Real Life Little Miss Sunshine

Bonnie: Regan stepped into the pageant world when she was only a baby. It may sound crazy, but everyone who met her was always asking if she did pageants. Texas, where we are, is a big pageant state. At the beginning it was a bit overwhelming; everywhere we'd go she'd catch people's attention and they'd come up to my husband and I saying how graceful she was and how we should put her into a beauty contest. Russell, my husband, is a very proud papa and after a few of these episodes he asked me to find a pageant for Regan.

I didn't know where to start looking, but luck knocked at our door. One night we were having dinner in a restaurant here in Texas when a man came to our table to congratulate us on how pretty Regan was. He explained he was the head of a pageant contest coming up the following month and he gave us his business card. That's how we entered Regan in her first pageant. It was on her first birthday. My husband was the happiest of all four of us, and I'd say that my older son, now 18, was very excited too.

Regan: I like doing pageant. It's fun! I get to wear pretty dresses and I visit different cities. I've made lots of friends and we keep in touch.

Bonnie: It's said that mothers who take their kids to these contests are living through their daughters. That's not the case with Regan. She's a performer by nature. She wants to do it.