Thank goodness we didn’t have to build more character!

Because we’ve had just about as many character building opportunities as we can stand this season…

(Tyler is #68 on the left below)

 Saugus 26  West Ranch 22

Here are few scenes from the past games…

October is Conference

We gather (figuratively) together each October and turn our tents toward the temple to hear instruction of the Lord through his representatives on Earth.   Through the blessings of modern technology, we get to stay in our tents eating yummy snacks and wearing our pj’s and bunny slippers to hear most of it.

Conference sessions start Saturday morning.  We tried something new with the Young Women this year.  We met at a fellow leader’s home to have breakfast (bagels and smoothies) and watch the morning session of conference together.  I was nervous.  Would they be reverent?  Would they get anything out of it?  Underestimating them, I brought “Conference Bingo” and prizes.  Conference bingo is a game for children to help them get through the long conference hours by listening for key words like, “Jesus”, or “baptism” or “love”, etc.  I needn’t have worried.  These girls are champs.  They really didn’t need the props or the prizes.  They were so reverent.  In fact, when they did get bingos, they very quietly moved to where I was sitting and whispered in my ear.  One of the YW brought a friend who is not a member of our church and the friend got the most bingos!!  I love them!  It was so fun sharing this experience with them.

We did hit one snag.  If you happen to have a cable or satellite carrier in California that doesn’t regularly have the BYU station, then Conference is often a moving target, broadcast on a random public access channel and it usually takes them (the carrier) at least half of the first session (and no doubt hundreds of phonecalls from area Mormons) to get it right.  Well, this happened to be the case so we, modern-day pioneers that we are, packed up our stuff and trekked up the hill to my house to watch it on the BYU channel on our tv.

I think my favorite part was hearing the girls get excited when Elder Bednar stood up to speak and then again when President Uchtdorf spoke.  I can’t tell you that they all knew their names, but they knew their faces, remembered their warmth, and expressed love for them (actually, I think the exact words were:  “Oh him!?  I love that guy!”  I think Elder Bednar and President Uchtdorf would appreciate the spontaneous outbursts!).  Apostles for our time, as recognized by our youth.  Pretty cool.

 

 Elder Bednar urged us to be more diligent and concerned at home and specifically to:  (1) express and show love, (2) bear testimony and live it, and (3) be consistent in our homes. 

“As disciples of the Savior, we are not merely striving to know more; rather, we need to consistently do more of what we know is right and become better.”

 President Uchtdorf taught about the love of God. 

“The divine love of God turns ordinary acts into extraordinary service. Divine love is the motive that transports simple words into sacred scripture. Divine love is the factor that transforms reluctant compliance with God’s commandments into blessed dedication and consecration.”

“Love is the measure of our faith, the inspiration for our obedience, and the true altitude of our discipleship.”

I think most Latter-day Saint families have their own traditions for watching conference.   Ours is cinnamon rolls.  On Sunday morning we made hot, gooey, cinnamon rolls. 

 

(those are Bryce’s thumbs.  He likes Conference Rolls.)

As the rolls were rising, I start to do the math:  hmmm, there are now only 4 of us and there are 24 rolls.  6 rolls per person might be a bit much.  But, how to convince the boys of the fact we should share our bounty???  Well, just then, President Monson started giving his message…

He talked about an interview he’d given to the Church News a little before his birthday last year.  They had asked him what his idea of an ideal gift would be.  President Monson answered, “Find someone who is having a hard time or is ill or lonely, and do something for him or her.”

So, President Monson was soon inundated with cards and letters telling of the members’ gifts of service in honor of his birthday.  Primaries (the children’s organizations) challenged their kids to provide service in honor of President Monson.  My kids especially got a kick out of hearing about the “warm fuzzy” jar, where each fuzzy represented an act of service.

Well, here was my answer.  My boys could not argue with the logic.  We packed up half the cinnamon rolls and carted them off to a friend and neighbor.  Happy belated birthday, President Monson!

