TAYLOR SWIFT!!!!!

Several years ago I officially came out as a Taylor Swift fan. I wasn't ashamed that her music was really for young girls and not for old ladies like me. I just loved all (well most) of her songs. They just made me feel young again. And it goes without saying that pretty soon I made quite the fan out of Stella as well.

When Miss Swift came through Salt Lake on her last tour, I found out about the show too late and the tickets were all sold out so you could only buy them secondhand for like $300 each. The only person I could think of to bring to the concert at the time was my four-year old daughter and I just could not justify spending that kind of money on a date for me and my still kind of toddler.

By the time her last album 1989 came out, I had made Heidi and Ashley fans and Stella and I still were going strong with our love of all things Taylor. We bought the actual album at Target and listened to it in the car non-stop for months.

Tickets for the Salt Lake show went on sale almost a year before she actually came. And getting the tickets was so stressful. I bought them through the pre-sale and I couldn't get us all together. After talking to Ashley in the middle of ticket chaos, we decided that I would buy tickets for me and Stella and then get tickets for them separately. I was worried that I had made a mistake not to try and wait until they went on sale officially but I am glad that I did because on the official sale day they sold out in less than a minute and most people didn't even get a chance for tickets. It was crazy. After we had the tickets I tried to forget about having them because it was, well...a year away. My daughter would be a whole year older and finally ready to enjoy her first concert.

Finally on September 4th the big day was here. I was so excited I was telling everyone. I was at the mall that day and told all the checkout people that I was going to Taylor Swift, I was seriously so excited.

When we got there and saw all the huge semi-trucks with Taylor on them we freaked out and I honestly could have stood out there and taken way more pictures. I just didn't think I had enough pictures to fully express my excitement. Stella would only smile in the first few because she was super worried that we were going to miss the show. I was so surprised how many girls were there that were Stella's age. I thought I was so crazy for taking my tiny daughter to this huge expensive event, but I guess there are a lot of women just as crazy as me out there.

When we got in the venue it was pretty much chaos. Stella and Heidi went to watch the opener while Ashley and I waited in line for our glow sticks and a shirt for Stella. The wait for the overpriced items was insane and they were out of Stella's size of shirt by the time we got up to the front--it was that crazy for $40 shirts! As you walked around to get to your seats, there were all these cute things to do that we didn't end up having time for, but Stella and I did sneak in for a fake picture with Taylor. Since the show was about to start the line was really short. Don't think that didn't stress out my child, but she still did it and we looked awesome. When we got to our seats and I asked someone to take a picture of us she couldn't even smile because she was so worried she was going to miss the concert.

When the show did start we could almost not stand the excitement. I started crying and Stella kept yelling: "Am I dreaming?! Is this a dream?!" It was awesome. During the whole show I was so distracted by my daughter's excitement as she sang all the songs and cheered and danced. It was amazing. We all had bracelets that would light up at certain times to make the whole audience in sync and I loved them. A lot of people had different light-up signs for Taylor so Stella came up with the idea to make our two glow sticks into a letter "T" and she would hold it up high any time Taylor was looking at our side of the stage. Anyway, I am not sure there were any other mom and daughter duos there that were more excited by the evening or that loved it more. We were both so tired at the end though, me from being sick with a crazy cough and Stella being only seven and the concert starting at her bedtime.

As we were were leaving they were still selling shirts and the line wasn't nearly as long so we waited and got Stella a shirt. She was pretty excited and she wore it non-stop for about two and a half days.

Overall, the whole experience was amazing. I'd go again in a heartbeat and this time I would know enough of the ins and outs to get us all set up with tickets and maybe a few extras to sell and make some money. Some people in our ward had six extra and made $1,000 profit when they sold them!

I have been thinking about it a little bit since this show and I can't think of another musical artist that has ever lived that even compares to Taylor Swift. She is a pop star who writes her own songs and she is the most popular female pop star that has ever lived that I can think of. So seeing her 1989 show and seeing Taylor at the height of her career is just an amazing experience that I will be so glad that I had, and so glad I shared with my girls. Especially Stella...she made the whole night even more amazing with her singing by my side. BEST. NIGHT. EVER.