Appeal reporter named world's best mom

Nevada Appeal crime reporter F.T. Norton will be honored this week for the work she does outside of the office.

Norton won a star-studded Mother's Day trip to Los Angeles through a contest sponsored by the butter substitute I Can't Believe It's Not Butter.

"I think it's great," she said. "I needed a vacation -- my ship came in."

The single mother of 9-year-old twins, Frankie and Victoria, Norton heard about the contest on The Daily Buzz television news show last month.

"I was really burned out that week and they were saying you get to go to L.A. and they treat you so nice, I told the kids, 'Enter me in that,'" she recalled. "I didn't think I'd really win."

As Norton was blow-drying her hair for work, Victoria sat down on the computer to enter the contest online, taking 20 minutes to peck out the short essay as her brother hollered for her to hurry so he could enter his mom too.

"I wrote that she was in the Army and that our Dad is in Iraq," Victoria said. "She should have this because she takes care of us."

Running late, Frankie didn't have time to write his own entry, so Victoria signed both their names, and they rushed out the door.

Then the call came last week telling Norton she had won the contest from among 25,000 submissions.

"I don't even remember what I did. I freaked out," she said. "I started shaking."

Norton, 33, met her ex-husband Chris when she was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army, where she was a military journalist. She is a graduate of Carson High School. She has worked for the Nevada Appeal for four years.

Norton and the twins leave Wednesday and will stay in a suite at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

They'll all be decked out in their new pajamas, purchased especially for the trip, when actor Robert Wagner arrives Thursday morning to serve them breakfast in bed.

Wagner, of "Hart to Hart" and Austin Powers fame, will also escort her on a $2,500 shopping spree on Rodeo Drive and she will be treated to a day at a spa.

"I'm very excited about the suite. And the money," Norton said. "Who's not excited about money? But I have no idea what to expect."

Frankie said he is excited about the trip but is most excited for his mom.

"She feeds us, she gave birth to us, she's a nice mom," he said. "I love her so much. I think she deserves it."