I don’t think we are alone in saying we were all particularly affected by the talk given by Elder Jeffrey Holland.   Not only was his message stirring, but the fervent way he delivered it seemed to indicate the importance of the message.  (You can watch a video of it by clicking here HERE and choosing the video file under the Sunday Afternoon talk, “Safety for the Soul”).

He spoke about the Book of Mormon and it’s mission to testify of Christ.

“Love. Healing. Help. Hope. The power of Christ to counter all troubles in all times—including the end of times. That is the safe harbor God wants for us in personal or public days of despair. That is the message with which the Book of Mormon begins, and that is the message with which it ends, calling all to ‘come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.’”

He spoke about Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  Brothers, martyred together.  They gave their lives proclaiming the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.  And then he said probably the most oft-quoted line from this Conference:

“I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, ‘No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.’”

Wow.

Happy Birthday, Tyler!

Tyler is 16 today.

I really, really love this boy.

Classic Peacock Moments

While I’m on the subject of Halloween, and to prove I wasn’t always a total zero in that department, I came across these classic moments from Peacock history circa October, 1999:

    

First, we have Justin the alien.  Yes, in answer to your obvious question, I did make this masterpiece.  We never could get the antennae to stand up straight and the glasses hurt his head.  It’s hard to tell in these pictures but his face was also painted green.  He was quite embarrassed in this costume, although he felt bad saying so since I had put so much effort into it.  Good sport! 

Next, we have Tyler the Ninja.  Fortunately, he was in karate at the time, so voila!  Costume done.  I did handpaint the headband though.  I know, you’re impressed.

I had to put this one in, if only for Tyler’s “ninja face” which is pretty classic here.  Also to demonstrate my use of yard decorations in earlier years for Bryce.  Note also the door decoration in the pictures above.  Hmm, I still have that, maybe I’ll pull it out before Bryce gets back from school.  It’s probably not ghoulish enough for him, though.

 

Here’s Bryce.  He was “Steve” from Blue’s Clues.  I loved this costume!  I bought it myself.

  

But really, here is the best one.  I take absolutely no credit at all for this one, he came up with it all himself.

Where am I you ask?  My perennial costume is my cap and gown from ASU.  It’s really fresh since I never did get to wear it in ceremonies in Tempe.  We had travelled back to AZ (after living in CA for a year finishing my residency), dragging along both sets of parents and then missed the ceremony because I thought it started an hour later than it did.  Classic Lisa.

Boo Humbug

I’m sorry, Bryce.

Really, I am.

Every year you say, “So, when are we going to decorate for Halloween?”

For the last few years, I’ve changed the subject or avoided your eyes when I’ve answered, “Do we NEED to decorate for Halloween?”

You see, mom has been decorating for Halloween for at least 16+ years.   I really was into it at first, I swear.   Truthfully, Halloween is my least favorite holiday.  I don’t like scary stuff or dirty stuff and Halloween has a lot of both.  I like pumpkins, though.  And, overriding it all, I can only think of the hours it takes to get the box out, fluff it all up, arrange it , clean around it for a few weeks, and then put it all away again only to turn around again and do the same thing for Christmas.  You must admit, you get bored with it yourself after a little while (especially when I rearrange everything you do when you’re not looking).

Christmas.  Now there’s a holiday worth decorating for!

I’m sorry, Bryce.  You should have been born into a family like the Hoskins or Larsons or Penners.  They do it right!  Or, you should have been born first so you could have gotten me when I was fresh.  Now I’m tired.

Love, Mom

Justin's BYU adventures Part 6: Best Date Ever

On Saturday night I went on a double date with Cassandra; and Mitchel and his date, Jenna. The night started off great...and here's why. We convinced Cassandra that she would have to drive because she was the only one with a car. She jokingly gave us a hard time all week because she had to drive on our date. We pretended to be embarrassed about it and begged her not to hold it against us. But what she didn't know is that Mitchel had made plans to borrow his sister's car for the night...Man you should have seen Jenna and Cassandra's faces when we pulled up in a car. hahahah classic!

