Laguna -- Picture Perfect!!!

As you can tell from previous posts on our blog, this past October was crazy busy.  For three weekends in a row, we traveled out of town.  It was insane, but we enjoyed all of our adventures immensely.  For one of those crazy weekends, we drove over to California to visit with GP and GG in Laguna Woods.  However, that was the secondary reason for the visit.  The primary reason was to get family photographs taken by Noa Green.  Long story short ... Noa is a friend of one of my sorority sisters, Andrea Barber.  Andrea had arranged to have Noa take her family's photos while Noa was in town (she lives in New York).  In the midst of talking with Andrea, she had mentioned the upcoming photo shoot and had remarked how it was too bad that we lived in Arizona because Noa is an amazing photographer and if we lived in there we should have her take our photos as well.  Well, with that invitation, Josh and I quickly arranged our schedules so we could make the trip out to Laguna and crash in on Andrea's family photo shoot.

For the entire week before the trip, I was a mess.  What should we all wear?  I want our clothes to match, but not too "matchy".  Also, when I reviewed the weather for the weekend, it predicted rain and chilly temperatures.  What!?!  We are from Arizona.  It doesn't rain and even in December we can wear short sleeves and shorts.  Ughhh! 

Anyway, it all came together.  We drove into Laguna Woods on Friday morning and spent all day with GP and GG and my parents, who were visiting at the same time.  Friday was a bit rainy, but by Saturday, it cleared up and the day was spectacular.  We met up with the Rytke-Barber family and Noa at Laguna Niguel Regional Park for the first portion of our photo shoot.  What a cute little park, eventhough, we thought that we may get escorted off the premises by the Nazi-like park ranger.  Apparently, we were supposed to have a permit to take professional pictures there.  "But, we are all just friends taking photos of each other, Ms. Ranger".  After about an hour at the park, we then drove into Laguna Beach to get some "urban" photos.  The first location we visited was this quaint little cobble brick alley named Peppertree Lane.  The Peppertree Lane is a historic building (1934) originally built around a pepper tree. This particular alley is arched with brick and lined with adorable little specialty shops.  For those of you Harry Potter fans, it reminded us of Diagon Alley or at least how we picure Diagon Alley.  Here is a picure of us visiting it ...

From there, we just walked all around downtown Laguna Beach taking photos at locations that caught Noa's eye.  Even Josh found himself wrapped up in finding those "picture perfect" locations.  He was absolutely adorable.  Madi was an angel, performing when Noa needed her too.  The photos really capture her happy spirit.  We are so blessed to have such a beautiful little girl!  Here is a sneak peak of some of the photos taken.  These are just a few that I "borrowed" from Noa's blog.

 

 

None of this would have happened with out my dear friend Andrea.  She is a truly wonderful friend and we are so happy our families are becoming closer.  Thank you for making this day so much fun!!!  You introduced us to an amazing photographer, researched all of the locations that we used and even allowed us to crash your family's photo shoot.  You are wonderful! 

Noa, I'd like to also thank you for allowing us to "crash" the photo shoot.  You are a truly talented photographer and are so good with the kiddos.  You made the day stress-free and very enjoyable.  I am so glad that we have met and look forward to our next meeting.  Please check out our "sneak peek" on Noa's blog -- http://www.noablog.com/.  They are so fabulous!  I cannot wait to see the rest of the pictures she took.