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!

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.

the pre-Christmas part of Christmas Break and also I don't know which words to capitalize in a blog post title.

Christmas break.  The time of the year that basically everyone looks forward to, but I would say especially students. You know how it is. You've been going crazy with approximately one MILLION projects and tests and presentations and then finals and too little sleep and too much time at the library and too many times that you forget to eat dinner. Actually, scratch that last one because I never forget to eat food.

I suppose now is the part where I mention that I'm not actually a student anymore. I graduated but I still live near the school because now I work at the school and so basically since I'm surrounded by students I feel that gives me the right to still feel like a student. Except I guess all those things I mentioned in the previous paragraph don't actually apply to me. But they did! And sometimes it still comes back to haunt me which is why I will continue this post pretending like I'm still a student. It's totally unfair, but I'm doing it.

Anyway.

Yes, the life of college student definitely makes you look forward to the time when all you are required to do is sleep and eat and occasionally help around the house. Your mom makes you dinner and you can eat food out of any cupboard instead of just the one shelf that is yours in your apartment. It is glorious. It's Christmastime and the counters are essentially covered in candy and all you can think about is how you don't want to go back to school because when you go back that means you have to go back to work and studying and you have to do your own laundry and it's the pits, yo.

But let's not focus on the fact that I'm already back and have already gone back to work and also I might even be getting sick so that's really cool. No, let's go back to the very beginning of break. The before Christmas part of the break.

Yes, before Christmas was a glorious time.  When I first got home, it was just me and my parents and my two younger brothers so baaaaasically it was a party. I convinced my parents that we absolutely NEEDED to go see the new movie Frozen (seriously, I'm obsessed. I don't know if I've ever seen a movie twice in theaters, but this one was worth it).  And I mean, since we were going all the way over to the movies, we might as well go to In-N-Out, am I right?  So that was awesome, and yes, the movie was also awesome. But for real.

The next day was church so we got all dressed up and off to church where e'erybody was so friendly and was happy to see me but let's be honest, they were mostly all wondering where Levi was. Oy. But it was cool.  Then Tom drove me home and was apparently a little ashamed to be driving a minivan home with his crazy older sister because wasn't too stoked about having his face in the picture. Hmm.

The next day was Christmas Eve Eve, which apparently we're calling Christmas Adam now because Adam came before Eve? I don't know if I can get on board with that, but whatever. Anyway, as we always do, we headed to my Aunt Stella's house and she made probably the biggest piece of meat I've seen in my entire life. But for reals. Also, it was at my aunt's house that we met up with my older siblings and their wives and the family was almost complete (Jalyn is still on a mission in the Dominican Republic).

Then Jake got a new watch from Aunt Stella for Christmas and it was a little bit too big so instead of going to the watch store or something, Danny decided to fix it himself using various items throughout the house that were small enough. I thought it was funny, but also very smart. But then again, funny and smart are the first two words I would use to describe Danny (not a joke), so I guess it makes sense.

And finally, the next day we headed to my Grandma's house for Christmas Stacy! (Adam also came before me, so I've decided we should change Christmas Eve to Christmas Stacy. Who's with me?!) Anyway, it was glorious and we had a marvelous turkey dinner and my Uncle Brian and Aunt Julie were there and we read the Christmas story out of the Bible and sangs some Christmas songs and read The Living Christ, which I highly recommend you all do. It was great to be with the fam and to think about the real reason for the season.

Afterword, we headed home and I still had to wrap a million presents because I guess I like to leave things to the last minute?  Well that, and also some packages didn't arrive until we were gone, so give me a break, please!  Also, it should be noted that I had to wrap the gifts my dad was giving, too (as I always do). Apparently wrapping gifts isn't his forte. But they were very good gifts, so I'll let it slide.

And that my friends, is how not to write a brief blog post of the days leading up to Christmas. But who's surprised?

rex lee run!

