Monday, December 30, 2013

Don't Leave Me

Why did I title this blog post "Don't Leave Me"? Because I didn't want to give away the title of the song that we based our music video on.

Well, it's here. After a lot of work, we were able to finally complete this music video--and before New Year's! We even have a few new cast members! I don't know if it'll be the top--I still think that "22" is the best! But hey! I think it's way up there with "Ain't No Particular Way"!

Nothing is as bad as "I'm a Believer."

Well, here it is: "Stay Stay Stay," by Taylor Swift.



What a terrible boyfriend she used to have!

Monday, July 8, 2013

My Week (A.K.A. not yours)

So yesterday Mom told me that I should write a letter to Jalyn, who's on a mission for our church, so I did. Turns out my letter ended up being a lot longer than I expected, but it was totally worth writing in the end. So, I thought you all would like to read it. Though actually, I think there are too many family inside jokes in there for some of you to understand, but I still hope you all enjoy it!:

Hello, Hermano!

I'm calling you that because you are a boy! No, just kidding. That'd be weird.

Well, hola hermana! For some reason the auto correct feature with this keyboard on my iPod wants hermana to say "Herman's," which makes it sound like you're having a hernia.

Speaking of hernias, let me share with you a famous quote from Jacob:

"You know, all that the pregnant women in Relief Society ever do is go up to each other and say, ‘My water just broke!’"

That one just suddenly came to mind. Now, let's talk about my week!

This week I went to Grandma Carr's! It was really fun! Spread throughout the days I would work on my merit badges, and I got a lot of stuff done with them. I also would read the Book of Mormon (to prepare for lettering in seminary next year) and I also read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (because I've never actually read it—I've just listened to it, as I'm sure anybody with the right idea in mind would do). Anyways, I think I'll write out what I did last week, day by day:

SUNDAY (evening): Dad, Mom and I drove to Grandma's and spent the night there. We also used the GPS on Mom's new Galaxy S4 to get to Grandma's, because after all those years we finally learned that we have no idea where Grandma lives. It makes you wonder how we even got there in years before... Anyways, it was a pretty eventful evening.

And for some reason, that reminds me of another famous quote by me:

(To Jalyn, while playing Justin Bieber Tap Tap Revenge) "You know, I was about the say, ‘Good job!’ but then that would've been a lie."

Honesty always rules.

MONDAY: Mom and Dad left after we ate breakfast. Then Grandma and I went shopping at Safeway, where Grandma let me buy pretty much anything I wanted for the week (because that's what grandmas are for!). We got ham for sandwiches, and Cheetos for the Fourth of July barbecue, and Reese's to crumble up and put in the homemade ice cream also on the Fourth. I pretty much spent the rest of the day working on merit badges (and I basically got a majority of all my merit badges finished then). For lunch I had some leftover ham and pineapple pizza from Papa Murphy's that Grandma had left in her fridge, and it was really good! Throughout the entire day (and throughout the entire week, actually) Grandma had a group of people putting shingles on her roof because her roof used to just have wood on top, so it was pretty interesting to hear then moving up above us. Later that night, Grandma made homemade macaroni and cheese, which was really good, because she sprinkled some stuff on it (I have no idea what it was).

TUESDAY: After I ate breakfast, Grandma had me pick old oranges off her orange tree (before I cleaned off in the shower). 

For one of the requirements in Citizenship in the Community (a merit badge I am currently working on) I have to attend a city council meeting. Luckily my merit badge counselor, Brother Pead, said I could just watch one of the meetings online, which is what I did. Anyways, it was a really great meeting until this dope suddenly ran up to the microphone and started reading a poem to the council. The mayor was constantly like, "Um... Sir! This is completely off topic!" And then the guy would be like, "No it isn't! It has everything to do with this meeting!" And then about half an hour later the same dope ran up to the microphone and started reading a poem to the entire audience, and the mayor said, "Um... you need to say this to US, not the audience!" And the guy would say, "But I am addressing you!" And let's just say they argued a lot. And both times the guy went up, he read a two page poem that went on forever and ever. He was basically a punk with a hat like the one that the guy wears in White Collar. But interestingly enough, the mayor seemed to somewhat know the guy, which makes me think that stuff like this happens often.

For lunch I had some leftover lasagna that was in the fridge. And then for dinner I had Shepherd's Pie (a Weight Watcher's recipe) which is EXTREMELY delicious! I had actually been waiting a whole year to come to Grandma's and eat that. No joke! After dinner, Dave and I watched Cars, and it was SO good! I mean, I've always like Cars, but it wasn't until now that I realized that it is such an AMAZING movie!

