I just feel so baketressy these days.

I know we're coming into fall and yada yada and so generally that's a good enough reason to make any and all these pumpkin. I mean, I know. And I want to. I really do. But it is still almost 90 degrees half the time around here so it's just hard for me to feel like fall, as much as I really, really want to. And so, I have not yet made anything pumpkin. Probably this weekend though the pumpkin baking urge will hit and I will want to make pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies and pumpkin pancakes and waffles and pumpkin pumpkin pumpkin forever! Because sometimes that's just what you have to do.

Anyway, Levi and I are just living the best life right now. As you may have read in my last post, we try to stay active and not just sit around on the couch all day (though anyone that is a parent is like, so I read that post and actually what you do would be the equivalent of sitting on the couch compared to my life, so nice try but no.) Anyway, we just have a lot of fun and do lots of things that we love. And one thing I love to do is bake. Unfortunately, I often get the baking urge at all the wrong times.

Like a couple weeks ago, we came home from the gym and I realized it was very important that I make cookies RIGHT NOW or I would surely die but then it took me half an hour before I could decide on a recipe so then it was like 9:45 before I even started baking so the cookies came out of the oven, we ate two (or if you're Levi only one because you have self-control) and then went straight to bed. Normally I would sit there and eat 4 or 5, but it just wasn't in the cards at 10:30 at night. Which I guess was maybe a good thing?

I recently asked an old roommate for her bread recipe and she gave it to me and at 8:30 pm on Saturday I finally got around to looking at it and at 9 pm I decided I definitely needed to run to the grocery store to get some wheat flour so that at 9:30 I could start making the bread while Levi watched rugby. Also, turns out the recipe was probably meant for a large family because as I was putting the ingredients in I realized it called for 12 total cups of flour and that probably should have been a clue to half the recipe but a) I'd never made bread before so how was I supposed to know and b) yolo, aight? Eat all the bread! In the end, it probably should have made four loaves of bread but we ended up with 3 massive loaves and gave one to our neighbor and he said it tasted like heaven so it was an overall success if you ask me. But then of course with all the mixing and kneading and waiting for the dough to rise, the last loaf came out at about midnight as I was falling asleep on the couch. Also I lied because I totes didn't actually knead the bread...that's what Kitchen Aids are for. I just wanted you to imagine me covered in flour sweating over my bread dough. #succeedingwithoutkneading

Then yesterday after church we came home and had bread and split one small leftover of mac and cheese before we went on a walk at a nearby park. The weather right now is perfect for a walk. Anyway, we came home around 8 and then since we had mostly just eaten bread for an after church snack, Levi was feeling a little hungry. I told him I could make him something and he said he could just make a quesadilla. But I told him I REALLY felt like making something and I don't even know how it happened but I ended up making a pizza at 9 o'clock at night. Because again, yolo. And also because I'm Stacy and sometimes that's just how my life goes.

Feel free to check in on me tonight at 10 pm because I'll probably be slaving over a streudel or whipping up some bagels or something. Because I'm 25 and it's Monday night so really what else would I be doing?

Here is a small sampling of some other baked goods that have existed in the last six or so months because I know you're interested.

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.

it would appear that levi is in pretty much every picture these days.

So good news, Levi likes to build things. One night after FHE he wanted to go to Home Depot which is pretty much his favorite store in the world. It's like if I went to Daylight Donuts or Target or something. I mean, seriously. He loves it. He could go there every day.

Levi is also super into fixing our cars on his own. Which is actually pretty amazing. Saved us a tonnnn (and I mean a TON of money) fixing one of our cars a couple months ago. Had a super sore back after being bent over the car for 9 hours, but still. A TON of money. And we drove the car to Utah and back the week after he fixed it. Oh yeah!