Last Saturday was the Rex Lee Run, which is a 5k/10k run put on by the Cancer Research Center.  Because the Cancer Research Center is kind of a part of the Chemistry Dept, we secretaries decided we would do the run to show a little support.  Actually, I think what happened was that last year after the run, my boss Sue was like, "Hey, we should do the run next year." and I was like, "Oh yeah, sure. That would be fun." I totes wasn't being serious, but then Sue never forgot about that.  And so then I guess I was committed. Dang it...jk.

The week leading up to the race had some pretty good weather but the forecast was telling us that a snow storm was coming and ain't nobody got time for a snow storm on race day.  So when we all went to bed on Friday we hoped and prayed that we wouldn't see snow when we woke up, but it was not meant to be.  Saturday morning came and the first thing I did was look out the window to see the snow falling gently.  Well, dang it.  So I put on my pants and then another layer of pants and then I put on my shirt and then my coat and then I was like, wait I'm an idiot and so I put on another layer under my shirt.  And then I headed off to the race.  Mind you, this was the night after the Imagine Dragons concert, so as you might remember I was pretty tired plus we didn't really have any food thanks to the whole fridge incident.  So being the tricky trickster that I am, the night before I had chosen not to wash my face.  This way when I woke up I would still have some remnants of makeup on (specifically mascara) and then the I-just-rolled-out-of-bed look wasn't so obvious although let's be honest, it was still obvious.  This was a trick that I learned a couple years ago when I worked on Saturday mornings in the Chem office and because I was afraid professors might actually come in I wanted to have at least a little makeup on, but I really didn't want to wake up more than 20 minutes before I needed to be at work.  Works like a charm.

Anyway, I got to the race and met up with the other secretaries who were all far more prepared than I was (i.e. they already had their numbered bibs on and the timing chip tied to their shoes).  So I quickly tried to get my bib on and ended up getting it on so off-centered you would have thought I let a 3-year-old do it. Except then you would have been like, wait a second that's not possible because a 3-year-old could do way better than that...and then you would have been very puzzled by the mystery of the horribly-placed racing bib.  So I ended up having Kathryn help me center it and then I also had her help me put the chip on my shoe because I just struggle with everything.

This is the part where I pause and tell you that Dr. G. was being the announcer for the race and if you know me at all you know that Dr. G. is one of my chemistry homeboys and nothing could make me more happy than knowing that Dr. G. was in the area that I could bother him to my heart's content.  At this point, you might be thinking that I did something ridiculous and annoying to him, but I didn't. I just wanted you to know that he was there because he's my favorite.

pause for a completely unrelated conversation that I had with Dr. G this morning when he walked into the office:


Me: Dr. G., your collar is looking pretty cray cray right now.
Dr. G: Cray cray?
Me: Yeah, cray cray. You know, like crazy.
Dr. G: I don't get you.

...and then he walked away.


okay, interruption over.

As we started the race, we ran past Dr. G and he had his megaphone and was cheering us on and I didn't have a megaphone but I also cheered just as loudly for us.  At this point, it was not longer snowing but it was uphill and I feel like that's just as bad.  Kathryn and I kind of went ahead and were able to run most of the uphill part? (I might be lying about that most part)...but then we walked. and then when it was downhill we ran again, and then throughout the rest of the race we did this whole run/walk thing because you know, we'd been training for months and stuff so this was like a piece of cake. JOKES. Ha, but then when we were headed into the final leg, this weird pellet snow started murdering us so that was fun.  But then soon enough we could hear the music from the finish line and we were on the last stretch.  My favorite part coming to the finish line was the fact that Dr. G was there with his megaphone cheering me on personally, so obvs I had to go give him a high five which was actually weird and confusing and didn't really work out because like I said, he was holding a megaphone, but whatever. I did it anyway.

