecting donations for heart disease and stroke research because Heart Disease is our nation's number one killer right now. Wednesday is actually the Jump rope day where we celebrate all the money they've collected. :)
At the dress rehearsal everything was ok, except my talent wasn't feeling very great and we never got to do a full run-through, so that made me pretty nervous that something may go wrong.

Saturday was the BIG day!! I slept in...it was so nice..did some last minute prepping and then I had my interview!! That is the scariest part for me, however this year, I definitely felt more comfortable! My interview actually went really well! I was very pleased with how it went! The judges were very nice and they asked me all the right questions! It was fabulous-I felt good about it, and once it was over, I was like dancing in the streets! I could relax! Haha!

Suzy, the best hostess, came over with Nate and little Lincoln! I was just talking to Nate and he pulled Lincoln out of his carrier and I noticed there was something written on his shirt! It said "I Love Heather Nielsen, Contestant #7!" I was so excited-he's a stud! Haha thanks Nate and Suz!

Anyway-before the pageant started, Jill Stevens, Miss Utah came and gave us a little pep talk! She is the most amazing woman ever! I admire her so much! :) Then Terry gave us a pep talk too..and of course I started crying because I love her so much and it's just so great to have her as an example in my life! Haha, I'm a ball-bag, YES!

The theme for the pageant was USO Show in honor of Miss Utah serving in the army. We danced to the song, "Boogie-woogie bugle boy!" We had cute hat and ties too! Then everything went so fast from there on. Swimsuit was a blast, believe it or not, my talent went well-I messed up a few times, but i think it was ok-I was just way nervous, ha. Evening wear was awesome! Then......THE CROWNING MOMENT!! I had no idea who was going to win, but I was pretty stoked! They started off by naming all the little prizes for the non-finalists. Last year I recieved the Best in Swimwear and the Most Photogenic award! I was so happy. So this year, I was hoping I'd get the same or better. WEll..they said all the nonfinalist awards and my name was not called, so that meant I was in the top!! I was so happy! They called me "Heather Nielsen, 4th Attendant!" Oh wow-I was so so happy to make it into the royalty!! It wouldn't have bothered me if I didn't make it in, because I knew that I did my best and that's all that matters:) But since I did make it-I was so so so extremely HAPPY! :) I feel honored to be able to participate with the royalty this coming summer and months to come. Pictures were taken, and people even asked for my autograph! Wow crazy! (s0rry, I'm basically writing a journal entry that I'm going to put in my journal, ha).

Thank you everyone that came to see the pageant! I appreciate it so so much! It is so comforting to have your friends there supporting you:) I'm so grateful to have such amazing friends! Thank you!
After the pageant, we went to Cold Stone and I ate sugar!! Haha I had been not eating sugar because I was trying to loose some unnecessary weight and so I had to celebrate by going to Cold stone! Yahoo! Haha! After that, my mom and I like had the biggest after party in my kitchen, hah! We were totally dancing around and taking more and more pictures! It was a blast! I love my momma! :) This pageant was definitely an amazing experience that I recommend to everyone!! :)

Unfortunately, I had to make a big decision due to being in the royalty. It turns out that Strawberry Days, Pleasant Grove City's main event of the year, is the same week of my dance concert at my studio. Also, I will be going to city council meetings almost everyweek and more parades , SO I had to quit my studio. I am actually ok with it because I know I am trading it for something good and something I've worked hard for. However, I just felt really bad because they had to change a huge amount of choreography becasue I quit. Yeah, they pretty much don't like me right now, well my director, which is understanding because that makes a huge effect to take one person out-but it was kind of a hard week for me last week becasue everyone was mad but oh well. I can't be worrying about that. This is something I am tremendously excited for! And I am still dancing, taking classes and dancing at UVSC. OH!! I forgot to tell everyone-I MADE the Synergy Dance Company at UVSC!! I am so stoked for that! I know it will be a great experience for me:)
We had our first meeting yesterday for Miss PG royalty and we discussed the summer! Yay! I'm so stoked! We get to be in a lot of parades and go meet Elder Bateman and be on Good Things Utah! Ha I'm so excited!

My Parents are doing well! My mom is still having issues with her knee but she did just sign up to run Hood to Coast again for this summer, so we're seeing progress! I must say, besides running, she is the Comcast Fitness TV queen! There are so many workout plans on there! She's a Pro, ha yes, her and the famous Billy Blanks! She's cute! Sometimes I do them too-kinda fun, Ha ha!

So that's my life basically right now. Nothing new, just on my last bit of finals-YAHOO! I've been running more! I'm so happy because on Friday and today I ran 4 miles! I've never done that match at once, so it's pretty exciting, haha!