fall winter now.

It has been a lonnnnnnng time since I last posted.

Let's see if I can hit some highlights (based almost exclusively off of the photos found on my phone):

October 2015:
-Went back to Utah for Levi's friend's wedding and were able to stay for the weekend which included General Conference!
-my sweet grandpa passed away, but we were lucky enough to be able to go California for the weekend where I gave the eulogy which was a really difficult, but rewarding task. It was awesome to spend the weekend with so much family celebrating a man we love and admire so much.
-we watched a lottttt of the rugby world cup and the All Blacks won the whole thing! I made banana cake for Levi multiple times during the tournament because it's his favorite and now I would really love a piece of it.
-dressed up as Oreos for Halloween!

November 2015:
-It was still obnoxiously warm for November so when we hosted soccer games at work, we could actually go outside and watch them!
-Again, it was warm, so we went on a number of walks in the neighborhoods near our apartment. If any animals were sighted during said walks, Levi was sure to chase them.
-My mom sent me an awesome birthday care package filled with delicious cookies and little chocolates and I'm pretty sure we ate all the cookies in like 2 days and I'm not even a little bit upset about that.
-Went back to Provo for Thanksgiving and my birthday! We had such a fun Thanksgiving with family and we celebrated my birthday by purchasing 16 donuts and I ate four of them...for breakfast alone.

December 2015:
-My little brother came home from his mission! He had been in the Orlando, Florida area for two years and it was so awesome to have him home. He came home on the 16th and it was killing me to have to wait like 4 days before seeing him!
-Levi finished his first semester of grad school (while also working full-time, which never ceases to amaze me).
-Star Wars came out so obvi we saw it opening night because Levi is #obsessed.
-spent the Christmas break in California with my entire family! It was for sure the best Christmas break everrrrrr. I've never been more sad to leave. :( but I survived.
-made a pretty awesome music video with my family like we do every year.

January 2016:
-my candy drawer at work was repeatedly attacked by mice and I hated it.
-Levi started his second semester of grad school and decided to take 12 credits (9 credits is full-time!) while continuing to work full time and serve as Young Men's president--I swear he can do it all.
-Levi decided it was time we learn to golf, so we found 3 cheap, used clubs for me (because I'm left-handed and can't share with him) and we've been having fun at the driving range right next to our apartment complex!

February 2016:
-gas prices reached an all-time low at $1.08 here in Oklahoma and I was starting to feel as if I was stealing gas when I filled my tank for $15...
-celebrated Valentine's Day the only way we know how...donuts! And more delicious food. :) And most importantly, remember why we love each other!
-cashed in on one of theeee coolest Christmas presents from my older brother and we went to the Thunder game! It was a once in a lifetime opportunity as we had theeee best seats ever (we could hear Kevin Durant yelling at the ref) and we even splurged and got food there (yum, nachos!) We had SUCH a fun time!

March 2016:
-after much begging and pleading from Levi, I finally made cinnamon rolls for the first time on my own! I still have a lot of work to do before they are as amazing as my mom's or my sister's, but it's a start! (though I have finally mastered making rolls, so I know there is hope for me...)
-Rachel came to town!!!!!! Levi always makes fun of me for how giggly and goofy I get when I'm around Rach or any of my other college friends, but it's just that everything is soooooo funny when they're around! We had THEE best time and now I am convinced that I need all of my closest friends to figure out a way to live on the same street as me for the rest of our lives.
-Levi and I started a round of whole30 which essentially means we're not eating grains, legumes, sugar, or dairy for thirty days. We're currently on day 20 and I cannot wait to be done, but I'm at the point where I have to go all the way and there's no way I'm stopping now.

April 2016:
-paid our taxes and that was kind of the worst.
-getting close to the end of the school semester for Levi and we are SO excited! He'll take one class in the spring and then he'll have the rest of the summer off before he starts his last semester!
-life is wonderful!

That's pretty much it! Except also you should know I really want cookies and pizza right now.

burgle*

Please don't be a burgle robber* because I'm about to tell you about my weekly routine.

On Sunday, I usually have church meetings starting at 11 am, then I have church from 1-4 pm. I usually try to make a delicious Sunday dinner, and sometimes that's hit and miss haha. A couple weeks ago I made rolls and they were amaaaazing (i.e. I'm pretty sure Levi ate 20 for dinner). The recipe is from Ann Dibb (Pres. Monson's daughter) so they were destined to be delicious. But then another time I made a crockpot meal and it wasn't even cooked all the way when we got home from church so that was fairly depressing.

On Monday, we get home from work, have FHE, then go to the gym. Also, let's talk about how Levi loves to "Welcome everyone to family night" in his best Cecil O. Samuelson voice and I just need you to know that it's eerily perfect. Like, I really think Cecil is there with me. He does the voice that Pres. Samuelson would do when he would welcome everyone to devotional every Tuesday at BYU. And in case you were wondering, "Stacy Heperi, a sociology major from Santa Rosa, California" is often assigned to give the opening prayer.

On Tuesday, Levi has class until 10 pm (oy.) and I go grocery shopping after work. In the summer, I didn't have work on Friday so I went grocery shopping then, but now I go on Tuesday. I tell you that because I've been going grocery shopping alone for a long time now. And here's the thing, I don't mind going grocery shopping alone. In fact, Levi likes to go a lot faster than I do which can be stressful for me, so it's kind of good to just have time to go down every aisle and make sure I have everything (and I usually still forget something, but still haha). The real problem for me is that we live on the back side of the apartment building on the second floor and it's a million degrees and uphill both ways as I'm sure you could guess, so I just hate having to carry all those groceries in. Plus, I always have Levi's mantra "Second trips are for the weak!" going around and around in my head and I don't know. It's hard guys. One day Levi is going to come home to find that I have been crushed to death by all the groceries halfway between the parking lot and our door.

