The 2008 Annual Unisversal Big Ugly Beauty Pageant!

Some of you may know about this, and some of you may not. So in case you don't, and even if you do, I'm going to explain. For the past three years, Olivia Howard's birthday party has been a Big Ugly Beauty Pageant. In other words, the Ugliest Girl wins. Only on this day is "You are perfectly hideous!" a compliment. The first year was Local; the second National; and the third Universal. Last Tuesday was the Universal and Final Big Ugly Beauty Pageant of Wheeling, West Virginia. (There actually is a town called Big Ugly in West Virginia--hence the name of our show.)



The contestants are as shown below (in age order)



Chloe ~ Francesca Margarita Tequila Josephina Cuervo from Barcelona Spain

Allison ~ Rosa Bella Roma Rigatoni from Rome Italy

Olivia ~ Host

Jordan ~ Sydney from Australia

Ruby ~ Angus O'Beef from "Dumbeden" Scotland

Rachel ~ Just Jennifer from Hollywood California

Emma ~ Arriet Daft from Bath Britain (actually her real name was Harriet, but with the accent it sounded like Arriet.)



And now, whether your prepared or not, here are pictures from the best, the ugliest, the most hilarious and hideous Big Ugly Beauty Pageant! (Okay okay, I know I don't sound professional...)

Told you it was hideous... This is me, dressed up as a Scottish shepherdess.

Hey, Olivia looks pretty!! That's not right!! Actually, she was the host... She didn't necessarily HAVE to look ugly. She can't really make herself look ugly. She's too beautiful. :D

Rachel, on the other hand... (she's right here with me posting, so she doesn't mind that I said that. :D)

Rachel, me and Olivia after the first half was over... Three more hours to go... *sigh*

Allison... She actually looks Muslim. In this picture, she wasn't from Italy. She was actually playing the part of a murderess. I'll explain in later pictures. :)

One Big Ugly and one Little Lovely

JORDAN!!! And such a Jordan picture too. Rachel says she looks like a rabbit. :P And the reason for her obesity!?!?! It has to do with Allison's murderess picture. Again, I'll explain in later pictures... When the right one comes up. :)

Our wonderfully patient and funny film crew, Mr. Howard INC..

Here is Francesca with her Smart Balance. She's a Bull Dancer, and apparently, "This helped all the dancers in the school keep their balance on the horns."

A close up of my eye. Isn't it beautiful?? You gotta love those eyebrows. :P My makeup was supposed to imitate that of a sheep. :P

Jordan eating her lunch...

It caused much hilarity...

Rachel... Lovely Jennifer. :P

I don't have an explanation for Olivia's expression... But for Jordan's obesity, here goes... Mr. Howard researched Big Ugly on google just to see what would come up. He found a newspaper headline from that town saying, "Big Ugly Woman Killed" and so we decided to do a news report to go in between BUBP segmants about her death. Jordan was stuffed with pillows, and the reporters fought about how she was killed, and finally decided that she was strangled. And so we re-enacted the strangling. Allison was the murderer, and Jordan the hugely obese victim. There, it's all explained. :)

Me and Emma both looking very bad indeed.

Andrea, Tirzah, and Willa played the parts of the news reporters. :) This is Andrea (Clarke).

I posted this picture mainly because of the way Rachel looks in the background, holding Jordan's hands. It looked like something... so... movie-ish or something... I don't know. But I thought it looked kind of cool. :)

Tirzah....

Ugh.

Allison and Chloe. Chloe's eye makeup looks like a devil, doesn't it??

Just a behind-the-scenes picture.

Adorable Seth watching all this ugly ladies act weird.

Tirzah in the dressing room. There was about two feet of clothes on the floor... Yeah.

**sticks tongue out**

Trying on dresses...

Allison...

Hahahahaha! We pick the worst dress combinations for this thing. Fashion matters not.

Willa... :D

Olivia. :)

Emma was a chimney sweeper... However I accidentally called her a swim cheeper. :p I think she looked adorable.

Typical Jordan.

Even more typical!

I didn't purposely have three pictures of Jordan in a row. But oh well!

Rachel looks OK...

