happy changes

The past week has been rather eventful for the Miller's.

The BIG news is that Logan is officially finished with DirectTV!!!!

We knew that it was just going to be a transitional job, but after quickly learning how
poorly the company was run, Logan began looking for a way out immediately. SO...He is now officially working for the business that my parents own in Springfield. They have been considering adding a new driver for awhile, but it wasn't "for sure"until recently. Logan was a STUD and got his CDL on the first try (the only one of my dad's employees to ever do that) on Wednesday....which means he began training on Thursday. Another exciting part is that my dad is putting Logan in charge of beginning the creation of a new "branch" of the business... Logan is entrepreneur minded in every way, shape, and form, so he cannot stop thinking of new ideas for this new venture. I am so excited for him to make this transition! PLUS, we get our weekends back and will even get to go to church on Sunday's together now! We hardly knew what to do with ourselves and this past weekend of freedom :)

We ended up inviting my little brother Luke to spend the night on Friday night. We try to let all of my siblings take turns coming down to hang out with us periodically. It just so happened to be Luke's turn.... We fixed him a yummy dinner, went swimming at my parents condo, went to McDonald's for a chocolate milkshake and chicken nuggets, and then finally brought home a RedBox. He loved it.

Then Saturday afternoon we met up with the rest of the family at Jordan Valley Ice Skating Rink in Springfield.

However, we had an unfortunate emergency at the ice skating rink. My little sister had two friends with her, the Jeppsen girls, Ally and Meghan. Their family is the one whose house burnt down three days before Christmas (I know several of you know them/prayed for them). Well, towards the end of our ice-skating fun, Meghan took a HARD fall, on her head. When she hit, she immediately began having a seizure and convulsing for 30+ seconds. An ambulance came and we followed them to the hospital to ensure that nothing incredibly serious was detected. Thankfully, CAT scan came back clear and Meghan is doing alright, besides being shaken up from the entire thing. I'm so very thankful that sweet Meghan is going to be okay!

The rest of the weekend was uneventful comparitively. We went to church yesterday before I began digging into my Pathophysiology book, studying for a quiz over 9 chapters. I studied for about 6hours and let's just say it paid off... :)
Studying, classes, working in the lab, working out, spending time with my hubby when possible, that basically sums up my life over the past week! School is honestly going great so far though. My spirits are high and I honestly believe it has to do with working out consistently and keeping my mind in the Word everyday! It has been refreshing both physically and spiritually. OH and I'm so excited! We get to go to a nursing home on Thursday to interact with people and practice our new therapeutic communication techniques!! Obviously not super "nursing-like" but nonetheless exciting for me since I've been in nursing school for almost 2 years now and haven't had any real patient interaction!!
:)

To end this post, I'm going to share one of my favorite recipes so far since I've been married.I made this on Sunday (aka it sat in the crockpot all day while we were at church/at home studying for Patho)....

Logan and I both LOVE it. However, it made enough for an army so you may consider halfing if you're only serving a few :)

Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup Ingredients:

• 5 pounds russet potatoes, washed but NOT peeled. Diced into 1/2 inch(ish) cubes
• 1 medium/large yellow onion, diced
• 10 cloves of garlic, minced (if you use jarred, it's a 5 teaspoon equivalent)
• 64 ounces (8 cups) chicken stock or broth
• 16 oz cream cheese, softened (I use low fat)
• 1 tablespoon seasoned salt (I use Aunt Cora's Soulful Seasoning)
• optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, green onions

Slow Cooker Baked Potato Soup Directions:

1. Add potatoes, onion, garlic, seasoning, and chicken stock to slow cooker.
2. Cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours.
3. Add the softened cream cheese and puree soup with an immersion blender until the cheese is incorporated and about half the soup is blended. (Alternately you could remove half the soup and the cream cheese to an upright blender, then re-incorporate).
4. Stir well, top with your choice of garnishes & enjoy!

Hope you enjoy. Until next week,

Haylee (& Logan)

so it begins... again

We have had a pretty fast-paced week, as we have both officially & slightly regrettably started back to "regular" life. We both went back to school on Monday, which was bittersweet. I was excited to begin a new semester with new classes and a new schedule. However, it didn't come without its fair share of work and stress. Speaking of work, College of the Ozarks requires each student to work 15 hours a week on campus, which actually pays for our tuition! It's not a bad deal to graduate with my BSN debt-free....but it comes with a rather hectic schedule! I work in the Simulation Learning Center, which is basically the nursing lab where lots of the nursing classes take place. In fact, I have my first class in the lab this semester which is super exciting! The class is called Holistic Assessment, where we are basically learning how to do an initial head-to-toe assessment of a patient, along with taking vital signs. I'm so happy to be doing a bit of "hands on" nursing at last! Below is a picture of my class minus a few this week when we received our lab coats, stethoscopes, clipboards, forceps, etc! We were so stinking excited.