On Wednesday, Levi has class until 7 and then we both have mutual (youth group at church) and then we don't usually get home until 8:45 or 9 pm. We love mutual though because those kids are awesome. Levi and I were both asked to serve in the youth programs when we first moved to Oklahoma and it was especially great back then because then when we would go to ward (church) activities and still didn't know very many people, we could just hang out with the youth haha. We've since made adult friends, but still. Those kids are neat.

On Thursday, Levi doesn't have class! So we both come home, have dinner, and then go to the gym. I used to not be such a fan of the gym, but now I don't even mind it and actually kind of like it. I used to do those classes like zumba but Levi has since convinced me to join him in his weightlifting. One time we were visiting Levi's family and we were eating dinner and Levi was like "Hey, guess how much Stacy can squat." And I was like, uhhh, okay. Haha, anyway he told them and for a while I thought it was so funny how he liked to tell people how much I could squat but then I remembered how horrifically embarrassing it must have been for him when I was first learning how to squat and literally could not even squat the bar without a) whining about it and b) losing my balance and toppling over. I've come a long way, people. So yes, he's allowed to be proud haha.

And then comes Friday! The beginning of the weekend! Once we get off work, it's time to party! Usually we go on a little date or something and then we hang out for the evening, maybe watch a movie or a show or something. Last week was the opening ceremonies of the Rugby World Cup as well as the first game and you guys. The world cup goes from now until Halloween! That's a long time! Which I really don't mind because I like rugby. Except it's confusing watching rugby during football season because I go back and forth between rugby and football and they're similar-ish, but definitely different. So when I'm watching football I'm like "you have to put the ball on the ground to get a touchdown!" or "you can't just smash him with your head like that!" but it turns out you totally can. Because it's football, not rugby. Anyway, we'll be watching a lot of rugby over the next six weeks. Obvi we're cheering for New Zealand, but we have to watch all the games so we can "check out the competition", duh. Also Levi asked me to make a banana cake for the opening ceremonies so I did. He went to cut the first piece and took the entire center section of the cake. Haha, that guy. Also the entire cake was gone in less than 24 hours, but mostly because it somehow qualifies as a breakfast and lunch food as well ;)

And then finally, Saturday. We go play soccer in the morning and then try to do as little as possible for the rest of the day. Usually we have to run errands, but if we can, we like to just watch football/rugby, take a nap, and go hang out outside or with friends or something. It's the best.

Anyway, that's all. I don't know why I felt the need to tell you that, but now you know.

*burgle robber: one time I woke up in the middle of the night and told Levi that I was worried about the front window being open because "burgle robbers" might come get us. I don't even know, it was so weird.

no but really. what is even happening right now?

Soooo...I wrote this post two months ago but then never posted it. Why? I have no idea. But I went to blog today and I found this in my drafts. My apologies. So basically this only catches you up to about the middle of May. Also, for once in my life there might be more pictures that words. So basically you won't drown in the paragraphs on nonsense as you look for the next picture. Celebrate the little things, I guess. Pffffft.

Things that have happened during my long absence:

 

+ went home to CA for the long weekend to celebrate my sister's bridal shower and so everyone could meet her fiance and to celebrate Valentine's day and mostly to eat chocolate covered strawberries.

+ chaperoned a youth dance. Levi said if one of the kids thought I was a teenager and asked me to dance, he would take me out to ice cream. Turns out Levi is the youngster because some girl asked him to dance! What the heck? Also, we didn't get any ice cream.

+ spent fifty billion years trying to find a dress for my sister's wedding. Finally found one! 

+ went to the medieval fair here in town. Medieval-ness is wild, for sure. But I did get to eat a turkey leg and part of levi's navajo taco and we also go to launch marshmallows off of mini catapults and saw a lot of interesting outfits and also I got a sunburn.

+ had our huge work event and didn't die from it.

+ made banana bread, but I think I want to try a different recipe for it now...one that is a little more moist.

+ had Levi's little brother in town! went to some of our favorite places: KD's restaurant, a Thunder game, guitar store, raising cane's, dick's sporting goods, etc. It was super fun!

+ levi got a new guitar! many thanks to his mom and grandma for it. he seriously loves it and plays it evvvvvery day (and sometimes tries to get out of doing the dishes by sneaking off to play...)

+ storm season started and we had a couple small tornadoes and a lot of thunderstorms. we've even had to get in the storm shelter once (and we took a #shelterselfie!). also, I really hate flash flooding. maybe you've been reading about the flooding in houston right now? (...oops. like I said, I wrote this two months ago haha) stuff like that is the worst to me. levi's car got flooded one night and it was the worst. and it's really scary. turn around, don't drown!

+ went out to provo for BYU graduation! we're so proud of lauren for graduating and we're excited to see where life takes her next! also, it's always good to go to our favorite food places in provo!

+ we went straight from provo to california for my sister's wedding! It was super fun and I just love love love being with my family. It always goes by too quickly, but I'll admit: I'm glad to be done with weddings for a while haha.

+ came back to oklahoma and we've had even more storms. it's been a really wet may! I don't mind the storms just as long as I'm in the safety of my own home. but you guys, driving in it is the pits, yo. also, the sky gets such weird color during the tornado-y storms. the pic above was taken at like 10 pm and it was way more yellow-y and weird than you can see here...

