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!

From 0 to 60 in seconds...

Sometimes I wish my stress levels weren't either 0 or out of control. I try not to stress out and don't let things get to me. I fell for the most part I don't worry during the day. I just have faith that things will work out if I am doing all I can. THEN it seems like I have moments where my stress gets out of control and my poor husband has to listen to my irrational ramblings through a lot of tears. Does anyone else do that? I'm sure you don't. I am quite a weird one.Well today I am focusing on my blessings so another freak out doesn't happen haha. Here is a recent list:

I went to the doctor again because it seems like it's been a year of me feeling crappy ALL the time. I was sick of trying to convince them not to prescribe me medicine for dizziness but to find out WHY I am so light headed and exhausted all the time. Finally my doctor took blood work and it showed that even with me taking iron, I have low iron. It also showed that my B12 levels are lower than low. These are both forms of Anemia and it makes it really hard for my body to get oxygen. Hopefully with my new supplements I will feel normal again.

I wasn't charged a dime at my doctor's appointment.

I wasn't charged a dime at my eye appointment either!

I got 110% on a test in my first aid class.

Now today and tomorrow I have to study for and take two tests, for anatomy I will be thrilled if I pass.

Dinner that made me say Mmmmmm

I will admit that I am not really a good cook. I pretend to be, but lately have been doing a bad job at it. I also know that one day I will be good at it. I have a hard time deciding what to cook, mainly. I like carrots and Jordan likes red meat and middle ground is sometimes hard to find. Well today my friends I found a very happy medium. It was all thanks to Apple Bee's and my good friend Julie who gave me the recipe to imitate their oriental chicken salad/wrap. Jordan moaned and groaned and ate four wraps. They were big, but if you know my husband, you know he could eat a horse. Anyway, here it is, if you want a happy husband like me. We also ate way too fast to snap a picture, so here is one from the world wide web.

Oriental Dressing:
3 T Honey
1 1/2 T White Vinegar
3 T mayo
1 t Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard
1/8 t sesame oil

Mix with a hand mixer or rigorously with a fork and chill in the fridge while you cook.

Chicken: (I guess you could grill it, but come on, frying is yummier and consumed once in a while it won't hurt)
2 chicken breasts, sliced into bite sized pieces
1 egg
1/2 c milk
1/2 c flour
1/2 c cornflakes crushed
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 c canola oil

Heat oil to about 350* or over med-high in a skillet. Combine the egg and milk. Combine the dry ingredients. Dip chicken pieces in egg mixture and then flour mixture. Fry for about 5 min or until a nice brown crust appears.

Salad:
3 c romaine lettuce
1 c red cabbage
1 c napa cabbage
1/2 large carrot
1 green onion
1 T sliced or chopped almonds
1/3 c chow mein noodles

Chop everything nice and small and combine. Top with chicken and a little dressing, or wrap in a yummy tortilla like we did. I tell you you will love it!

Labor day weekend

Since another weekend is coming up, I should probably blog about the wonderful Labor Day weekend I had. We were able to stay with my sister Jennifer in Grand Junction. She just had a sweet baby named Eleanor Anne. Her family was also moving so we were able to help. Their new house is so awesome. It has more bedrooms, bathrooms and living spaces. We unpacked and shopped for new things all weekend. It was really fun for me to watch Jordan use all his rippling muscles. He helped Jackson put all the food storage below the house in the crawl space. There is no way my misquote bump biceps could have done the job. He is such a great man. We LOVED spending so much time with family. We saw everybody for at least a day. I can't wait until the next time that happens. I am lame and only came away with these two pictures. I will take more next time.

Husband

Text convo:
Jordan: I just saw a guy wearing the same shirt as me.
Jamie: That's embarrassing.
Jordan: I know! If I have a class with him, I am dropping it.

I love my husband. He turned 22 on Saturday & we had so much fun celebrating! We went wake boarding with his dad and some friends and we also had a bbq put together by his mom. Here are a few recent pictures. One of my sunburn from wake boarding that doesn't look that bad, but I have been so itchy! I lotion all up but still wake up in the middle of the night frantically scratching.