Massaman Chicken

This is what is for dinner & Mr. Cotterell needs to get his bum home so I can eat it. It is a YUMMY Thai dish called Massaman Chicken. (I may have eaten tasted some already). One day at work I was talking about cooking with my coworkers, Air and Jimmi. We decided to cook each other dinners once in a while. Today Air, who is from Thailand , made this for us:) Jimmi is from Korea and will cook something Korean. What American food am I going to make? The only American foods I can think of are hamburgers and hot dogs. All the rest that come to mind are rip offs of other countries. Pasta, Lasagna, Pizza- Italy. Tacos, Enchiladas- Mexican. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated:) I'm sure they don't want me to make them hot dogs.

My husband, the bottomless pit

This will be gone in ten minutes flat. Jordan can really eat. And let's be honest, the cinnamon sticks are for me:) The bread sticks are the same recepie, just different at the very end, so I always make them together. Oh how I love not having school. I read an entire book today and am now starting a second one.
http://www.simply-gourmet.com/2011/10/82-homemade-breadsticks.html
http://www.crunchyrock.com/2012/01/cinnamon-roll-bread-sticks.html

How many teeth do you have?

My finals are finally over. I am beyond happy about it and I'm not even sure that I have passed anatomy. The curve should help me out, but I won't know until after Christmas. Silly, right? I celebrated with some chocolate, Christmas shopping and this really great book. My in-laws have a collection of books that I have always wanted to read. I think they are a "100 best books" collection, but they are all printed and bound in a collectors set. They look so lonely on the shelf and make me feel guilty for not reading more. If I read two each year I will finish by the time I am 72. I'd say that I'm set!

Ready for another funny conversation between the husband and I? Of course you are! It went as follows via text message:

Me: What size your feet again boy?
Mr: 12
Me: Thanks :)
Mr: How many teeth do you have?
Me: 24
Mr: Thanks :)

It's pretty obvious that I am getting him shoes for Christmas, but what is he giving me? Head gear?

Temple Square

We got to go to temple square to listen to Jordan's sister sing yesterday. It was a much needed break from studying for finals. It was pretty cold, but I just had Jordan carry me around so we could conserve body heat. I thought it worked great:) Temple square is so beautiful this time of year! I just loved being there.

My work is in charge of all the lost and found at UVU. We sell items that have been there for more than 96 days and we are allowed to take a few things, since we spend so much time organizing it! I found a North Face jacket just in Jordan's size. I washed it up and it is as good as new. The other item is still a debate for me. I have been in great need of a new bra, and I'm not a fan of inexpensive ones. I'm also not fond of spending money. See my dilemma?  I came across a really expensive one in my size in the Lost and found, but don't know if washing it is enough to get the thought of someone else wearing it out of my mind. It may go back to the pile haha.

On another random side note, I was taking a final today and as my teacher handed me my test he turns his head away in a quick reaction that made me think he was going to sneeze or possibly hurl. To my surprise he was just reacting to my wedding ring. Apparently it sparkled in his eye. It was pretty amusing to have a 60 year old man grab your hand and say "It's so sparkly " It kind of makes your day to get a comment like that after a year of marriage.

Happy holidays!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

      It's almost Christmas, and I don't know about you, but I am having serious problems getting things done! It is just too much fun to turn on Christmas music and eat ice cream on the couch:) We decorated as much as we could in our little home. Our tree is my favorite part. It's from the Festival of Trees and is covered in snowmen. The little guy with button legs is the best. 

     After about a week of no meal planning while I was with my amazing family, I had a really hard time planning dinner. Yesterday was frozen burritos:) Today I decided to go out on a limb. I am pretty picky when trying recipes. I usually stick with family recipes, America's Test Kitchen, The Pioneer Woman and once in a while Pinterest catches my attention, but let's face it, the closest any of our friends who pin these things have come to testing the recipe is a virtual smell. I have been following a friends blog from an old singles ward and decided to trust her Chicken Pot Pie. That is the thing inside that horribly dirty oven of mine, but it smells oh so yummy & it got me into my kitchen for an hour or so singing in a "I'm home alone" volume. I am excited for Mr. Zeus to come home and eat it with me:)

     I hope your holidays are going as great as mine! Only two more weeks of classes. I can stay focused for that long, right?

Sunday lovin'

 Ducks bite! Hense why I'm apprehensive to feed them.

 They were really hungry.

 Baby duck! It was so cute. No worries, we only held it for a few seconds. Its mom was pretty mad at us.

 Favorite picture of the day! I love my hot husband.

Blessings

Sometimes I don't REALLY realize blessings until they are gone. I am realizing today that I had been missing a huge blessing and counting it as a trial. Right after I got engaged to my hunk he got a really great job offer. He was going to be a personal assistant and making $$$$$ for limited hours. Let's just say he never started that job. It was always "next week" and "next month." According to the owner, it is still happening. Jordan never felt good about taking another job, because as soon as this other one worked out, he would be quitting. He eventually applied to a lot of places and nothing ever worked out. During this 9 months I was working, and our financial needs were always met. It was sure a miracle and I always saw it as a blessing. I had faith that everything would work out, but I still thought it was a trial that Jordan wasn't working. Little did I know that it was the greatest blessing. We were able to spend so much time together. Our relationship is so strong because of that. We also were able to go to the temple all the time, usually once a week. We had date nights in the park and study sessions in the library. We ate dinner together every night. It was absolutely a wonderful 9 months. Yesterday he started a great job. He is only working 30 hours a week, 1-7 M-F, but that combined with my work and both of our full time classes, I feel like I will never see him. We both go to sleep around 9 and wake up at 6, so thats only about 1 hour at night when you take into account he doesn't get home until 7:30. Today I am whining but I know that this too will be a blessing. I now realize that I should choose to be grateful to my Heavenly Father for things I don't even yet realize as blessings. I should be better at counting my blessings, because they leave so quickly!