+ celebrated our anniversary!! I can't believe how quickly a year has flown by! the day started with me having to go clean the church (ha!) but then I came home to find flowers and donuts and my favorite juice waiting for me in bed with my favorite guy in the world! please note levi hiding under the covers (for modesty!).  it was such a fun day of hanging out together, reminiscing on all the incredible (and some less incredible) events that have transpired over the last year. we ended the evening with dinner on the 49th floor of the tallest building in town. It was amazing! It was almost cancelled due to--surprise!--a thunderstorm, but fortunately it wasn't. In fact, we ended up having an awesome "light show" (i.e. tons of lighting) while we ate our dinner. It was awesome. (Suuuuper crappy anniversary pic...really not sure what the guy was doing but it was so blurry and dark that I had to like edit it all weird (and I have no idea how to edit btdubs) but it's the best we have haha)

+ and then just this last weekend (lies. two months ago) was really fun. We had the long weekend and on Saturday we went up to Penn Square mall to redeem my reward for winning my family's March Madness bracket (1 pound of See's Candy!). Of course, as we were ready to leave, the flash floods were starting. Because of where we were parked, the water was deeper (probs 4 or 5 inches) so we wanted to get out of there before the water got to the engine! It continued to pour rain, but we made it home safely and spent the evening in our sweats and eating the chocolate!

+ and there you have it. The last three months in a nutshell. Out.

mixed up in my mind.

Since I don't currently have a job, I don't actually have to wake up at any particular time.  That was cool for a week or two, but then I was always feeling like a lazy bum, so after the first couple weeks I decided to set my alarm clock for 8:30.  That was a really nice idea, but it turns out I just press snooze like five times before I actually wake up. Or I just turn off my alarm completely.  As such, I also set the alarm on my phone for 8:45.  Buuuuuut I usually just turn that one off, too. Such impressive amounts of self-control, am I right?

Anyway, my alarm was going off and I didn't want to hear it anymore because it was Monday and Mondays are hard so I just decided to turn my alarm clock off after hitting snooze a couple times.  Plus, I could have sworn my snooze button was broken or something because I was sure that my alarm was going off every two minutes.  So it had to be turned off. Of course, I'm extremely talented and was able to hit snooze multiple times and turn it completely off without ever looking at the clock.

Then, somewhere in my mostly unconscious state of being, I heard my phone buzz telling me I had received a text. It turns out that text messages are interesting enough to wake me from my slumber?  Pathetic.  Anyway, I saw that it was a text from Levi and I also saw that the clock read 7:45 am.  That was weird. Was Levi texting me on his way to work? He's never done that before.  Intrigued, I opened the text and saw that all it said was, "Leaving."

Crap.

It wasn't Monday.  It wasn't Monday at all. It was Sunday and it was 7:45, which is the time that both Levi and I are supposed to leave for our early morning church meeting (actually that's the time that the meeting was supposed to start, but it looks like Levi was running just a tad late).  Every Sunday we walk to the meeting together and Levi texts me "Leaving" when he is leaving his apartment so I can know that I should be walking out of my apartment in about 30 seconds.  Dang it. I couldn't believe that had happened. I had honestly and seriously thought that it was Monday up until I read the text from Levi.

I called Levi and the first thing I said was, "I just woke up. I thought it was Monday."  He thought that was fairly amusing. I thought it was fairly ridiculous. I mean, sometimes that happens to me, where I look at my alarm clock and just stare at the numbers until I figure out what exactly those numbers mean and whether or not I really need to get up.  I also sometimes think it's a different day than it really is, but I always figure it out within a few seconds.  But yesterday was no good. I seriously had it in my mind that it was Monday.  It was so super mega weird.

And so, that is the problem with not having a job.  You get in the habit of being able to wake up whenever you want and alarm clocks have little meaning in your life.  I have learned my lesson, as ridiculous as it was.  Also, when I got to church and explained to the bishop that I hadn't made the meeting because I thought it was Monday, his response was, "Ha, I've never heard that excuse before. That's a good one."

But it was real!  I'm serious!

On a slightly related note, I got a job! Woo!  Hopefully that means I'll get in the habit of actually listening to my alarm clock and getting up when it goes off. We'll see how that goes...

fhe is for winners.

One time I wrote a poem for Valentine's Day all by myself.  It was written using conversation hearts and can be seen below.  It's called "Dewy Eye".  I don't really know what that means or why that would be written on a conversation heart, but I just went with it and produced what I'm sure will soon be an award-winning poem. In fact, I bet you'll cry when you read it because you will be so blown away by how much of a poetic genius I am.  And like I said, I wrote it all by myself. No help from anyone in my group, not even Bill.  Here it is:

Please note that it is even copyrighted so don't you DARE try to steal it.

Another time I was at my friends' house for FHE and I was able to squeeze myself through this weird hole in their kitchen wall that I'm pretty sure serves no purpose whatsoever. Seriously, I can't figure out what on earth it is for.  Anyway, I was able to get myself through that hole, which was pretty impressive.  I had a little help from Jessie, but not from anyone else, not even that lame Bill.  All Bill did was take this picture in which I have my eyes closed. Seriously, Bill. How could you not even get a picture with my eyes open?  Amateur.

Also, Bill told me that black and white photos are so much classier, so that's why this picture is like that.

Also, here's the thing. This post was mostly written to appease Bill's need to be featured on my blog. Seriously, the kid won't stop talking about it.  So here you go, Bill.  Now you and your needy self have nothing to complain about.

Buuuuuut, in all seriousness, I have a really awesome FHE group (of which Bill is a member).  They're super great and super fun and I love hanging out with them and also they give in to the requests Michaelanne and I make for cinnamon roll hugs and they put up with the insanity that is Danielle and me.  We do fun things like that one disco dancing game or that one time we played cracker whacker and I lost in .2 seconds. Or all those times when we drove to bishopric members' houses and I was really thirsty and hungry and had a headache.  That was really fun. Also there was the time we built a pyramid and all the girls were on the bottom and Bill was on the top. That was good. Also there was that time we went to the Alexanders and I had some Taylor Swift song stuck in my head and I'm pretty sure I sang the same two lines over and over for a solid half hour. Also there was the time we had the magic water and the time we did the Polar Bear Plunge (and by "we" I mean, "definitely not me although I was a good supporter of those that did").  So basically we do really awesome things and Gina and Lauri plan really great activities and it's just the best.