And I just love this picture. We have to end the post with a pretty picture anyhow. It doesn't do to have an ALL ugly post. :)

And that's it! We might have little snippets of the pageant up, but we'll see. :)

It's No Secret That We're A Strange Family

Growing Up

Last night I was thinking about when I grow up, and (Lord willing) am married and have a family. I realized that everything, everything will be different. I had just wrapped up a phone conversation with my friend Rachel Clarke. Even after I'm off the phone, I still laugh. But it suddenly dawned upon me that when we talk on the phone when we're older, she won't laugh the same way. We won't share the same kind of inside jokes as we do now. Olivia and I won't exchange the same kinds of letters. Ashley and I won't carry on the same way we do now. It will be like, "Yes, George is getting pretty big. He is starting to learn to read. How's Frank?" (Hopefully we won't be using those names.) It seemed to me that we would all be so unattractively mature in 20 or 30 years. Not that now we're attractively immature, but to me suddenly it seemed that being mature was growing up, and that thought is so unwelcome at this time.

It is always a good thing to enjoy childhood and youth, but it is not good to not want your childhood to leave you, and be caught up in thinking about it all the time. Because if you do, then you will have a very unpleasant childhood. And you will look back and say, "I could have had a marvelous time if I had not worried about growing up!" We must be thankful for the time that we are given. Of course, some people grow up faster than others, and I think I'm one of the slower ones. I'm in the very rear of the race. :) But it also does no good to wish you were older. Then you're thoughts will be, "Why didn't I enjoy my childhood while I had it?" I know some people (obviously elderly people) who have told me that they bitterly regretted not enjoying their youth.

Now I am not saying that I don't want to grow up because I'm afraid of everything that comes with motherhood, and the responsibilities and all that, because I know that in those things too I will find pleasure, even though there will be many trials to endure and get through. But the more I think about it, the more I like being young. If I could, I might even go to Neverland. :P Just kidding. I'm not that desperate.

When I thought about my approaching 15th birthday many months back, I always thought, "15?! I'll have to mature prematurely!" However, I'm finding that that's not true. Of course, I don't want to strive to be immature, but maybe I meant that I'll have to grow up prematurely. But as I haven't really done that yet, I'm thinking that I won't force myself to do it. Meanwhile, I can employ myself in various ways that are enjoyable, and yet give me training for when I finally do grow up. On my birthday, a friends mother asked me, "And are you excited to be 15?"
"Well," I said slowly. "I REALLY liked being 14."

But another thing I thought of last night was this. My daddy says that our generation (meaning their children's generation) is going to be hard. We have to become strong. We have to help raise a godly generation. I have a lot more I would say about this, but I can't put all my thoughts into the right words. But you get the general idea, right?

There really wasn't much point in this post, except that I just felt like I had to say something, and this was one of the easiest ways to do it. That's what usually happens with these kind of posts. I think my mind is a bit discombobulated. :P

Another Picture

Here's another picture I played around with. It's amazing how it changes from the original.

Quote of the Day....

Gabriel, "Peter, do you know what I did? I went upstairs with a big black garbage back and said, 'Ruby, can you please get in here? Mommy told me to take the trash out.'"

Peter, "Gabriel, sometimes it's best not to tell the truth...."

I love my brothers!

Another One of Those Pictures...

Chloe's first reaction to this picture was, "O! You look like a bronze statue!"

Pray!!

I was recently reading some articles about Barak Obama vs. John McCain, as well as watching some videos that a friend sent me. When I read and watched, my burning passion for my country was inflamed within my mind, and I went crazy with the desire (and that seems like a belittling word compared to this intense feeling I have) to do something for my country. I was talking to my friend Olivia Howard at the time, and I expressed this urge. I cannot very well describe it, but I will try the best I can. I felt a burning, raging passion in the depths of my soul .... A strong sensation that something must be done! I felt helpless. I felt insignificant and insipid. (I felt like nothing, which really is true! I am but dust!) Of course I have no political influence on anything or anyone least of all the government... I cannot rebuild Wall Street, I cannot do anything about the terrorists, or the war in Iraq. Here are some things I said to Olivia about it:

"I just yearn to do it SOO badly! I feel like America is looking on towards the cliff and plunging unknowingly towards the edge."

