My Husband

I copy most of my posts into a journal to keep for my future children. I hope they will someday know of my testimony, my hard times and my happy times. I also hope that they know of the love that I have for my husband. He is honestly my favorite person in the world. If you don't think that he is awesome or have a bad view of him, you do not know him well enough. I know that he can come across in different ways, but he is a spectacular person that am lucky to call my husband. Here are a few things that have been on my mind lately.

He is so adventurous. He is not scared of many things. The most important part of his adventurous spirit is that he never pushes me. He knows that I am scared of almost everything so he comforts me when I need it and lets me be a happy bystander.

 He is spiritual. There is not a question that I ask him about scripture, doctrine or even deep thoughts or ideas that he has not already thought out. He has read so many books and can remember them all. He is so devoted to the Gospel and has a testimony that amazes me. Just last week I asked him about a future parenting idea while we were on an after dinner walk. I remember being amazed at how he earnestly answered and talked about how he knew that the Holy Ghost would guide us when we needed it and that he didn't want to be completely against anything because that might stop him from asking Heavenly Father for guidance. The way he talks of gospel principles shows me how firm he is in his beliefs and how much faith he has. He also never talks down to me about scripture. I have a terrible memory and sometimes I ask dumb questions, but he makes me love scripture because he talks so lovingly to me.

 He is beyond funny. His laugh is outrageous. I could watch any funny TV show with him because his laugh will entertain me all day long.

 Jordan is very sensitive, but also quick to forgive. An example of this happened this morning. He got up early with me to go to the gym, because I had to work early. Once we got there, I noticed some LDS garments in the parking lot. Garments are very special and sacred to me and so I got a little upset that someone would let them end up getting dirty and defiled in a parking lot. I quickly picked them up and didn't even notice that they were swarming with ants. I just put them in the car to discard of properly when we got home. When we finished in the gym, we got back in the car to find it infested with ants. I know it wasn't really my fault, but Jordan didn't get upset with me at all. He spent his morning getting rid of the little critters, though, and I told me he was still very glad that i spotted the garments.

There are so many other things I could say about my husband, but I think you are probably sick of this. I love the way he kisses me, the way he speaks to me. I love how he holds my hand and carries me to bed. I love his smile and his muscles. (I have a smokin picture of him shaving in his towel, but he would be embarrassed if I posted it lol) I am blessed to have a husband and also to have such an enjoyable relationship. The next time you see my husband, tell him a joke and I dare you not to love his laugh. 

Independence Day

I am a girl who loves her independence. A small story will illustrate. Me: "Jordan, if I ever do that, please remind me that it is crazy and stupid." Jordan: "Sure thing, babe." Jordan's dad, Vern: "Jamie, we all know that if you do this in the future, and Jordan reminds you that it is crazy, you will still do it anyway. You will just tell him that you changed your mind and not to tell you what to do." Me: "That actually sounds about right."

We had a really wonderful 4th of July this year. It began by waking up and going on a bike ride. We went down to our bikes to find that someone had smashed my tire to the point that I have to replace the whole thing:( Since my bike was out of the running, we called Jordan's sweet parents and asked if we could barrow some bikes. The route we were going on was just as close to their house. When we got there, Vern filled all the tires and Jord's brother Jayce decided to go with us. We began the ride, Jayce disappeared and we caught up to him about ten min later. Just after we hit about the half way mark, my tire exploded. It was immediately out of air. I must have been too heavy;) We gave Vern a call and he brought me a replacement bike and we journeyed on. The rest of the ride was beautiful.

Once we got home, we went boating. I was the official flag holder. Utah Lake is so vast and beautiful.

We went home after to shower and I made a pasta salad to take to dinner. We were so hungry when we got to dinner. I took my pasta salad out of the in-laws fridge to stir it up and put it on the table only to drop it on the floor. Jordan instantly teared up. Food doesn't get ruined by touching a clean floor, which my mother-in-law always has, so I used a spatula to get the stuff not touching the floor. There were only a few bits left so I started getting a rag to put those in the trash. Jordan pushed me away, got on his hands and knees and started eating. I love this boy. He said it was too good to waste. He finished every bit! Our day was topped of with the traditional fire works, with me standing as far away as possible. They have always freaked me out.

I hope your day was a little less eventful than ours. The fourth of July is always a fun holiday for us.

Texas Visit

So it looks like I am going to post about once a month now lol. I am just a terrible blogger, not that anyone minds, I'm sure.

This past week I got to spend some time in Texas with my sister, her two boys, and her husband. She just had the CUTEST baby, Treagon (Tray-gun). I had the best time! I am not the most energetic or fun person, but I hope it was nice to have me there. We spent our week snuggling the baby, doing glitter toes, bleach shirts (epic fail), going to the pool and just hangin' out.

The Texas heat prepared me for coming home. It is currently 83 degrees on my apartment. I don't know if the swamp cooler is broken or on the wrong setting (the neighbors upstairs have the only control), but it is HOT. First thing Monday we are going to have a talk with the office. I don't remember it being even close to this warm last year. The hottest it would get was 74 AFTER I turned on the oven. If they can't do something about this I see a move in our future and many nights eating out. There is no way I'm cooking in here.

