Taylor Swift Concert!

Zoe has had to wait quite a while for this part of her birthday present! She was so excited that today had finally come, and was happy that Lauren and Feliza were coming with us. Feliza and I had purchased the tickets back in December, then I surprised Zoe with them for her birthday in June, and we surprised Lauren with hers today since her birthday is next week. This has been a long time coming!
We had such a great night, and our timing was perfect. We hit no traffic heading into L.A., which really surprised us! We got right into the Yard House for a fantastic dinner.

We were thrilled that the MTV Video Music Awards happened to be filming right next door at the Nokia Theater. Being the celebrity stalkers that we are, we headed around the building to see if we could catch a glimpse of anyone! This is the hotel where the celebrities were driven to and let out to go through the indoor red carpet...
We walked around until we found some people gathered, and stood at the blockade to see who we could find.
We caught a glimpse of a few people, and saw Lady Gaga's car, but no one we were too excited about. Then the girls saw Drake Bell from the TV show Drake and Josh!
He was very nice and walked by the fans taking pictures and giving autographs. He gave a high five to both of our girls and they were thrilled! Zoe walked away and saying, "this is the hand that touched Drake Bell!" I thought it was pretty cute!

It was time to head to the Staples Center for our big night!


The girls both got their concert t-shirts and we took our seats. We were in the high section, but row 1, so we had a great view.


After 2 opening acts (Needtobreathe, and Josh Kelley), Taylor Swift put on an incredible 2 hour show. She had fireworks, dancers, trapeze artists, and some special guests. It was awesome!
Ellen Degeneres came out on stage for a bit, as well as Nicki Minaj to perform. She also performed out in the audience in a VIP circle to a few of her celebrity friends like Taylor Lautner, Nicki Reed, Reese Witherspoon, Colbie Caillet, and Lil Wayne! I think Feliza and I were screaming louder than the girls at that point! :) I was so excited that I forgot to get a picture.

After a long, but fantastic show she did a beautiful finale where she circled the venue in a roaming balcony, and had beautiful stage performers.

What a great night with lots of fun memories for the girls! It's a good thing tomorrow morning is late start for them, and they can sleep in an extra hour.

Fun with friends

We had a fun afternoon at Victoria Gardens with Matt, Feliza, Lauren and Adam. We've been wanting to go up to this outdoor shopping center for years, and have just never made it there. We had a great time walking around the adorable main street and going in and out of the many shops.

Zoe and Lauren had so much fun shopping. Now that they are "middle schoolers" it has taken on a whole new meaning!
After a fantastic dinner at Lucille's we walked over to the giant Bass Pro Shop. I have never seen a store so big...it was filled with everything a hunter, fisher, or outdoors man could ever want! The kids had fun jumping in the riding jeeps and boats. Cooper wants to add this to his Christmas wish list!

There is also a large fish tank, and ponds throughout the store. You can even ride in the elevator with a view of the inside of the tank.

It was nice to spend a relaxing evening with friends, I think Feliza and I are ready to go back!

Sprained ankle...

Poor Cooper had a tough weekend. While at a birthday bash with friends, he sprained an ankle playing in a jumpie. We immediately got on ice on it, but it started swelling right away. So this is how he spent the rest of the weekend...
He was not a happy camper, it is very difficult for him to stay put. We kept it elevated and iced it every couple of hours. I'm not sure what this will mean for football, but we are trying to stay positive and do what we can to get it better quickly!
The swelling and bruising is starting to go down, so hopefully he will be running around in no time!

Football Fun!

We were contacted this week from Cooper's new football coach, and he is now on the Patriots team for the fall season. He was excited to have his friends Adam and Ian on the team also, and was ready to get started with practice!

They had a great practice getting to know each other and doing lots of drills. Coop is loving being back to football and his speed and skills have definitely improved. He was just a bit bummed that there are only 2 practices a week! We are looking forward to a great season!

Back to School we go!

Zoe and Cooper were both up early this morning to get ready for their big days!

I can't believe our Middle School days are here! Zoe was excited, and only a little bit nervous. She was ready to go!


So was Coop!

6th and 4th grade this year!!

It was a very strange feeling to drop Zoe off this morning! She was all smiles getting out of the car, but as I watched her cross the street to the school, I couldn't help but cry. I am so excited for her and all of the new things coming her way, but it's a big day, and I know how much she is growing up and changing.

This is the first year for Cooper not to be going to school with his sister. He did get to walk with his buddy Adam though!

He was happy (and only a tiny bit nervous!) to get to his classroom and start the day.

I can't wait to pick them up and hear all about their exciting days!!

Is it really the last day?

None of us could really believe this was our last day of summer break. Where did the time go? We made sure our backpacks were packed and clothes were set out for tomorrow. Once that was taken care of, we decided to head out for a treat. We have been talking about walking to the ice cream shop all summer, and since today was our last day, we took advantage of it. It's almost 2 miles each way, but we had a great time!

The uphill walk all the way home made us pretty hot and sweaty! It was definitely time for a water balloon fight!I joined in and we got soaked! We enjoyed a yummy BBQ dinner, followed up with a swim in the pool and some delicious chocolate chip peanut butter cookies. It is back to our crazy schedules and routines tomorrow!

Meet the Teacher

It's that time already! Cooper was anxious to get to school this evening to check out the posted classroom list. He couldn't wait to find out who his teacher was going to be, and who he would have in his class.
He's so happy that he will be in Mrs. Roger's 4th Grade class! She is a fantastic lady, with a wonderfully funny personality. I think her extreme love of sports will also be a good fit with Coop! He has a couple of friends in his class too, so hopefully this will be a great year for him.

How can there only be one more day of summer break left?!

Friday Night Lights!

Cooper signed up with a new football league and we are excited for the season to be here! He really wanted to play football again, but we weren't thrilled with the idea of him going back into tackle yet. We found this great new flag league with kids from Kindergarten through 8th grade and couldn't be happier. Unfortunately, he missed the skills camp last week since we were coming home from Yosemite, but he was able to make it to the assessments today.

While waiting to begin, a few of the kids went out on the field to toss the ball around to warm up.
He was so happy to be playing football again!

The boys all lined up in their division, and waited for their turn. They had 4 drills they were evaluated on, and the coaches wrote down their scores and notes on their cards. He even got to have his friend Adam in his group. Hopefully they will make the same team!

They started with a timed run of the 40 yard dash...

They moved on to a shuttle drill where they were timed while running back and forth to cones.

He was looking forward to the catching drill, and was excited to catch 4 out of 4 passes...

The last drill was the quarterback drill with passing. Again, he made 4 out of 4 passes and had a huge smile on his face.


So he finished with a great assessment and was thrilled to be playing again (even for 3 hours in the heat, in the middle of the day!). He can't wait to get started with practice! We cooled off with some frozen yogurt afterward before heading home.