FHE is for winners, not a joke!

YOLO, baby.

So remember how I wrote this slightly embarrassing post about Rachel?  Well, I realized that I probably blog about hilariously dumb things that she does a little too much and so I thought it was only fair if I tell a somewhat embarrassing story about myself today.  I think this officially makes me a pretty good friend because I can think of so many embarrassing stories about Rach that I could be telling instead, but alas.  You're worth this.

It was my freshman year and we had Stake Conference, which is when about ten congregations meet together for a meeting together (oh my gosh, can you please read that sentence again because instead of explaining what Stake Conference is, I actually just repeated myself. I suck).  I had decided to wear a skirt that was fairly flowy and not too constricting that had about a million buttons that buttoned all the way up the front.  Anyway, as me and my roommates walked in, I was the first one to walk down the row that we were going to sit in.  But then my roommates decided they wanted to sit one row closer to the front.

But here's the thing. I had already committed myself to that row, you guys!  I had already taken at least 9 steps into that row and I wasn't about to just go 9 steps back only to have to go another 9 steps into the next row.  I shouldn't have to do all that extra work. I mean, I'm worth more than that.

So the obvious solution to this dilemma was to simply jump over that row of chairs.

(This is the part where I should say YOLO, right?)

I can tell you're concerned that I was in church and I was jumping over a pew.  But here's the thing: since it was a bigger meeting than normal, we were meeting in the Smith Fieldhouse (a huge gym), and they have slightly stadium seating, so it wasn't like I was going to jump up and over a pew or anything. This makes it so much better, right?

And so I hopped, as ladylike as ever, just like any normal person would do. Pop-pop-pop-pop! I heard that sound and at first I couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  But then I looked down and to my horror I saw that the buttons from my skirt had popped off and were just now bouncing and  landing on the ground. Oh crap, was all I could think as I realized that my skirt that had once buttoned ALL the way up the front now had only TWO buttons remaining. TWO, you guys.  TWO BUTTONS LEFT.  Every other button was now taunting me from the ground, immediately reminding me that I had made a horrible choice by jumping over the chairs. An incredibly, unbelievably terrible choice because now I stood there, essentially flashing hundreds of other people.  Truly one of the more proud moments of my life.

As my roommates (Rachel included) laughed hysterically at my predicament (because let's be honest, it was pretty funny and I mean, at least those two buttons were still attached so I was at least mildly decent), I immediately sat down and tried to figure out what I should do.  I eventually figured that I should turn the skirt so that my newly-created, ever-so-scandalous slit would go up the side of my leg instead of straight up the front.  Then I collected bobby pins from all my roommates and attempted to use them to keep my skirt together, but mostly I just had a death grip on my skirt for the rest of the night.

Needless to say, I haven't done a whole lot of row-hopping since then.

i don't know about you...

So, here's the thing.  I can honestly tell you that I have thought about blogging every single day over the past two weeks. Not a joke, people.  And why is it that I haven't actually blogged?  I have no idea.  But that doesn't matter!  Let's put it behind us!  Let us move on to bigger and better things!  We can do this!

And so now I present to you a post that should have been posted over a week ago because for most of you, it's probably old news, but to you I say, WHATE'ER. I do what I want.

Every year, my younger siblings and I make a music video.  We've been doing it for the last three years, so this was our Fourth Annual LeCheminant Family (Younger) Sibling Music Video.  And look, I just want to say that I think it's my favorite one yet.  The only sad thing is that this year we were missing Jalyn because she is in the Dominican Republic serving a mission for our church!  So we wish the best for her, but dang. She missed out on a totes one million high qual music vid, I'll tell you what.

This year Thomas edited it, which was good because my editing skills are like that of a five-year-old, not a joke.  So basically the editing was awesome.  The three of us came up with all the ideas for each scene, just like we do every year.  It was really, really fun.  I super love my siblings, and this is always a fun thing we do during Christmas break each year and I love this tradition.  It's fun to look back at our first video and see how little Jakey was and to see that Thomas was once the same height as me!  Also, it's fun to see my curly hair again...sigh. Also, who doesn't love a good cameo by the parents, am I right?

So, anyway, I present to you the Fourth Annual LeCheminant Family (Younger) Sibling Music Video.  Man, I just love it.

p.s.  Yes, it's true. Both pairs of pants in the opening scene belong to me.  Depressing that they fit into them, but mostly hilarious.

p.p.s.  Check out our past videos! (Although none of us are particularly proud of 2011's video...I don't know what happened, but we ran out of time and our ideas were lame, but there are some pretty good chase scenes...)

2009: Me and My Gang

2010: Aint' No Particular Way

2011: I'm a Believer

gum surgery and nail polish.

I have gum surgery in an hour so I had to take this pill to help my body relax or something and now I'm starting to feel tired and my limbs don't move as fast and I'm struggling to type.  But I don't know if I can attribute that entirely to the meds.

Speaking of meds, I have to take a pill every six hours, which includes midnight and 6 am.  I just want to say that waking up twice during the night (because yes, I am definitely in bed before midnight and it's amazing) is rough.  Plus, it's not like I just pop the pill.  I also have to eat something.  So last night I put some bread in a ziploc bag and then sat up and ate it when I took my pill.  I just want to say that eating bread in my bed in the dark is just a weird thing.  Moving on...

So I have this surgery in an hour and I'm sure it will go over fine but I do hope I fall asleep because they're going to be cutting up my gums and the roof of my mouth and then I'm going to have to wear this weird retainer thing because there will be stitches and flopping skin and stuff and maybe I should have warned you that this paragraph was going to be gross?

