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.

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.

crafting with the craft-less.

Crafting easily makes it onto my list of top ten things I’m incapable of doing. Other things on said list include using a remote, surviving a haunted house without screaming and attracting every stupid zombie and ax man in there, and waiting until someone’s birthday for them to open my gift.

But the thing is, even though I can’t use a remote I still try. And yes, I end up deleting DVR’d shows and get stuck on the fishing channel but still. I try. And so obviously I still try to craft. And so far, after nearly 25 years, I’m still straight terrible at it. For the life of me, I cannot come up with creative ideas. I could never just think up something cute and crafty. What I can do (sometimes) is copy. I can copy things that more talented crafters have done as long as it doesn’t include anything complicated. I can tie ribbons, I can paint squares and I can use a toothbrush to splatter paint anything you put in front of me.

But a couple weeks ago I decided to stretch my craftabilities and paint pumpkins. Note that the thought of carving pumpkins did not even cross my mind because using a knife on a hard vegetable isn’t on my resume. So I spent like an hour looking at ideas on pinterest for pumpkin painting. Turns out some people can paint complicated things on pumpkins. Jealous. Anyway, I finally found a few things I liked like a simple zig zag or some polka dots. Those seems straight forward, am I right? How could you mess those up?

Obviously you can or this post would be over by now.

So I went to tape off the zig zag for the pumpkin and all was going well until I finished painting it and realized that the whole spherically-shaped pumpkin thing had apparently thrown me off because dear old zig zag was practically at the bottom of the pumpkin. I look at that pumpkin every day now and I cannot figure out how that happened. Spheres, man. They’ll get you.

Polka dots. I only had those foam brushes (you can only invest so much when you’re a self-proclaimed non-crafter) and turns out those are not the easiest brushes to paint circles with. Totes cray, right? So after attempting like three circles and realizing this was a no good situation, I tried to wipe them off. Also a bad idea. Mostly I just smeared white paint all over one side of the pumpkin. So that pumpkin was off to a great start. Next, I tried making a potato stamp. I had read that you could cut the shape you want into a potato and then use that as a stamp. Again, spherical issues. So I ditched that idea real quick and said sorry to the potato for wasting it. Then I spent about 15 minutes looking for something that could be used as a stamp. Searched the whole dang apartment for a small circular item that could survive having paint all over it. After 15 minutes of fruitless searching (apparently the Heperi’s aren’t much into having small circular items laying around…could have something to do with Levi continually purging my piles of random things, who knows), a lightbulb finally came on in my head! The other end of the foam paintbrush! So I mean, winning. Once I realized I could use the end of the paintbrush, ol’ polka dot pumpkin was done in 2 minutes flat. (Except don’t look at the back of it because it’s still a white smeary mess from the foam and potato polka dot attempts).

And then finally, I had one more pumpkin. I had already done the zig zag and I had already done the polka dots. I was pretty sure there were no more shapes I could confidently pumpkin-ify. I scrolled through the ol’ pinterest and saw that some people would tape off and paint the shape of the state they lived in and then put a little heart on it where they lived. I thought about it for a while and then decided I could challenge myself. I mean, Oklahoma is a fairly simple-shaped state. And so I did it. And after a number of tape recalculations after having made the skinny part of OK way too skinny and almost falling into the spherical trap of putting the state too low like I did on zig zag pumpkin, I succeeded. And I painted. And I hearted. And I won! Then I put the shape of Utah on the back because I mean, I lived there for six years and also it’s practically just a square. And I won at that one as well! I maybe would have liked to do California on there, too, but who are we kidding? My crafting capabilities had been maxed out.

And so there you have it. An adventure in crafting for the ultimate non-crafter. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be able to decorate the rest of my apartment using Oklahoma-shaped items. Which is truly a bummer.