As soon as I finished the race Dr. G made me take the microphone and cheer others on which was probably a bad choice because I ran out of things to say to these runners after two minutes. I mean, come on. I was standing 100 feet away from the end of the race. What was I supposed to say? "Keep up the great work"? "You can do it"? I mean, obviously they can do it. They're like ten steps away from the finish line.  So mostly I just said, "Run it out!" which sounded equally dumb but whatever.  I was just glad that I got to see some friends finish the race and really cute little kids who would run the end part over and over so they could have me cheer them on over and over.

In the end, I placed 129th in my category, so I think we should all be impressed.  Sue, on the other hand, placed 2nd!! in her category. Granted, there were only two people total in her category, but I'm still impressed. I mean, she got a medal.  During the medals ceremony, I mostly just walked back and forth behind the announcer (Dr. G) and tried to move just enough to avoid getting hypothermia because HOLY COW, once you stop running you realize that it's freeeeeeezing.  But I still made sure to be just annoying enough that Dr. G gave me the stink eye a couple of times.  Mission accomplished.

And even though I was sore for dayzz, it was still worth it because like I always say, chemistry foolz are cool and I love hanging out with them and most importantly, that stink eye. Seriously my favorite thing.

i'm a baketress.

You know how a female host is a hostess?  Well I've decided a female baker is a baketress.  And I'll tell you what, this girl right here is a baketress, no doubt about it.

So basically I'm really good at baking things.  Like, really good.  And by really good, I suppose I mean actually pretty crummy--or should I say crumb-y?? (no pun intended, except actually that pun was entirely intended).  So here's the story:

My roommate Danielle is a fantastic cook.  Like, hands down, no questions asked, really good at cooking.  Not a joke.  She makes us dinner every day and it is always one million delightful.  Just this last week we had Cordon Bleu, Tagliarini Primavera, and Sweet and Sour Pork.  I mean, not only do those all sound really fancy and delicious, they actually ARE really fancy and delicious.

So as you might expect, sometimes I feel like I under-contribute around here.  I mean, sure.  I come home from school, I do a little homework (seriously only a little--7.5 credits is kiiiind of amazing, you guys) and then I usually just sit there.  Maybe a little nap (quite likely), maybe do some laundry (lies), maybe clean my room (yeah right), or maybe do the dishes (actually, I really do do that one).  Sometimes I get crazy and help Danielle make dinner even though I'm pretty sure she's stunted my cooking abilities.  Seriously, though. Sometimes I'm helping and she asks me to do something and then I have to ask like five questions on how to do it because I just don't want to mess up even though usually she just has me cut vegatables and I know how to do that, it's just that I panic sometimes! I freeze up and I'm like, do I use a knife to cut this zucchini? should I be cutting the carrots thinner? do we eat this part of the asparagus?  I mean, seriously, I know how to cut vegetables.  It's just that she's so good and I'm so intimidated by her skills that I stuh-ruggle.  Also, serious comment: I'm slow at cutting vegetables.  Not a freaking joke, people.  Id even k why, but I'm just slow.  Ew, where was I going with this paragraph?  Oh, right.  I'm an under-contributor.

So yeah, the other day I was like, I feel domestic!  I'm going to make some cookies!  They are going to be delicious and everyone will once again remember that I am just as talented as Danielle!  And so I baked.  I whipped up some D to the licious cookie dough and rolled them into perfect little balls and then baked them.  And they were wonderful.  I mean, I've made some good cookies in my day, but these were chocolate and peanut butter and pretzel and amazing and they were just wild.  Anyway, they were good.  I baked a few batches of them and then I went to one of our ward intramural games and then I came home and decided to put the last batch in the oven.

I baked those cookies 50 minutes to perfection.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen. 50 MINUTES. I was like, I'll just put them in the oven and go brush me teeth and wash my face and stuff and then I'll come back and pull them out, nbd easy style.  Except then I forgot about them.  I really did brush my teeth and wash my face, but then I went into my room, closed the door, changed into my pajamas, looked at some stuff on my computer and then I got in bed and stuff and was lying down with the lights off and I was just starting to doze off when I was like, it smells weird. What is that smell?  I mean, I know our apartment always has kind of a weird smell, but OH MY GOSH, THE COOKIES. I jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen and pulled those bad boys out of the slightly smoking oven.  Such a proud moment.

