Our Gift Exchange

We were all so eager to share our contestant gifts with each other that everyday someone asked Batsheva "when are we exchanging gifts?". We had a pretty free morning this day and an afternoon full of rehearsal so we used part of our rehearsal time for the exchange. My gift was a small zippered bag that was personalized with each state titleholder's name, a little rhinestone, and lined with material that was red, white, and blue and the design was a repeated pattern of all of the state names. My very talented mother-in-law, Peggy and her friend, Jan, placed the lining and the embroidery personalization on each bag. It makes for a great make-up or sunglasses bag. I was so proud of what we had designed and created! The gifts were everything from a state pin to chocolates personalized with our individual photos. I think I could have eaten waaayy to may "spuds". They are these amazing treats of marshmallow center, chocolate, and coconut appropriately from Mrs.Idaho-Liz. The first photo is where we were autographing a memories poster from Mrs.Minnesota-Holly. So now we each have a Mrs.America poster with all of the Class of 2006 signatures. A very special keepsake! The next photo is with Mrs.Alabama-Monica during the gift exchange. What a beauty! She was in my personal Top Ten selection. The last photo is of Mrs.Indiana-Brielle, myself, Mrs.Idaho-Liz, Mrs.Hawaii-Peblz, and Mrs.Georgia-Robin prior to digging in and opening our goodies.