Graduation

I haven't posted in nearly a month and I should probably be slapped around for it. Regardless, I'm posting now and hopefully this will suffice for your month kick of the Steve update. I finally managed to graduate, and yes it really is official this time. I even have my grades and transcript to prove it. I decided that I should probably walk because my mother was really pushing for it and I thought it would make most of the family pretty happy. I must be honest though when I say I was not looking forward to it. I remembered high school graduation and how long and boring that was. I decided I didn't want to have to deal with that again and so I bought along a book to read just in case.

Turns out that the book was completely unnecessary because I found a few friends from my Institute Council days and we hung out while waiting for our names to be called.

I didn't really get much out of the commencement speaker because I myself was speaking most of the time. It could be likened to the day you get married and you don't pay any attention to the person conducting the ceremony because you are too excited to marry your wife. Apparently I was too excited to be done with school to care about what the speaker had to say about a college education.

The graduation finally came to a close and then I had to find my parents and grandparents among the throngs of people. It didn't take too long and then my wonderful mother gave me a homemade lei. It was a great gift, perhaps the only thing better would have been an actual diploma in the diploma cover, but I'll have to wait a few more months for that to happen.

And so the story goes. I am no longer a Wildcat, but now an alumni of Weber State University. How does it feel? Wonderful, scary, exciting, nerve-raking, relieving, etc. I am excited to move on to the next phase of life which includes: dating Kristen, who is also now a graduate, studying for the GRE, finding a full-time job, leading the music in sacrament and creating activities for the ward. So if you are ready to offer me that full-time job now is the time to come forward.

Not Quite a Traditional Thanksgiving

So with yesterday being Thanksgiving I decided to let all of you in on the exciting adventures of the Adams family and other involved in the festivities. So Thanksgiving began without much fanfare. I had to read a book about Iran for a paper I have due on Monday. It was really excited, so much so that I'll leave the title, "Hidden Iran" and let you read the book so I don't spoil the surprise. So I accomplished that and moved on to the next chapter of the day. Kristen and I went to her grandmothers house for an excellent meal and I became an avid fan of broccoli cassarole. I had a great conversation with her uncle about where we had each lived, places we had explored, things we do for entertainment, etc. He also decided that I was a pretty decent guy, so apparently I passed whatever test he attempted to put me through.

Then it was on to my grandparents house. We had another Thanksgiving dinner, just three hourse after the first one began. It might be important to tell you that I had a large second helping of just about everything at the first lunch so I wasn't too hungry for the second meal, as seen above. In fact my nine-year old cousin managed to eat more than I did.

As the meal ended I proceeded to eat slower and slower, even though I had nex to nothing on my plate. I decided that a nap was probably in order so I could continue on with the festivities of the day, so Kristen allowed me to use her as a pillow. And here I must confess that I didn't get to sleep at all, but Kristen got some good shut eye. So after the semi-nap the party picked up once again.

So we moved on to the traditional wedding cake that follows every Thanksgiving meal. Somehow nobody had eaten any of the cake at my sister's reception. I think it might have had to due with the fact that most of my family got sick due to the cream cheese topped brownies. The cake was good and I must have made some room during the nap cause I managed to eat both cake and ice cream. Oh, and grandma if you are reading this, I did enjoy the food you made, even though I ate more the day after Thanksgiving as opposed to on the proper turkey day.

Then we moved on to the tradition of sticking spoons to our noses. It took a few minutes for me to remember the proper technique but I eventually figured it out. It was also Tyler's first time sticking a spoon to his nose and if you look closely you can tell he cheated a bit.

Sticking a spoon obviously wasn't quite challenging enough so I attempted to lick my elbow as well, I couldn't quite reach it like I usually can, so it went undone maybe next year I'll get it right.

Then we went on down to The Gateway to watch a movie. Originally we were all suppose to watch Quantum of Solace (thanks Jessica for the starred review), but that soon changed. The boys (Luke, Tyler, and myself) joined Kristen to watch the movie as originally intended. The rest of the family including an aunt, uncle and cousin went to Four Christmases. I would like to think that Kristen was excited to see 007 but she might have just wanted to hang out with the dudes. Having her at the movie reminded me of the time we went to the demolition derby and she'd scream everytime the trucks crashed into one another.

Well the movie end and so we were directed back out to the cars, although Natalie decided we should take a short detour. So we jumped over the poles and got some pretty good air. We proceeded to show the pictures to Lindsey and Tyler and they wanted in on the action too.

Intially it was decided that since the children had more agility they should be the ones to do all of the jumping, and well you can tell from the pictures we had a smashing time.

