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.

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.

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.

let's! go! fly a kite!

up! to! the hiiiiiighest height!

So, be honest with me. Have you ever been able to successfully fly a kite for more than 30 seconds at a time? I mean, where in the world is it windy enough for long enough so you can fly a kite? I mean, serious questions people.

Well, I have the answer for you. Oklahoma! You know, like in the song? "Oooooklahoma where the winds come sweepin' down the plains!" Duhhhhhh, right? And that lyric is truer than true around here. It is windy all day, every day. You get used to it though. I mean, it's not always going 50 mph, but probably at least half of the time it actually is going that fast. It'll freeze your little face off if you're not careful.

*side note: a couple lines later in that Oklahoma song, it says "ev'ry night my honey lamb and I, every night, we sit alone and talk and watch a lazy hawk makin lazy circles in the sky." What the? For those of you that were curious, Levi and I have not yet had the chance to watch lazy hawks make circles in the sky. But also for those of you who were curious, I definitely refer to Levi as my honey lamb.

Okay, so anyway. Since it's always windy and this last weekend was supposed to be upwards of 70 degrees around these parts (yes, winter is hard...jokes), I thought hey! Why not go fly a kite?! Levi had to work at some graduate student orientation yada yada on Saturday, so I was put in charge of grocery shopping and other errands (let's not talk about how I had to go to Office Depot three times. I'm so tired of that store). Whilst shopping for the groceries, I was like, hey! Since I'm at Walmart I will buy some kites! (and I'm at Walmart because there are like zero regular grocery store within a 20-stoplight radius of our apartment--seriously, I already have to go through like 5 to get to Walmart and it's literally like a 1/4 mile away).

I went back to the toy section and the kind employee directed me to the only kites in the store (not many options, because it's still winter...sort of). Anyway, they had Cinderella and Barbie. Obvi I took one of each (at $1.37, the price couldn't be beat!). One for Levi, one for me. When Levi came home from work I told him I had a surprise and I showed him the kites. Originally he picked the Cinderella one but then he decided that Barbie had better hair, so he made a trade. As my friend Danielle pointed out, this probably means I should stop doing my Cinderella hairdo's and starting perfecting the Barbie wave if I want to impress this guy.

So we went to the local high school and flew our kites. I have this terrible memory of flying my older brother's homemade kite when he was in cub scouts or something and I accidentally let go of it and it got stuck in some trees and I ruined the day. I also remembering being significantly more upset about it than anyone else was (including my brother), but still. Traumatizing.

But out on the open field where the wind was a-blowin' and Cinderella's face was a-smilin', we had a grand old time. Seriously, it was so fun! There was plenty of wind to keep the kites afloat and the activity easily entertained us for an hour. Levi found some giant tower to climb on (he said it was where they film sports from?) and we also figured that we could put the handles in our pockets or attached to our shoes and they would still continue to float while we sat down and just stared at our kites haha. It was really such a great afternoon. So for all you fools that want to fly a kite, come visit us! You can choose Cinderella or Barbie.

Now pictures!

the story of getting engaged to levi.

Levi and I have been married for like eight months now and this story took place just over a year ago, so it's possible that it would no longer be of interest to anyone. But you know, I must do it for posterity's sake. Also because I want to.

Levi came home with me to California during Christmas break 2013. Once we came back to Utah, I knew it was time to get a move on with the whole marriage thing. We were basically engaged to be engaged since about November and madly in love for months before that, so the time had come. And so, just a day or two after we got back to Provo we went ring shopping. I would just like to point out that I am super proud of myself for how well the ring shopping situation went. I thought I would be super overwhelmed by all the choices but it turns out I really just like the simple solitaire ones. I looked at all the different kinds but I kept coming back to the same one. Which was really super nice because oh my word if you could see me trying to make any other decision in my life...it doesn't go nearly as well.

Anyway, getting engaged. Once I had picked out the ring, I just waited. And waited. And waited. I knew it wasn't going to take weeks and weeks or anything, or at least I hoped it wouldn't. And so you know how that goes. I knew it was coming, but I didn't know when...and so I had to be prepared at all times. Which by the way, is difficult. This meant that I had to do my hair every day and I had to look moderately cute every day and I couldn't just jump into sweats the minute I got home from work every day. The worst was the fact that I would come home from the gym and then do my hair again, just to be safe. I just super didn't want to looking like a slob that day we got engaged, you know?

After doing my hair for what felt like a million days in a row, I thought maybe it was never going to happen. But then one day Levi came over and after dinner he was like, "Hey want to go to Provo Beach Resort?" And I was like, hey I've been wanting to go there for a while now and I've hinted about going there so this must be it! It's like a fun date and then he'll propose after! I'm so smart. So I hurried and changed into a cute outfit and then did my hair and we were off. The first thing we did there was bowl and I was like, oh my gosh, this is what we did on our first date, we're tottttttally getting engaged. I remember being at Provo Beach Resort and being like, oh man, he totally can't fool me. I'm onto this guy. He thinks he's soooooo tricky, but he's not.

