Surprise: By Cody

One day, I decided that I wanted to trick Wade. Before going to bed, I placed weights (the round cement filled disks that were part of Dyke’s weight set) in a line all along the mattress of his bed. I then covered the weights with his blanket and pillow. Later that evening when mom sent us to bed, I walked with Wade down into our room. As I entered the room, I ran towards my bed, and like a high jumper, I jumped into the air and then landed on my back. Wade saw what I had done and followed suit. He ran towards his bed, jumped high in the air, and also landed on his back. When he landed on the weights, he screamed out in pain. Immediately, he rolled off his bed, pulled the blanket off and saw the weights. He was so mad! He immediately ran over to me and attacked. As a boy, whenever Wade attacked, he was relentless. After I begged for mercy, he finally stopped attacking me. Wade then removed the weights from his bed, and climbed in. I had forgotten that there was also a weight under Wade’s pillow, so when he laid his head down, he hit his head one last time. Again, Wade was fuming and attacked me. Finally, he stopped beating me up, and we both went to sleep in a little pain.
The next night, Wade and I again walked into our room together. This time Wade ran towards his bed and jumped high in the air and landed on his back. Suspicious, I walked over to my bed, lifted up the covers, and found that my mattress was lined with weights. When Wade saw that his trick didn’t work, he warned me that he would get me back. On the next night when I climbed into bed, I noticed that my pillow was covered in peanut butter. Yuck!

The neighborhood bully gets his: By Cody

In our neighborhood, there was one kid with “Little Man Syndrome.” His name was Sean Smith. Anytime one of the younger kids in the neighborhood didn’t do what Sean wanted, he would punch them in the face. For example, on one occasion, Sean punched Brett Clark in the nose because Brett didn’t get off our trampoline when Sean asked him to. On another occasion, Sean gave Tim Doll a black eye because Tim didn’t want to play football in the Smith’s backyard.
Well, one summer night we were gathering together all the neighborhood kids to play night games. As usual, Sean was threatening any of the younger kids that didn’t want to play. At one point, Sean asked Wade if he was going to play, and Wade told him, “No.” Being a bully, Sean got upset with Wade, threatened him, and pushed him. To this, Wade responded by picking up a 2X4 off the lawn and swinging it at Sean. To the delight of all the younger neighborhood kids, we watched as Wade chased Sean down the sidewalk with a 2X4. That was the last time Sean ever threatened Wade. I thought of this experience the other night while watching Ralphie beat up the bully in the movie, “The Christmas Story.”

The Longest Day of my life: By Cody

While walking to elementary school one fall day, Josh suggested that he and I skip school. I thought it was a great idea because I didn’t like going to school anyway. We decided that the best place to skip school was the Lunsford’s orchard. With that thought, we walked to the apple orchard, climbed up a tree, and started eating the yummy apples. After about an hour of sitting in the tree, we heard someone in the orchard. Suddenly, we saw some Mexicans that worked in the orchard. We were so scared; we knew that if the Mexican workers saw us, they would either take us to Brother Lunsford or they would kidnap us. Frightened, we sat silently for what seemed to be an eternity. Finally, the workers left that part of the orchard, so Josh and I decided to get out of there.
Next, we decided to hang out in the field between the church and the Chappel’s house. After a while we got really hungry, so we decided to go to the school and get some lunch. I can’t believe we went to the lunch room, ate our lunch, and didn’t get caught. Then again, the teacher’s probably saw us, and were glad that we didn’t stay. Anyway, the day was so boring that we decided to sneak home to get some toys. We first went to Josh’s house. We peaked in the backdoor and made sure that Josh’s mom was not home. The coast was clear, so we snuck in the backdoor to get some toys out of Josh’s room. Just as we reached his room, we heard the front door of his house open, and we could hear the voices of Suzy Smith and mom. We quickly and quietly crawled under Josh’s bed and hid their while mom and Suzy had the longest conversation on the planet earth. Finally, the conversation ended. Mom went home, and Suzy went downstairs to do some sewing. Josh and I knew that we had to get out of there, so we snuck out the backdoor of the house and went down to the railroad tracks. While there, we hung out on Johnsons’ farm until we knew that school was over, and we could finally return home. We didn’t get caught, but the day was so long and boring that I never skipped school again.

My Big Race: By Cody

After my mission, I was running a lot. I was a faster runner than some people, but not nearly as fast as the professionals. While buying a new pair of running shoes, I heard about a Halloween race in American Fork. In the AF race, the runners run through the cemetery at dusk. The race sounded like fun, so I decided to sign up and run the race.