I don't know where this post is going but I just want to share two more things.  I wrote a letter to my sister today who has been in the MTC for a week now.  I keep thinking about texting her but then I remember I can't because she's a missionary.  I even thought about texting her to ask about how life at the MTC is going.  That was a low point.  Anyway, I wrote her this letter and as I was rereading it after I sent it, I was like, wow.  This is complete nonsense and yet these are the most important things that have happened to me lately.  For example, please read this paragraph that is legitimately in a letter I wrote to my sister:

"So, I went Christmas shopping the other day. Anne had told me about this gold glitter nail polish for three bucks and I was like I WANT THAT.  So anyway, I was supposed to be Christmas shopping, but I was on the hunt for that nail polish, dang it.  So I searched and searched and looked high and low for at least two minutes (dedication, baby!), but I couldn’t find it.  And I was sad.  Very sad.  Because I mean, how is a girl supposed to live without her gold glitter nails?  It’s just absurd!  But if it’s any consolation, I found three other colors instead.  And they’re all so pretty!  You see, the thing is, I really like having my nails painted.  And not just my toenails, but my fingernails as well.  And for the past six months, I’ve really been slacking.  School was killing me and I just didn’t have time.  I mean, even my toenails are looking pathetic.  I think I painted them once this semester.  So anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I got three colors: mint, a pinkish (I was trying to find salmon, but the pink was so pretty!), and a gray.  I know gray might sound weird, but it’s pretty hip and “in” right now and I really like it because you know me, always trying to be a hipster and stuff.  I painted my fingernails gray last night and then I showed mom last night when she got home from her GNO (Girls Night Out!) and I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m emo now.  But whate’er, I do what I want.  Also, look.  I just wrote a huge paragraph about nail polish.  So that’s good."

What am I? A five year old?  Gosh, that's just embarrassing.  Anyway, in other news I wanted to show you guys this link because I think it's funny

20 Reasons Why 2012 Was the Coolest Year to Be a Mormon

Also, after you're done looking at that, spend a little more time thinking about #20 and watch this because it's only the best thing I've ever seen.

That's all guys.  I 'm getting really tired and I don't know if it's really the meds or if I'm just imagining things.  Probably the second one. Okay, bye.

a few items of EXCITING business.

First of all, not sure if you noticed, but the url (is that what it's called?) for my blog is now selfgoodday.com.  Now, don't worry, you can still type in the old url, it just automatically forwards to this!  Which is so exciting!  It was a gift from my oldest brother who is actually a genius (just like all of my siblings--what the heck?!).  For my birthday, he made it so I could have the .com address instead of my old blogspot address!  He was tired of me switching back and forth between blogger and wordpress (blogger, I've chosen you!  I promise!) so in my birthday card he was like "Why can't you just put it at selfgoodday.com? In fact...there, that's better."  What a guy!  He did that for me and when I went to selfgoodday it even said "Happy Birthday, Stacy!" at the top.  Such a neat gift!

Secondly, I'm in the midst of finals and I really don't have time to be blogging but I'm doing it anyway.  And do you want to know one of the reasons why?  It's because K baby Page(!!!) is back in town and as one of my most avid readers, I think I owed this to her.  I am soooooo excited for her to be back from her internship dealio!

Third, finals are so lame.  I'm getting there though.  A few thoughts about my classes:  most of them were one million AMAAAZING and one of them (the title of which I will not mention except I will give you this one clue: it was Social Psych) is a class I am so glad I never have to go back to.  The topic was interesting, but ID even K...some people.

Another thing: Dr. Goates gave me a box of fudge.  And everyone that is my friend--you all suck because you are not helping me eat it and I just gained 83 pounds and I'm blaming YOU.

(also side note that only danielle, katie cutler, and maffa would understand...remember this?  "HEY EVERYBODY THAT IS MY FHE KID. GO TO FHE. I MADE COOKIES!" kills me.)

AAAAAAAANNNNND finally, most importantly, most excitingly (not a word), most fabulously...Jalyn left on her mission today!!!  Girl is going to be the best missionary, I will tell you what.  I'm so proud of her and I can't wait for her to tell us all the amazing things that go on during her missionary service in the Dominican Republic.  She was so excited and ready to go and it was adorable.  Also, I just want to say that she ended up going to work with me this morning and she basically just sat in the conference room and her friends just kept coming and visiting with her and then leaving and then another friend would come two seconds later and I was like, hey when did you become the president of the United States and end up having all these appointments? Sheesh.

But anyway, I'm kind of digging the whole new(ish) drop off system at the MTC (missionary training center).  You just drive up and there are missionaries waiting to take your luggage and my favorite part was that since Danielle was driving and I was sitting in the front seat they thought I was the missionary and opened the door for me and I was like, oh actually she's in the back, but thanks anyway.  The kid that helped her was very nice and I was like, hey! I love missionaries!  You're all so cute and wonderful and fabulous and you'll do amaaaazing things with your life in the next 1.5-2 years!

So what I'm trying to say is that Jalyn is awesome, she's going to do awesome things, she'll meet awesome people, and she'll come back awesome and I'll mostly just be eating bon bons.

We'll see her in 18 months!

thanksgiving like a boss.

you guys.  I just got back from my most fabulous surprise trip home.  That's right, a surprise.  You see, I don't just normal style go home for thanksgiving every year because my home home is many much miles away from my current residence, but you see the thing is, my sister is leaving on her mission to the Dominican Republic in just over two weeks and I wouldn't even get to see her over Christmas break and it came to my attention that this was a very appropro reason for my dad to fly me home (okay, but I just want to say that I offered to pay.  It's just that the guy is such a jolly man and offered to pay for it all himself!  And then my mom let me eat all of the food out of her pantry! (And let's be real, girl knows how to eat.)  I mean, really!  Those guys are neat!)  Aaaaaaaanyway, what I'm saying is that I surprised them!  Dad said he had to pick some global pass blah blah blah up at the airport and they believed him!  And I surprised them!  And so many sentences are ending with exclamation points!