Anyways, we went to Aunt Michelle and Uncle Dave's house in Lindin and me and Mitchel made dinner for our dates. And I'm not talking about pancakes or Grilled Cheese, when I say we made dinner I mean we MADE DINNER. We had a table set up out on the balcony that looked like it was in a magazine or something. It had a great view and I even set up some speakers so we could enjoy a little music during dinner.

We started off with a caesar salad and some French bread. Next was shishkabobs(chicken, pineapple, zucchini, broccoli, and bell peppers) with some delicious pasta on the side (thanks Linda for the recipe!) The original plan was for me and Mitchel to cook dinner by ourselves, but they ended up helping us out since the meal took a little longer to prepare than we anticipated and we didn't want them just sitting by themselves for an hour.

Dinner turned out great though and I think the girls were pretty impressed(I would be). After dinner we turned on the BYU vs UNLV football game (not much of a game) and started making dessert- peanut butter chip brownies, ice cream and homemade hot fudge. Dessert also turned out delicious. After dessert, we hung out in the jacuzzi for a little and enjoyed the great view of Utah lake and the surrounding city lights. Next we watched the Spongebob Movie, which I consider to be the best date movie possible. It was awesome. Then we had to do dishes and clean everything up, which wasn't very fun, but it was a small price to pay for the great time we had!! Thanks for letting us use your house Aunt Michelle and Uncle Dave!!!

(While me and mitchel are cleaning, they steal our glasses and take pictures)

So it was pretty much the best date ever...no doubt. This has been JP keepin' you up to date with the BYU experience, Peace Out Bloggers.

And now, the rest of the story…

Aunt Michelle was kind enough to send pictures from Justin’s recent visit to ‘watch’ conference:

I’m sure he was just resting his eyes during the hymn.

Justin's BYU adventures Part 5: Conference Weekend

This past weekend, as most of you know, was General Conference. We all decided to spend the day in Salt Lake during the Saturday sessions. We watched/listened to the first session in the morning and arrived in Salt Lake at 12:00. We then watched the Joseph Smith movie in the Joseph Smith memorial building. If you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely make some time for it because it's a really well done movie. After the movie, we watched the 2nd session in a chapel on TV's inside the Joseph Smith memorial building. After that, we went to wait in line to try and get some tickets for priesthood session. We were standing in line a good hour before it started, and I'm pretty sure we weren't even close to getting in. So instead, we decided to go watch it in the Tabernacle, which was still a fun experience....except for the fact that a guy in front of us could not seem to figure out how to turn off the alarm on his watch. The funny part was, he didn't even hear it going off until someone told him, and even then he did not turn it off. The watch proceeded to go off every 3 minutes for the last hour and a half of priesthood session. It was pretty ridiculous to say the least hahaha. After priesthood, we went to Pat's sisters house in Salt Lake for dinner. We had amazing meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, salad and pazookis!!! and we watched college football!! It was fun, Thanks Courtney and Josh!

For the Sunday sessions we went to Aunt Michelle and Uncle Dave's house and we watched it there. It was pretty fun considering the unlimited crepes and great dinner we had! Not to mention the jacuzzi in between sessions....haha it was a fun weekend. This has been JP keepin' you up to date with the BYU experience, peace out Bloggers.

Pizza Times

I'm late and behind. But I'm broke too. So what else is new. Anyway, last week I had the chance to be in Utah Valley on business, so I took the opportunity to take the boys to Brick Oven for Pizza and gossip.

I learned that the dating-for-candy-bars contest had fizzled out. Apparently, the part about dating actually involving a girl meant there's been two dates among them since school started. But I won't say who...

I also learned that Mitchel has gained 10 pounds....Patrick leaves three minutes before class starts.....Tanner lives on Jamba Juice and Subway Footlongs...and all the guys swear they are getting straight "A"s. Pressing on this one a bit, I learned they hadn't had any quizzes, tests or papers, but other than that they were fine. Tanner wasn't sure he'd been to all the right classes yet either.