WEDNESDAY: Today grandma and I went to the Bishop's Storehouse. It was really cool because there were just a bunch of missionaries working there and helping us out. We had this one black missionary help us, and he was really cool; we didn't even really socialize with him or anything, but I just decided that he was a cool person, which then led to me deciding that I want a black companion on my mission because I think that'd be awesome!

So then we delivered all the food orders to the members in Grandma's ward, and then we donated some bread from the Bishop's Storehouse to a nearby food bank. When we got back home, I ate ALL the leftover Shepherd's Pie in the fridge, and it was just as AMAZINGLY delicious as the night before! Then I decided to look at cool streets on Google Maps. Later that night we had fish and chips, but just before Grandma started making it she asked me if I'd rather have chicken instead! Grandma is a flexible lifesaver! (But I don't think it'd be a good thing if she were the actual candy, because Uncle Dave might eat her!) That night Dave and I watched Toy Story 2. When it was finished, Grandma let us watch another movie because the next day was the Fourth of July, and Dave didn't have school the next day. So I decided to watch Monsters Inc. because I had just recently seen Monsters University in theaters (which was REALLY good!). That was FUN!

THURSDAY: Fourth of July! Uncle Dave really wanted potato salad, but Grandma wasn't going to make it. But Dave is flexible too! The workers on the roof were on break for the day, so, in case you couldn't deduce it yourself: the workers weren't pounding on the roof that day. Anyways, Grandma had me clean out the patio where the pool table was so that we could eat there later, but then we discovered it was really hot in there, so we decided to eat in the kitchen instead. Grandma had me grill the hamburgers and hot dogs (my first time on the grill!) and it was actually quite fun! We had a delicious dinner of hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, corn on the cob, Cheetos, Lays, and all those different burger toppings you can think of! Grandma had the missionaries and some other lady over, and it was really fun! We had a nice lesson from the missionaries, and we had Grandma's homemade ice cream (with Reese's!). That night, Dave watched Ice Age and I decided to read, and then when he was finished watching that we watched The Incredibles (Dave didn't have school the next day either). As you can see, I was CLEARLY in a Pixar mood!

FRIDAY: We went to David's barber because David needed a haircut. But just as we walked in we noticed that it was jam-packed with old grandpas wearing suspenders. It was overflowing with so many grandpas that they started spilling out the door! Well, not really... Anyways, we decided to come back a few hours later. We went shopping instead. We stopped at Lucky and bought some hot dogs and other stuff, and then we went home and had lunch. We had hot dogs; Grandma asked me if I wanted my hot dog boiled, put in the microwave, or fried. Having never heard of a hot dog being fried, I decided to go with it and see what it was like. I was thinking Grandma was going to deep fry it, and I was like, "WHOA! GRANDMA! WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO? KILL ME?!?" But then it turned out that Grandma just sliced the hot dogs down the center (long-ways) and cooks them on a frying pan. I still think it'd be interesting to deep fry them. But then I think they'd explode instantly. And so would I. (We also had leftover corn on the cob, but that's totally irrelevant at the moment.)

Later that night, Grandma made a pot roast. THE END.

(It was good.)

Then even later that night, Mom and Dad came home! It was so great, because I was really starting to miss them! I just love them SO much! When they got back, they sat down and told us all about their trip, about how Dad fell off the top of the mountain (7800 ft) and how Mom got attacked by a bear on the first night (and pretty much every night after that). A dream come true for the two of them.

SATURDAY: Grandma and Dave left early in the morning to go to some ward cleaning activity, so they said goodbye to us since that would probably be the last time we'd see them. Anyways, us three worked together to do some cleaning and other work that Grandma needed done around the house. And while we were doing that, Grandma and Dave came back home! So I guess that meant we were going to see them another time!

Anyways, we finished our work pretty quickly and made some lunch. I made a ham and cheese sandwich, and Mom made a GRILLED ham and cheese sandwich, just to show off with her fancy skills. Of course, there's just one additional step: slap sandwich onto a grill. But of course, after Mom won the Prettiest Plate Award every time the competition ran, she was bound to be competitive with her sandwich making skills. Plus, she was just warming up for this moment after making thousands of peanut butter and jam sandwiches for all those years. You can't beat Mom. Unless you're Grandma, who'll beat you in that competition like it was nothing. Plus she'd be using ingredients grown on Aunt Terri's farm on FarmVille. UPDATE: Terri Carr just planted 10 acres of corn! You can't get away with anything when Aunt Terri's involved, especially if it involves framing Betty Neels.

Anyways, I had a really great week, and Grandma made it really amazing! Thank you, Grandma! You're the best!