Also, Levi likes to build things and so does Mitchell. Somehow Levi convinced Mitchell to buy a table saw (Mitchell says he wanted it, but I'm still a little worried that Levi may have pulled out some of his bullying tactics from his playground days to get Mitchell to buy it...) Anyway, Levi designed a guitar pedal board and that was their first project on the new table saw. It turned out pretty awesome. Since then they have also built these really cool shelves for me and Heather. They hung ours in our living room recently and I'm so obsessed with it (I'll have to post a picture of it soon!). Seriously, in just the past couple weeks, we've moved our bookshelf out to the living room, someone gave us a couch for free and we hung that shelf. It's really starting to feel like a living room now that we have more than just the 1 1/2-man couch (though we are so grateful for that little couch as well--we've been very cozy in it for the past year!). But now that we have two free couches we can actually have friends over! It's the best.

So now that the worst of the heat is upon us here in Oklahoma, the daily grilling has begun. Also, fun fact: we didn't turn on our A/C until June 4th this year. And if you live in Oklahoma, you know that is a big deal. So, our apartment would be pretty dang hot until like 10 pm, but usually in the evenings we have mutual or we go to the gym or we go to our friends' house. I will admit, I didn't love sweating like crazy in our apartment when it got up to 85 or 86 degrees, but it was probably worth it. We still set it at 78 degrees (#pennypinchers) but hey! I don't want to pay that much money for cold air! Anyway, thank you to Levi who lived without complaining as I slowly melted away without A/C. But even still, we had to buy a little grill so we wouldn't have to heat up the oven or stove or anything. It's the best.

In other news, Levi and Mitchell found a turtle (this was the day Levi was fixing the car--hence the nasty hands and old work clothes).

Also, apparently there is a chair at OU where Levi works that the queen sat in once. So apparently now Levi sits in the queen's chair. ID even K, people. It's Levi. Also, yes he wears shorts and workout socks to his professional job. #summersatuniversities

Utah-apalooza!

To go whitewater rafting on some rivers, you have to apply for a permit. Sometimes you have to enter a lottery and then only some people get a permit. Soooo, my family wanted to go rafting. So we all entered the lottery and guess who won?! This girl!! Oh yeah! The chances were crazy slim, but I worked my magic and luck was mine! So captain Stacy was in charge of the trip! Actually, what really happened was that my dad and mom and uncle and aunt basically got everything ready and I just showed up with the permit. I texted my family a picture of the permit to confirm that we really did have it in the car as we headed out on our long, long drive.

We had such a magical time on the trip except for a little hiccup at the beginning. So, the one thing that I was required to do was talk with the ranger for every little thing. He had to go over all the rules and requirements with me to ensure that we were doing everything right. So I'm going over this stuff with him and I'm like, umm, I have no idea if we have a z-line kit or 50 billion life jackets or where the first aid kit is? I was like, um, can we just wait until we have the boats all set up and then my dad can tell you if we have everything? He was like, yeah that's fine, just come and get me. Fortunately, before I convinced him to stop going over the list, I had heard a couple things. One of the things he said was that we had to have 5 extra life jackets (one for each boat). So later while they were still setting up, I casually asked my uncle how many extra life jackets we had and he said we had two. I told him what the ranger had said (not expecting it to be a big deal) and then people started to get concerned. Five extra life jackets?! We've never had to do that before! Anyway, we go talk to the ranger and he confirmed that yes, you have to have 5 extra ones and there are no exceptions and the closest place to buy new life jackets was THREE HOURS AWAY, six hours round trip. It was so sad and it was set to ruin the day and potentially the trip.

So we go back to where everyone is setting up and we explain the situation and RANDOMLY the other group that was also setting up just so happened to have tons of extra life jackets and offered to let us use them. Talk about a huge blessing! As it turns out, they had actually forgotten something that they had to have and so they had to drive the six hour round trip to get the stuff. If that hadn't happened, they would have been long gone by the time we realized our huge problem. So it was a bummer for them, but a huuuuuuuge supersized blessing for us.

We were then able to start our trip on time and had just the best time. It was so fun to spend a week with my family out on the river. And even though it was still super hot at night, it was still such a blast and so beautiful! Plus, it was Levi's first trip and homeboy looks good on the river. Please note his mega short shorts in the picture above (they're somewhat hidden by the backpack he's carrying, but they're there). Plus, he got way mega tan.

