'choose your own adventure!'

do you know what makes taking the pt board exam okay? being able to walk out of it and see your husband + two of your dearest friends drive up to sweep you away for a weekend of fun!

that's right! our amazing friends ryan + candice flew into town for a long weekend visit this past labor day weekend and we couldn't have been more blessed to get to spend that wonderful time with them! ryan + paul went to college and blasted threw engineering classes together and we've been obsessed with the garretts ever since :). we definitely do not get to see them nearly as much as we would like... so we have to soak it all up while we have the chance!

we started the weekend off at alcatraz! paul + i have never visited alcatraz together, only individually during past family vacations, and let me just say... i absolutely LOVE this place... it's so very rich with history - and maybe this is the little bit of criminal interest that i've inherited from my law-savy relatives emerging. ryan + candice had visited us during our first year on the west coast, but we were too late to get the sought-after tickets to alcatraz. ever since, ryan has been itching to get on this little island in the bay. ryan + candice were so kind to get all of us tickets so we were able to make his dream a reality. it was truly amazing and there were even new parts of the island that had been opened that paul + i had never seen before!

(nothing like a photo of a $20 photo to re-capture the memories!)

and then we went on a hike to see some pretty big trees...

and then we went to an art + wine festival where paul made a new friend...

and we saw some pretty awesome views of the city...

and then we (mostly ryan + paul) went down some pretty crazy slides...

(candice + i 'sliding' down... not exaggerated at all!)

and we swung on some rope swings overlooking the city...

(there were obviously too many pictures to choose from for this activity...)

and we went to the santa cruz boardwalk for some good 'ole fashion fun...

(wait, who's this character?)

and now that it's official on facebook... i think it's 'ok' for us to say why we are jumping for joy in this photo... the garretts are going to be a family of THREE come april!!! ryan + candice shared the fantastic news with us upon their arrival so we were lucky enough to have their entire visit to celebrate!!! paul + i couldn't be happier for these 2 and we are beyond excited about baby garrett!!! we love all THREE of you!!!

thank you, ryan + candice, for the most fabulously fun visit!!! we adore you both and can't wait to [hopefully] visit y'all in randleman this winter... and see that baby bump a-growin'!!!