Actually he was. Because we didn't get engaged that night. We bowled and we played croquet and had a stellar time and I looked super cute, but no, we did not get engaged. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, I thought for sure that might still be a chance and maybe he would turn left and we would go up the canyon, but no. We turned right and we came straight home.

Then another day that week was the time that we went to dinner. And I was like, ahhh here it is. Going to dinner in the middle of the week? Too obvious. A fancy little dinner and then he'll pop the question. Thank goodness I did my hair, amiright? But no. No engagement. Just a stomach full of delicious food and no ring on my finger. I couldn't figure the guy out.

Another day that week he was like, let's go to the dinosaur museum! Of course I was like, oh yeah! I had been wanting to go there for years! Of course, it wasn't exactly the most romantic place in the world, but I could still go with it as an engagement location. Maybe there would be like one of those archaeology dig things where you have to sweep away the sand and stuff and then there would be my ring! Yes, that had to be it. But no, of course not. Just a lot of dinosaur bones and no ring for me (though I actually really liked going there because dinosaur bones are cool! And big!).

By this point I was like, this has clearly just been a week of fun dates. We were always doing fun stuff like that, so maybe all this wasn't out of the ordinary.

On Friday, when I was at work, Levi texted me saying he was going to walk me home from work as he often did. He came and picked me up (I worked on BYU campus) and then we walked home together. On the way home, he was like, "Do you think Utah Lake is frozen right now?" (It was January). I told him I figured it was, and he said something like, "I've always wanted to go walk out on the frozen lake. Have you ever done that?" I of course said no, because something like that would terrify me. He was like, "We should go see. It'll be fun!" I was extremely hesitant, but agreed. Maybe that would be kind of fun in a weird and dangerous way.

So we drove out to the lake. We parked and then we headed down the rocks to the lake. I was seriously freaked out. I thought for sure I was going to fall through. I had barely walked onto the frozen lake part and Levi was like ten feet out jumping down on the ice, essentially giving me a heart attack. I think he was trying to reassure me that I wouldn't fall in, but mostly I just thought that he was going to fall in now. So as we slowly walked further and further out, I constantly kept my eyes on the ice for fear that there would be a giant crack somewhere and that we would all die.

After we had trekked a considerable distance, I was like, "Okay. Let's go to that rock out there and then I think that will be far enough, don't you think?" Levi agreed and so we kept going. As we got closer, Levi was like, "I don't think that's a rock. What do you think it is?" We were close enough now that I could tell it was actually a blanket covering something and I was like OH MY GOSH. It's a dead dog. Somebody's dog died or they killed it or something and they dumped the dog out here. Oh my gosh, or maybe it's a person?! A dead person? Oh, crap. I was like, Levi don't touch it. Seriously, I bet it's a dead dog and that is so gross. But of course, Levi did touch it.

And when he pulled the blanket off, it was not a dead dog. It was a basket. Full of flowers and candy and E.L. Fudge cookies and donuts (yes, donuts!) and glitter gold! and much more and then it clicked. Because those are all of my favorite things! They must be mine! I was super stunned and then I turned to Levi and I knew what was about to happen. He said some wonderful things and then he dropped down on one knee (and did not fall through into the lake) and asked me to marry him. And I said yes! It was marvelous and magical and all things wonderful and perfect and I couldn't stop smiling and I was so incredibly happy. It was just the best day.

After we had called both my parents and then stopped at Levi's parents house to tell them, we went to Carraba's for dinner. I remember we sat at the bar and we watched the employees who were in charge of making salads while we enjoyed our meal and talked about our future and how happy we were. I also remember that after that we drove around town for a while and then before headed home, we got the car washed haha. It was such a great day though and I couldn't have asked for a better surprise. I love Levi.

*side note: In preparation for this event, one day after church when I told Levi my home teachers were coming over, he sped over to Utah Lake, hopped out of his car and onto the ice, and then tried jumping up and down over and over to make sure it really was safe. I just love imagining that story.

*second side note: Quite a few of Levi's rugby teammates had classes in the building that I worked in. On that Friday when Levi came to pick me up from work, he got stopped by a few of those teammates downstairs. They started getting on his case (loudly) about how he needed to propose and when was he going to do it and so on and so forth. Levi was freaking out because he knew that sound traveled well in that building because there had been a number of times when he had come to wait for me in that exact downstairs room and had been able to hear my voice while I was still working upstairs. He was like, crap she's going to be able to hear us and it'll tip her off! Anyway, I never did hear them, but the next week all of those boys stopped by my office and told me all about how they had been talking to him about proposing and he was already planning to do it that very day! They thought it was hilarious. And to be fair, it was. Good times.

Also, pictures.