When the race started, I took off running. After the first minute or so, the lead pack (about 10 guys) pulled a head of everyone else. Between me and the lead pack was one guy, and then everyone else was behind me. After a few minutes, the lead pack got further and further a head. So, I kept my eyes on the guy in front of me. After about two and a half miles, the lead pack went up a hill, and then disappeared. As I approached the top of the hill, I noticed that a runner could only go right or left. The guy in front of me went right towards the cemetery entrance, so I followed him. In an effort to show my manliness, I decided to pass the guy in front of me. I felt good as I ran through the cemetery, but could not see the lead pack anywhere. As I came out of the cemetery, I ran through the running shoot. Surprised, I looked down at my watch. When I saw the time, I thought to myself, “No way, I can’t run 3.5 miles that fast.” Suddenly the guy that I had past in the cemetery came running threw the shoot, and then said, “Oh no, I took a wrong turn!” Now everything made since, he took a wrong turn and I followed him. I then realized that I was the first person to go threw the shoot, so I was the WINNER, or the accidental cheater. I looked behind me, and I realized that all those people behind me had followed me as I followed the guy who took the wrong turn. But, because I was the first one to cross the finish line, everyone would think that it was my fault. A little embarrassed, I decided to sneak over to my car and get out of their before the race officials had the chance to talk to me. As I got near my car, suddenly I saw the lead pack come around the corner headed for the finish line. I didn’t wait to see who the real winner was, but I am sure that the fast guys were a little surprised when they got to the finish line and saw that about 40 runners had finished a head of them. By the way, the race never did send me my first place ribbon!

Making Laura a Star b-ball Player: By Cody

I can’t take all the credit, but I will say that on two different occasions I helped elevate Laura’s basketball game, while she played for Provo High School.

On one occasion, I was supposed to pick Laura up from practice. I arrived a little early, so I stood at the side of the court, while she practiced. When I got her attention, I motioned to her to trip one of the other girls. Laura smiled, and then put out her foot – mimicking what I had done from the sideline. Just as she put her foot out, one of her team mates ran in front of Laura and tripped over her foot. Surprised, Laura bent down and helped her teammate back on her feet. Laura kept saying, “I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to trip you!”

On another occasion, Laura’s team was playing their big rival Timpview high school. Before the game, I told Laura that I wanted her to make a basket for me. Well, at one point in the game Laura was fouled. So, she got two shoots from the foul line. On the first shoot, she paused and then shouted at the top of her lungs, “This one is for Cody.” She then shot the ball and missed the basket entirely. After Laura missed the second free throw, her basketball coach turned around and glared at me.

Albertsons- By Wade.

The only things I knew about grandpa Roskelley was that he was old and grumpy, liked to play golf and every week or so would bring us an assortment of doughnuts and old fruit. He would walk in with a big cardboard box with some fruit and veggies and usually a box of old doughnuts. I never saw mom or dad ever eat any of the food and it would always sit on the one end of the table opposite from dads chair until the fruit finally turned. It was several years before Chad or Dyke finally told me that grandpa would hang out behind Albertsons supermarket and collect all the stuff they were throwing in the garbage; old fruit and veggies and the (way past day old) doughnuts. I remember being appalled at the thought of eating fruit from out of a garbage can and swore off eating any of it ever again... OK maybe not. We were poor and we never got doughnuts, like a closet alcoholic drinking toilet brew, I would wait for every one to be out of the kitchen and I would sneak one doughnut at a time so as to not be easily noticed. I would then eat the food in private. One day I was caught eating a dumpster doughnut long after it was common knowledge where they came from, my response "O' I thought mom had bought these ones." what a lie, I continued to eat the garbage fruit and dumpster doughnuts until grandpa was too old to climb in the dumpster anymore

Bath Time: By Cody

I don’t remember how old I was, but I do know that I was very young. I believe that it must have been Saturday night, because this story is about me taking a bath. After filling the tub up with a lot of water, I decided that I needed a cup to help me wash the shampoo out of my hair. I walked into the kitchen; got a chair, and then retrieved from the cupboard a large glass cup. I then climbed down off the chair and headed back to the bathroom. When I entered the bathroom, I put the glass cup into the water, and then decided that I was going to leap over the side of the tub into the water. I walked back to the door of the bathroom, and then I took off running. I jumped high into the air and knees first splashed into the tub. Problem – I had forgotten about the glass cup that I had already placed in the tub. When I landed, the weight of my body crushed the glass cup into the bottom of the tub. Suddenly, I felt sharp pain in both of my knees. Blood filled the water, and I started to cry. The last thing I can remember is Trina pulling me out of the tub with blood running down my legs. I still have scares in both of my knees from the incident. As I remember the details of this accident, I can’t believe I actually decided to run and jump into the bathtub. Not very bright!