"Of course I wouldn't want to do this (reffering to those things I listed up there) but... I wish it could be done and if there was anything I could do to promote it then I would but what is it?"

"What is it that poor insipid people whom no one cares about can do for their country?"

"I don't know," she replied.

"YOU DON'T KNOW?????" I said, as though I rather expected she had a solution for me... But then something dawned upon me. I thought that in my mind I saw a faint streak of light. It grew stronger and stronger, as truth always does. A feeble peace began to enter my mind. I said to Olivia:

"The answer is everywhere. When we don't have influence on the governemnt or politics... Then—and even if we did—we pray. Because even the prayers of poor insipid creatures reach Him who sits in the heavens and laughs. Yet he hears our desperate pleas that come straight from a heart loyal to King and country! And what comfort we have that even if devestation befalls our country then he has ordained it and will make a way out for his people... For, 'I have never seen his children begging for bread', from Psalm 37."

Then the tables reversed. Instead of me encouraging her, it was she encouraging me. My faith began to sink. I felt like I was in a state of inertitude. I began to be afraid of everything. "What would become of us if our country became devastated? What would happen?" But she reminded me, "Pray...! Put your desire for your country upon your Lord, and he will give you an overflowing peace about it... The prayers of the children of God are not neglected."

This once more relieved me... But allow me to encourage ALL of my brothers and sisters in Christ to pray and to never cease watching!

The things that I have said may seem drastic and dramatic, but it was really what I was feeling... And I know that I might have seemed a little strange in this post... but.... and... Well, that's it I suppose...... As I said to Olivia,

"And...
And...
And...
*sobs*"

Tagged!

Dearest Olivia from Eager Hands has tagged me with "Six Random Thing About Me. The Rules state that I have to state the rules, so here goes:

* Link to the person who tagged you

* State the rules

* Write six random things about yourself

* Tag (about) six people by leaving comments on their blogs

* And let the person who tagged you know when you have completed your mission.

Well, this thing might not be so easy, because for one, I don't know many people with blogs, and for two, I don't know many random things about me...

1. I have crazy dreams... And thank goodness, but they don't come true!
2. I read approximately 220 pages of history per week.
3. I look better in sporty clothes than in little black dresses with stockings and high heeled shoes.
4. I like the name Corliss, and everyone wonders why I do. Oh, I also like the name Spartius.
5. I got my ears pierced on Monday, December 13, 2004, when I was (but not exactly) 11 and 4 mos old.
6. I am listening to Your Guardian Angel right now and it's been played 196 times.

I am going to tag...
~ My darling older sister, Chloe, at Beautiful Fidelity...
~ My dear brother Gabriel at The Notes and Past Times of Gub-Gub
... That's all I know! (pitiful I know!)

Delaware!

Okay guys, I'm sorry this post has taken so long to do, but it's finally HERE!!! :) This is beautiful Jordan looking a little unapproachable, beautiful, and a little wicked at the same time. Jk!

Mr. Connor smiling readily for the camera as he is passing on to make dinner.

Lovely Mrs. Howard... :)

AND ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE SETH HOWARD!!!!! :) I love this picture of him.

Preparing dinner at the Hopkins Campsite!

Mrs. Clarke and mommy on the beach, probably talking about how they hope their children won't drown in the oncoming waves. :P jk.

Children going through cycles of being soaked, being cold, being dried off, being sandy, etc..

Olivia playing in the sand.

Trizah, Andrea Clarke, and Willa Howard on the beach.

Sisters!! :) Chloe and Tirzah.

Jordan and I writing in the sand.

Rather happy.

Happy Olivia!

Sisters! Again! (man, there's a few of them!) Chloe and Olivia.

And another sister! Though not a related one... Rachel! :)

The walk from the bike path to the beach.

Having fun with everyone. Deciding that Jordan is the mother of all these young children.

Jordan and Olivia doing I know not what.

Brothers!! Duncan and Gabriel.

A really good picture of Duncan! :)