Yum. Those are supposed to be normal chocolate chip cookie color.

I still can't believe I left them in for that long.  Truly embarrassing.  Our apartment smelled like a burnt cookie for dayzzz, not a joke.  That night I woke up in the middle of the night and I could just smell burnt cookie and it was awful.  Then when I woke up in the morning I started gagging because the smell was still so strong...but then again, the whole gagging thing is not that unusual for me because I LITERALLY have the world's weakest stomach.  Anyway, I had to open the windows because it was so strong and mind you, this was 6 in the morning when it was like 1 degree outside.  But I'm telling you, it had to be done.

Anyway, I'm sure you've figured it out by now, but what I guess I'm trying to say and what I suppose is the moral of the story is that if you ever need someone to bake you cookies, I'll totes try, but you should probably ask Danielle or at least have her hold my hand through the entire process.  Plus, I mean, come on.  You can just tell she's a talented baker just by looking at her, am I right?

ditching church.

Every Sunday, I have church from 12:30 to 3:30 pm.  The above picture is from today at about 1:15 pm.  Now, I'm guessing that many of you are alarmed and afraid that I ditched church, but I'm here to set things straight because such a thing did not happen!

This morning things seemed to be going as they normally do: Martha, Lacey, and I all woke up and got ready for church (although Lacey had a few false alarms with when her meeting was, but fortunately, that was resolved and she will continue to go to church--phew!).  We were all ready to go a few minutes after noon, which was about the time Danielle rolled out of bed.  With just the right amount of time to spare, we headed on up to church.

We arrived after trekking up that monster hill and telling each that we looked like witches about 637 times (the honor code quiz has taught us well). We walked into Relief Society and settled in for an excellent lesson (even though Janice was going through some "dark days", i.e. we got a flier with Janice Kapp Perry on it that printed out a little too dark on the copier).  The lesson was going splendidly and we were nearing the end when suddenly with no warning the fire alarm started to go off!  

I felt like I was in elementary school again as we crawled under the tables for safety.  Okay, no.  We didn't crawl under the tables, but we did link up buddy-style and head out the doors to wait until the alarm went off.  This is the part where Danielle and I really regretted our decision not to wear coats.  I mean, really regretted that decision.  It was at this point that we took the picture shown above, immediately after which we located the place that would give us the most sunlight.  But it was still supes cold.

After waiting for about twenty minutes for the alarming to go off, the bishop finally just told us to go home and come back in an hour for sacrament meeting when the alarm would hopefully be off.  Sooooo, we walked home and just sat around for an hour because it is Fast Sunday (what a cruel, cruel joke) and then headed back up.  It turns out the boiler was leaking steam or something, so it was super muggy in there when we got back.  In fact, I was playing the piano for the meeting and the piano keys has a nice layer of condensation on them. It was weird.

So, the moral of the story is, a) I don't ditch church, and b) always wear a coat to church because you just never know when you might end up being outside for an extended period of time.

That is all.

"I think I'm goin' to the show!"

Last weekend,  Danielle and I went up to Park City with a couple of friends.  We had hoped to see famous people because the film festival was going on, but it turns out the only famous people we saw were ourselves (I mean, we were in a feature length film).


After we spent a quality amount of time looking for parking, we headed out to wander the streets.  We met up with Dillon's cousin for a couple of minutes as we awkwardly stood around his family's table in a crowded restaurant (I could tell the people who worked there loved us) and then we saw that directly across the street was the Family History Center!  How cool!  And what was even cooler was the fact that they showed free movies if we came and took a ride "in the past lane" (fairly confident that pun was intended).  