Oh, and I forgot to mention; we were able to stay with Levi's family the weekend before the trip and as luck would have it we got to Utah the day before good ol' Rachy face and her family left Utah (back to South Carolina). It was so awesome to get to hang out with her and Kenneth and her two adorrrrrrable little boys. It was awesome because little Kenny loved Levi and convinced him to play with him the whole time. Although things got slightly out of hand when Levi convinced Kenny to crawl through the cat door. Haha, but seriously I was so stoked to see Rach. You should seriously consider going through the "Rachel" tag on my blog because there are some quality gems in there...one of my favorites being this one when she thought she was doing a "polishing" service project. Literally, I die.

And then finally, the picture of breakfast. Free continental breakfasts at hotels are what I live for. Truly the best. Bagels, donuts, ham, golden. Best start to the last leg of our trip home.

And last but not least, 4th of July shenanigans. Basically we spent the whole weekend with the Walsers because that's what we do. The 3rd of July included an awesome trip to Lowe's to buy wood (this was the day they built the shelves!) and then to the Walser's house to build the shelves...or if you're me and Heather it was the time to make homemade oreos because duh. Later we grilled and then we did fireworks! Mitchell and Levi looooooove fireworks, but were so kind as to buy some sparklers and "tro-its" (I think most people call them pop-its?) for Heather and me.

Then the next day we went to a friend's house to have another BBQ and more fireworks and of course, for Levi to sit on the children's toy horse. Obvi. We ended the night by watching the town firework show from the roof!

I love America.

And that's a wrap.

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.

hey good news I'm alive.

I'm sorry, but are these not the world's most adorable pictures of Levi? Like I'm seriously obsessed.

Hey guys hey. Things that have happened since I last blogged:

1. We discovered Buffalo Wild Wings. Well, I suppose "discovered" is the wrong word. Levi always knew it existed. I did not. I refuse to comment on the number of times we have had Buffalo Wild Wings in the last two months, although the answer might be 5 (but that includes two times over the holidays with Levi's family and one time that was my birthday!) But I know. Still too much.

2. Speaking of my birthday, thank you all for celebrating that with me because yes. My birthday was on Thanksgiving. I actually really loved my birthday because Levi was there and my brother was there as well! Also, I made the most ridiculous amount of food for just a few people. Like, Levi was eating leftovers for a week. I was majorly stressed that I would epic-ly (which apparently isn't a word) fail at the entire thing but turns out the turkey isn't that hard and also there were only three people to let down if I did fail so I don't know why I was so worried. Also, I successfully made some seriously delicious pies. Just for the record.

3. Does anyone remember back in like June when I bought toilet paper for our lame temporary apartment that we had to live in for the summer? You may recall that I accidentally bought one-ply toilet paper that was so terrible and reminded me of being at a rest stop in Nevada. Well, friends, I am happy to report that as of just before Christmas, we have officially finished off that massive package of toilet paper and have upgraded to quality Costco toilet paper. I'm so proud of us.

4. We went to Utah for Christmas and it was really fun! We got to hang out with family and friends and mostly just chill and sleep in and eat a ton of food. Like a ton of food. And I kept telling myself that it was okay because I was on vacation, but holy cow I should not have eaten that much food. Actually who are we kidding? It was a great decision. I love food.

5. Also, when we went to Utah we took a short trip to Arizona for the weekend because Levi's mom found a deal at some resort there (facials and pedicures and fancy rooms and more food!). Anyway, there's this whole long story about the ordeal of trying to fly back to Provo from Arizona. Long story short, we eventually got the plane flying to Provo and when we were getting very close to our destination the pilot made an announcement about how it was too snowy and foggy and stuff and he couldn't land because the Provo airport was closed I guess? so then we had to fly all the way BACK to Arizona! Sounds like a sick joke, right? Well it totally wasn't. We really did fly all the way back to Arizona and couldn't fly to Provo until the next day. But it was okay. When we stayed in Arizona that extra night, we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. So it was worth it.

6. I would also like to tell you that among all my wonderful gifts from family and friends, Levi got me the Anne of Green Gables movies. He said it was a true sacrifice on his part because he knows that eventually he'll have to watch those with me. True love. (Also: "Twenty pounds of browwwwn sugar."-Marilla). But I would also like to point out that in the past two months I have watched all six Rocky movies (Yo Adrian!), so just know that I make sacrifices too.

