The princess queen

OREM — Melinda "Mindy" Nielsen once belted out a medley from "Annie" at the Miss America Pageant preliminaries in Atlantic City.

And as a teenager she immersed herself in community theater.

At college, she was accepted to perform with Acclamation, a performing group at Southern Utah University, similar to the Brigham Young University Young Ambassadors.

As a wife and a young mother, Nielsen, now Mrs. Devon Stailey, found she missed entertaining. A lot.

The Orem mom of two young boys found a solution.

She dresses in costume, dons a wig, applies makeup and becomes whatever princess her client chooses: Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Princess Beauty or Snow White.

"Snow White is probably my favorite because as a little girl, my mother used to tell me I looked like her. And I like that Snow has a soft spot for animals," she said.

When 5-year-old Riley Dayton learned that a princess was coming to her house, she put on a sky-blue princess outfit and ushered her brother out. "You have to go," she said. "We're having a princess party, and it's just for girls."

"I couldn't tell Riley about the party until just before it happened," her mom said. "She would have been too crazy with excitement. I got a kick out of the other moms, because when I told them about the party and asked if their daughters had gowns, they all said, 'Which one do you want?' "

These were clearly girls who know about princesses.

"You know, I used to be afraid of princesses, because I thought they were scary," Cora Westcott said. "But now I know they aren't scary."

Caroline Clark was particularly pleased to show Stailey she was wearing a Snow White dress, too.

When Sydnee Sosa learned she was invited, she ran to her closet to become Cinderella with a crystal blue formal complete with glass slippers. She said Cinderella is her favorite because she has a carriage.

"The girls are always so darling," Stailey said. "It is so sweet to see the shy ones who don't want to approach you, but by the end want to hug you."

The princess party idea came after a Halloween party where she was Snow White. "I stayed in character and had so much fun, my friends asked if I could do parties for their children."