The Adventures Begin

With mom being in Ohio and Kaitlin and Angelica back at college, Shannon, my dad, and I decided to take a trip down to Oak Glen, one of my favorite places in this area. Suprisingly it took us 30 minutes to get there; I never knew it was so close:) We drove past Riley's up to Los Rios; a place we have not visited in almost a year already. Driving past Riley's instantly induced me with memories from years ago when Lord of the Rings was just coming out. Shannon, my buddy Chris, and I would run around the apple orchards and corn fields pretending to be hobbets, while our older sisters would chase us as ring wrathes. It was thrilling, and we often played it on cold days. I just remember being young and running around; laughing and having a blast with no worries, (except those of running from the "ring wrathes":) But even then I saw the beauty of Oak Glen, and those well-lived memories are still a big part of me this day.
When we arrived to Los Rios, we headed off on our journey. Here is the start of our prolonged adventure:

Simply amazing clouds which had a continual movement:

"The Bridge"

Me on "The Bridge"

Shannon's turn:

Curious:

Awkward bench, looking out over the pond:

Shannon photograhed my smelling a scent-less lavender-colored flower:

Immense fog.

Trail Blazers

Accomplished.

After spending some time meditating at the vast pond, we voyaged on.

Along the way, I found a strang plant which bore something the appeared to be a cross between a tomatoe & pepper. It didn't smell like anything though.

That's a beauty:

Trail Blazing II.

We found a creek. So I played in it.

And Dad practiced his balancing:

Wild Child:

Me over-analyzing something.

The amazing, jumping, baby lizard who loved me, Manney. Along with my dirty finger nails:

So little.

One more for the road:

Picture.

Some of these photos are just so much cooler is black&white:

Curtiousy of Shannon:

I saw this...

...and decided to do my part.

I was actually very excited about this.

Walking down to my tree:

Sneaky, sneaky

We made sure add to the "creepy" effect of the bog...

...we fit right in.

I had gotten a bit too excited when I saw a hill. I ran right down it and lost my scarf on the way...

...graciously Shannon picked it up on her way down.

She is so cute when she laughs; sometimes we have faces only a twin could love.

That's right. We found flowers to match her sweater...

....and some to match my scarf.

"Go up there and look like "death"..."Stop saying that."

"I want one of me smiling for once."

"Get my Vans."

We walked on a bit more...

...and came across this sign towards the end.

We found a nice shady spot with some grass and laid down for a while.

(That is no black eye, what happend was I started choking on water and my eyes started tearing which made my make up run a bit. Thanks to Shannon, I did not die.)

This is the absolute last photo we took today. After our hike we went in the shop for some samples of jam, sauce, and apples. We came home to stew that dad made; an all-around well played day. The drive back was exactly 30 minutes. I timed it.

More to come,

-R

What I've Been Listening To.

Simple, easy, elegant, calm, beautiful.
Check them out:
http://www.azureraymusic.com/
The first song I heard from them, but they have plenty of more which are just as great.

Celebrating 17 Years...

As you well know, last wednesday was my birthday! I went to school and church, treating it like any other day. But on friday, after the bible study, we headed down to San Diego where we stayed with our sisters, and had a delicious time. Kaitlin took us out to dinner at an amazing sushi restaurant called Sushi Deli, which was the most amazing sushi I've ever had. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, it was my first time. What a great first time it was.

Here are some photos from the event of the night:

First time wearing my cowboy boots outside of Idyllwild:

Twinsies: (Ironic discovery! We're both wearing heart-shaped neck laces we received from our parents. I think she got hers on her 16th birthday.)

Sometimes I'm terrible at taking photos:

Second attempt:

Kaitlin was the only one who was experienced in going out for sushi, so we ordered just a couple plates of different kinds of rolls which included:

garlic edamame

miso soup

spicy tuna roll

california roll

Mexican roll

salmon roll

It was amazing. After we left sushi, we went over to Fresh&Easy and bought tubs of ice cream/ gelato. Hmmm yumm. This wraps up night 1 of my 17th birthday with my sisters.

Summer Photos Part II

Check out her amazing work:
http://www.janellestephanie.com/

 Our attempt at a jumping photo:

Janelle was awesome and took some twin photos for me and Shannon!

Summer Photos Part I

During this summer I met some incredible people. One of my favorites were my friends Janelle and Meghan from Teen Camp. Janelle happened to be a professional photographer and set me and some ffreinds up for a photo shoot! She is fantastic might I add. Here are the results of some of the photos taken, I'll post more later:

More to come,

-R

Alas, We Meet Again.

http://www.myspace.com/theshapeoftheearth
-Here is one of my old favorite bands, back in 2008. I used to talk to these guys before they were famous.
When I deleted my myspace, the only thing I regretted was losing contact with them. Today while driving home from school, there was a car in front of us which had a sticker on their window that read "The Shape of The Earth" and instantly I remembered how much I treasured them two years ago.
It's fate.