7. And finally, I don't feel like a terrible wife anymore. Levi has basically been begging for Beats headphones for months. I had worked up a plan with his mom and his brother and we would all chip in to buy them for him. But obvi they had to be a surprise. You should know that my track record with Levi and gifts is no bueno. I have never actually made it to the birthday/holiday without giving away the surprise slash just straight giving him his gift. I just get so excited! But I reeeeeally wanted this one to be a surprise. So every time we would go to Target or Best Buy or wherever else they sell those dang headphones Levi would so sweetly ask if he could go try them on. He would also tell me about how maybe we could afford them or maybe he could get the cheap ones or maybe he would save his money so he could get them. And every time I had to be the evil wife and say "Are you sure you really want those?" "Are they seriously worth all that money?" "Gee, I don't know, Levi. Let's just think about it for a while." And every time I did that I swear his shoulders slumped a little more. Of course, each time he would ask would be a time when I would be buying myself a new pair of pants or something. Seriously, it was like, I get everything I want and you must get nothing! It was awful for me. I wanted to avoid Target like the plague and no one ever wants to avoid Target, so you know this was serious. There were not a joke SO many times that I almost gave in and told him. Well folks, I'm happy to say that I made it all the way to Christmas without giving away the surprise and for that I would like to be awarded wife of the year! I would also like a public notice to go out informing that masses that contrary to popular belief, I am NOT the most evil wife in the world.

Phew.

yum yum candy bars.

1. I remember when I was growing up my mom would buy candy bars from the grocery store which would then be stored in the freezer and then those would be our treat on Friday night when my parents would go out on a date. I also remember that sometimes my dad would go in there during the week and sneak half of a candy bar. Now, I don't care that he was taking some of our precious Friday night candy, what I care about is the fact that he would only take HALF of a candy bar. Half of a Snickers, half of an Almond Joy, half of whatever. And what I want to know is how do people do that?!?? If I'm going to have a candy bar, I'm going to have the WHOLE DANG CANDY BAR. Do not attempt to stop me because I want all of it. I think I'm saying this mostly just to justify the Hershey's bar I'm eating right now. ALL of the Hershey's bar that I'm eating right now.

2. Also I remember that the Friday night candy was very important to us and I remember that it was very important that we never ate it on any other day of the week, nor would we eat more than one candy bar on Friday night, however tempting it might have been. And for that, I give myself a high five for self-control because if there was a large bag of frozen candy bars in my freezer right now you could guarantee that there would not be a bag of frozen candy bars in my freezer right now. Because I would have eaten them all already.

3. For the record, I ate 3/4 of the Hershey's bar. Small victories.

4. Also, I really like Rolo's. I gave Levi a bag of Rolo's for his birthday and I know for a fact that I ate at least 95% of them. In other news, my mom used to get Rolo's for the Friday night candy bag. I love Rolo's. But it was always such a debate as to whether or not I should choose Rolo's for my Friday night treat because Rolo's are one of the few candy bars that are NOT better frozen. In fact, they are zero good. So if I was to pick the Rolo's, I would have to wait for them to warm up, which would usually mean they would have to spend half an hour smashed between two couch cushions or under my armpit or something (still in the wrapper, mind you) and 8-year-old Stacy did not have that kind of patience! (And in case you were wondering, she still doesn't). So usually I went with the Kit Kat.

5. I just wrote a post about candy bars.

6. Now I want the last 1/4 of that Hershey's bar.

7. I also want some Rolo's.

8. Or a Kit Kat.

9. Also a nap.

10. Okay bye.

Also, I was trying to find an appropriate picture for this post when I saw the picture I posted above. I could not figure out why on earth I had that random picture but then I realized it's a picture of Levi attempting to cool himself off in the freezer at his parents' house. Which is funny. And surprising, it kind of sort of fits with the theme of this post.

what I've been eating lately. which you obviously care a great deal about.

I want to tell you what I've been eating lately.

