All Hallow's Eve

It's that time of year again...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Beautiful weather, creative costumes and sweet treats - just some of the reasons why I love this holiday.

Here's a look at what went down in Ohio this week:

Lovely weather that included some spectacular sunsets

Creative costumes at the University Ward party

A bee, a bear and a bee keeper

(Jen, Brody and Tyson)

Dog and accompanying hydrant

(Angie & Scott*)

*Steve went to high school with Scott, who is the 2nd counselor in our bishopric...

Double Rainbow

(John & Trisha)

Catwoman & Robin

(Allison & Zach and their wee one)

French fries & Ice cream

(Rachael & Dan)

Hook, Peter, Tink & Wendy Lady

(The Christenson's)

Karl Malone & the Net

(Jacob & Becca*)

*Becca is due next month with their first of kin so, naturally, she got the award for "Best use of body"

Best costume of all...

Winner of the People's Choice Award:

Sushi & Soy Sauce

(Trevor & Emi)

As for our own costumes...

Some people figured Steve was William Wallace minus the blue face paint...

Little did they know, however, that he was actually a Scottish gnome!

(hehe...that's not true, but this picture makes me laugh)

And for the Mrs. - we have a little surprise for the person who correctly guesses my identity.

Here's the deal.

The FIRST person who correctly identifies my character AND the context (setting) of that character wins a delicious treat (see below). Hint: If you know the character, the context will be easy. Include your guess in the comment box and we'll let you know if you're the winner. =)

And here is the prize...

Trust us, it's worth a guess. We found these tea cakes in Scotland and can't get enough of them. World Market is nearby and just happens to keep these delectable treats on hand.

Lucky us.

And now, lucky you!

If you live in Columbus, you'll get them right away. If you live in Utah, we'll hire an elf to deliver them to you when we come into town for Christmas. If you live somewhere else, well, we'll hire an owl or something - you'll get your tea cakes though, guaranteed.

So there you have it - beautiful weather, creative costumes, and sweet treats.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

"I Married Adventure"

I married adventure.

Indeed I did.

I know I promised to start blogging about our lives in Ohio, but a package in the mail today altered my plans.

We got a CD full of pictures taken last month by the talented Mrs. Taylor!

(You can check out her photography blog here)

When Jalene asked us what sort of "look" we were going for, this was the response: "We want to get back to our beginnings - simple yet fun." After a jam-packed year of work, graduate school, and some world travels, we just wanted to take a breath and remember how this whole thing - Team Adams - got started. So yes, this photo shoot was sentimental because it took me and Steve back to 1) where we went on our first date, 2) where we met, and 3) where we partied on 09/03/09 at our wedding reception - which happened to be at the same place as #2. We had five days together in Utah after getting back from Asia and it was nice to take an afternoon and forget about everything we had just done, everything we'd be doing shortly, to just enjoy the moment. A big thank-you to Jalene for working with our schedules in that small window of time before Steve left for Ohio.

Location #1: SLC Public Library

The last first date.

The title of this post comes from the book I'm holding - "I Married Adventure." Steve's holding a book about Scotland.

Marriage. Adventure. Scotland.

Who knew they were synonymous?

The funny thing is that we never ventured over to the library stacks on our first date. We spent most of the time along the North wall of the library (the cool slanting window with a great view and comfortable chairs) people-watching and talking about.....you guessed it, Taiwan.

Love the artistic shot from the roof.

People thought we were taking Engagement pictures - haha! Totally funny, but not too crazy an assumption.

Location #2: Fort Douglas (U of U campus, technically)

Where we met.

Steve thinks he looks like a grandpa. Pretty handsome grandpa if you ask me.

Dear Santa...

(hehehe - I really like this picture. so natural and fun.)

Love this one.

We were first introduced to this pose by our wedding photographer, Brody Dezember. He told Steve to stick his nose in my ear while whispering sweet nothings to me at the same time. Obedient as ever, Steve did as he was told. Only problem - I have really ticklish ears (a new discovery at the time), which means all we did was laugh. A year later and it's basically the same story. We're glad Jalene uses it too.

