Breakfast

I recently moved into my own apartment for the very first time and it has been VERY exciting. One of the aspects of it all that I have appreciated most has been...buying and eating my own food. Don't misunderstand. I am very grateful to all of those who have fed me their food over the last year and a half (Johnsons, Mom and Dad, Matt and Greta, Gail and Mark, Tom's parents, Deanna, the list goes on and on...) but I have my own unique food palate and therefore, could never be fully satisfied gastronomically without picking out my own food. Since I have been in my new apartment I have been excited to eat before every meal and more than satisfied after and so, it is only fitting that I celebrate that fact using my camera. This post, therefore, features a lovely before shot of my breakfast this morning, as well as an after shot, symbolizing my excitement to eat and my satisfaction afterward. A little odd, I know, but it's so important to me!

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The Love Park

So, this is my last post from Peru. I forgot about this photo. I took this at a park right on the beach which is called the Love Park because of this sculpture. The sculpture is pretty large and on a pedestal with amphitheater-like seating around it. It's actually a really cute/artsy park.

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Jen's Bridals!

So, while I was in Peru (see previous post), Tom's sister, Jen, got engaged to her boyfriend, Curtis! It was great to have another couple there so that we weren't the only ones and it was great to be able to partake in the excitement of the engagement. Tom's brother, Matt, is a fabulous budding photographer and we both were able to take some pictures for the couple. Here are some of the bridal photos I took of Jen. These are all in the family's backyard.

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3: I thought this was a good "sisters" shot of Jen and Emily.

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Christmastime in Peru

So, I finally have some more pictures to post! I've been in Peru for about a week and a half now and it's been fabulous! The pictures in the post are from a trip we took to Ica, Peru. A large part of Peru is covered by a very dry desert with a lot of sand dunes. We stayed in a resort in Ica, which is in this desert. These pictures are from a dune-buggy and sandboarding tour we took from a small oasis town called Huachacina that is close by to Ica. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever been able to do! What happens is you go to Huachacina and hire a dune buggy driver (you'll see what they look like in the post). Then, the dune buggy driver drives you all over the sand dunes and high speeds, which makes for an experience similar to riding a roller coaster. The best is when they take you up these REALLY high dunes and then you just go sailing down almost vertically. Ex. At one point on the ride the driver had just been driving us around and he starts to get close to this REALLY high cliff type of dune. As we get close he says "this is the highest dune here" and we're all thinking "wow - that's great!" and assuming he's going to stop and have us get out and take pictures (we'd done that a lot), but all of a sudden he's just gone past the edge of the dune and we are flying down the side of it, looking straight down hundreds of yards. It was intense. Just feeling the wind blow through my hair as we drove through this lunar landscape was awesome in and of itself. The other part of the tour was the sandboarding. Basically, he'd drive us around for a bit and then stop at the edge of a dune. Then he'd get out the sandboards (they just look like snowboards) and we'd all lay down on them (on our stomachs), hold on and slide, face first, down the edge of a big steep dune (don't worry mom, it was safe). It was SO cool. You would get going REALLY fast (especially me, for some reason - because I'm small?). We did that quite a few times. I even ate it one time and flipped over, but was fine. After the trip, we had sand in our ears for days no matter what we did. I still find sand in my shoes. Ok - enough talking. On to the photos.

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3: Other tours.


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9: I obviously didn't take this - just thought it was cool. There's an even cooler one though that I plan on getting my hands on soon.


10: This is Tom jumping off the dune-buggy.


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