GJ finally had to head back to Florida and we hate to see her go…
but happy that she’ll be back in about a week! yay!
T Swift
I think it’s safe to say I’m officially a Swifty now! We made the trip to Atlanta to see Taylor Swift in concert and – wow! – what a show!! This was Samantha’s first concert and I’m not sure how anything is going to live up to it! We stayed at the Omni right next to the stadium and that was key. We just had a quick walk there and back after the show which was really nice. We were all ready to go nice and early!!
It was thankfully a beautiful day and the Swiftys were out in full force and full costume! The people watching was top notch. We were definitely in the minority not having on sequins. But Samantha and I felt pretty darn cute in our matching tie-dye!
GJ had on her Lavender Haze shirt…
and Delaney looked fab too!
We had our Lover heart eye too!
Taylor Swift fans must truly be the nicest fans in the world. Everyone makes friendship bracelets that say song titles or lyrics and hands them out and trades them at the concert. Samantha came home with a stack of bracelets!
We finally made our way down to the floor level where our seats were and I think Samantha was blown away! I was too!
We got some food and sort of listened to the opening acts and then the countdown was on!!
Samantha was so excited I thought she was going to cry. Sometimes with events like these, the anticipation is so great that the actual event can’t live up to the hype. That was not the case here!! The show more than lived up to the hype and was incredible!!! We’d been listening to the setlist in the car for weeks so she knew almost all of the songs and that made it so much more fun for her. I obviously loved seeing Taylor…but watching Samantha see Taylor? That was the VERY best!!
She performed for over 3 hours and it was just so good. Samantha stood on her chair the whole time (except during the Evermore album when she sat!) and held on to me and GJ’s shoulders all night. The best! And thank you to whoever the sweet lady was behind Samantha that never complained once about her standing on her seat!
Our seats were 15th row at the top of the T and when she came to the top of the T, she was so close to us! Samantha was waving and waving to her and I’m sure she saw us! 🙂
We danced, we sang, we screamed, we lost our hearing…we LOVED it!!
What a show, what a night, what a perfect memory!! Taylor Swift fans for life!
GJ
We sure do love it when GJ is in town – even better when she gets to go to games!
And there’s LOTS of games to go to these days!
Hendrix
On Saturday after baseball, we made the 6.5 hour drive to Conway, Arkansas to celebrate my dad. He passed away 1 year ago and I think it took us a full year to be ready to lay him to rest but it all turned out to be just perfect. The drive was long and we were tired but Robert was awesome as always and got us there safe and sound!
Hendrix College has always been a big part of my family. Many of my relatives are graduates of Hendrix including my brother and both GJ and Daddo. I even spent a summer living on campus at Governor’s School. Daddo also served on the Board of Trustees at Hendrix for many years, was the commencement speaker at Keath’s graduation ceremony, and he received the Distinguished Alumni award in 2005. He’d probably also like me to add that he got the Freshman Math Award in 1969!
Most importantly, Hendrix is where GJ and Daddo met…going to a funeral no less! They were both students and Susu and Grandmother somehow made the connection that GJ needed a ride to the funeral of a mutual friend and Daddo was going and the rest is history! Even though Daddo was one year older, he did a 3/2 plan with Columbia so they both graduated from Hendrix in 1973. So, this year is the 50th anniversary of their graduation! My mom had learned earlier this year that Hendrix put in a columbarium in a new memorial garden right by Greene Chapel. It just seemed like the right place for Daddy to be forever. My mom will join him there eventually many, many, MANY years from now! This was alumni weekend at Hendrix and that included a service on Sunday morning where they recognize all of the alumni that passed away in the previous year. Once we learned of the service and found out that Rock Jones was going to be in town, it all came together to be the perfect opportunity to lay Daddy to rest. Rock worked at Hendrix for many years and was someone Daddy always thought very highly of. He agreed to meet us there that morning to say a few words in the memorial garden. The entire family ended up being able to come and it was a wonderful – albeit chilly! – time spent honoring Daddy.
The campus really is so pretty and we enjoyed checking it out.
In case you didn’t know it, GJ is the best.
We followed the service up with a burger at Purple Cow and Daddo would have loved that too! It all felt so right and we are at peace knowing he’s back at Hendrix on the beautiful campus forever.
Easter
Sunday morning we were happy to see the Easter Bunny had brought some goodies! He also hid some eggs inside the house. Fun for all.
We then put on our Easter best and started the process of trying to get a good photo! ha! The kids love this part of Easter.
Family timer selfie!
This one never has an issue posing for photos!
We got to church plenty early – just more time for more photos!
Maxwell acolyted during the very busy and long 9:00 service and did a great job!
We put flowers on the cross…
and then made the drive to Montgomery for more pictures!
To me this was the winning family photo of the day!
We didn’t just take pictures in Montgomery, we also saw Lulu and Granddaddy and all of the cousins! But we took pictures with them too!
We then had a nice visit and the kids learned to play Old Maid.
A very happy Easter all around!