Well, I hope you don't get run over by a tractor when you're crossing the road! Keep on having a great mission!

I love you!
Jacob

Sent from my iPod


One may say: "TMI, Jacob. TMI." But hey, it was quite a week!

Friday, June 28, 2013

Personal Fitness Torture

I'm pregnant! Well, let me get to that later...

Last Tuesday in Scouts we had to do a bunch of exercises for the Personal Fitness merit badge that we are working on. We did push ups, curl ups, pull ups, (and pretty much anything you can think of that ends in "up"), and we ran a mile. It was quite tiring, so it was nice when we were finally finished.

TWO DAYS LATER...

I wake up and I'm in terrible pain. I try to stand up straight, but my six-pack--whoops, I mean my abs--were so insanely sore.

So I walk down the stairs and go on with my life. In pain.

After a really long time of suffering--about 2 minutes--I finally took some IBuprofen, hoping that it would help. And guess what! It didn't.

So, for the rest of the day I had to walk around like an old grandma with her walker, all hunched over and moving at 1/2 inch per second. Near the end of the day, I decided to put a bag of peas on my stomach to distract my mind from the pain. It worked out pretty nicely.
Well, my baby bump isn't exactly showing, but if you saw it you'd see that it's a lumpy baby.
Today, my back is in pain from being hunched over for a whole day. And on top of that, my abs still hurt, but not as bad as yesterday, because I put the heating blanket over them while I slept. At least today I can stand up straight.

And guess what! I got a haircut! And I styled it totally differently!!! (But the picture up above isn't exactly the best at representing my new hair.)

Sunday, June 23, 2013

BYU Graduation

Guess who graduated? Thomas! But that's not important right now--let's talk about Stacy.

So Stacy, the one who protected me from Thomas for all those years. The one that got herself lost on Bowron Lakes with Jalyn. The one who ate a donut. The one that won World War II for the world. The one who got arrested seven times in high school and is now doing community service. The one who ate a donut... has graduated.

And what a graduation it was!

I got to travel down University Parkway about a billion times, and it is now my favorite street ever. I got to see the celebrities of Utah: L. Tom Perry, Cecil O. Samuelson, and the Snow Cone Guy. I got to go to the Macaroni Grill and meet this cool guy named Bill who lost his head and arms in a bowling accident later in the trip...

"Hey, isn't this supposed to be about Stacy?"

Oh yeah! And I got to see Stacy graduate! All she did was walk on a stand and shake a bunch of old people's hands. But no, it was more than that. First she got a picture in front of a green screen so that she can appear to be (or "have been") anywhere she wants, since all you have to do is slap a picture behind her--green screens are pretty cool! Then she gave a card--with the proper pronunciation of her last name ("What's so hard about saying her last name?")--to some guy who then gave it to another guy who read it into the microphone, and then she shook the hands of some very intelligent people, one being Cecil O. Samuelson. And then Dad snapped a picture of her.

And then do you know what we did? We took pictures!

Picture time! (I pretty much stole all those photos from Stacy's blog...)
We're all white. There's no denying.

Looking at the wrong camera...

I wasn't properly positioned for the camera, so my face sort of got distorted, as Thomas informed me afterwards...

I wanted to look short, okay! Also, Thomas is pulling out his hottie moves...

I got to kiss the queen. It's a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing, so why not take the chance?

You're STILL looking at the wrong camera.

And then the creep appears out of nowhere.

I love this girl!!!
Oh yeah, and here's Bill, who somehow survived that bowling accident.
And Stacy thinks she can just pop into that picture...
At least he got a cool T-shirt out of it, but he only got that because the manager of the bowling alley felt bad for him, not because he rolled three strikes in a row--because he didn't.

Piano Recital... 2!

So, guess what? I had another piano recital...

...a month ago.

"Wow, why didn't you blog about it earlier?"

Anyways, everything went really well. I played "I''m Not That Girl" and "For Good," both from Wicked (my favoritest play ever)! I only messed up on "I'm Not That Girl" at the beginning and at a small part in the middle. And with "For Good" I did PERFECT, which is really saying something, considering it is way harder than "I'm Not That Girl."

Altogether, I felt really accomplished and happy. I have a really amazing piano teacher, and she has helped me to become the piano student that I am today. Thank you, Sister Tarter!

And sorry--we did record my playing the piano, but Thomas, who does everything technological, didn't make a video for YouTube, so I don't have anything for you to watch.

"Really?"

Well, Thomas does things like that REALLY well, so I think it's best that he do it!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Exponential... Might I say.

Hey, do you remember a while ago when I was all excited about getting 1,000 views.

Well, yeah.....

That's OLD NEWS!

