Valentine's Adventures

This may be a rush job, as I've already used up all my available writing time today on personal projects, but I wanted to give a quick rundown of possibly the most over-the-top Valentine's Day my husband has yet put on (which is saying something).

He spent all sorts of evenings and weekends on errands and holed up in the basement before the holiday itself, and then the day of he took the whole day off work to arrange a complete Secret Agent/Spy Mission for me.  He made a thematic playlist to start the day off.  He brought me flowers with a secret note lodged inside, leading to a Walkman hidden in a vent with a cool tape-recorded message as to when I would be "extracted" since I had been a sleeper agent and our network was compromised.  Then at the appointed time, he actually handcuffed me (plastic dollar-store, of course) face-down on the driveway and put a bag over my head to drive me to our lunch reservation.  Let me just say: you totally get car-sick inside those bags, and that's if you're not even scared for your actual safety.  Then he gave me the most amazing vintage photos with a guy circled in each one and fed me the "backstory" for the fictional villain I would be trying to keep ahead of, sent me off for a few hours by myself until I should check a "secure terminal" for some kind of message.  If any of you read our family blog, that's the explanation behind the recent enigmatic post...

So, then I had to proceed to that place and retrieve a dead drop, which was almost out of my reach and would have landed me in a decently deep river if I stretched too far.  Inside was a sling shot and two kinds of candy to use as ammunition (and, ahem, as snack while I waited for the go-ahead) when I infiltrated the palace in Tangier, Morocco to retrieve the stolen thumb drive before the villain could get it.

The kids were guarding the house -- I mean, Moroccan palace -- heavily, having gotten home from school by this point and being in on the game with S.  But though I received some water gun spray and tripped the lasers (fishing line strung all across the stairs), I made it into the house where fancy dinner was to be served while I looked for my contact.  S. got into his old, extremely oversized tuxedo and served a beef/sweet potato stew, spicy jumbo shrimp, and a serpent cake, all on his own from our international cookbook.  Wow.  Wow.  (OK, so I helped out with the shrimp in the interest of time, but he really planned ahead and pulled off more cooking than I think I've ever seen him do at once.  And no, the serpent cake is just coiled up like a serpent, no snake meat involved.)  He had the kids in cool construction-paper fez hats (fezes?) and fake mustaches, holding up magazines in front of their faces when I came to the table, and they dropped the magazines in unison to reveal the full get-up.  Hilarious.  Oh, and another themed playlist with indigenous-type Moroccan music in the background.

Finally, the end-game took place in which there was a sudden treachery, a faked death, and an electric-shock key fob.  So much fun.

http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Secret+Mission/82861596

http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/Secret+Location/82861139

Ooklay Underway

2012 in Review

We’ve crossed the country every which way this year -- we went over the border to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, and were within spitting distance of the Mexico border when we visited San Diego. 



We’ve frolicked in the waves of both the Atlantic and the Pacific.



January 1st we were in Ohio and December 31st, in California. 

We’ve hunkered down as Sandy crossed over us, and then put our shoulders to the wheel to help folks afterwards. 

We’ve seen starfish and wild ponies, we’ve hiked among tulip trees and Torrey pines. 

We haven’t had many of the more typically newsworthy milestones, but we’ve experienced plenty of new and wonderful things this year.

Some of our favorite family times this year were exploring the tide pools on the Oregon coast and eating Voodoo Doughnuts when we traveled to the Portland area for the wedding of Aunt Michelle and now-Uncle JJ.

We also loved seeing the wild horses of Assateague Island, as we took our annual summer camping trip as a family. Especially memorable was when the trio of bachelor stallions stole our tortilla chips right out of our trunk and ate them as we watched.

Our least favorite happening this year was finding out that Grandma G. would not be able to conquer her cancer. We did rejoice in being able to spend Christmas with her, though, and hope that her strong, indomitable character will help her continue with us a while longer.

Ian was ordained a deacon this year, and Lucy took the step of baptism. The growth of each of our children -- both physically and mentally -- frequently astounds us. S. and I continue to be incredibly grateful for the true joys we find in our family life, and take seriously our "sacred duty to rear [our] children in love and righteousness". After 14 years of marriage, we feel the constant strength of our love and teamwork even through the nitty-gritty of raising four children and running a household.

Like you, we are often aware of how fragile and uncertain our futures are; like you, we sorrow when tragedies and trials touch our lives. We still hope, however, that we can live as Paul taught, "in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and [being] persuaded of them, and [embracing] them".

Have a wonderful new year, and thank you for being among those we love.

Sandy, Duke and Nora

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/thousands-mormon-volunteers-turn-out-help-victims-sandy-over-thanksgiving-weekend

As Elder's Quorum President, S. has been heavily involved in our ward's volunteer efforts to help in Sandy disaster relief.  They began sending work teams up the weekend of November 17th, and have been going strong ever since, including Black Friday.  They're planning another trip this coming weekend as well, which will make the 6th full work day for S. (aside from being the ward's point man for administrative details), but there are plenty who have equaled or even exceeded him.  Not including last weekend, Mormon volunteers from all over the region have totaled nearly 200,000 hours of volunteer service, which is like one guy having a 40-hour workweek for a hundred straight years.

One day in particular, he spent his time mucking out a boardwalk arcade in Keansburg, New Jersey.  He said it was nearly unrecognizable as an arcade, even after shoveling piles and piles of sand out; but as the guys were leaving, the grateful owner ran after them to give them this gargantuan stuffed lion that had been spared.  S. ended up with it, and Nora immediately named it Duke and attached herself to it. 

S. and I were actually hoping to pass it along to someone who needed it more, and tried to throw persuasive hints out, but she wasn't buying it.  We talked about foster kids who didn't have families who would love a big cuddly friend like Duke, etc., but to no avail.  Finally one night, I asked her if she thought maybe we should tell Santa that she didn't really need a present from him, since she loved Duke so much; and that way Santa could give something better to someone who didn't have anything already.  Or she could let Duke go somewhere else and get her own present from Santa.

After a brief pause (in which I felt totally guilty), she told me we could give Duke away.

So, yesterday morning we buckled Duke up in the car to go with S. to his work's adopt-a-family toy drive.  S. hadn't been privy to the change of heart, and asked Nora why she finally decided someone else could have Duke.  "I made a deal with Mom," she said.  He thought that was enigmatically funny.

Now, I do feel that I forced the issue a tad; but I wouldn't have torn him away from her if she really hadn't been willing.  She didn't have to think too long about it, never cried and hasn't mentioned him again since he left. 

I just don't want my kids to take for granted that they have so much, and that more just "shows up".  We haven't always been so blessed.  It was nice to have Duke, but not miraculous-feeling -- I hope that he is a miracle to whoever receives him.

And now we have a great memory of all of us waving to him as he drove out of the driveway!

Thanks to all the great people who pay it forward whenever they get the chance.

Percy Jackson Party

We daringly invited 11 of these to our house this weekend:

They played capture the flag, pinned-the-eye-on-a-Cyclops, and fought Kronos (older brother Ian) with half a dollar-store pool noodle.

We made shrinky-dink Camp Half-Blood necklaces:

We fed them sloppy Joes (unthematic, just fun), blue Jello cake and "magic" blue soda.  I put a drop of blue food coloring in the bottom of each cup in advance, so when I poured the ginger ale it bubbled up blue in front of their eyes.  I can't believe they didn't catch on, but they so didn't!

We sent them home with t-shirts, chocolate coins (drachma), mentos (like Minos?), and bubbles (the Mist).

All to celebrate this:

We love you, Sage!  Happy Eleventh!