I'm not kidding when I say I've been thinking about writing a post like this for months. That may or may not have to do with the fact that I basically went without a kitchen and normal dinners for 2 months, but still. I also have no idea how interesting this will be. I mean, can I make food sound interesting? It's worth a try.

via

CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI CASSEROLE

First up is a tried and true recipe that everyone should have in their repertoire (also, totes def couldn't spell that word). That, my friends, would be Chicken and Broccoli Casserole. Now, I'm all for using canned soup and whatever, but I just happened upon this recipe and it has worked for me and we love it. Except you should know that I put in like a teaspoon or two of curry powder and oh my gosh, I'll die happy. Also, you should know that I love the blog that this comes from except that a few months ago she announced that she's gluten free and so now her recipes will be gluten free which is neat but I guess I really love gluten. #notbeingglutenfreeprobs But still, she has AMAZING recipes.

via

EASY CALZONES

Up next, Easy Calzones. But seriously, easy. If you look at the recipe, she gives you all the deets for making calzones of the sausage-y variety but I prefer to just stick with the pepperoni version because duh, it tastes good and takes like 4 minutes to put together. Levi claims that these are moving up on his list of favorite things that I make although he might warn you that eating like 5 or 6 for dinner may or may not have been the best choice for him. Oh well, we can't all make the best choices for our stomachs 100% of the time. I'm pretty sure that Bruce Bogtrotter from the cake scene in Matilda would agree with us.

APRICOT CHICKEN (sorry, no picture. just believe that it's amazing because it is)

This next one is a recipe from my sister that came from her roommate. It is important that we all have sisters who have roommates who have good recipes, especially recipes that are one million billion easy. There is no link to this recipe but it is as follows:

Apricot Chicken
Chicken
1/2 c Russian/Catalina Salad dressing
1/2 c Apricot jam (I only had apricot pineapple jam at the time, still tasted delish)
1 pkg Onion Soup mix
1 tsp curry powder (I didn't put this in, but I'm sure it would have been delicious)

Put it all in a crockpot for like 8 hours and bada-bing, bada-boom! Yum. Serve with rice of course. Also, I basically double this so that we could have more sauce. I probs didn't need to do that, but you live and learn. Also I didn't measure anything because measuring things like salad dressing and apricot jam seem like a waste of time when I could just as well squirt and dump whilst guesstimating appropriate amounts. But to each his own.

MAGICAL TURKEY BURGERS (also no picture but also still amazing)

Another one from the sister's roommate vault. My sister calls them magical turkey burgers and I would have to agree. Make these bad boys, put them on your George Foreman (wedding gift, oh yeah! Thanks, Somers!) for like eight minutes and then be so so happy. Again, no link, but listen and learn.

Magical Turkey Burgers
3/4 c seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 c crumbled feta cheese
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2-3 tbsp pesto
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1.25-1.5 lb ground turkey
(makes six burgers)

Oh man, you guys. We had these for dinner last night and I will totes def one million be having one for lunch. Very magical. We had these with an AMAZING avocado & grilled corn salad with cilantro vinaigrette that my sister-in-law gave me the recipe for. SUCH a good recipe and I don't even love cilantro. I wasn't going to take the time to write out that recipe, but now I just feel like I need to.

AVOCADO & GRILLED CORN SALAD with CILANTRO VINAIGRETTE

4 grilled ears of corn--brush with olive oil prior to grilling (or if you are lacking in the grill dept as we are, I would recommend frozen corn grilled on a skillet with 1 tbsp olive oil--works great!)
2 avocados
4 tomatoes (or in my case, 3 since tomatoes make me sad)
1/2 red onion, diced
3/4 c feta (perfect, since I was already using the feta for the burgers)
Romaine and red leaf lettuce
Grilled chicken (or in my case, I had some previously cooked shredded chicken so I just browned that a bit on the stove and threw it in!)
1 diced red pepper (unfortunately, as much as I love peppers, they give me heartburn so I left this out. sad.)
cilantro leaves (I was running low on cilantro, so I just had it in the dressing)

Dressing
6 tbsp olive oil
1/5 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sugar
3-4 tbsp fresh cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
5-10 grinds fresh ground pepper
Throw it all in the blender and blend! Then pour on top of the salad.

