Taylor Swift In Kansas City

Clear back in November we heard Taylor Swift was going to be in Kansas City. We love Taylor- all my girls! I knew my kids would LOVE to go, but I decided to make them work for their tickets. They had to buy their own tickets, and they only had one week to earn the money. Lexi babysits regularly and she has inherited her Dad's frugality so she enough money saved. Ashlee had about half, because she also has inherited her dad's frugality and saved from pet sitting. Ashlee decided to clean cars and refrigerators to earn money. I was so thankful so many people were willing to give her a chance to learn and develop talents, take accountability in her work, and to let her learn we have to work for things in life.

The actual ordering of the tickets was quite comical. One friend was at home, she could order a total of 6 tickets and we needed a total of 12. Another friend was teaching piano lessons and trying her best to help but needed to be teaching piano. I was at home able to buy the tickets which were right next to the previous bought tickets, but I didn't know if Darrell had transferred the money we had discussed yet- therefore I didn't know which card to use. Our last friend was at tumble with kids and she texted me all her info to get it on her card- it was the most chaotic and stressful hour, but it payed off- we had 12 tickets and were so excited to go!

Lexi and Ashlee knew they were going, but none of their friends did, they were getting the tickets for Christmas, so there was a lot of secret keeping. Carly was so sad to not go, but was surprised later in February when her friend Anna was given two T Swift tickets and she was told she could choose a friend. Anna came down and told Carly and oh my were there screams of excitement!

Fast forward a few months...

The news of our move was shocking. This is an incredible opportunity for Darrell, and for some time we have felt change was coming our way- we just didn't know in which way. We knew the Taylor Swift concert would be one of our last hoorah's with our close friends Patterson's, Hooper's, and Bingham's. This group of girls have grown up together, and in all honesty I feel like I have grown up with their mom's! Moving out here 6 1/2 years ago- I think back to what I knew of life, parenting, being a wife, the busy life of a stay at home mom.. I had no idea how much harder (and better) life can get!

 

We left Bentonville and it was pouring, I mean seriously POURING rain. We shuffled cars so kids could be with friends and were off. The rain was only the first hour, and then another couple hours later we were in Kansas City.

Anna brought her AG doll to get her ears pierced so that was a priority- the kids all had fun in the mall, and we had a few hours to kill before getting ready for the concert.

 

 

We headed to the hotel to get in our RED, for the RED Tour, we then ate at RED Robin.

 

We had a great time, the concert was fun, the girls all loved it- and the mom's all loved it too!

 

We knew leaving the parking garage could take a while, and we planned on eating "Breakfast at midnight" but not "fall in love with strangers"- but we were stuck. What do you do when you are trapped in a parking garage for 45 minutes? We turned on Taylor Swift and had our own encore party! The music was as loud as we could get it and we all danced while we waited for cars to clear. Some people thought we were really odd, but others liked our ideas and turned up their music as well.

 

We finally got out of the parking garage and Aubrey and I (neither of us have ANY sense of direction and completely rely on our GPS) with Megan, Lexi, Ashley B, Carly, and Anna took off getting ready to get on the freeway to head to IHOP for breakfast at 1 am instead of midnight. Unfortunately for us we missed the sign telling us the detour to get to the freeway entrance. We drove and drove and drove looking for detour signs once we noticed the freeway was closed, we drove to the next on ramp and it was closed too! We kept circling and looking for signs, and we were in the ghetto, like the for reals ghetto! We were scared and lost. and almost in tears, and just plain frustrated. One of the girls said we needed to pray, so a prayer was said, and then they started singing church songs. The atmosphere in the car changed and we were finally able to find a sign to get on the freeway. Nicole and Stefani with the other girls were wondering where we were- but after another mix up with which IHOP location we finally were able to have breakfast.

It was one of THE funnest nights we've had, and I'm so glad my girls were able to enjoy this weekend with their friends.

 

 

My girls have grown up with so many wonderful friends here, and I imagined them graduating high school with them. This week it hit me, I am no longer in denial of the changes coming to our family. I cried for a couple days trying so hard to digest this. I just keep reminding myself that the Lord does know what is best for us. He is aware of how hard these changes will be for all of us, and I know He will bless us with just as many wonderful people- but it's just so hard to say good bye!

 

So basically to end the Taylor Swift post- the line , "It feels like a perfect night" summed it up perfectly!



Goodbye Summer- Well Kind of..

Our summer has flown by, but yet it doesn't seem possible that it's already time for kids to head back to school this week- well some kids. My kids won't start until September 4- in Cottage Grove Minnesota. We have less then one week until we move there! It's strange for me to think back just two months ago that we had NO IDEA the changes coming our families way!

 

We spent the first few months of summer finishing up softball tournaments. With all the mess that was created on Lexi's team- it was absolutely amazing to watch them play so incredibly well in the World Series games in Kansas City. I didn't even buy wristbands to get in for the whole weekend because we were pretty sure we would only get to the 2nd or third game. But these girls pulled it together. The drama was stopped- and they just did what they needed to do- they played. The went undefeated until the last day and lost two games in a row, placing them in 5th. The two teams they lost to ended up taking first and second place so we were very happy with how it ended.

And then reality hit- it ended, these girls wouldn't be playing together again. I noticed Lexi was crying while playing second base the last inning of the game, I didn't know what she was crying for until she came out of the dugout. She realized this was it, it didn't matter that they were losing , it mattered that these girls have become like sisters to her, and this was the very end. Through all the pictures Lexi was trying to hold it together but many of the girls started crying as well- they all knew what they had this weekend would never be experienced with these same girls.

As the trophies were passed out and medals the tears were falling from everyone, even the coaches. Darrell gave his last coaching speech and was very choked up, and Brian their coach had to get up and walk away he couldn't stop his emotions.

 

It was an awesome ending to a terrible beginning, and each of the girls learned so much- which is the most important thing.

 

I need to catch up on my blog before we get to Minnesota because after that I will only have time for unpacking!;(