Savannah Pines, Diller, Wilber, and Blue River Lodge

I know you'll all be surprised to hear I did more than one Czech thing this weekend! ;)

My Czech events started with Friday evening at Savannah Pines. I got off work a bit early and changed quickly to go there. They had us there to talk about being Czech royalty in Nebraska and perform our talents. I was so sad to have to show up late because I didn't get to see Sheyenne, Lane, or Laura's talents. I got to hear Laura talking a bit as I walked in and she was doing a great job. It's hard to just come up with stuff when you're up there talking. She introduced me and I talked a bit about myself and how great it is to represent Nebraska. I told them about where I had been this year and where I planned to go in the future. I talked a bit about my kroj and then performed my talent. I didn't have all of my old kroje but I told them about how I had displayed all of them at the state pageant. We walked around a bit and talked to a few of the residents. We ran into one of my older brother's elementary teachers there too. Lane's talent is showing how to make kolaces so I got to try one on the way out. YUMMY! We also stopped and took some pictures in front of the fountain in their entryway. Very pretty! Momma Vocasek and Momma Shestak agreed to take us girls out to dinner for doing a good job so we went to Runza after we finished. We got a few funny looks (as usual when we go out in kroj and people don't know why we are dressed like this) but we had fun. It was funny because our moms ordered the same thing and so did we! :) We got told that we could be sisters when we were there and discovered we eat our kolaces the same way! LOL! We said our goodbyes for a whole day and I headed home. When I got home I changed and immediately started practicing my accordion. I don't remember if I wrote about this so I'm gonna write it again. Brad knows I like to make deals (I tried to make a deal with him several times about the dancing thing before I was forced to play hardball and just make him do it.) So last week at lessons he tells me that if I learn to play all of the songs on his current CD that he'll record a new one...with one catch that I'll sing. Well...now I'm on a mission to learn them all ASAP! I practiced with his CD and got part of the way through several that we have never practiced. :) After a bit of practice I headed to bed because I had to be up earlier than normal for work.

I had to go into work at 8am...YUCK! :) I normally don't work till 10am every day but had to work an earlier shift so I could make it to Diller in time for the parade. As soon as I got home from work I had to change quickly and get in the truck to head to Diller. The parade wasn't huge but it was fun anyways. My mom tried to take out the whole Wilber crew out with candy when they happened to walk next to our car. I swear she'll kill someone with that stuff one of these days! I gave Laura a hard time that nobody noticed me in the parade because they threw out kolaces...who cares about the girl with candy when they get kolaces?! :) We stopped downtown to grab a drink and I had a polish dog with EVERYTHING on it (AKA kroj suicide...) I didn't drip anything! We also went by to say hi to Pam, Amanda, and Liz Busboom on our way out. The first year I was the Lincoln Queen, Amanda was the Wilber queen so we had gone to Diller because her grandparents lived there (if I remember right) so I figured they would be there. It was good to see them as they sent me a good luck card and a congratulations card for the pageant. :)

I was looking forward to Sunday all week so I was excited when it finally came around! All of the wonderful Jr Beseda Dancers in Wilber were performing and I was so excited to surprise Blair, Blaze, and Shayla Miller when I got there. I made their mom keep the secret and they weren't shy to let her know she lied to them. I told them they had to blame me because she made a promise to me! They were excited to see me there and I was so excited to see them dance. They did a wonderful job (not that I expected anything less.) After they danced they introduced the Wilber Royalty and they each performed their talents (this time I actually got to watch.) Sheyenne is doing so great on the accordion(they tried to get me to play but I've never played a 2 row so I didn't do it.) She has only been playing for 2 weeks and she played 2 songs for everyone. I love seeing younger GIRLS playing! :) Lane did his demonstration on how to make kolaces. Charlie helped him out with the speaking as there wasn't a microphone or anything there. He did a great job and I got another kolace! 3 days in a row!!! Definitely can't beat that! I had pineapple on Friday, apple on Saturday, and cherry on Sunday! Laura danced beautifully (I am definitely impressed that she can be that graceful on concrete...I would have fallen and broken my teeth out or somethin!) Then Charlie introduced me and I spoke a little bit about being the state queen and how I would compete in Wilber next year at the national pageant. I introduced Shayla and had her tell a bit about herself and even got to introduce Blair! I sang the Blue Skirt Waltz in Czech then in English and then we wrapped things up. We took a few pictures as requested and headed on to the next stop. Blair asked if she could ride with me so she got to come with me and Laura's family to Blue River Lodge to hear Brad play. I was so excite to see how many people showed up. The whole Miller crew, Shandra Korbelik, Erin Spicka, Shestaks, Sue Underwood, Charlie and MaryJean Keller, Gaylen Beck, and even Uncle Bob and Phyllis were there! I had some good food and sang/played the Blue Skirt Waltz again. I was excited for several people to hear that hadn't heard previously. After I sang I changed into jeans and Brad made me come up and play again....surprise surprise! :) I told him that if I had to play again he had to get Shandra up there so we played 2 songs together with Dottie. He was to introduce the all female front row! She played a few more with him after I snuck off stage and before we knew it the night was over. It was so much fun...I definitely didn't want to go! I helped Brad pack up and sat and chatted with Sue for a little while before we left. A wonderful night as I expected!

I'm planning to practice with Brad 2 times this week as I'm going to sit in on John's lesson on Tuesday and practice as usual on Wednesday. (John is the band leader of Less Talk More Polka.) I figure the more practice to learn all of those songs the better! ;) Hope everyone has a good week and I'll write again after another fun filled weekend next week!!!


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen