Invitation To The Prom

(Blogged by Brady)

 I've known who I was going to ask out to Prom since the beginning of the year,. So me being a cheeky little imp with a trivia "back in the day" personality, I knew just how I was going to ask her. It’s what I do best, riddles, puzzles, complicated and intellectual things. I actually think I should have written all the things I wanted to do down when I thought of them, because I bet I forgot about half the stuff I probably wanted to do.

First off, I knew I wanted to do an Ottendorf Cipher. Well, what is an Ottendorf Cipher you may ask? Well, it came to me from the movie National Treasure, which is pretty much the theme to my asking her. The Ottendorf Cipher was what was on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

So, to give her the hint, I got my mom’s favorite romance novel "The List", (it’s Mormon themed, so since she and I are Mormons, it fit extra nicely into it) then I printed out a scene from National Treasure where they are working on the Declaration of Independence, wrote “Scene 9” on the back, which corresponded to the scene on the DVD. Then I printed out a small copy of the Declaration of Independence and put the Ottendorf Cipher on the back. I put those pictures in the book, then left it on her doorstep.

This is the Ottendorf Cipher on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

Okay, the Ottendorf Cipher says, “Look under your mailbox”

So, under her mailbox, I put a coded word search, with instructions on how to solve the code. Basically, after you find all the words, you go from left to right and fill in the letters you didn’t use into the blanks below.

I accidentally sealed the envelope before I took a picture, so here is a picture of the page solved out, and the sealed envelope. I just used regular tape to tape it under her mailbox.

The hidden code says, “Frisbee on the roof”

Taped to the inside of the Frisbee that I threw on her roof… and she had a fun time getting down… were locations of her church, and the final part to the puzzle.

So, regrettably also, I forgot to take a picture of the box before I stashed it at the church. (Here is the picture I used of the box.)

I also wrote, “This is the treasure you seek” on the picture. So, inside, the base was covered with Hershey Kisses, and there was a picture of me doing this.

(Oh yeah, I have a slight goatee now) And it said, “Emily -middle and last name- Will you go to Prom with me?”

Here are some pictures I took off her Facebook:

And inside were two origami boxes with a happy note on the inside. She’s been craving a happy note  from me since last year, and I haven’t given her one yet, so this just seemed like the perfect time.

Apparently about 5 minutes after she solved my puzzle, Connor, the guy who was my off-night role in the musical (Cast A), came and asked her out to Prom. I'm glad I had my foot in that door right in time. I think it’s funny that both of us - Cornelius’s (person we played in Hello Dolly) are swooning after the same girl.