We ended up having a most glorious first thanksgiving on Wednesday with my grandma and uncle and some of their friends (who I'm sure at this point think my entire family belongs in an insane asylum).  It was glorious.

And then we headed down to LA where my brother lives to have another(!) thanksgiving with them and and do a mini celbration of my birth and also to ride bicycles on the beach (or in my case, a tandem bike with Jake---whhhhhich, btdubs, cost my dad one whole dollar less than if we had each had our own bike...I'm still not sure why he didn't make my other siblings do the same thing...).

And here's something--I don't know if it was just this tandem bike, but it turns out if you're the one riding in the back, your pedals are connected to the other guy's and you have to pedal exactly when they are and as hard as they are and when they all of a sudden brake, you suddenly can't pedal anymore and you're left wondering whether or not your pedaling actually has any value.  And so you end up looking like this:

...for the entire ride.  Not actually a joke, guys.  So anyway, we rode bikes and ate one million different food items for thanksgiving (did you guys notice that I just used "one million" in an almost appropriate way?  take that, english language!).  I had a most glorious time just hanging out with the faaaaam.  Also, my siblings played hot cross buns on the water glasses.  It was actually quite impressive.

The next day we headed back to northern California (the land of milk and honey or maybe it's actually just wine) and on our way we we able to stop and visit Danny and Lena who were having thanksgiving with her family and how neat is that?!  They were at this ranch and it turns out ranches sometimes have one BILLION peacocks and a herd of llamas. Also, llamas are weird.  I mean, look at this guy.  Is he really a llama?  Or is he actually a demon?  Or maybe one of those creepy creatures from lord of the rings? Honestly.  Poor guy really got the short end of the stick because he is just unfortunate-looking.

Then we finally made it home and I watched The Avengers for the first time (all of it!  No sleeping for me! Mostly because Jake sat on one side of me and Jalyn on the other so I couldn’t even lie down which may or may not be a major factor in whether or not I stay awake for an entire movie).  Then on my last day in town I went to church and a lady in the ward told me that she could “see my future husband just on the horizon.  Trust me, you will find him soon!” so that was encouraging.  I also found a baby that is whiter than me and that also provided a good amount of comfort for my albino soul.  Then my mom made me favorite dinner as a little bit of an early birthday celebration. And then I was off to the airport to catch my flight (which, turns out it was actually a ward flight because there were two guys from my ward on the flight).  The flight was fairly uneventful other than the fact that the 18-year-old girl in the seat next to me was on her first flight and the fact that the guy in the row behind me collapsed in the middle of the flight….soooooo, nbd whatever.

And now here I am, back at school and suddenly realizing that blogging is not what I should be doing because I have an insane amount of stuff to do in the next two weeks and blogging doesn’t actually get any of it done.  Weird.

But, important comment!  Christmas season is just about to commence!  (I say, "just about to" because we all know Christmas season doesn't start until after Thanksgiving or after my birthday, whichever comes second.  And for the first time in the history of ever, my birthday is super one million after thanksgiving and has not yet occurred and so the Christmas season must hold on for just one more little minute).

But that doesn't mean we can't have a Christmas tree!  It's so beautiful!

Also, p.s.  The guy that collapsed on the plane was fine.  Just a little light headed, I guess.

i just did/saw/said that.

(super high qual pic of me making dinner while wearing my swimsuit and a graduation gown.  stay classy).

So there was a time in my life when I truly believed I possessed an average number of social skills. You know, at least enough to avoid being given those horrifically confused looks that say, "What on earth are you doing?"

I mean, really.  I thought I had that pretty much under control.  I would occasionally be embarrassed or do something pretty foolish, but never enough to make me question whether or not I should really be allowed in public.  Lately, everything I believed about myself has been questioned.

I just feel like I've done more than the average number of idiotic things lately.

Please let me share.

1. On Sunday, Danielle and I were walking back to class after having our pictures taken for the new ward directory.  I was talking loudly (oh, really?!) about something stuuuupid right as we walked past the elders quorum room...as they were setting someone apart.  'Please, Stacy,' the occupants of the room seemed to say. 'Do something that could be a little more distracting. I DARE YOU.'

2. Also on the topic of church.  We had a little mix and mingle afterward so that we could get to know each other and consume cheesy popcorn and grapes (I can't explain that choice of food combination).  So, you know, there I was, just trying to do my veteran ward member duty by introducing myself to others.  I went up to these two guys and asked them who they were.  "Oh, so you're new. What's your name? What are you majoring in? Where are you from?"  You, know. The usual.  The first guy answered the questions all normal style and then I turned to the next guy and asked him the same things.  His response: "Oh, well.  I'm not actually new."  WHY AM I THE WORST?  Seriously, he had been in the ward for four months and I had no idea.  And the worst part?  I can honestly say that I STILL don't know his name or what he looks like.  I must have been too ashamed to remember to put that little tidbit in my memory bank.  A+ for me.

3. Sometimes I leave the house a little late on my way to work.  The other day was one of those days.  When I'm running late, I usually just make myself some toast and run out the door.  The other day I had enough time to put some nutella on my toast before I had to leave.  I walked to work, devouring the toast (another shameful event in and of itself).  I got to work, opened the office, helped a few students and a professor, and then went to use the bathroom.  As I washed my hands, I looked in the mirror and saw that I had nutella ALL UP ON MY FACE.  Seriously, how did I even manage that?  And then I had had those conversations with students and a man with a Ph.D!  WHY?!  Lesson learned: buttered toast from here on out.

