12870 Sundance Ave. - We Hardly Knew Thee

My last post was on October 8, but seriously, cut me some slack, people. This has been a busy time for us. Here is a short history.

October 13 - I take teachers quorum boys on a campout to the beach. This campout is roughly 100 times better than the one the boys planned last spring, where we went to the sand dunes. On that campout (if you will recall) we left way too late, arrived at the dunes at about 10pm, played on the dunes for about 30 minutes, went to sleep, woke up, ate raw bread because nobody had brought a stove to cook the french toast, decided it was too hot to play any more, and went home. The reason the campout is so good is that we did not allow the boys to play any aspect of it. After getting to the beach and pitching tents, I make a nice dinner for me and another leader of sirloin steak fajitas, and we chat amiably around the camp fire while the boys tire themselves out running around. At about 11:30 it begins to rain (this is the first time it has rained in the last 6 months), but this convinces the boys that they have nothing better to do than to go to sleep. The next morning is bright and crisp, and I get in a nice daybreak surf session with another leader who has brought his board. We return to the camp and have a tasty french toast and bacon breakfast (not raw), and get in some more surfing and body boarding (the waves were quite nice). Then we play an enjoyable game of beach football, strike camp, and go home.

October 18 - We leave for Pullman to go to Gillian's wedding. The whole weekend, while kind of hectic, turns out to be great. Staying at Karine and Bryan's house really makes our time there enjoyable, and our kids can't get enough of all the fun things to do there. The reception and wedding come off nicely, and everybody seems pretty sane. It's gratifying to be in the temple with my whole family. Saturday turns out to be an amazing fall day (bright and warm), and the Cougs whip Oregon to put the icing on the cake.


October 28 - Knowing that we have to move the following weekend, we begin to pack all of our belongings. The packing is what really takes a lot of time. We make good progress, but moving is truly an unpleasant undertaking. The realization that our tenure at each successive location for the past 7 years of our lives is trending downward makes us even more uncomfortable. Please refer to the graph at the right. Under current projections, we will only spend 4 months at our current address, and can expect to live at the next location for negative 54 days.

November 2 - The moving process begins in earnest, complicated by the fact that Asha and then Kai become sick with hand, foot, and mouth disease. I rent a Uhaul in Escondido (they are the only shop with one available because it's the beginning of the month). I soon realize why they have a truck available (it is a really bad part of town). I realize that it is a bad part of town when a sketchy dude walks into the convenience store while I am waiting and buys a single cigarette. The lady tells me that if I leave my car in the surrounding neighborhood, it will probably get stolen. I have no option, though. Stu is super nice, and helps me move some things on Friday that we don't necessarily want the Elder's Quorum to (man)handle. The Relief Society had moved our kitchen on Thursday, and that was really helpful. On Saturday, only 3 guys show up from EQ to help, but I had done most of it already with Stu and on my own, so we were done in a couple of hours. Marie and I clean our old house, and are finally done. Oh, by the way, Marie got super sick on the preceeding Wednesday. On Sunday, I teach Marie's class so she can stay home with Kai. On Monday, I plan to come home after a half day of work to help get the house set up. Marie's throat is hurting really bad, so she goes to the doctor, where he tells her she has strep. I am feeling crummy, too, and can't help with anything because I'm sick, too (strep). I stay home from work for 3 days, and finally return to work on Friday. We basically dig out on the following weekend, and only start to feel like we are getting our heads above water in the past week.

That's all for now.