LA Weekend

We had a good week but a GREAT weekend!

Our electricity went out on part of our house this week, including the garage area, so we were trapped in the garage when it was time to go teach piano lessons. The ironic thing was that the same thing happened to my sister just last week. We will always live parallel lives. After we fixed the switch in our laundry room everything worked again.

This weekend was my first time leaving our kiddos overnight. Party! The only time I've left Westin overnight was to have Bennett in the hospital, and I've never left them both. Our friends Emma and Andrew watched them over the weekend while Michael and I headed down to LA for a FUN packed weekend.

We drove down and hung out with Michael's oldest sister Shelley and her family. We loved taking a tour of their remodel and seeing the progress. Then my sister and her husband came and ate dinner with us and Shelley's family. I love when I have lots of my favorite people in one room!

That night was the main event... Taylor Swift! I love her and I'm not ashamed of it. Her concert was incredible. Michael and I went with my sister, Michael's sister, her husband, and their daughter Ella. It was such a fun crew and we LOVED the show. It exceeded my expectations by far and my favorite part of Taylor Swift is how smart she is and how intentionally she handles herself. After the concert we went to the yummiest taco truck that we love to visit when we're in LA. My brother-in-law has been getting tacos there for 30 years and they're the best. Midnight tacos with family after Taylor Swift is pretty much heaven.

The next day we went on a bike tour of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood with my sister and her husband. I LOVED the tour. It was so fun to learn some history of different spots (like the Grey Stone Mansion) and see some celebrity houses of past and present. Being on a bike is my favorite way to explore. Michael and I hit up Shake Shack before driving home and it was SO delicious. I haven't had Shake Shack since I lived in DC in 2011 and it was even better than I remembered.

Emma said the boys did great with her while we were gone. I was so grateful everything went smoothly and that they were just fine with the weekend. Bennett even went to nursery by himself (for only the second time) with the help of his binky. I have been telling myself that after this weekend we would start to think about getting rid of the binky, but now that we're to that point I am dreading it. We kind of struggled with the boys once we were back. Sometimes it feels like they use up all their good when they are with someone other than Mom and Dad, like church or playschool or babysitters, and then they get out all their melting down once parents are back. Tonight that happened to the extreme because we had never been away from them this long. Hopefully we can all have a better day tomorrow... :) 

But that's not getting me down after this fun weekend! I had such a great time and I'm so grateful for the past two days. They were really so happy for me.

My sweet boys -- this was the best Mother's Day picture we got last week
because I never remember to take a picture in our Sunday clothes.

Bennett is always climbing in boxes of any size.

Rocking those scarves at Music Makers.

We had our carpets cleaned and moved everything to different areas of our house.
Bennett thought it was awesome that his bed was in the bathroom and just wanted to hang out in it.

Lots of our weekly routine spots are taking a break for the summer.
so we've been finding ourselves at Chick-Fil-A every other week.

Bennett just loves all dogs.

Carpet cleaning barricade. 

Time for Taylor!

Such a fun group to go with. I was so happy.

The whole show was pretty over the top and amazing to watch.

We were so close to her during the two songs she sang on this side stage.

Selena Gomez came and sang a song with her. She said such nice things about Taylor and her family.

Piano songs are the best songs.

Beverly Hills

Grounds of the Grey Stone Mansion

We recognized this spot from the X-Men movies and had to snap a pic for my dad.

Lucille Ball used to live here.

Chimney details of the Grey Stone Mansion

Other chimney deals of the Grey Stone Mansion

Mick Jagger used to live here. Across the street was Elvis Presley's old house.

Through those hedges is the house that Michael Jackson died in.

Hocus Pocus house. This was a Disneyland dressing room, and someone loved it and bought it and moved it to Beverly Hills. They made it a little spookier and more woodsy for Hocus Pocus.