Tuesday, August 26, 2008

He's home! He's home!

Ok...so he's been home a week but I've been busy. I'm so glad to have him back though. Here are A LOT of pictures for your viewing pleasure. There are a ton but I had hundreds to choose from. It's China for gosh's sake.

My pretty ring!
My pretty ring's side view.

And now for the China pictures...
Alec, Leo, & Adam

Outside the Forbidden City...and (I think) in Tienanmen Square

Adam & Alec doing a little Kung Fu inside the (not so) Forbidden City

Scorpion on a stick...similar to our hotdog on a stick...
sold by street venders.

Adam...eating some revolting scopion. There's a hilarious video of this experience.
I couldn't figure out how to make it go though.

This is the way the Chinese keep cool around town...but going entirely without
a shirt is considered unacceptable.

Adam and Alec doing the Crane thing in front of the Temple of Heaven (I think)

Adam, Leo, & Alec in front of the pretty Temple of Heaven

What beautiful air quality...makes you want to run a marathon.

The crew outside the soccer stadium

Some soccer...they got to see two games...stories are affiliated with all things...ask Adam if you're interested. He was there...he's better at telling them.

Look how hard it's raining! This is the day they went to the Great Wall

The Great Wall of China...pretty great I'd say
Alec, random Chinese guy, Adam...with the peace sign. Chinese people came up to the two of them all the time wanting pictures with them. They almost always flashed the peace sign. The boys started to get pictures with the same people who wanted picutres with them. This also illustrates how drenched they were. Alec and Adam were the only two people on the wall lacking the pastel poncho...I think they regretted it in the end.

The people on the great wall...it was apparently not as packed as usual considering the monsoon-like weather. You can get an idea of how steep it can get though.
Alec, Adam, and Leo in front of a restaraunt that served Peking Duck
Adam eating some Peking Duck (on his feet are his new shoes...Fumas he calls them...for the faux and the puma...)
Alec and Adam tied American flags around their necks and wore them as capes a lot of the time. I didn't include many pictures but there are plenty.

Beach volleyball...this was their favorite event

The crowded (and I venture, smelly) subway
Adam got free dessert everywhere he went. I think they may have thought he was an athlete...who knows. This one is a mountain of shaved ice covered in beans and doused in sweetened condensed milk with some mango on the side.
Leo, Adam, and Alec at track...they got to see Usaim Bolt (is that his name), from Jamaica, win the 100. Pretty cool eh?
If you look really close...the Jamaican is probably the guy in the front.

American Adam the superhero...this picture is awesome!
Adam (and his coke...his beverage of choice as the water was gross and expensive), Leo, & some random Germans in front of the water cube thing...it's really cool and changes colors. The guys got their pictures taken with tons of different nationalities but I thought I ought not include them all.
Adam, in his cape, holding "the torch" at the massive bird's nest/stadium

These very pretty gardens...I don't remember where...but it's sure pretty...Adam should have done the captions...sorry.

Adam and Leo flashing the traditional Chinese peace sign on their last day in China
Ok...so that was really long...cool though (at least to me). I really should have had Adam do this but I had a little more time...and the camera.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

And now, the moment, you've all been waiting for...

...drumroll please...

Ok, it's pretty much the moment I've been waiting for, but feel free to rejoice with me. Adam and I are engaged (*finally*)!!! I'm pretty jazzed about it but I think that's a given. Here's the scoop. Adam and I have been together for almost 4 years. To be honest, I've kind of been expecting this moment for a while, but it still came as quite a delightful surprise to me. Adam was to leave his house at 4am on the morning of August 9, 2008 for the airport. (He's been in Beijing) It was planned that Adam's mom, Taylor, and I would all accompany him on this trip to the airport. I sort of wanted to take him myself because I was so worried I'd cry upon his departure and really didn't want to be crying in front of Taylor and Mary Jo -- sorry, I can't escape my own lameness.

