Third Time’s a Charm

There’s (finally!) another driver in the Peacock household.  Just in the nick of time so that Tyler and Justin can fight over the car keys for the next two weeks.  I didn’t want to jinx it, so after two misses I didn’t pack my camera for the big event and you’re stuck with this picture from my phone.  Tyler was going to fake me out that he failed again by coming back crying, but he couldn’t suppress this grin.

By the way, he’s really a good driver.  The first test he failed due to male overconfidence and bravado (too cool to turn his head while scanning, scanning—12 of his 17 errors).  The second test he failed due to the fatal error of not stopping to allow a jaywalking pedestrian to cross in the middle of a divided highway.  Note to self:  lawbreaking pedestrians have the right of way any time any where.  This one he had knocked though, he only missed three and the tester (who incidentally was the one who failed him the first time) praised him on his scanning.  Shwoo!

On a side note, we lovingly refer to our starter car (shown here) as “crap on a stick”.  It was unwittingly christened that by Justin.  2 1/2 years ago when we were looking for a car for Justin to drive he had modest desires:  a small sedan like a Civic in a nice color like blue or black.  OK, that’s reasonable.  Jeff and I found COAS at a local auto fair held every weekend.  It seemed perfect:  clean, late model, economical sedan with low miles and a reasonable price.  We were excited, and told Justin we thought we had found the one.  Cutting right to the issue of highest importance, he asked, “what color is it?”  When we described it as a kind of metallic tan/silver (you can’t really tell that in this high quality photo), he sneered, “Ugh.  It sounds like crap on a stick!” and spent the next few months trying to figure out how to get it painted or at least add a spoiler to make it just the teeniest bit cooler.  Don’t even get me started on rims.  I just don’t understand what makes this accessory so important. 

We admit it’s a little bit of a granny car.  You can floor it and it will still only go 55 downhill with a tail wind.  On the positive side, it is the easiest car ever to drive and you can whip it into even the smallest parking spot.  In short, we love crap on a stick and hope it will be with the family for many years to come! 

Justin's BYU adventures Part 9: Fall Semester in Review

So I have successfully completed my first semester here at BYU, and I had a blast. I have learned many things in just a few months, both in the classroom and outside the classroom. Here's a list of a few things I've learned, some took me longer to figure out than others. 1. While you may be able to get by without reading assigned readings in High School, you definitely need to read the textbook in college. 2. Nobody cares if you don't go to class, they won't call home and you won't get in trouble, but you won't have much luck with your grades if you decide not to go. 3. There are inactive members, even at a church school. 4.It's not a good idea to ask a girl on a date through a text message. 5. Once it snows, it is pretty dangerous to walk to your classes (just ask the 4 or 5 people I have seen slip and fall right on their back/face in the ice) 6. Religion classes are not like seminary, THEY ARE REAL CLASSES 7. I'm not very good at eating healthy when there is unlimited dessert every night at the cannon center. 8. I enjoy eating BYU creamery ice cream. 9. In college, you don't go to bed before 12:30, you just don't 10. If you are late leaving the library, security takes down your information before they let you out, just to make sure you don't do it again. 11. Some people don't understand the concept of being quiet in the library. 12. BYU might be the only place that won't allow you to take a test if you haven't shaved in the last day or two 13. Vending machines are awesome. 14. Apparently, everyone doesn't love the Lakers 15. If you leave your door open, people WILL come in, even if you don't like them or know them. 16. church doesn't have to be in a church building, a classroom will do just fine. 17. Even World History class can start with a prayer. 18. It seems like everyone is nice at school, but it's a different story when i play intramurals. 19. In flag football, you are not allowed to touch ANYONE, EVER. 20. I don't like flag football. 21. Five Guys might just be better than In N Out. 22. Apparenlty, it is cool to wear running shoes with jeans, which I still don't understand. 23. 30 degrees isn't that cold, I realized this after a week of 0-10 degree weather. 24. Guys are kinda gross sometimes, just ask our Hall's janitor 25. Whoever invented the dollar theater is a genius!! 26. Cafe Rio...enough said. 27. Football games are sick 28. BYU is soo much fun!!! And here are some pictures from the past semester.

They Should Call it BlackOUT Friday

This is the Friday after Thanksgiving, commonly known as Black Friday.  Justin spent the night on the pavement outside of Best Buy to save like $20.  I suspect the allure of a certain young lady might have upped the value of this sacrifice.  He returned and promptly face planted in the carpet.  We didn’t hear from him for several hours.

Myself, I’m not so much on giving up sleep for shopping, but just before I went to bed on Thanksgiving I did notice that there was a certain something that I had been shopping for for a certain someone that was ridiculously priced.  Available online?  I can do that.  Novice that I am, I got up at 4:45 to get in the queue to purchase this deal but as soon as the clock struck 5:00…SOLD OUT!  Darn.  I woke Tyler up and off to WalMart we headed.  Hmm.  People take this stuff seriously.  There were motor homes—I’m thinking they bbq’d their turkey dinners in the parking lot the day before!  Every cart had a flat screen tv and not a parking spot within a 3-mile radius.  Note, it is exactly 5:11 am.   I kicked my 16-year old to the curb to brave the crowds to see if we had any hope of scoring the goods.  Being a football player, I figured he could handle the pushing and shoving.   Were we successful?  Unfortunately, no.  Just a blank spot where it should have been.  I should have slept in.

You know it’s THE season when…

You see this guy who looks like he just got off of his Harley on the way to a cage fight, but you look closer at his t-shirt (since you’re being careful not to look him in the eye) and you see imprinted thereon…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a Peanuts Christmas.  Peanuts.  You know, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the gang.

 

Gotta love the holidays.

Giving Thanks

It’s official.

I’m a grown up. 

I hosted my first Thanksgiving. (I know, you were thinking that having a kid in college would have cemented my status as a grown up...)  Now, in fairness, football usually keeps us close to home on Thanksgiving so Jeff and I have cooked for the Peacock 5 on several occasions, but this is the first time the family came to us.  We’re so glad they did!

We have much to be grateful for.  First and foremost, we got to spend the day with some of our very favorite people.

Appetizers… veggies and dip, bread & spinach dip, crackers and cheese.  Basically if it could be dipped or spread, it was there.  Totally a weakness of mine.  Spinach dip was Justin’s only Thanksgiving request.  (oh wait, there was one more, see below)

Bryce and Joshua playing meaningful holiday games like Nazi Zombie.

 

 

 

Here was Justin’s other request—free flowing football.  Viewed, as usual, through his eyelids.

 

 

Move over, Martha, look at that table!

It was our goal not to have a kids table, because, well, we’re almost out of kids, so it would have had to be the old person’s table and no one wants that!

Special thanks goes to my mom.  I think pretty much everything on that table with the exception of the tablecloth, centerpieces, and paper napkins was gifted to me by my mom (& dad) over the years.  That’s a woman who knows how to entertain elegantly!

Justin demonstrates the correct Thanksgiving proportions of protein (1/4), carbs (1/2), and produce (1/4).

 

One last sip of sparkling cider and then back to those zombies!

Thanks, family, for making the trip out and eating all of our favorite foods.  The nice thing about hosting is that you get to pick all the things you like best!