This is where our EFY company "Turn Away" met for all lessons, activities, study sessions, etc. I included this particular shot because we both cracked up at the Mister's facial expression. Not even sure how to describe it, but we both think it's hilarious.

Just imagine sixteen teenagers by our sides...

Another fave, for sure.

Something Jalene is really good at is capturing people in positions that highlight natural interactions and emotions.

The last time we were in this particular spot, I was in a beautiful gown and Steve was looking sharp in his tuxedo - even after he got nailed by the sprinklers. This is on the North side of the Officer's Club, also at Fort Douglas, which is where we had our wedding reception. Such sweet memories that we'll never forget.

Thanks again Jalene!

And for the rest of you, if you haven't already, you really should go and check out her blog.

Asian Invasian: Part III

And we finally come to Hong Kong...

We saved the best for last.

Hong Kong is the reason this whole Asia trip came to be. Sometime in March we were looking at airfare to Asia and found some really cheap tickets. Since Steve's aunt and uncle will not be living in Hong Kong much longer we thought, "it's now or never." Taiwan and China got rolled into the mix when we figured we'd be crazy not to go there since we'd be so close. So with that in mind, here are some of our favorite pictures from our time in Hong Kong.

Steve and some random shirtless man posing at the night market.

This is a view from Kowloon looking toward Hong Kong Island. An hour after we took this picture we found ourselves in a torrential downpour. Thunder and lightning like I've never heard/seen before and TONS of rain. It was amazing.

Hong Kong Temple!

One of my favorite temples in the world that I've always wanted to see in person since it was dedicated. Going through a session was a longstanding dream come true.

One of my favorite photos from our entire trip. Amazing friendships = amazing experiences = amazing memories.

If the photo above is one of my favorite pictures, this one captures one of my favorite moments. Elder Ho was a missionary in the Edinburgh ward for 9 months (notice his tartan tie) while we were there before being transfered to Glasgow shortly before his mission ended. He was a stellar missionary. Lulu is one of his converts - spunkiest Asian I've ever met - who was in Hong Kong this summer for an internship. We all went to the temple together and then hung out afterwards catching up and exploring night markets in Hong Kong. Priceless.

Tai O - home of a really cool fishing village and pink dolphins. It's located in the far corner of Lantau island.

Beautiful scenery at the Po Lin Monastery.

Po Lin monastery.

Home of the largest Buddha sculpture in the world. It is HUGE.

Decorations inside of one of the prayer houses/temples at the monastery.

A face I've come to love (Steve's, of course). This is the face he gives me when I'm in trouble...

I happened to be faster than the water and didn't get splashed on my way across the fountain. That's rather unfortunate though, since Hong Kong in September is super hot and humid.

A gorgeous sunset view on our drive back to the Midlevels (a region of Hong Kong) from Stanley Market.

A vegetarian's nightmare.

Joe, Kristen and Cheryl (Steve's aunt) enjoying the public transportation system.

Our first night in Hong Kong Cheryl took us up Victoria Peak to see the phenomenal Hong Kong skyline. It was a beautiful, clear evening and the view was spectacular.

See what I mean? We played around with the camera a bit to capture this shot, but the real view was even better.

Remember the pink dolphins I mentioned earlier? If you look closely, that object on the left side of the picture coming out of the water is actually a pink dolphin. No joke. There are full-blown PINK DOLPHINS swimming around this planet! Craziest things I've ever seen.

I was mesmerized by the people that came to the monastery to pray and meditate. Without prying into people's personal worship, I definitely took mental notes (and a picture or two when people weren't standing nearby) of their customs of worship in general. I must say, I find one incense stick the size of a pencil pretty overpowering, so standing near this huge incense burner almost knocked me out.

More beautiful decorations inside the monastery.

And there you have it. We hope you've enjoyed a glimpse of Taiwan, China and Hong Kong through the eyes of Joe, Steve and Kristen.

And this brings us to....

The Ohio.

Stay tuned.