[[two totally different worlds]]

I definitely experienced 2 totally different events in the last couple of days.......

So a few weeks ago Zach said "What do you want to do for your birthday?" and I said "I dont know, I didn't know you did anything fun when you turn 26 and have a baby." Zachs reply, "Lets go to Kings Island." my reply "I want to go to Brickyard." He about fell out of his chair. hahahaha. He never thought I would want to go to a NASCAR race?!?! HA!
Rewind....when Zach and I first starting dating I went to his parents house to watch a Colts game and Zach's dad said "Taylor, you watch NASCAR?" I said "No." He said, " Well you will now." hahaha. And he wasn't lying. I really started to grow fond of it, never in a million years thought I would.
So Sunday we took the trip to the Speedway with our mini grill, lots of food, our corn hole boards, and our fun faces on. That was DEFINITELY a cultural experience....let me tellll you. But it was so fun, perfect weather, perfect friends....sooo much fun.

Then a few months ago Morgan text me from school
and said "GUESS WHAT?"
"what?" I was changing a diaper.....I will never forget this conversation.
"john legend is coming to town with INDIA.ARIE, the day before your birthday...I smell a present!"
I cried. I seriously cried, while changing a diaper.
India Arie is my most FAVORITE musical artist ever. She is very spiritual and uplifting. I found COMPLETELY AND TOTAL comfort in her music after Bryce died, and when I was pregnant, going through a lot of stuff. (and thanks to India's music, a lot of people have no idea how difficult Bryces death was for me, b/c I was putting on a smile and trying to take care of others) Her music is absolutely amazing, and I have always wanted to see her in concert, but she NEVER tours around here. The closest she has ever been was like Alabama and I seriously considered it, but something came up. She also usually only does like small venues by herself. So when Morgan told me she was coming I thought the world was going to explode. hahahaha.
I know it sounds silly to most of you, I'm sure. But there has to be something in your life that makes you feel so much better about yourself and certain situations whether it be music, beer, video games, talking walks, riding bikes, whatever. Well....obviously mine is popping in an India CD and just losing myself in her music.
Last night was amazing, she exceeded my expectations and was AMAZING live. AMAZING. I can't get over it, and still can't believe I saw her in concert. Ok...so I'm done beaming about this, b/c I'm sure you don't care. hahahaha.
oh yeah...and John Legend was the head-liner of the show. He put on a great show too...but I can now die a happy happy woman b/c I finally got to see my India.Arie LIVE!

Here are some pictures from the Brickyard and the concert. I have a video of Eli trying to crawl and of India performing, I will try to upload them and get them on here soon! :)

grilling out!


me and amanda!


me and z




Daniel in his cool shades


we walked over and hung out with the Lermans for a while. so fun.




Chris and Ben and their friends.


in our seats!! :)






Leaving!





India.and John

I don't think i stopped smiling until I went to sleep! This was us before we left!


speechless. for the first time in a long time i was actually speechless.






India has a song called "I am not my Hair" and its all about how when she was little how she had bad hair and everyone gave her a hard time, but she didn't care b/c her hair didn't make her who she was. . . . .she took off a huge long wig of dreadlocks she had on, and showed her real 'hair'
Lyrics..."I am not my hair.I am not this skin.I am not your expectations no. no.I am not my hair.I am not this skin.I am a soul that lives within"








John Legend...little yet very very mighty. He came out singing at the end of our isle. pretty awesome. pretty cute.







india came out to singint with him.







and I will leave you with a random photo shoot me and eli had yesterday! :)

huge blanket. toys galore (which you cant see b/c a bunch are underneath his outfit. but whatever. besides the point. . . . so much to do...but where is the babyyy?


over here off the blanket, playing with the couch. seriously kid?!

he's getting so big, and trying to crawl :( wheres my little man?!


he's getting the hang of the camera I think. Everytime I would point it at him yesterday, he would laugh or smile. and don't mind lilly. she and eli are best friends and she wanted in the picture too.


cracking up.


love this picture.


the scene everyday when Zach gets home from work. so funny. notice how eli is squeezing his face.


this ones for the fridge.




Birthday dinner at mom and dads tonight....then headed out of town on sunday for my first (mini) vacation in 6 years. Mom, Nana, Aunt Kari and cousins are going to Michigan for the week. soooooo excited to get away. :)

xoxo
Tay

random.fun

So last Friday Eli and I ventured over to ol' Greenwood Indiana to hang out with my cousins Danielle and Cameron ( I dont like to say babysit, b/c they aren't babies....they are awesome. hehe) We decided to go to the Childrens Museum and visit the King Tut exhibit as well. I thought it was pretty neat, but didn't get to enjoy it as much as the kids because Eli decided it would be the proper time to throw a fit. Sooo..I had to find a corner in a dark room of King Tut, to calm him down and get him to sleep...did I mention that people take this King Tut stuff VERY serious and it was super duper quiet in the place? yeah....well thanks Eli. hahaha. Not a big deal really.
Payton joined us...which I thank her so very much for that! Sometimes its more fun (for cam and daniellea) for siblings to have that extra person, so it was nice! We had a fun time :) We get to see them again this Thursday and Friday too!