Anyway, since we were leaving so early in the morning, I just kinda chilled at Adam's house, not wanting to wake my family several times whilst going in and out all through the night. Around 3:40 am-ish, I was sitting on Adam's bed waiting for him (I assumed he was doing some last minute packing or using the bathroom). He came into his room and knelt on the ground, laid his head in my lap, and wrapped is arms around me. I felt bad that he was so tired but expected nothing. We told each other that we loved each other and would miss each other. Then he said, "I think we should get married." This wasn't new at all. We've both said it plenty of times. I said that I agreed. Then I lifted his head off my lap and a took a little, blue, velvet box out of his pocket. I immediately hugged him and started to cry. He pulled back a bit, asked me to marry him. I said yes. He put the ring on my finger. The hugging continued. I thought I ought to look at the ring at this point (since I honestly hadn't yet). I told him it was so pretty and he told me to take the ugly pink one off (if you'll remember back to that post). I did and hugged him some more...still crying. This is when I noticed his mom standing in his doorway just looking on. She apologized for ruining the moment (which she didn't...nothing could have) but continued standing there watching. It was perfect and sweet and lovely and I cried like a sap...(I stopped as soon as I noticed the audience though). It turns out he's had the ring for about two months and was waiting for the right moment...then he kind of ran out of time. He wanted to propose before h left. The story of course gets longer, of course, but that covers the basics I think. At 4 am-ish, we left for the airport and China's had my fiance (not sure I'm comfortable using that word!) ever since. But he comes home soon!!! Pictures to follow, he's had the camera after all.

Sorry for those who find the mushy things in life a bit repulsive, I reserve the right to enjoy our mushy engagement experience though!

Oh...and I waited a while to post this, hoping to wait for Adam to be home first (he hasn't really had the chance to even tell his family yet), but saw that the sis had already posted it (no big deal at all) so I thought I should keep up...the end!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

China's about to get a little bit cooler...

...because Adam will be there in 5 hours. Thanks to China for hosting he Olympics and luring my fella to their land. We saw Adam off this morning. His flight left at 6:30 am so we (me, Adam, Adam's mom, Adam's brother Taylor) left for the airport at 4 am-ish. Rather early. Adam had a layover in San Francisco and is currently en route to China. I hope he isn't sitting by a smelly. Adam will be gone for ten days and has tickets to see various events and will also do some sight seeing. He took the nice camera so hopefully we'll get some excellent pictures. There is much more to be said but it will all wait for Adam to return.

(pictures from Google images)

Monday, August 4, 2008

Logan the great!

I love Logan. It is a fantastic place. My two years living there included some of the best times I've ever had. I journey back to Logan fairly regularly to visit friends or enjoy the outdoors...this past weekend featured a delightful trip back to the land of the wonderful. Our trip included campfires (which I love), Aggie Ice Cream (which most normals love), and sampling the local cuisine. We ate a delightful dinner in B.C. before we arrived in Logan at the best restaurant in the world (Maddox...which I call Grandpa Maddox's...which I don't think it's actually called). We would have gone to Peach City for the greatest shake ever made but were too full. I highly recommend both to anybody though.

Above, you'll see us (Adam & Jen) enjoying a fire in green canyon. I tried my hand at the infamous mountaing man breakfast. It was good...not great...but good. We brought more bacon than needed and there were many mountain bikers with dogs so I threw the extra, raw bacon in the road and waited for the hilarity to ensue. Also, Adam's leg appears to be on fire a bit. It isn't. He wouldn't be smiling. Anyhow, the bugs in green canyon must be feasting on some weird stuff (maybe raw bacon) because they were massive.

Below, we're standing in front of porcupine dam. That's right, porcupine dam. It's just outside of Paradise. I felt the need to venture to paradise as I have never physically been there before. Poor Adam endured my rendition of "Almost Paradise" the entire ride from Logan (luckily it's pretty close). When we got there...which is sort of nowhere...we saw the turn off to porcupine dam and got curious. What a delight. We later enjoyed dinner with Adam's dad and step-mom.