Connections

One of the best part of Christmas is reconnecting.

These are some of the most amazing women I know:  my mom, my Aunt Jan, and my beautiful cousin Gina.

Here are five generations of Williams women (and brand new baby Maxx who was always in the arms of one of the women) surrounding the matriarch Virginia.

This is Lilly, I want to steal her.  She is the daughter of my much older cousin Cathy (ha—1 year older, next to me in the picture before).  Cathy got me into a lot of trouble when we were growing up.  OK, well, let’s just say we had a lot of fun together:)  Unfair that Cathy gets this little angel AND lives in Italy raising goats and driving her own tractor. 

And then…

And then I saw this article after posting my videos of snow vomit and fireworks…

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/01/19/legal-limbo-disney-could-go-after-you-for-posting-vacation-vide/

Now I’m really done for.

Nightmare

Am I neurotic?  (rhetorical question, don’t reply to that.)

I woke up in a cold sweat at 5:08 this morning, a scream lodged in my throat.  It was a really bad nightmare.

I dreamed I was running around doing errands.  I get home and Bryce is helping me unload the car when I receive THE call.

“Mrs. P, this is Dr. P….”  but before he can finish, I KNOW what he’s calling about. 

I hurriedly say, nay scream, “Bryce, get your stuff, we gotta…” but then I look at my watch.  It’s too late. Much too late.

The doctor continues in my ear:  “Uh, yeah, you missed Bryce’s orthodontic appointment AGAIN.  I’ve called the police…”

The police?  What?  They care about our orthodontic compliance????  Send them to England!

It was then I woke up.  When I calmed down I realized it was Wednesday, early Wednesday.  There was still time to make that 2:15 pm appointment today.  Or, to miss it, depending on where the brain goes.  Where does it go?  I miss it sometimes.  I’ve also missed a lot of appointments relating to teeth.  Coincidence?  I had a lot of time to think about it though, I couldn’t get back to sleep.

Disney for Adults

I know what you’re thinking but this is not an XXX post… better luck next time.

So, it’s great to live in California because every time someone comes to visit they want to go to Disneyland.  Well, it turns out, every time we go, Jeff gets stuck going to work to pay for it.  I had gone to Disneyland with my friend Carolvee (I had been her YW leader in Long Beach 20 years ago *gasp*, when we were both much younger:) in November:

And well, let’s just say that was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  So, I suggested that WE (Jeff and I) go in December to celebrate our anniversary.  So, we booked a room and planned a 2-day getaway to the happiest place on Earth.

It was beautiful weather and it had been a lifetime since I’d been to Disneyland during the holidays, so we took it slow.  Crowds were good which always improves the experience.

We spent most of the first day in California Adventure…

 

 

      

 

 

The Disney magic must have been working because I even talked Jeff into watching the fireworks!  Here’s Sleeping Beauty’s castle decked out for the holidays:

 

There are lots of smiling attendants everywhere telling you where you can and can’t stand.  A lot of people wanted to stand in this one particular area and being neophytes we didn’t know why—we did hear one of these smiling helpers say something about “snow vomit” (?? I swear that’s what she said, at least that’s what it sounded like…)  We soon learned what that meant:

 

Snow in Southern California, Disney magic at work! 

The next day I introduced Jeff to Buzz Lightyear.  He’d never even heard of this ride. This is when we figured out it had been 8 years since he’d been to Disneyland!  Poor Jeff.

Clearly, my laser was defective.

More Disney magic.   Cap’n Jeff Sparrow AND Jeff willingly went on It’s a Small World.  The boys NEVER would have endured that.

We decided our favorite ride is Tower of Terror, so we ended there. 

Notice the group think going on.  During the first ride—no hands showing, everyone looks like they’re on an enjoyable bus ride (hopefully it’s a fully enclosed bus because otherwise Jeff and I would be catching flies).  During the second ride—JAZZ hands abound and everyone is much more lively. 

We decided we missed having kids to share the wonder of it all with, so we fantasized about all the granddaughters we will have in the (*cough* distant) future.

Happy Anniversary to us.  We heart Disneyland.

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.