Jekyll and Hyde

After staying up past midnight for consecutive nights I've come to realize that the U of U Hoops team has the most bi-polar personality around. On Thursday night they weren't even supposed to have a chance against the Cougars and they dominated for most of the game. They made extra passes, got the ball inside, defended, rebounded, everything. It almost gave us hope that they could salvage the season in the MWC Tourney.

Last night, the other Utah showed up. The one that is tenative, indecisive, afraid, lazy - all the things that added up to a 14-15 record for the season. A guy on Wyoming blocked a couple of shots in a row and that was it - the Utes never really challenged again on the inside. All the promise they showed against BYU was lost overnight.

I don't really know what to say about the Utes this season. I'm only happy about two things:

1. The season is over.

2. We beat BYU and kept them from a chance at the NCAA Tournament. Even in our worst seasons, we still beat BYU!

The Great Wall

For the past month Tara and I have been struggling with a problem: our neighbor wants to put up a new fence. Sure, you say, a new fence would be great. It would improve the look of your yard, increase your property value, and so on. We have three problems with the Fence Project.

1. We don't have the money to put up a new fence. When our neighbor brought over the estimate it would cost us $1300!!! We are not in the position to put that kind of money into a fence right now. We're in the trying to fill our house with kids phase of life, not the make our yard look good for the neighbors phase of life.

2. She wants to put up a white vinyl fence. I cannot think of anything that would look worse than a white vinyl fence around our home. No offense to any of us who have the Vinyl on your property, but Tara and I hate it. I'd feel like I was doing home remodeling by Sears or something. Sorry, not my style. We are a wood fence kinda family.

3. Our old fence is still standing and holding on pretty well. There aren't any broken boards and the fence doesn't lean one way or the other. It's tough to put money into a new fence, when your old one is still kicking.

We finally had a meeting about the Fence Project and it came down to the fact that if our neighbor wants a new fence, she'll have to do it without us. Maybe that makes me sound like the worst neighbor ever, but I can live without a new fence. Trying to strengthen and add to our family is our priority, not white vinyl.

Robert Frost said it best in his poem Mending Wall:

...He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'
...If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors?
...Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
...He says again, 'Good fences make good neighbors.'

Random Thoughts about Kennedy

I've been meaning to mention some of the fun things Kennedy's been up to over the past few weeks, but it never seems like there's one "big event" to blog about, so here are some random thoughts and pictures of our daughter.

Kennedy has struggled with taking her naps lately, wearing all of us out. The other day she was so tired she couldn't even finish her lunch. Tara and I have never been so tired we didn't finish dinner!


One of our favorite things to to is play outside. It's another one of the words we hear constantly around the house. If you ever walk near one of the doors, a little voice will say, "outside." Kennedy has found the snow a new experience and a cold one!



Since she started walking, Kennedy has wanted to be involved in everything. We can't even vacuum a rug without our little helper being right there. Maybe we can show her how to run the vacuum, hmmm...


After a busy day, we can always take the time to sit and read our favorite books. Again, and again, and again.



It's been fun to see Kennedy grow up so much in the past couple of months. She is quickly turning from our precious baby into our sweet little girl right before our eyes. Sorry to ramble in this post, but hey, I'm a proud papa.

A Great Heritage

You’ve read me comment about being in the bishopric and some of the challenges therein. However, I would feel terrible if I didn’t mention an experience I had earlier today. One of my jobs as a counselor is to attend funerals and sit on the stand. There was a funeral held in our building for a former bishop, Arden Engebretsen. I didn’t know him, but still went to the funeral for part of my calling.

As I walked up the stand, I realized that I was going to be sitting next to President James E. Faust, who presided at the funeral. It seems that Pres. Faust was the Stake President in our area when Arden Engebretsen was the bishop. Needless to say I was a bit overwhelmed sitting next to a member of the First Presidency. It was so incredible to meet Pres. Faust and to talk with him for a moment or two. As most of you know I bought my house from my parents, but I don’t think a lot of you know that my grandparents owned the home before my parents did. I mentioned my grandparents to President Faust and he immediately recognized them. It was so humbling to hear Pres. Faust recall his memories of Grandma and Grandpa Haycock and their service in the church during the late 60’s.

It was wonderful to meet a member of the First Presidency today, but it was even neater to hear him talk fondly of my grandparents. It certainly made me proud to be a Haycock and encourages me to live up to my family’s heritage.

Where is my Orange Vest?

Last night I went with the Young Men on a service project to one of the homes in the Ward. The family has been having some different issues in need of repair, specifically - they needed some work on the downstairs bathroom and there were some holes that needed patching in a wall. So we showed up with the boys, all 13 of them. Add in the 5 leaders, and needless to say, there wasn't enough room for all of us to be engaged at the same time. So I spent some good time "workin' hard, hardly workin" - the only thing I was missing was my State of Utah orange vest and a hard hat!