Photos: Wives, moms dazzle at 2012 Mrs. Nevada America Pageant at Suncoast

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The 2012 Mrs. Nevada America Pageant at Suncoast on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012. Winner Krista Jelowsky is pictured here with a friend … and a cake.

By Robin Leach (contact)

Monday, Feb. 27, 2012 | 11:58 a.m.

2012 Mrs. Nevada America Pageant at Suncoast

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The 2012 Mrs. Nevada America Pageant at Suncoast on Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012. Michael Boychuck is flanked by winner Krista Jelowsky and others.

Don’t ever tell a married woman with children that she’s no longer a sexy lady! Ten of Nevada’s finest wives and mothers looked sizzling and dazzling Sunday night as finalists in the 36th Annual Mrs. Nevada America Pageant at Suncoast.

Congratulations to Krista Jelowsky, who defeated nine other women -- and also won four other awards for Mrs. Photogenic, Best Judges Interview, Highest Ticket Sales and Largest Program Ad sales. Krista will now compete in the Mrs. America Pageant in May rumored to be planned for Las Vegas.

Krista is a hairstylist, a colorist, a cutter and an extensions expert at Michael Boychuck’s AMP Salon in the Palms. Krista’s co-workers and Michael were on hand to cheer her to victory. Diane Buzzetta of AMP, who does Paris Hilton’s makeup, and Vicki Lau-Miller, who works with Krista, did her makeup and hair.

Married for four years with a daughter, Morgan, and a son, Brooklyn, Krista still works part time at AMP twice a week. “This is surreal,” she told me moments after winning. “I never expected to be here tonight. The toughest part of the night was the jitters onstage. It wasn’t just a case of my knees knocking when it got down to the final two. My entire body was shaking! It’s going to take a week to set in.

“But I’m so pleased that the Mrs. Nevada platform is about education and bringing the family into it. We have a Rock of Hope scholarship program, and I’m going to get Michael to add a cosmetology program to that. He made tonight’s win possible by giving me my first chance at working in the salon because I was juggling two jobs with hair and as a ticket seller at the Riviera.”

Said Michael: “She’s always been a tremendously hard-working, dedicated stylist. She was one of the first at AMP almost a decade ago. She deserved the win, and I know she will be the best Mrs. Nevada yet.”

After the pageant hosted by our Morning Zoo DJ Chet Buchanan, Krista and her husband, Michael, a professional handicapper and thoroughbred horse analyst, toasted with Cristal and a cake appropriately topped with a tiara brought by a girlfriend.

Krista, who represented Mrs. Nevada Trails, now also will lead the organization’s Project Teddy charity for hospital-bound children’s cancer patients. Among the guests attending were Jackson family patriarch Joe Jackson, who gave the 10 contestants a gift from the Michael Jackson fragrance line.

The contestants were judged on swimsuit, with some wearing sexy bareback one-pieces, evening gowns with hotter leg slits than Angeline Jolie at the Oscars and the judges’ interviews. Additionally, the 10 answered questions penned by the other contestants. Then the final five were judged one at a time on the same question about community service while the others were sequestered backstage.

It came down to the final two in a very tough decision. Mrs. Las Vegas Crystal Thurman, the runner-up, also won Mrs. Congeniality and the Survivor Award for “the longest, happiest marriage.”

The Mrs. Nevada America Pageant director is Jackie McKenna, who won the title in 1990 and placed in the Top 10 at the national pageant. She has launched her own McKenna Models and Talent Agency here in Las Vegas and has a line of Jackie M cosmetics.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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