the great outdoors.

since braden's family so graciously hosted us all in santa rosa, we decided to spend the day in their neck of the woods.  we started out the day up in the mountains and rented some kayak's in a little hippie town.  the water was a little shallow in some places, but that didn't stop us from having a fabulous time. it was a beautiful day and somehow lauren and i managed to stay dry the whole time...unlike the boys :)

from there we drove up the road to the redwood forest!!  we were all so excited about this.  i was a little worried when we pulled into the parking lot and the trees weren't extremely tall but after a short walk down the trail we entered one of the most beautiful forests i have ever been in.  the trees were so tall and gigantic and it was very quiet and peaceful walking through.  except of course, for our little group of very mature men :)  it really was such a neat experience.  a place i would recommend everyone go at least once in their life!

it's crazy how quickly the scenery can change!  we went from a sunny forest to a foggy ocean in just thirty minutes.  the pictures don't do it justice but the coast was breathtaking!  i felt like i was in hawaii...except it was foggy and cold.  so so cold.  we stopped to get fire wood from a little hippie village (slightly creepy...) and were hoping to have a bon fire on the beach but every spot we passed had a no fires sign.  the weather didn't stop the boys from playing in the water + being crazy but it took lauren and i a little bit longer to warm up to the idea of spending more than five minutes on the beach.  after a run down the coast we were much warmer and had a great chat.  we feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends!!  we love you guys.  we ended our beach outing with a photo shoot.  not trying to brag, but i got some sa-weet pictures :)  we had a good time.  

after warming up in the car we ate at a yummy mexican restaurant in santa rosa and then i'm pretty sure we all passed out the second we got home.  jam packed days make for very tired people.