We will DEFINITELY have 4,000 views by tomorrow morning, and probably 5,000 views by the end of this week if not the next! So why not just watch it now and support us on our best music video yet!!!

Just scroll down to watch the most amazing thin you'll ever see!





Saturday, March 9, 2013

1K

Jacob: "Guess what!"

Person: "What?"

Jacob: "It has to do with our music video."

Person: "Ok then..."

Jacob: "Guess what!"

Person: "WHAT?"

Jacob: "Woah! Sorry... jeez. It's just that... our music video has over 1000 views!"

Person: "WHAT???"


It's official. Our "22 - Taylor Swift Music Video" now has 1000 views, and compared to the time and number of views for our other music videos, this one is really a HIT!!! In just a little more than three months, our music video has made it to 1000, whereas "Me and My Gang," after 3 years, is still trying to reach 300 views; "Ain't No Particular Way," after 2 years, is almost at 400 views; and "I'm a Believer"... will never get anywhere... (After a year, it only has 60 views...)

I swear, after that big BOOM of views on the first few days after we released our "22" music video, I must've been on YouTube every day to see how many view we had!

So I'm just here to say... CONGRATULATIONS to our new music video!!! 1000 views! Soon to be 1,000,000,000!

Don't just have me tell you--go and see for yourself! And while you're at it, watch the video a few times! And tell all your friends about it--have them watch it!!!

We are golden!!!

Fifteen

This past Wednesday was my birthday! Yay! I am now fifteen!

For seminary, I decided to bring biscuits and gravy--as you all know is my favorite from last year--so Mom and I had to wake up early to make it so that it was fresh for my seminary class. We actually woke up just in time to make it (5:30), because we had it ready just as we had to head out the door (6:30). It was a great success at seminary!

After seminary, we headed back home to drop off the biscuits and gravy and then we headed to school. Today was my 2nd, 4th, and 6th periods day, which is not my favorite--it's not like it's a bad day, it's just that I like my 1st, 3rd, and 5th periods days a lot better. But it was really great today: everybody said hi and happy birthday and the classes actually weren't that bad.

After school, I got picked up by Thomas and taken to my piano lesson, where I taught my one and only student, Daniel Moessing. It was really great because he played everything really well and the lesson went quite smoothly.

I got back home, did the worksheet for Mr. Benenson's class, and then sat down and played Mario Kart for and hour before dinner.

For dinner we had Creamy Pea Sauce--my favorite--with cheesy bread and a garden salad. It was all really delicious, thanks to Mom's AMAZING cooking.

After reading scriptures, we had the actual celebration. I blew out the candles on my Chocolate Mousse Pie, and then opened the gifts. I got money from my grandparents, and some REALLY AMAZING American Eagle outfits that Mom bought me (I actually wore my new outfit the next day, and I felt amazing!).

Everything was amazing on my birthday!

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

It's here.

I am now happy to say that we have finally completed the fourth annual music video of the LeCheminant Music Video Series and it has now been uploaded to YouTube.

(For reasons which I do not understand, the video is not available to be viewed on mobile devices.)


I must say that for this one there was a little more attention to details--compared to music video number 3: "I'm a Believer"--and that it is more of a comeback to number 3.

Most of my family actually agrees that it is the top video out of the four, topping "Ain't No Particular Way" by Shania Twain, our but until currently best video. Thomas really loved this video--this year he edited it--so he had each member of my family list the videos in our opinion of worst (or as mom would put it just to be nicer: "not our best") to best. Here are the current listings:

Dad:

  1. "I'm a Believer"
  2. "Ain't No Particular Way"
  3. "22"
  4. "Me and My Gang"
Mom:
  1. "I'm a Believer"
  2. "Me and My Gang"
  3. "Ain't No Particular Way"
  4. "22"
Stacy:
  1. "I'm a Believer"
  2. "Me and My Gang"
  3. "Ain't No Particular Way"
  4. "22"
Thomas:
  1. "I'm a Believer"
  2. "Me and My Gang"
  3. "Ain't No Particular Way"
  4. "22"
Jacob:
  1. "I'm a Believer"
  2. "Me and My Gang"
  3. "Ain't No Particular Way"
  4. "22"
Well, Dad's was a little different COMPARED TO THE REST OF US, but at least my statement of "22" topping "Ain't No Particular Way" is true!

And also please excuse that one face I make when Stacy and I are doing that slow-mo thing. I don't know what happened right there!

If you actually go to the video ON YouTube, you'll see in the description that there are links to the other three music videos. Or you can find the videos on my blog at http://raisinsandlentilsoup.blogspot.com/2012/02/lecheminant-tradition.html. Enjoy the videos!