This proved to create a fabulous dinner. Levi says I've been stepping up my game lately because I've been serving more than just a main course. As in I've been making side dishes and I must say, I've been quite proud of myself and it really is an accomplishment for me.

via

CHOCOLATE COVERED OREO COOKIE CAKE

And as my parting recipe for you today (even though I have like a million more I want to share), I give you the Chocolate Covered Oreo Cookie Cake, which will quite literally make all your dreams come true. This recipe came from one of my mom's really good friends, Carol. This cake is SO easy to make and I'm being serious because I'm am one of the least talented baketresses out there. Of course, I was going to tell you about how their recipe for the glaze was terrible! just awful! came out as runny as water! But then I looked at the recipe more closely just now and noticed that it does not say 4 pieces of bakers chocolate. It says 4 ounces. Now I feel quite foolish because I ended up finding a different glaze recipe somewhere else when really I just needed to add more chocolate. Well, like I said, we can't all make the best choices all the time.

So anyway, yeah. There are some recipes. I've found a crazy number of new and delicious recipes lately so it's really exciting for me even though I'll probably hit another dry spell next week. It is what it is, right?

Also, Taylor Swift's new album. How excited are we all because I am ONE MILLION BILLION excited. As I noted on facebook this morning, you may have noticed that her new album is entitled "1989" which is the year I was born. You may also have noticed that her album comes out on October 27th, which OH YEAH is my 11/12 birthday. Coincidence??? I think not. This is probs going to be my favorite album yet since it's basically dedicated to me. I also have a strong feeling that she wanted to release it on my birthday, but then she realized that my birthday is on Thanksgiving (#occasionallynationalholidaybirthdayprobs), so the second best choice would be my 11/12 birthday. Thank you, Taylor. You're so thoughtful.

one of us can pick out their hair (levi, obvi) and the other is the real MVP (me, obvi)

oklahoma city, you haven't killed me yet.

We've been here for over a month now and I don't hate the place. In fact, I'm a huge fan. Both Levi and I feel really good about where we are right now and are really happy about our surroundings. Oklahoma is such a great place. The people here are so friendly and happy and it's great. As you might know, we're in Oklahoma City right now, but as soon as summer institute training is over for Levi, we're moving down to Moore and I CANNOT WAIT. As much as I love this studio apartment that has none of my stuff, I can't wait to move into our beautiful, gorgeous amazing apartment down in Moore. We've really been counting our blessings lately because we really shouldn't have gotten the apartment that we did. We were on a waiting list and didn't make it to the top for available july apartments so we thought all was lost but then there was a surprise availability and we got the apartment! We are incredibly grateful for it and we will be the entire time we live there!  Anyway, we technically already have the keys to our apartment and have even taken a few things down there but we're still living up here since I mean, Levi has to be at the bus at 6:30 am and also free food for him here and also free air conditioning and plus it would be a 20 minute drive, so I mean. But next FRIDAY! 11 days! I cannot wait!!!! And the Monday after that my parents will be arriving with all our beautiful and amazing wedding gifts and also the remainder of our belongings and I swear my mind will explode of happiness. We've been living in limbo for about two months and I just cannot wait to finally be settled into our own place that we won't have to move out of for a long time and I'll be able to make dinner and it's just going to be the best.

ANYWAY.

Other things have been happening in our lives and I now wish to share those things with you.

First of all, Levi is teaching. Here he is after his first day of successfully teaching little first graders. Fast forward to today and he only has three days left of summer school! Yeah!

A few weeks ago we went to the Oklahoma City temple which is actually in Yukon. Also, turns out we literally drove RIGHT past it when we were driving into Oklahoma City for the first time. As in it was on the right side of the road and we just drove on past. But in our defense (well, mostly my defense because I had somehow rerouted us and so I thought we definitely weren't going to be driving past it), it was night time so we maybe wouldn't have seen it anyway? Anyway, it was great. It's just right there in the middle of a nice little neighborhood and it's so small and we love it.