They ate about 50% of the pizza they ordered. The rest went back to the dorm. I decided they were having too much fun, but none of them wanted to trade places with me. Too bad.

And there's still no real signs of homework going on in Stover Hall.

But if you want entertainment....

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Here's one parent looking forward to mid-term results!

Go Ahead, Make My Day!

I need to preface this post by telling you a little bit about Tyler, in case you don’t know him that well.  Tyler is mild.   He keeps things inside.  Waaay inside.  We did used to call him the “stormcloud” when he was little because he would take a lot and then all of the sudden he would explode.  He does that with his family sometimes.  NEVER with anyone else.  He works hard, he doesn’t complain.  He’s not showy.  He’s constant.  The ONLY time he got in trouble at school was when he was in 4th grade.  The principal called me and reported that Tyler had been in a little pushing match because some kid on the playground had called him a 3rd grader.  Even the principal couldn’t keep a straight face. 

What We Saw: Friday night, the air has just a touch of cool.  It’s football time.  Jeff, Lisa & Bryce in the stands.  Tyler on the field.  There’s about 1 minute to go in the Saugus-Taft game and the score is 14-3.  Doesn’t look like our boys in blue are gonna pull this one out.  Ahh, preseason.  The time when characters are built and we take on the big boys, and… lose.  So anyway, we have the ball but we’re backed up against our own endzone.  They run the play.  Nothing.  I look away, but unfamiliar movements catch my eye.  Oh, there’s a tussle on the field, too bad.  Wait!  Is that #68 pushing and flailing, even maybe punching???  Did someone switch jerseys with our mild mannered Tyler?  “Jeff, is that Tyler fighting?”  Refs conference.  Saugus:  unsportsmanlike conduct, half the distance to the goal.  Then, Taft:  unsportsmanlike conduct, player ejected, 15 yards.  I madly text Justin—“you’re brother just got a personal foul for FIGHTING!”  Justin:  “woah r u serious?”  (I made sure to quote him exactly so there’d be no quibbling)  I read a mixture of amazement and yes, pride and respect in that brief reply.  

After the game, I wait for Tyler, and one by one the players come out saying things like, “yeah, I taught him everything he knows!”  “Did you see your boy Mrs. Peacock?”  etc., etc.  So I’m thinking, he’s in big trouble.  The whole team is talking about it.  He probably got really chewed out by the coaches.  I hope they let him play next week…

What Tyler Saw:  (as reported on the way home) His teammate #73 had hit (a football hit, not a fight hit) a Taft player #42 at the whistle, which the Taft guy thought was a late hit so he started pushing him.  Tyler came in to back #73 up and pushed the Taft player off of him.  The Taft player then went wild and tried to punch Tyler so of course he was pushing him back in defense until others came in to break it up.    The O Line Coach then gathered the line together to “lecture” them “sternly” and told them to look abashed, but in actuality he was quite proud and told them so.  That’s football.  It seemed to fit more with Tyler’s personality that he would get involved out of loyalty to a teammate, but still seemed out of character.

What Instant Replay Shows:  No, we really don’t have instant replay.  However, it was “game of the week” on the local television station (you can view it HERE, go to 19:00 minutes in the 4th quarter, sorry there’s not an easier way to clip it).  We have watched it a few times.  The conclusion?  The incident was over, there had been a minor scuffle between #73 and #42 but it was OVER.  Tyler basically started a new fight.  OOPS.  The other guy was dumb and started trying to punch, which not only would really hurt since there’s facemasks and visors and stuff blocking the way, but according to CIF rules he now has to sit out the next game.

The Aftermath:  He’s walking a little taller.  He’s got a new swagger.  His teammates see a new depth to his personality.  His brother bragged about him to his team and coaches the next day.  He gets high 5’s everywhere he goes.  That’s football.  *sigh*  Should I make him write a letter of apology to that Taft guy?  That’s what I did when the playground kid called him a 3rd grader.