As a six year old, nothing could have prepared me for winning the 37th Annual Rice Krispies contest. My mom was sitting at home on the computer as usual. She was doing some business when she found this contest where Rice Krispies had come out with a new catchy jingle and you had to sing the song and send in a video of it. My mom heard my brother start singing this fast paced song and asked him to come in our office and sing it to her. She listened to him and thought to herself; maybe we could actually win in.

So my brother, mom, my sister, and I made a video of us, performing the song. The video started out with us running downstairs to pour ourselves a bowl of Rice Krispies cereal and listening to it as it starts crackling. Then we went down to our basement and started singing the song. When it says,” And the sound’s the star,” I came out wearing a star costume and a huge smile is on my face.

After three days of rehearsing and practicing, we finally finished the video. My mom looked at the clock and found out we only had a few minutes to get the video in the mail. We got to the post office just as the lady was closing the mailbox and my mom pleaded with her and she let her mail it.

A few days later, we got a call and found out we won! If you were six years old, just like me, you’d understand how excited I was that I won a contest that millions of people entered. As a six year old, I don’t think I completely understood how big of a deal this was. The trip began the next day and we got on a plane and flew to Nashville, Tennessee.

Once we arrived in Nashville, we were put in a five star hotel that had expensive restaurants and big fountains and places to shop at. It also had a garden in the back that had tons of shrubs and pretty flowers in the middle of garden and there was also a huge chocolate fountain. Looking back at this now, I feel like this was such an amazing and fun experience because I had so much fun and it taught to be really outgoing. If I could, I would experience this again at the age 14 because it was so much fun and it would make me less shy towards people. We got to be on the top floor of the hotel and also got to go to all the star parties that went on. My brother and I were too tired to go to the party that happened that night, so just my mom and my two sisters went.

The next day, we got to ride the bus that all the staff that set up the CMA awards use and got to watch them set up. We were at CMA awards ceremony stage until late in the evening and then we went back to the hotel and went to bed. (When I slept that night, I thought to my self, I wonder what will happen tomorrow.

When I woke up that morning, we went downstairs into the lobby and had a huge breakfast. Then my mom told me we could swim in the pool until later that afternoon because then we would be going to the Wild Horse Saloon. So we swam for hours and then my mom told me it was time to go, so I quickly dried off and got dressed and then the hotel staff drove us to the Wild Horse Saloon. Once we got there, we saw that there was a huge crowd so my mom whipped out her pass and we got to cut in front of everybody. What went through my mind at that moment was this is so awesome because I felt like I was one of the big shot celebrities!

Once we got inside the restaurant, they showed us to a private area that was secluded from everywhere else. As a fourteen year old I would have felt like one of the most important people ever. We had our own table that was stocked with food like chicken wings, mashed potatoes, and breadsticks. Right across from us was were the Miami Dolphins. My mouth dropped when this happened because this made me feel totally like a celebrity. My dad and mom went to talk the coaches and so my brother, my sister, and I went down on the dance floor and started dancing. These two guys came up to us and asked us if we wanted to conduct the audience and start the party. I thought to myself, Of course I would do it. So they gave us their shirts and hats and boots and we went out onto the dance floor and my brother said, “ Are you all ready to party?” Then the crowd yelled and we told them that each one of us wanted a dance by ourselves so we cleared the dance floor and my brother picked my sister to dance with and I picked a tall blond.

After the dance was over, my mom came rushing onto the dance floor and said she was so sorry that we had interrupted this, but the hosts said it was all good they said we reminded them of how they use to be when they were our age. They gave us their autographs and then we left. When we got back to the hotel, it was getting late so we went to bed.

Finally the day of the CMA awards were here so we left early in the morning and watched them set up the rest and then it was finally time. The awards started and soon one of the staff members called into a back room and once we went in the room we saw Lance Bass, George Strait, and Martina McBride. They let us get pictures with them. Then a few hours later it ended and we went back to the hotel and went to sleep. This was one of the best weeks of my life. The awards were given out in the same fashion they were given out every year. Some of the stars that were there was Direks Bentley, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw, and Jimmy Wayne.

The next morning, we woke up early and got ready to go and packed everything up and we got on a plane and flew back to Brownsville, Oregon. We didn’t get home until late, so right when we got home, I went to bed.
Reflecting back on this now, I know how great and fun of an experience this was. If I could, I would relive this moment again. It was so much fun but I can’t so I will just have to live with the memories. From this experience I learned that you can be an average person and still win some of the biggest competitions there was. This also taught that I need to learn to be more outgoing and not be so afraid to get in front people and perform.