Yet Another Beautiful Baby Girl!

After 21 hours of labor, 2 epidurals, 4 additional shots to the epidural, and only making it to 9 centimeters, Barbi (Sorensen) Smole finally had her first child via C-Section. Samantha Ann Smole was born 6-26-2006 at 11:12pm and weighed in at 8 pounds 5 ounces and measured 21 inches long.

Congratulations to Barbi and Kevin on their beautiful little blessing! If you'd like to read more about Baby Sam, and check out lots of adorable pictures, click on the link to the Smole Family Blog in the right hand column of my blog.

By the way...can't help but notice that all my girlfriends keep having baby girls. Something in the water maybe?

America's Junior Miss

Congratulations to the new America's Junior Miss, Taylor Phillips of Kentucky, and to all the state Junior Misses on a job well done. I was honored to serve as a judge for this year's national finals, and I must say it was an experience I'll never forget. Being on the other side of the table gave me a whole new perspective on Junior Miss. Even though I've judged state and local programs, this really was a whole new ball game! Every one of the state Junior Misses were outstanding; it was such a tough job to pick just one. I encourage anyone reading this blog to log onto www.ajm.org and get to know these young women. They're all going places and I'm sure we'll see many of their names again.

I also want to thank the AJM staff and the Judges Committee for showing all the judges such a wonderful time. It was wonderful to be back in Mobile, and great to see that the America's Junior Miss program is truly making a rebirth.

Pictured above is America's Junior Miss 2006, Taylor Phillips with the Judges Panel.