4. On the first day of class this semester, a poor freshman walked up to me and asked me where the Eyring Science Center was.  I quickly told her where it was and then we both headed our separate ways.  About four seconds later I realized that I had just told her where the Clyde Building was.  In fact, when she asked me, we were standing maybe 30 feet from the Eyring Science Center.  Good thing I'm in my fifth year of college.

5. I broke what I'm pretty sure is the cardinal rule of facebook messaging, which is: Make sure you're sending your message to the RIGHT PERSON.  The worst part was that I was attempting to send a message to someone else about a different time of embarrassment which had occurred in front of a professor.  I mean, what the heck is up with that?  So, I'm sure the message was well received, especially since it was immediately followed by an all caps response from me indicating that I am the worst at technology.  Stay classy, right?

6. The other day, I walked in on a couple when they weren't expecting it.  I don't think I need to go into more explanation except to say that EVERYONE was uncomfortable.

7. One time, Danielle kept getting phone calls over and over from the same number.  Every time she picked it up, it would just be the sound of a fax machine.  On like the tenth call, I jokingly told her to hand the phone to me and I would take care of it.  I took the phone and rudely said, "Please stop harassing my friend" knowing that I would just hear the sound of a fax machine on the other end.  EXCEPT I DIDN'T.  What I heard was, "I'm so sorry!  I really didn't mean to!  Really, I apologize for all the other calls.  You see, what happened was..."  at which point I started to apologize profusely for how rude I was while at the same time getting the phone out of my hand and giving it back to Danielle as quickly as possible.  Girlfriend cannot catch a break 'round here.

You guys, I know I'm not and idiot, but srsly. I'm afraid these idiotic occurrences are happening more and more often and that they are getting worse and worse.  I'm worried.  I mean, the next thing you know, I'll be walking up to an old man in a swimsuit and smacking him on the rear because I think he's my dad or something.

Oh, wait.  I've already done that.

jelly to the bean.

Exciting things are happening in the LeCheminant family these days.  Well, I guess it's really just one exciting thing, and it mostly has to do with my one and only little sister.  Aaaand, I guess she's actually not that little anymore.  In fact, homegirl will be turning 21 in just a few months.  Jalyn has decided to serve a mission for our church when she turns 21.  And Thursday was the day she received her mission call!  I counted and I think we had 849 (give or take 841) different people on the google video chat listening in when she read where she would be going.  It was wild.

She opened her call and will be headed to...

...the Dominican Republic!

Here we are looking at the map of her mission (the picture was 90% water...will she be doing scuba missionary work?? jk) and mostly Jalyn was just freaking out about how excited she is to be going out of the country and to be speaking spanish and to be sharing the gospel!

She is super one MILLION excited and can't wait to go!  I'm so happy and proud of her for making the choice to serve a mission.  I know she will be fantastic!

In other news, we were basically wearing the same color shirt when she opened her call so that's why these pictures are black and white.  Talk about a major fashion FAIL if you could have seen these pics in color. I mean, SRSLY.

And in other other news, you should read Danielle's blog.  She's funny.

And since I'm on a roll, in other other other news, do Jalyn and I look super related?  I mean, if you were to just look at us, would you say, 'Oh yeah, one million identical. Most definitely sisters, for SURE.'  I get very mixed reviews on that.  Some people say we look one million alike and others say they never would have known we were sisters if we didn't tell them.  That's a little confusing for me and makes me wonder if either half of my friends are blind or if half of them are just saying we look alike so they can get away from us faster.  I really don't know.  Talk about a difficult life I live.

But most importantly, congrats to Jalyn!  You'll be the number one missionary out there as long as the people don't fear your Shoshone ways!

all about my vacay, bay bay.

So, last week, I was on vacay.  It was cray cray.  And by cray cray, I mean totes cool.  And because it was litz so cool, I thought it would be a pretty good idea for me to blog about it.  Also, I haven’t blogged in one MILLION years, so I think now is an appropro time to get back at it.  Also, my use of slang is getting 100% out of control. Totes.

One MILLION early on Saturday morning, Jalyn and I woke up and were driven by our local taxi service (commonly known as my roommate Danielle) to the Salt Lake airport.  I feel this is an appropriate time for me to mention that the Salt Lake airport is my fav airport.  Seriously, San Francisco just stresses me out and Oakland makes me feel weird.  Anyway, we got on our plane, I texted my brother Matthew telling him we were about to take off and promptly fell asleep.  Girl has got talent.  We were flying into the world’s biggest airport (jk) in Long Beach, CA (close to where Matthew lives) and arrived there 30 minutes early.  So, we had to wait a little while for Matthew to come and get us, but it was cool.  When he picked us up, he told me he was very glad I had texted him when we got on the plane because he (along with EVERY SINGLE PERSON in my family) thought that our plane was landing at noon instead of 8:30 am.  What the cray cray? I was glad he was able to come and get us on time, but it leaves me wondering—why the heck did everyone think we were landing at noon and why the dang heck DIDN’T we get to land at noon?!  Def one of life’s great questions.

So at this point you’re like, oh good, she just spent approximately four years telling us about GETTING to this vacay…this is probably going to be a novel.  And that might still be true, but I just want to tell you right now that I’m going to seriously cut back on the pointless details and focus on the important things like what we ate for dinner and stuff.  Seriously, Scout’s honor.

So we landed in Long Beach, got back to Matthew and Mykel’s apartment and soon the rest of my family arrived (they had driven down from Northern California). Sad news, my baby brother is now taller than me. What the heck?! 