But then we had the wonderful idea to take a family photo of us all in the air. It looks as if I am sitting on a bench that really isn't there, but I am jumping. There was a better picture of Lindsey's hair, she looked like a character from X-Men, but some of the jumpers showed a little too much skin. So after the final jump we got in the car, headed home and I then proceeded to stuff four more rolls inside my already overstuffed belly. Apparently two Thanksgiving meals were not quite enough to tide me over. Oh well, there's always next year.

Choralaire Lunch Group

Recently we started a lunch group after Choralaires. It is by no means an exclusive group, changing nearly every week with the core being J.R. and myself. So where did this new tradition begin? I think I could be safe to say it might have started with our first Choralaire Sunday back in October.

Somehow food and singing has been merged at the WSU LDS Institute. I'm not opposed to it but it has given my budget a run for its money. But it gives me an opportunity to bond with my fellow choir members and continue to make friends that I will have to live in December when I finally recieve a degree. But until then I'll have to milk it for all it's worth.

Going out to lunch kind of started out slow. I went on little excursions with one or two people at my favorite restaurants, trying to save money.

But then we decided to blow the bank and go to Olive Garden! We loaded up on soup, salad, and breadsticks and then I literally rolled into work. Well that's a lie, I did no rolling whatsoever. After attending the Olive Garden we had to cut back a little and that left us with Jake's Over the Top as an alternative.

So the invite is out, all of you interested in joining our lunch group, whether permanently or for a one time get together, just invite yourself and find J.R. after choir and we'll come up with something.

Though I admit some people might feel pressure to come to lunch, but I won't use the marshmellow roaster again, I promise.

Second place isn't all that bad

So recently blogging has become just a little bit easier. You see I get to spend the most exciting moments of my life with one of the coolest people I know. Kristen was kind enough to take me on an exciting trip to the canyon back in late September to see the leaves change. I was lucky enough to have bumped her parents off the list of priorities and got the seat in the car. Actually they themselves were having the time of their life on a cruise. So we went up the canyon and well I'll let Kristen tell you the rest.

I realize that you have already seen this picture but it remains one of my favorites. Nothing like manpower versus horsepower. Needless to say when I stood by the horse and he wanted things to go his way, he won out. Kristen also took me on this crazy adventure. Her high school friend Michael works for these people and he was able to hook us up with this sweet ride. This story does have an interesting twist though, hopefully you can follow along.

Tammy was one of the teachers I live with in Taiwan. Her best friend, Diana, was serving in the Taipei mission while we lived in Taiwan. They finally found each other while on a temple trip.

Turns out that Michael invited a friend from his ward to come riding with us. And who is this friend one might ask? None other then Diana's younger sister Camille. I guess the world really is just as small as we all made it out to be. Oh, so now you can read Kristen's version of the story which happens to be just a little more drawn out than my own.

library

Many moons ago I worked at the Centerville library. Do I still wish that I worked at the library? Sometimes, but I like my current job too. So I went to the library a million years ago and one of the librarians asked if I would be willing to do storytime for national speak like a pirate day. For some reason I consented, not sure what got into me. So I did it and I quite enjoyed it. I had to fudge a little on one of the stories cause we ran out of time and I just made stuff up, like I did while teaching kindergarten in Taiwan. So I managed to make it through storytime and everyone said I was quite engaging and they asked me to come back. I have realized in my short life that you should never be afraid to do anything new. Either it will be well received and you'll get to do it again, or you fail and you never have to embarass yourself again. So take some risks, act like a pirate, read some kids a story, you never know what you might end up loving.

Game, set, match

So you walk down the hallway, feeling groovy, trying to look your best and then you turned around and realize that someone is wearing the same outfit as you. The past two weeks I have worn shirts similar to a dude named Richard, an accident of course. Why is this? I have no idea. It could be that there are only so many shopping outlets, but really who cares? So I decided to search through my photos and determine how many photos I have where people are wearing similar clothing.

Sometimes the shirts are intentional, such as on Fridays in Taiwan when we are all required to wear the same shirt, although the false teeth were a touch of our own.

I really wish I could have matched these ladies cause I began to covet their sweet shirts. The rest of the shirts... well I'll let you figure it out. Actually truth be told, I started this post days ago, was really excited and then I forgot about it and lost all of my excitement and let it go to the dogs, so you're smart and can figure it out.

This one's for Mary Jackson

Coming home on Sunday from singing all day in sacrament meetings I saw this van and thought of my good friend Mary, a former teacher in Taiwan. You can't really see the stickers with the tiny picture so if you really are interested in it click on the picture and... well you can figure it out. I missed Mary's birthday so I suppose I'm a terrible friend, but a good enough friend that I won't put up a picture of her that she would later call me for. So, here's to you poison dart in Waco, Texas.