So, it turns out that contrary to my previous claims, you can't actually eat spaghetti 62 days in a row as I had been planning to do. Something weird happened with my digestive system or something and I was feeling very strange for a few days so I'm choosing to blame it on the mass amounts of spaghetti that were consumed. Anyway, I bought a chicken and I was hoping it would help. It was a really good chicken.

For months I've been begging Levi to show me what it looks like when he picks out his hair. One day he surprised me when he came out of the bathroom and it was such a great moment. I mean, look at it. Don't you just feel like you should say it's groovy or something? I also really wish for you to see pictures of Levi's hair in high school when it was way longer and so picking it out was significantly more hilarious. I love this guy. And that hair.

Dillon and Danielle are such great friends. I mean, look! They mailed us pesto bread and a gigantic cinnamon roll bread thing. It's just like the good old days when we would go over to their apartment and they would make us lots of delicious food and we would eat it all and then leave. Such a good friendship.

Have you ever watched Gilmore Girls? There is one thing you need to know about Gilmore Girls. They are always, I repeat, ALWAYS eating food. Every time we watch an episode we get hungry even though we really have no need to be hungry because we just ate a few hours ago but then they're eating burgers and fries and fancy meals and pizza and chinese (always chinese!) and it can make even the fullest stomach grumble for want of food. So one day, Levi and I decided to beat the system. We wanted to show those Gilmore Girls who was boss! And boss them we did! It was a weekend night and we decided to get Chinese (okay, Panda Express but it still counts) and eat it on our bed while we watched an episode of Gilmore Girls. It was seriously so fun and it made me really happy. Also, maybe Levi isn't going to like that I always talk about how we watch Gilmore Girls because maybe "all the boys" will think he's turned girly which he totally hasn't. I guess you just get a little desperate when you spend 14 hours a day with Teach for America and it's a nice little something to look forward to at the end of the day. So sue him.

It is important for you to understand something about Levi. He likes to play this special game. Say for example that we need to leave to go somewhere. So I'll say, "Hey, are you going to be ready in ten minutes?" I'm not saying it in a "there's no way you'll be ready in ten minutes so I just want you to know you're running behind" because that's mean and that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm saying it in a "would ten minutes be a good estimate for when we're going to be ready to leave?" Anyway, I'll say that and he'll say yes and then in ten minutes as I'm putting on lotion or my earrings or some other final touch he will have speedily dressed and stuff and he'll be ready just seconds (literally, seconds) before I'm ready and then he'll pace the apartment saying, "Just waitin' on you. Yep, I'm just here all ready to go and I'm just waitin' on you." It's pretty funny because he likes to pretend that he's been ready forever and that I thought he would never be ready in ten minutes and now would you look at that! he was ready first. 

Anyway, this picture is from one time when I was totes ready first and he was still in the bathroom or the shower or something so I texted him this from the kitchen along with a note that said "just waitin' on you." It was good stuff. In other news, that's our mini baby garbage can they gave us. In other other news, I broke those flips flops the other day when I was trying to get ketchup and mayo (to make fry sauce, of course) at the cafeteria and apparently people had been spilling ketchup everywhere (come on! are we all five years old?!) and so the ground was sticky and my flip flop got stuck as I tried to step away and the strap finally broke. It had been just clinging to life for the past two years, so it was time for them to go, but it was really sad and they were almost six years old so I was proud of them for the life they lived.

And finally, these pictures are from when we went to the patiently awaited for trip to Kevin Durant's restaurant in the beloved OKC. Levi was soooooooooo (times a billion) excited to go and I'll be honest, it was pretty awesome and really fun and also the food was delicious. Also Kevin Durant. I mean, come on. He's basically an idol in this Heperi home. And rightfully so. Also, I have a secret wish that one day we'll go to KD's restaurant and KD himself will be there and he'll walk up to me and say, "You the real MVP." I mean, a girl can dream, right? (But to be totally serious, I loved KD's MVP speech and thought that line was actually the best thing ever, so I'm kidding around with my dream, but I really do think he's amazing and if I did see him at that restaurant I would probably cry of happiness or something else equally embarrassing.)

Okay, the end.