Oh yeah, back to my trip:) I had a really wonderful time, but I get such bad anxiety when I travel. Jordan spoiled me when I got back because he knew it was hard for me. Friday he took work off and we slept in, hit the gym, unpacked, cleaned the house, went out to eat at Nicolitalias (our favorite place) with my parents and then went to the temple.

If you think that day sounds like enough, you are right. We did not stop there, though. Saturday we had another amazing day together. We slept in, hit the gym, went to 7 peaks for a few hours, did laundry, went out to the Texas Road House (YUM), saw Man of Steal, went shopping for clothes and topped it off with shaved ice:) Whew it was two days of fun. I know that may sound like an expensive amount of splurging, which would also cause me anxiety lol, but it wasn't at all. Seven peaks is free with our Pass of all Passes, Jordan's work gave him paid time off, they also gave him the movie tickets, a gift card for the restaurant, and he had won some money in a work contest that we used for shopping and dessert, because we all know an unexpected bonus is free money:)

I am spending today grateful that I have such amazing family and a wonderful husband. We are so fortunate to have such a fun young marriage. I know I will look back at this time as one of the best times of my life. I don't know how I could ever be so deserving of these blessings, but I can do my best to express gratitude. I hope you are all having a summer to remember, because life is to short to stress about dumb things, like being REALLY worried that the ticket you are holding won't ACTUALLY get you on the plane. Not that I have ever worried extensively about something so silly;)

Update

It has been over a month since I have posted. That is because my summer has been so dang great. I never seem to take pictures when I'm doing the things I really enjoy, like going swimming or eating out:) I do promise that Jordan and I are happy and healthy.

Yesterday I had a pretty neat experience in church. Have you ever known someone who just seems so amazing that you almost want to not like them? They are good looking, funny and seem to have the most perfect life. It can almost be maddening. I happened to grow up with a sister, Kara, who was always like this for me. I think it helped to humble me enough to try to get to know people like this. I work with this woman in primary who could be Kara's dopple ganger (is that the right phrase?). I have always been secretly envious that even days after her beautiful baby boy was born she looked better than me. Primary is so much fun because of her, though, and I really have thought she was just amazing. Yesterday she bore her testimony and shared some experiences that made me realize that I wouldn't take her battles or trials for 1,000,000 rubies. It is easy to compare ourselves to others, but we never really know how they are struggling.

Today I am grateful that I am blessed beyond measure. I will probably have to be reminded again later, but today I will remember to love myself and not compare my uniqueness to anyone else.

Proof that I actually wear contacts once a year:) My BFF Tori had a beautiful wedding and this was the photo booth.

Two-a-Days

I want to start this post saying I hope this post isn't offensive to anyone. I don't want it to sound like bragging and I also hope it doesn't seem like I am obsessive with looks or vanity. I just want to document this fun time in my life. Marrying Jordan has been such a blessing and honestly if these first years are the best years of our marriage, it will all have been worth it.

Jordan and I have planned what we hope to be an amazing summer. We have given ourselves so much free time. We were both feeling overwhelmed with school, and our Fall semester is going to be so exhausting, so we decided that summer would be something we would plan to enjoy. Our plans include working and that was about it. We sat down and decided to make other plans that would be fun for each of us. What we decided on were health goals. We made a schedule where we will lift weights Monday-Saturday and do some fun Cardio after lifting. Mondays and Thursdays we jog to our favorite park and Tuesdays and Fridays we swim laps. We have some goals with our diet like how often we will eat out and the types of food we will eat. It is so fun to have a husband to do these things with. My personal fitness goals are to have a six pack and to be able to do ten pull ups. Those are mostly silly, but I am excited to try and accomplish things that I have never done. We also have other goals such as temple attendance and scripture study. This is the summer of the Cotterells! (Seinfeld reference.)

This was the beginning of our temple goal. We went to two sealings and two receptions in one day. We were so tired. It didn't help that we were both sick with a nasty bug and I was a bridesmaid for one of the weddings which included staying for pictures and helping with the reception set up. However, it was a very special day for us.

Fake it 'Till you Make it

Yesterday I had ten whole minutes to make lunch and head to class. I quickly decided on a sandwich. We were out of PB so I grabbed the lunch meat, lettuce, tomatoes and bread only to find out we were also out of mayonnaise. I don't know about you, but I just can't eat a sandwich without sauce. I remembered a recipe that I saw in Cook's Illustrated for fake mayo. I am always a little hesitant to make mayo because it entails raw eggs. Salmonella is not on my bucket list. I was excited about this recipe because it called for no eggs. I quickly made it and wasn't even late to class. You know that is impressive. Try it out! I think it is much better than the store bought stuff. Next time I am going to try it with canola oil. Heck I may even go for olive oil.

Dollar Tree

Today has been busy and fun and all sorts of wonderful. One of my favorite parts so far is my find at the dollar tree. I have been looking for a cheap hat to wear this summer. We go swimming often and to Seven Peaks, and after my hair just goes crazy. I have found a few that were $20 ish but wasn't willing to buy them, since I don't look great in hats. As I was quickly picking some things up for tonight's picnic, I scored this baby:)