Wow, I love me some Maren Time!
Maren is one of my best friends from college. She has been a life saver over the years that I've known her. During my single days after college, she had moved to Las Vegas for work. I would travel down to visit at least once a month while she was living there. We would spend all afternoon laying out by the pool or watching movies, just hanging out. It was perfect! She helped me through so much heartache.
When I found Dallas, she was one of the first people I told.
She was also the first person (and only person that I can recall) that has gone on a road trip with Dallas and I. She's spent weeks in the Bay area visiting us and going on crazy adventures, to the point that Dallas refers to her as family :)
I wish we were able to see each other more often. I'm grateful that LA and San Francisco are as close as they are, but there's still too much distance. Basically, I love this girl and could not feel more grateful for the friendship she's given me over the last 10 years of my life!
SO, when she emailed me and told me that she'd be coming up to the Bay Area for a visit in the middle of July, I was ecstatic! She also told me that another good friend from college, Julie, would be joining her. I was super excited about this since Julie is totally awesome and I hadn't seen her in over 5 years! Needless to say I was counting down the days until they got here.
Maren flew in on a Thursday night and we ended up staying awake talking til the wee hours of the morning. Daxton immediately fell in love! I should start calling Maren the baby whisperer because was he perfect the entire time she was visiting. He slept 9 hours straight at night, took amazing naps, and was super pleasant and happy throughout the weekend. He was even great while spending an entire day in the city driving around and visiting touristy stops. Like I said...baby whisperer!
Thursday and Friday Julie was in the city for a work conference, so Maren and I hung out with the little guy. We talked all morning while he was sleeping and then went out to a late lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (where Daxton continued to sleep!)
Hanging out with Maren, Daxton's newest BFF.
I love the picture below!
Maren imitating Daxton's "Get me out of the sun!" face...priceless.
Friday night Maren went into the city to spend the night with Julie at her hotel. Daxton once again slept 9 hours straight that night! Because of this, Dallas and I were wide eyed and bushy tailed to meet up with the girls for a fun day in San Francisco.
It was a crammed Saturday with thousands of tourists, so we spent a lot of time in the car driving from spot to spot, but it was great because we were able to talk, sing, and reminisce of crazy stories. Dallas loved every minute of it, especially the loud singing in his ear!
Our first spot of the day was the Palace of Fine Arts. It's pretty much a staple item on my list of tourist spots when people come to visit. I love it there and since Julie works in the architecture field, it was perfect. We spent awhile walking in and out of the columns and taking crazy pictures. It was such a great time!
Daxton loved all the extra attention from Maren and Julie. Julie has a little boy as well, so she was a natural with the baby cooing and giggling. He was quite the smitten little guy!
It's pretty easy to convince Maren to be the subject of photography. She was super ecstatic to try out some jumping pictures. Dallas also had some fun teasing her about proper jumping form and ended up taking over the photo shoot. It was pretty funny to watch it all take place. Here are a few of my favorite images.
Greek Goddesses
This next set is my favorite!
I had positioned Julie and Maren up on a ledge and started to snap pictures. Before we knew it, it turned into an interesting engagement shoot...classic San Francisco!
Dallas called this our "Ice cream cone" formation.
I sure do love these girls!
It was so much fun to see them both again. It reminded me how truly blessed I've been throughout my life to have met such amazing people. Each has helped shape me who I am today in different ways. I have incredible friends to say the least.
On our way back to the car we ended up taking this rather awkward family photo in front of someone's house. I guess you had to be there, but it was pretty funny at the time.
Of course you all had a blast! Fun, fun pictures. Love it.
ReplyDelete