Cam and Danielle in some sort of hole in the dinosaur exhibit.


putting together a puzzle of a dino




cameron thought it'd be hilarious to see what a dinosaur tooth looked like on Eli. Eli wanted to eat it.


Playing dress up in the Egyptian exhibt










Me and Mr. Rashface


Danielle showing Eli the fishies. He looooves Danielle


:)
xoxo
Tay

bryce's golf outing and recent happenings!

So we have been so very busy, and going non-stop for the last week or so!! And I am going to cram everything into one post, just for you! :) Be aware of many, many, many pictures!

(please note...in some of the pictures our little man has a nasty rash on his face. he has been to the dr. and supposedly it is from him slobbering, and he just has UBER sensitive skin. they prescribed a hydrocortizone cream, which burned the hell out of his little face...he screamed when we put it on...so now we are using Lotrimin-which is Jock Itch cream. I asked the Pharmacist if that was ok, and he said "Honey, fungus is fungus, it'll help your little man, I promise." It definitely bothers ME more than Eli. He has been so happy, and could care less about his new acquired nickname "Mr. Rashface")

**First things First**

Eli took his first trip to the fair, twice!! He loved it. It was so adorable. He was so happy just to be outside, and he loved the animals, and the food that ZACH let him try. (suckers, powdered sugar, and ice cream---which resulted in me and Eli staying up until 12:30am, while Zach slept....how rude! hahaha)

The first night we went I only took 2 pictures. But the 2nd night I got a few more. It was sooo cold the 2nd night we went, I was a bad mom and Eli had shorts and a T-shirt on...but I'm oh-so-clever and always carry pajamas in his diaper bag, so he wore PJ's to the fair. He thought it was pretty cool! [[laughs]]

This was after the fair...rolllling all over the place! :) He is even trying to crawl. I can't believe he is growing up so fast!

In his adorable John Deere onesie my nana bought for him before he was even born, he can finally wear it! :)

LOVE=Blue Eyes and Slobber


he wanted that corn so bad.

Amanda aka "Auntie Big Bad" was showing Eli the baby chicks, he loooved them.

Eli and his Auntie Big Bad :)

Thank you Zach. haha!

*Wedding*

Zachs cousins Alex got married to his wonderful lady Marci. These 2 are so awesome! They are so much fun, and love each other more than I have ever seen a couple love. I am so, so happy for them that they finally got to tie the knot! :) Love to both of you!!

I'm pale and oily-faced in this picture. But I cherish pictures of Zach and myself, b/c usually Z is making a ridiculous face in our pictures!

Uncle Matt and Auntie Em

Emily, Matt, Z, and Me!

alex the groom

!the happppy couple!

boys!

me and alex at the reception :) love this kid!

*Golf Outing*

This was the 7th Annual Golf Outing for Bryce. As usual it was an amazing time and awesome turnout! He would be so proud!!! :) Check out the website and plan for next year!! http://www.brycemitchellgolf.com/.

Stuffing the golfers bags!

Some of the awesome things the golfers got, just for golfing! I'm loving these drinking glasses! :)


Every golfer gets a door prize, and here are some of them!

This was Eli's first outing weekend, with many more to come. He handled it very well I must say! :)

He loves his new hat!

Mr. Rashface ---which is 10 times worse now...you'll see it in a few minutes.

with his mimi :)

no i'm not nursing him. he doesnt do that anymore! he just got a little tired and is taking a nap!

stuffing the bags

This is Warren-without Warren the outing would not be as kick ass as it is!! Props to Warren!!