There was an adorable old lady who helped us start up the movie about families and Nauvoo.  As the first movie ended, me and Sean had the splendid opportunity to watch that adorable lady come RUNNING down the hall to bring us popcorn!  I mean, seriously, how cool is that?  She was running and she brought us popcorn! (which was actually pretty neat since we hadn't had lunch and Danielle and I had both conveniently forgotten our wallets...that's a true story.  I'm moderately embarrassed by that).

After the movie was over, we walked out of the room to find that there was a tree in the middle of the building that had some faces carved into it.  I think they wanted us to think that the faces were supposed to represent members of our family tree, but we knew it was really Grandmother Willow from Pocahontas.

We can't be fooled.

After that, we continued to wander the streets and my favorite place was this art exhibit that gave everyone free cider (I just remembered that I love free things) and we also met this random guy.  That guy came up to Sean and I and told us that "the lady told me to meet him here at 7" over and over and later told us that he was "thinkin' of going to the show!"  It was so weird.

Anyway, 'twas a successful outing completed with pizza (that Danielle and I didn't have to pay for because we forgot our wallets...seriously, I can't get over how classy we are) and a movie about a sunflower and a snow bunny...or something like that.  I wouldn't know, I fell asleep.

But who's surprised?

the razor riders hit the big screen.

Real life conversation via text:

Stacy: Hey, so not that I'm a creative genius or anything, but can we please make a scootering video this weekend? How awesome would that be?
Danielle: Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes

Awesome...but then, of course, I forgot to iron out a few details (aka who would film the vid and where I would get a scooter from since my main rental source Jon Doxey had moved).  Fortunately, Danielle has connections to our main man Dillean Dillon who when asked if he was good at filming people scootering said, "Is that even a question?"

Then Jon Doxey was contacted and he was such a swell guy that he agreed to take his lunch break right then (which, by the way, it was 2:30 pm, so homeboy really needed to take that break).  He met Danielle at his apartment and then proceeded to GIVE her the scooter to give to ME for KEEPS!  Forever and ever, amen!  A purple scooter!  Mine!  Such an awesome gift!

So then, the important parts of picking out awesome outfits (neat tights, Doc!) and the less important part of showering took place and then we were ready to go!  We were super lucky we did it on that day because it was totes the last day before the snow came and everything was covered in slushy rain/snow nastiness.We headed up to the canyon to this awesome little place that had a nice scooter-appropriate path and the sun was perfect and Dillean is a creative genius and we are professional actresses and it was so fun!  When we got back, Dillean did all the work and threw the vid together in like an hour and all we had to do was make him dinner (using mostly his food, but still).  That's my kind of business deal.

And now, please sit back and enjoy this totally legit video about scootering and then tell me about how you can no longer resist the need to buy a razor scooter.  I totally understand.

holly jolly.

{me and bubs with the new scarf he made me!}

Not sure if I told you, but I had a fantastic Christmas.  Christmastime is one of my very favorite times of the year.  Mostly I just eat and hang out with my family and then eat and then roll out the door to go shopping and then I come home and eat and then hang out with my friends and then I usually watch The Lion Movie (the disease exists at home, too!)

This Christmas I didn't give anyone my heart and baby, it definitely was not cold outside (what's up, California winter!).  Most of the break, I've just listened to the She & Him Pandora station and some of my main man The Biebs.  We also seemed to watch a lot of Jerry Rice career highlights on youtube (not actually sure why we did that).

We listened to some old tapes from when were super young and let me tell you, those were straight up gems.  Apparently back in the day (at approx age 5) I did not appreciate being called Stacy Stink and demanded that my family call me "Stacy Star A".  It appears that they needed a reminder about that, and now that we have listened to the tapes, they have actually started calling me by my requested name from so long ago.  I'm glad to see a little respect around here.

It's been a pretty busy break--I've been able to hang out with some of my favorite people (family, friends, etc) and some of my least favorite people (dentist, doctor, etc.).  Santa done good this year.  In fact, I'm writing from my brand new laptop!  So fabulous.  Some of the awesome things about it that are very unlike my old laptop: I can fit all my pictures and music on it, it takes less than 20 min for it to turn on and load up, it doesn't die after just being on for 30 minutes (even when plugged in!), it doesn't always have to be plugged in, and best of all! it doesn't light on fire every time I use it!  A huge shout out to my little brother Thomas who picked it out for me--homeboy knows how to get a good one.

