The Love of My Heart: Memorial Day Weekend

So I have a bit of catching up to do here! :) Brooke and I have had a busy few weeks. But, it is absolutely essential that I record the events of our Memorial Day weekend before I let another minute slip by!

I had a big surprise up my sleeve for my girl. She knew we were headed to Omaha but what she didn't know (until we got in the car) was that we were headed to the Taylor Swift concert. Taylor is Brooke's favorite singer and I knew this would be a special weekend for her...lots of memories in the making!

We went down early and checked into our hotel and then got dressed up for Taylor before heading downtown to eat and to the concert. To say that the night was magical is a vast understatement. Brooke loved every minute of it. I found some amazing seats online...on the floor only 23 rows back and at the end of the row. To make the experience even better, we sat next to some amazing young guys and gals...they were so much fun. Brooke was given a guitar pick by who I presume was Taylor's manager as he was walking through the crowds. It made her night! She also got as souvenirs a glow stick with Taylor's name on it and of course we had to get her a t-shirt too!

We did have one slight bump in our night. When Taylor took the stage, everyone stood up and Brooke couldn't see and we were told that she couldn't stand on her seat. So, in order to see only one corner of the stage, she had to literally stand in the aisle and watch the screen. For a few minutes she was feeling pretty blue there. (She said it was like watching her on tv!) So, I took her to the bathroom and to get her shirt so that when we walked toward the back of the arena she could see the whole stage from afar. While we were in the bathroom, we had a little pep talk and I reminded her how cool it was that we were at this concert and she perked right up...that's my girl, nothing keeps her down for long! :) In fact, she told me, "Mom, I have a lot to be happy about. And we are at a Taylor Swift concert...that is SO cool!"

Well, it turns out that in the short time that we were gone, the awesome guys in our row were given backstage passes. (The guy sitting next to Brooke, who was so sweet to her, had been trying to get us all backstage passes before the show started.) If we had stuck around a few more minutes we would have been able to meet Taylor! Kind of a bummer but again, my girl doesn't let anything keep her down. Besides, she decided that even though she had to watch a lot of the show on the big screens, we had pretty awesome seats when Taylor took to the crowd and walked RIGHT next to her. (If you ask her, she will tell you that this was the best part of the night!) Taylor's camera crew was wandering around the arena all night too and one of the camera men kept coming back to our row and Brooke got several close up shots! (Look for her on Taylor's next video! ;) LOL!) And, one of the ushers took pity on her and towards the end of the show let us move up to a few side seats that were empty...this just as Taylor's set had a balcony that literally flew over our heads as the confetti fell. So that was pretty cool too. I have to say, it was an awesome night and a great show, but the best part for me was definitely watching my girl enjoy her first concert.

The rest of the weekend was also spent making other memories. We spent Saturday at the zoo...my girl's favorite place in the world! A little pizza and swimming ended another great day and some shopping and a movie made our Sunday and last day in Omaha a great one. We spent Monday with family out at Uncle David and Aunt Rachel's farm.

Here are some pictures from our amazing weekend...be prepared, there are lots! :)

My little lady after getting dressed up for Taylor. She loved it...she was wearing a skirt and said it made her feel like she was a boss lady! LOL!