Seeing Red

Oh to be young and seven and love Taylor Swift OR to be old and 32 and love Taylor Swift. :) No matter how you slice it Carter wasn't the only one that was super excited about scoring tickets to see the RED tour.  After the big reveal...

We were all super excited when our family date night arrived (Nate too don't let the fact that he's a boy fool you)...

It's always just a little sad when Emerson isn't quite old enough to tag along on an adventure but it won't be long at all until we've got two little fans in the back seat headed to concerts.  Until then I'm making the most of a little one on one time with this cutie...

After her first four years being just the three of us every once in a while it's nice for a kiddo to have her parents undivided attention (dinner served as the perfect time to teach us the latest first grade secret handshake tic tac toe gimme' an x gimme' an o johnny got hit by a UFO)...

I'd like to say spending time with her dear old mom and dad was what had all the excitement flowing through her veins...

But I know better than that...

She was seeing RED...

We had fantastic seats (crazy good in fact thanks to an Aunt and an island and well you all know the story) and Carter said, "We might be able to touch her hand!"

The waiting was finally over and boom there she was...

There was screaming...

There was singing along...

Carter wasn't the only one :)

It was a great night...

Another memory made with our favorite seven and half year old...

And from a mom who is grateful for a girl who makes it possible for me to not have to cringe at lyrics or costumes or slide a hand over little eyes I'd just like to say, "Thank you Taylor"...

Thanks for something that two people with 25 years between them can share and equally enjoy...

Right now you're the stuff little girls dreams are made of...

And that is more than okay with me...

I love you Carter Brooke and I hope you always dream big and follow your heart.  Have I told you lately you can be anything you want to be?  You can...you totally can.  Go big!!  XOXO Mom

P.S. Nate you need a little shout out :)  I don't know a lot of guys that happily go along to girly concerts. Not only are you a trooper you make it feel like there's not where else you'd rather be. You're the stuff great dads are made of.  I'm kind of crazy about you. XOXO to you too :)

Visitors

This past weekend we had visitors!  I kind of love that the idea of guests motivates me to get my house in order.  It's nice to have a good reason to tidy up...

I even took on a couple of projects I'd been putting off.  First I blew up a few of the photos I took of the girls.  I am so excited about the fact that you can get a 2x3 foot black and white print at Office Max for only $4.99...

I had seen this tip on Pinterest but really wasn't expecting the quality of the photos to be all that great.  I was pleasantly surprised!  I had a couple of large frames so I trimmed them down and popped them in...

I also had a few other things printed off and added all these happy prints and some of Carter's masterpieces to this wall with the giant whale that I love (painted by my mom)...

So we were clean, pressed and ready for our guests!  Yay they finally arrived!

G.G. had never been to visit us and we were SO excited to have her.  She and Emme became fast friends.  Roxi had played chauffeur and brought her down to see us which meant twice the fun.  We swam...

Gave them some lessons in technology....

Did some cooking...

And some deep tub diving...

It was a great weekend!  So good and fact that Saturday Pops came on down to join in the fun!  

The icing on the cake was Carter's ballet recital Sunday.  I'm not sure if she was more excited about dancing or getting to wear make up...

Let's be honest probably the make up...

Her ballet school was putting on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and she was a beautiful little white dove...

We had so much fun watching her perform...

Emme had talked us into letting her wear a little make up too...

But she managed to sit through the entire show and I think she was really proud of her big sister...

We all were...

Later that night we set out to give the girls some "summer cuts"...

My mom used to cut our hair growing up so this definitely brought back some memories!  

Emerson's hair had never been cut so I may have fought back a tear or two...

But both the girls were super happy with the results! 

Carter has started calling Emme her "mini-me"...

It was a great weekend filled with the things in life that really matter.  We loved it Roxi, G.G. and Pops!  Thanks for coming to hang out with us...

Come back soon!  June will be waiting in the window to greet you! :)