My little brothers brought two scooters (one BAJILLION sparkle points for each of them) and we spent the rest of the afternoon playing and swimming and eating delicious food (srsly, I think the majority of this vacay was spent eating food, NOT a joke).  At the pool, the boys and Lena had competitions like who could hop across the pool the fastest.  Srsly killed me, it was so funny.

On Sunday, we went to church and since Mykel was recently called as the primary president (i.e. she works with the small children), Mom, Jalyn, and I went and hung out with the young ones.  Oh my gosh, little kids are one MILLION hilarious.  It was Father’s Day and they were supposed to draw a picture of them with their dad and this little four-year-old girl was like, “Draw a picture of you and your dad pushing a grandma!!”  It was probably the funniest thing I heard all day.  She was definitely a character.

Matthew and Mykel have church right next to the LA temple, so after church we went and hung out there for a bit and Mykel’s friends snapped a few pics of the fam.  It was magical.  The high qual pics can be found in the previous post, but there were also a bunch of pics taken as we prepared for the high quals.  That doesn’t make any sense, does it?

Sunday evening was spent eating (duh), playing games, and reminding my dad why he’s so cool (my number one reason being the fact that he dances to Carly Rae Jeppson and One Direction).  Seriously, such a cool guy though.  So cool that we bought him a grill!

Disclaimer: Jake did not build that sandcastle.

Monday morning we went to the beach and it was surprisingly chilly (so basically it was like a Northern California beach).  Of course, that didn’t stop the majority of my family from boogie boarding.  It took my dad a little while to get the hang of it and when he finally got it he stood and did some fist pumping…at which point the boogie board smacked him in the face.  I swear I did not laugh or find it amusing at all.

After the beach we headed to the Angel’s game!!  So cool!  We even tailgated!  My first time!  We used the grill that my father had conveniently received the day before (seriously, how convenient! haha).  After the tailgating action, we headed into the stadium and watched the Angel’s play the Giants.  Being from NorCal, I obviously had to root for the Giants and it turns out about half the stadium was also rooting for the Giants.  I didn’t plan on that, but it worked out nicely.  It’s always a little easier to cheer for a team when you’re not the only one in a stadium of 35,000 people.  Weird, right?

Tuesday was Magic Mountain day!  The boys were so excited and it was really fun.  I’ve learned that my stomach can’t handle doing so many roller coasters, but I did my best and fortunately didn’t throw up on anyone.  It wasn’t unbearably hot like the last time I went to Magic mountain so that was another bonus.  One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I can’t differentiate between the roller coasters.  Someone would be like, “Did you like the Goliath roller coaster?” And I’d be like, “Which one was that?”  Then they’d explain it as the one that had the big drop or the loop-de-loop, and I’d be confused because I’m pretty sure they all had those things.  I don’t know.  I do remember the one where when the ride finished and you’re waiting to get off, you just sit there hanging so your back is facing the sky and the rest of you is facing down and so you have to try and hold your head up and I’m sure more people have thrown up on that part of the ride than anywhere else or on any other ride.  For reals though.  It was ridiculous.

Wednesday was the day of river rafting!  If you know my family, you know this is kind of a given with family reunions.  We had to wake up supes early and drive to the Kern River.  In NorCal we usually raft on the American River which is always crowded.  The Kern River is the exact opposite.  We seriously saw three other boats the entire day.  Kind of weird.

(Yes, in the picture above, I have a string connecting my sunglasses to my life jacket.  Stay classy.)

My dad had run the river one time, but the rest of us had never done it before.  It definitely rocked us around a bit.  We ended up stuck on a couple of rocks (I seriously thought the boat was going to rip on one of them) and under a couple of trees (super enjoyed that branch that scraped all the way along my back) and I definitely whacked myself in the face with my own paddle (definitely one of my best moments), but it was still so awesome.  Srsly, guys.  Rafting is one of the coolest things.  You should come with me sometime.  And when I say with me, I mean with my dad or one of my uncles or even my 83-year-old grandpa who STILL goes rafting.  What the cray cray?!  Not a joke.  That guy is seriously Superman.

After the river trip all I wanted was In-n-Out and my father was happy to oblige.  Just what I needed.

Thursday morning was the day that the reunion ended.  I made French toast for the first time (not a joke) and I think it was edible, so that was neat.  Then we had to pack up and the parents and the four younger kids headed up to Santa Rosa.  Highlight of the drive home?  Getting pulled over.  The guy comes up to the window and is like, “I’m pulling you over because you have a passenger not wearing a seatbelt.”  You have to understand that my family has had a big 12 passenger van for many years (yes, we’re LDS) and we mostly just use it for long road trips like this because there are three passenger benches.  I get one, Jalyn gets one, and the boys share the longer one in the back.  Jalyn and I always sit in the middle seat on the bench because there isn’t a shoulder strap.  Then we loosen the seatbelt and lie down on the bench and sleep most of the time.  It’s really the greatest thing ever.

Anyway, this highway patrolman accuses Jalyn that she’s not wearing her seatbelt because he “drove up alongside and looked at her for five seconds and she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.”  She started to explain to him that she had just been leaning over on her elbow and reading a book.  She demonstrated for him and it was very clear that she had just been sitting in the middle, but homeboy refused to believe her.  It was ridiculous.  Seriously, she would have had to be a midget when he was drove up alongside the van because she was actually lying down.  I just thought the whole situation was hilarious and I could not believe that he wouldn’t believe her.  My parents were telling him that they would never let us sit in the car without wearing a seatbelt, but he was adamant.  It was ridiculous.  After a good five minutes, he finally was like, “Fine, I’ll take your word for it this time, but you weren’t wearing your seatbelt.”  Such the ridiculous.

Anyway, the rest of the drive was rather enjoyable and Dad even treated us to Del Taco where Tom downed six tacos and Jake consumed five.  It was wild.

All in all, a most fabulous reunion.  I love that family of mine.