baby contest

We got the Freedom magazine in the mail that lists all the festivities going on in Utah County this summer. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a big fan of celebrating holidays and am all about community events so you better believe I combed through that magazine and made a mental note of all the things going on in the valley.

Years back when I worked at UVU I was asked to help judge the baby contest as part of the freedom festival. I thought it was the cruelest thing ever. How can you judge a baby? And what on earth do you judge them on? All babies are cute and how horrible is it to say that your baby isn't cute enough? I couldn't do it. 

BUT...I stumbled upon the baby contest in the magazine and thought, hmm, I have a cute baby, maybe I'll enter her in the contest. Of course now that I have a baby it's ok. I wanted do it for fun but also it was more out of curiosity. How do they decide who is the cutest baby? 

Leila wasn't in her most charming mood because she refused to go down for her nap and just wanted to play in her crib so we almost bagged the contest completely...but decided to go anyway. Eric and I were one of the last to arrive and had no idea what to expect. 

Turns out they actually judge the babies on how they interact with the judges. The judges spend about 5 minutes with each kid and play games with them and see how they react to the judges, the toys, etc. Like I said, Leila wasn't her charming self so I'm sure she failed (I have no idea what they wrote about my daughter on their notepad but she did get a ribbon!). We didn't even attend the ceremony and I don't think we'll be entering Leila or any of our other kids in future baby contests. It was meh. 

Instead we walked through the hall of flags and checked out the newly renovated business building. It brought back memories of our days here. I have a great sense of affinity with UVU and just love this place. I miss learning in a classroom setting and hopefully one day I'll get my masters degree in school counseling.