Mom stole my camera. hahaha.

morgans so pretty.hahahaha

*Golf Dinner*
We always have the dinner and auction the night before the actual outing. The first few years we did dinner after the outing, and it made for a TERRIBLY long day. So after dad and the boys did some research they found that a lot of outings do their dinners the night before and it works out a lot better! The food is AMAZING (everything is held at Puragtory golf course in Noblesville...they rock!) and our speaker was IU assistant coach Dan Dakich. He was soooo funny. We gave away (i think, don't quote me) around $10,000 in scholarships. We also have a live auction where we auctioned things like trips to Marthas Vineyard, Alaska, French Lick (which Zach bid on and got!!! 2 nights at a brand new resort and a round of golf for 4! I am sooo stoked!), some autographed jerseys and balls and some other stuff. Its an awesome time, where we get to see allllll of our family and friends that we don't always get to see. It is honestly my most favorite day of the year. Who needs Christmas and Thanksgiving when you have the Bryce Mitchell Golf Tournament!? haha!

p.s. Mr. Rashface didn't come to the dinner! I wanted to enjoy the evening with all of our family and friends. Zachs mom and dad were sooooo kind to keep him for us so we could have a night without getting up and down! Thanks to Debbie and Tim for that!!

people getting there!

just had to take a picture of morgans ugly shoes. she loves me.

sisters, and we didn't plan our outfits....the whole family matched.

mama with her girls.

me and z...and my flat hair.

sandy and bob--love them!

one of dads coaches, fred and his wife Shannon.

miss stephy and myself

Some golfers, and friends of bryces! Joe, Nick and Joes dad in the middle.

Aunt Kari, Hannah, and Danielle....bliking for the camera!

The Richardsons. Loove them!

Tiff and Aunt Terrie

Dads new coach and his family!

Dad mingling.


before dinnnner. outside. "happy hour"

Jamie and Bryces BESTEST friend ever, Cory.

Audra and Steph

my girls.

cousins Nick and Adam

cousins Julie and Jarred

ma and pa

Our family.

Aunt Tootsie, Grandma and Aunt Gerry

Daddyo

One of the scholarship winners, Sam Croffie.

another scholarshiper...

Payton picking the tickets for the raffle prizes

beautiful.

the winnnnnners : )

*THEEEE OUTING*
Red Volunteer Shirts....I got to pick this year...and I must say we all looked mighty grand in our RED!

Joe and Eli






Nana and Aunt Sara


I love how Eli is looking over the top of his glasses. Hes so dang cute.




Morgan and co. eating lunch


Aunt Kari, Nana, and Mom


Steph and myself


The lovely ladies that were checking in all of the golfers!
Aunt Sara, Sandy, Nana, Kari, Shanne and Ma


Me and Uncle Tom


Mom and Dad

Rashface and his Poppy :) He was so great all day!

Mom and all of her family that came out to support that day. All of the boys in the picture golfed! (except Eli!)


I went out to the kitchen to do a few things, for about 5 minutes, came back into the bedroom and found this--both boys passssed out! So cute! We all had a long long day!

I love my boys!




*The Archers!*
So the Archers are probably one of my most FAV families ever. Dan coached with dad in the 90's...left us and went to Chatard, and now they live in NC and he is coaching down there. I remember the best years being when the Archers were with us! We went to eat after EVERY GAME! We went to a place locals now know as Birdys, but it used to be called "Where Friends Meet." They share the passion of the sport of basketball with us, and are more like family to us than friends. They are such awesome people. . .Susan never forgets a birthday or anniversary. They are just awesome amazing people, and I miss this so much!!! Mom talks to Susan everyday on email. Susan has been such an amazing friend to my mom through the years. I am so very thankful for you guys!

So ANYWAYS. They are in Indy visiting this week, they were able to stop by the outing at the end of the day...and we met them for dinner on Tuesday! It was so awesome visiting with them!

So here are a few pictures! :)

Susan and Mom

Dad and Dan


Courtney and Eli


Megan, Eli, and Susan

Meg and Eli. He loved these girls!

The girls!

all of us.....miss them soo much!

A few more pictures for your enjoyment! :)
(this was the day the rash started!!! booo)







trying to sit up, but falling over!


so cute!


watching 'the view' with me!

carters new face when he laughs. it is hysterical!

carter!

ok...so there is your update!! We have a concert this weekend as well as the Brickyard!! Zach asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday (next wednesday) and I said Brickyard, he was just as surprised as all of you...and waaay excited! I went one time when I was younger, and didnt understand or care about nascar. I think it'll be a blast!! Matt and Emily are also moving out this weekend! They are so excited and are living like 1.5 miles away from us. I am happy for them! Congrats home owners! Also next week Morgan and I are going to India.Arie and John Legend concert. And as cliche as it sounds, I would have NEVER made it through Bryces death without India.Arie's music. She isn't the most popular singer in the world (she is a r&b singer), but she is amazing and her lyrics helped me so much! She has never toured to my knowledge, and when Morgan told me she was coming, I cried...and mom bought us tickets for our birthdays. I am soooooooo excited!! Thennn my birthday is Wednesday!!--so you will be getting lots more pictures next week!! Hope all is well! Pray for my little rashface! :)

xoxo
Tay