My new Car: By Cody

While growing up, there was no such thing as a new car. Dad usually bought a used car, or simply purchased a wrecked car and fixed it up. Dad was a mechanic by profession, so this all makes perfect since. Well, when I got home from my mission, I needed a car for college and for my new job as the delivery boy at CTI Travel. So, I started watching the papers. One day I found an ad for a Honda Civic that only had 60,000 miles. The car was in great shape all except for a little damage on the front end, and it was located in Salt Lake City. Excited, dad and I called the seller and arranged to see the car. That same afternoon, I went with mom and dad to see the car. When I saw the car, I was really excited because it looked a lot better than the 1979 Buick Skylark that I drove in High School (You know the one that dad bought from the White family for $200. It had “just married” on the side and would shake anytime you went over 45 miles an hour). Anyway, the Civic was slightly damaged in the front end, but there was no major damage. So, I bought the car, and dad and I started driving it home, while mom returned home in the mini van. After about 10 minutes on the highway, I saw that the hood was shaking a little bit. So, I asked dad if I needed to worry about the hood popping up. To this he replied, “If the hood hasn’t popped up yet, it’s not going to.” About two minutes later, wham! The hood popped up and wrapped itself completely over my entire windshield. Suddenly, all the cars around me scattered to get away from me. I yelled, “Dad, the hood just popped up.” To this dad said, “Remain calm, son! Remain calm!” Yea right, I thought to myself. I am driving down the Highway going 65 miles an hour with a blind passenger, I can’t see out my windshield, and dad tells me to remain calm. Luckily, I did remain calm. I flipped on my signal, checked my mirrors and got off the highway as quickly as I could. Miraculously, I got off the highway without wrecking into anyone. When dad and I got to the shoulder of the road we stopped the car and tied the hood back down. I then drove the car home with a windshield that looked like a big spider web of cracked glass. Gratefully, we made it home. The car proved to be a good one, but I don’t think that I will ever buy a wrecked car and try and drive it home on the highway again. Crazy!

Dead Man’s shoes: By Cody

On Christmas day, just before my mission, I got a call from grandpa Roskelley. Generously, he wanted to give me a good pair of shoes for my mission. Now remember, grandpa lived through the depression and loved to get doughnuts out of Albertson’s garbage. The only gift that he had ever given me was a tie that was about 30 years old when he gave it to me, and had been initially bought from D.I. So, I was a little hesitant when he told me to come on over and pick out a good pair of missionary shoes. I tried to be kind by saying, “Oh grandpa, you are so kind, but really I will be fine!” Grandpa insisted that every missionary needs a good pair of shoes and asked me to come right over. Well, I drove over to his house. When I walked up the stairs of his home, I could see 10 to 15 pairs of old grandpa shoes lined up in front of the couch. I smiled and tried to look excited. As I sat on the couch, I saw one pair of shoes that looked like mailman shoes. They were black, shinny, and they had a thick rubber sole on the bottom. As I picked up the mailman shoes, I looked over at grandpa and said, “Thanks grandpa, these look great!” To this grandpa replied, “Well how do you know if those are the right ones, when you haven’t even tried the others on?” He then had me try on every pair of shoes. When I was done trying on the shoes, I again picked up the mailman shoes and said, “Thanks grandpa, these will be great!” When grandpa saw my selection, he smiled and said, “Those are a fine pair of shoes. You know, I’ll bet those shoes cost 75 dollars new. But, when someone dies over at the old-folks home, they sell their shoes for just 5 dollars.” I quickly looked down at my gently used pair of shoes and back at grandpa and said, “Wow, that sounds like a great deal – just 5 dollars!” I walked out of grandpa’s house the proud owner of a dead man’s shoes.

Ironically, I polished and cleaned up the shoes that grandpa gave me, and they ended up being the most durable shoes I wore on my mission. Some day, if I ever get to Heaven, I hope to meet and tell the original owner of the shoes that his shoes served me well – and grandpa only paid 5 dollars!

Who's that? By Wade

Who is that? Beth, TJ and Asher?

No!

It's Mom, Wade and Cody... Who knew?

Where are my shoes?: By Cody

While growing up, Trina and Heather did so much to keep the house clean. They were both hard workers, and tried to get the rest of us to clean up after ourselves. I remember that Heather tried for a long time to get me to pick up my shoes. In an effort to help me, Heather started hiding my shoes, and then she would not give them back unless I did a job. On one occasion, Heather had gone off to High School. I searched and searched for my shoes. I checked the regular places like the fire place, coat closet, and the bathroom cupboards, but I could not find them. Late for school, I finally told mom that I had left my shoes out and that Heather had hidden them. With this information, mom decided to call Heather at the High School. When Heather got on the phone she asked mom if she could speak with me. So, mom handed me the phone, and then Heather said, “Cody have you done a job?” I responded, “No.” Then Heather said, “Cody, I’m not going to tell you where your shoes are until you do a job. So, call back after you have done a job!” When I hung up the phone, I was in shock. I thought for sure that she would give in and tell me where my shoes were. When I told mom what Heather had said, she looked at me, shrugged her shoulders and said, “I guess you better do a job.” Disappointed, I vacuumed the living room and then had mom call the High School a second time. When Heather answered the phone, she again wanted to speak with me. She again said, “Cody did you do a job?” I then told her that I had vacuumed the living room. To this she responded, “Good, now stop leaving your shoes out!” She then proceeded to tell me where I could find my shoes.