I like Christmas!  and muffins! and family! and fun times!

And now I must psychologically prepare myself for 2012 (which my littlest brother constantly reminds me is the year the world is going to end). I plan on reading a book, making a music video, writing a talk (rude) for church tomorrow, and getting all sorts of new year's eve crazy with my family.

Let's do this.

And now, some pics from Christmas day!

What? Is that me hiding under the blanket avoiding all light sources?  Never...

Tim Tam Thomas was super stoked about the computer program he wrote for Danny.  Just following in his footsteps...

...and of course, a family pic with a missing mom.

p.s. If you aren't already, don't forget to follow this blog over there on the right!  

But Then...

So for the past few weeks, I'm afraid I don't know what has gotten into me.  I swear, every day I find myself wishing for this one thing that I've never wished for before.  It still blows my mind that I want it.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm so confused as to why I would want it that it gives me a headache.  Or maybe that's just because I haven't been eating my meals very consistently. One can never be too sure about that one...

Anyway, about this thing.  Are you ready to hear what it is?  Because I'm pretty sure I keep putting off telling you because I'm not ready to reveal this to you.  Alright.  Here it is:

For the past few weeks, I have been wishing quite regularly for...

snow.

WHAT?!???!?!!!!?!!?!?!!

I know, right?  What has gotten into me?  Maybe there's a small winter creature living inside my head telling me to wish for winter while simultaneous digging its little claws into my brain? (that would explain the headaches...) I don't know...I really don't know.  Maybe I've been eyeing my beanies lately, hoping to be able to wear them soon?

Seriously though, I'm stumped.  But still, that little voice in my head (oh good, now we're talking about voices in my head...we can now circle insanity on the list of possible reasons for my current predicament) keeps telling me that I'm excited for winter.  And so, a few days ago, I just accepted it.  As ridiculous as it might sound, I accepted the fact that I'm stoked for winter. I'm excited to wear all my cute warm clothes and drink hot chocolate and see the Christmas lights and watch the snow drifting toward the ground so prettily.  Everything looks so perfect when it is covered in a fresh coat of snow and I can't help but think about how awesome it will be when winter is here.

But then...

I was walking home from the library yesterday at 10:45 pm (shout-out to myself for getting out of the library before 11 pm for the first time this week...did I mention how I have no friends?) and noticed that it was a bit chilly.  Granted, I was wearing my flip flops (you know, the ones with the big hole in them that people are always telling me should not be worn in public--but what do they know, right?), my badminton shorts (yes, badminton shorts), a t-shirt and a light jacket.

So I mean, yeah, maybe I could have been better prepared, but because I was wearing such an awesome outfit, I was reminded of something on that walk home.  It was chilly.  And in Utah, chilly quickly turns into cold and then cold rapidly turns into freezing and then I'm trying to locate my nose because I'm pretty sure it fell off half a mile back.

Then I remember how awesome it is to walk to work at 7:20 in the morning when it is TWO DEGREES outside and there's a fresh layer of snow that hasn't been shoveled yet and I just so happen to be one of the first five people to walk through it so it makes that sound when you step on it--you know, the one that gives you the same feeling as when you squeeze a cotton ball--or I'm slipping and sliding on the stuff that was once snow but is now very slippery ice and I'm thinking to myself, oh yeah.  I just remembered why I kept wishing for winter.  I think it had something to do with the fact that the aforementioned monster creature was clawing at my eyeballs and wouldn't stop until I told him I was super stoked for winter. Duh.

How could I have forgotten?

So, I don't know.  I think I'm just confused.

Mostly I think the winter creatures need to get out of my life so I can stop thinking about the weather and focus on more important things.

Like buying winter clothes.