April 4	The day that Adam proposed to Jennifer. This was an elaborately planned day and needed the cooperation of several different people to be executed properly. The Tumbleweed restaurant would provide the backdrop (see the "June" entry on the "1997" page). Nick and Amanda, a couple of friends of theirs, would meet Jennifer at the restaurant and make sure she sat at a predetermined table. Adam had approached the management a week earlier to get permission and coordinated things with the particular waitress earlier that day. When Nick, Amanda and Jennifer all sat down she enigmatically placed a large vase on the edge of the table, saying nothing about it's purpose. Meanwhile, Adam was accross the street watching and waiting. Once they were all inside he crossed the street to the restaurant with an arm full of flowers and stationed himself outside the entry doors. He had 7 roses, 6 white ones and 1 red one. 7 because in the bible it represents divine completeness; Jehovah created Jennifer and she was perfect. 1 red one because she stood out as unique from every other woman. As customers began arriving at the restaurant Adam would stop them for a moment to request a favor. He explained that he was just about to propose to his girlfriend and that she was sitting inside. He gave them 1 white rose and requested that they find the table with the vase on it and place the rose in the vase. It took several minutes but eventually he had given all 6 roses away and was left with the final red one. Involving the other customers in this manner was meant to create some suspense for the final moment but it also had an unintended effect. A large majority of the restaurant was now aware of what Adam was about to do and they were intently focused on the table with the flowers on it. Finally, Adam entered the restaurant, handed Jennifer the 1 red rose, expressed his eternal love for her and then got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. Of course, she said yes and he placed the ring on her finger and they kissed. Suddenly, the entire restaurant burst out in applause including a large gathering of cooks and waitresses who were watching from the kitchen entrance! It was a memorable evening. Afterward, when Adam asked Jennifer about what she thought when all those people were dropping roses in the vase she just said "I kept waiting for you to come and when more strangers kept showing up I thought "what's taking him so darn long?". Click here for some snapshots of this event
May	On the 8th Adam and Jennifer got married. Originally, the wedding was supposed to take place outside at the beautiful Sinnissippi Gardens. But it rained all week and on the day of the wedding it was decided to hold it in the same hall that the reception was going to be in. So someone was placed at the Gardens to inform people of the change of location! Adam spent the morning in Chicago with his dad, stepmom and sisters. All he needed to do was throw his tux on quick so he figured it was ok to return just before he had to leave for the wedding. What he didn't know is that he had the only key to his apartment and that his mother was stranded outside with no phone, no car and all of her clothes, makeup and hair products inside! Once again, Adam managed to foul things up and the wedding had to commence a half-hour behind schedule. Jennifer's sister and maid of honor kept saying "If he doesn't show up I'm going to kill him!" :) Click here for pictures of the wedding After the wedding Adam and Jennifer went on a cruise out of Florida for their honeymoon. It stopped at the Bahama's and Key West and was a 4 day 3 night event. While at Key West Jennifer got sunburned so bad she fell sick with sun poisoning and had a 100+ degree temperature. On the way back to port one of the ships engines quit and we had to spend an extra day at sea while the ship's smokestacks belched black soot on everyone. Despite these small disappointments it was a memorable vacation. Click here for pictures of the honeymoon Upon returning from their honeymoon they had to get settled in their new apartment. It was very, very small. Adam remembers coming home from work one day to see Jennifer kneeling on the floor in front of one of the dining room chairs. She was making bbq ribs for dinner and had run out of counter space! Mmmm, but it was finger lickin' good! Adam used to joke that it was tough living in such a small apartment but at least you could vacuum the whole place without having to change plugs and in the middle of the night you didn't have to get up to go to the bathroom! :) Jennifer went back to work at The Great Harvest Bread Co. and Adam went back to Interim Personnel. Things continued much like that until one day in November when they decided to shake things up.
November	This proved to be a month of great change. Adam had already quit his job and was working through a temporary placement agency while he looked for a steady one. Jennifer had a falling out with the owners of Great Harvest and she and her manager walked out, quitting on the spot. It was the end of November and suddenly they had nothing tying them down. So they decided, right on the spur of the moment, to move out to California and stay with Adam's mom. They had talked about it before and now there was nothing holding them back. So they packed up everything they owned into their Volkswagon Fox and made the 37 hour drive to Oceanside, CA. The very first acquisition they made while in California was that of a little Beagle puppy. Adam's mom and Jennifer went to the pet store at the local mall to pick one out. They were only a about 8 weeks old and all very cute. Jennifer watched them for awhile and made her decision. She picked the only that hadn't peed on itself! They named the puppy Ahzim and called it Ozzie for short. Soon Ahzim was dropped altogether in favor of the nickname. At the time of this writing Ozzie is still very much a part of their family.