Thanks to Heather, my wife never has to pick up my shoes. I learned my lesson well.

Disclaimer: I always felt a since of victory when I found my shoes and hence didn’t have to do a job to get them back. I remember on one occasion Heather saw that I had found my shoes and made me do a job anyway.

Toothbrush: By Cody

After my mission, one of my good friends and former mission companions – Mauro Properzi – lived with our family. One morning, I was in a big hurry to get off to one of my BYU classes. As I quickly brushed my teeth, Mauro walked into the bathroom to comb his hair. Suddenly, Mauro said, “I didn’t know that you have a red toothbrush, too.” When Mauro’s comment registered in my brain, I stopped brushing and pulled the toothbrush out of my mouth and said, “I don’t - sick!” Then with a disgusted look on his face, Mauro said, “What do you mean that you don’t?” To this question I replied, “Sorry man, here is your toothbrush.” Mauro took the toothbrush and said, “Thanks a lot Cody, are you sure you don’t want to keep it?”

The Haircut: By Cody

At the beginning of one summer, mom asked me to come inside and get a summer haircut. I obediently sat down and held still while she pulled out the clippers and started to give me a buzz. When she was all done, she told me to go and look in the mirror. When I saw that she had given me a buzz, I started to cry. I felt like I was the one kid in the world that didn’t need a buzz. Whenever I have super short hair, everyone asks me what happened to my head because my birthmark looks like a big scar. Well, I walked back into the kitchen crying. Mom asked me, “What’s the matter?” I responded by saying, “I hate buzzes, now everyone can see my birthmark.” Mom looked at me and said, “Oh, your hair will grow back, don’t worry about it.” Just then, Chad entered the room and asked me what was wrong. I explained to him how much I hated my buzz because of my birthmark. Wisely, Chad pulled me aside and said, “Cody, buzzes are cool. Everyone in the army has a buzz! Do you want to go play army men with me in the front yard?” Thanks to Chad’s convincing words, I stopped crying and went out to play army with him in the front yard. After a while, I told Chad that I had to go in the house because I needed to use the bathroom. Chad looked at me and said, “I thought you were an army man!” To this I replied that I was an army man. Then Chad said, “Army men don’t need bathrooms, they just go in the bushes. So, with that I walked behind the bushes in the front yard and went to the bathroom. I thought that it was so cool that army men didn’t need bathrooms.

Wally: By Cody

I was downstairs in my bedroom playing with Wally Day. As we played, Wally said, “Hey Cody, say ‘I shot the city sheriff’ as fast as you can 10 times.” I was young and innocent, so I did what he told me to do. About the fifth time I repeated the saying, Wally started to laugh out loud. The faster I tried to repeat the saying, the more it sounded like I was swearing. Suddenly, mom appeared at the doorway of the room and said, “Wally, go home and don’t come back!!!” Wally quickly stood up and left out the back door. At the time I didn’t understand why Wally had been sent home. Years later, I finally figured out why mom was upset.

Family Scripture Study - by Beth

I don’t know who said it, but I love the promise given that if you will study the Book of Mormon together as a family it will fortify your children against the temptations and fiery darts of the devil. I have a testimony of family scripture study even in its most basic and simple form.
As a teenager I HATED my parents and family. They seemed so stupid and I seemed so smart [and grouchy] (ah, my teenage righteous indignation!). But when my brother, Cody, returned from his mission he established morning family scripture study. And I HATED it! I had to get up fifteen minutes earlier each morning and I certainly didn’t show forth a cheery attitude about it.
But I cannot deny how it softened my heart, despite my internal protests. While I tried to never show it, I began to love and appreciate this time spent in discussing the gospel in a way that seemed communal rather than didactic. A spirit of love infused our family relationships and I know it came from daily family scripture study.
A few months after we had been having family scripture study another brother, Wade, came home from his mission and I remember him noting the difference in our family, as well. “It’s like,” he said, “You all love each other now.”
From time to time I think about how family scripture study was one of the few ways my hardened heart would allow the Spirit to strengthen me. I’m so thankful for a humble brother who tried unterminably, day after day, to influence my siblings and I for good through this activity despite my bad attitude.
The Book of Mormon is true and it holds real power for our families!