Class of 2014!!!

Anyways, I'll keep you updated on school since that will pretty much consume my life until May. My biggest concern at this point has to do with Pathophysiology, my other nursing class. It is renown as one of the toughest classes in nursing school. The first day of class was entirely overwhelming as we were expected to automatically remember everything we learned from Physiology last year. It's going to require an immense amount of studying to simply know the language my professor is speaking in class.....and so much more to actually understand the concepts. She assigned 4 chapters for this weekend that are due by Monday. These chapters are like an entire body system each!!! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but I'm overwhelmed nonetheless. SO if you think about, I could use some prayer. For some reason, I've been having major issues getting re-motivated for this semester after a four-week break. I just do NOT want to study. But studying is all I have on my agenda for tomorrow. Yay.

However, I am determined to stay sane this semester by finding time to go to the brand new Garrison Center (our school's gym) everyday. I succeeded with it this week and honestly feel great. I'm also challenging myself with memorizing a verse of Scripture every week. It's not much. But, it's enough to keep the Word in my heart as I go about my day to day activities....driving to and from school, jogging on the treadmill, etc. I'm also working on my prayer life. I have a long way to go, but I know these things are definitely going to help me this semester.

I'm working on memorizing Philippians 2 right now. It talks about the Body of Christ uniting and getting rid of all pride and selfishness which are Satan's tools to disable the Body! Please don't hesitate to keep me accountable with this...the memorizing or the principle.

Logan continues to work extremely hard every single day. He gets frustrated at times for working hard and not seeing it pay off. But I know that he will be blessed for his hard work, even if it isn't immediately. He is "seeking" other options right now as far as work goes...but I won't say anything til it's more set-in-stone.  Please be praying for him and motivation to continue working this job, as stinky as it is, until God opens up another door for us! We sure do need it.

Probably the highlight of our week was getting to hang out with my family this afternoon/evening after Logan got off work. We celebrated Emily's 14th birthday! Mom smoked boneless ribs, which literally melt in your mouth. She also made cheesy ranch potatoes (a favorite), and maple syrup green beans. Yummm. Thanks mom for cooking and Emily for having a birthday! It was a very refreshing night to spend time with the family, celebrating a sweet & beautiful young lady.

The delicious cake my mom made :)

She got an iPod touch and was ecstatic.

stay-at-home wife for a week

This week has been very refreshing. Nothing extremely spectacular happened... however, we have loved getting back to regular life. Logan went back to work the day after we got back from San Antonio. For those of you who don't know, he is working as a contractor for DirectTV. We are thankful for the job, but there are definitely down sides to it...such as his days off being Wednesday and Thursday instead of the weekend. But once again, we are very thankful for the job. On Monday, I got to ride along with Logan in his truck as he worked! It was a long day for him (12 hours), but I worked on a little homework and also got to spend some quality time with him, seeing what he does on a day-to-day basis. It definitely helps me to be able to have a better idea of how hard he works for us! I love that man. At the end of "Take your wife to work day" as he called it, he took me out to dinner, which was very sweet. I'm so spoiled.


In Logan's free time, he has thoroughly enjoyed beginning the search for our first home. He devours all sorts of real estate websites in the evenings, constantly having me come over to "Look at this one!" I'll admit that it is exciting, and I'm happy to have a husband who enjoys finding good deals and smart investments! I'm excited to find out what home we will be living in come summertime!


While Logan worked this week, I had some time to catch up on some things around the house that I don't usually have time for while school is going on. I was able to do a deep clean. I cleaned everything I could get my hands on: shower, toilet, sinks, counters, kitchen, dusting, vacuuming, mopping, laundry, the list goes on and on! However, I'll admit that it was actually kind of fun. I love the feeling of a nice, clean home. I even got to use my new vacuum, which was Logan's early Christmas gift to me :) If anyone is looking for a new vacuum, I would highly recommend this Dyson!

While cleaning, I ran into a dilemma. I ran out of the cleaning solution in my Swiffer WetJet. :( I didn't want to run to the store, so I decided to use another cleaning solution (just a regular all-purpose solution mixed with water). However, the Swiffer people are very smart. They made it where the cap wouldn't come off the bottle. Most people would simply forget it and go buy another jug of the solution. However, I found a video online (posted below), which said to boil the cap side of the bottle for a minute. I tried this little trick, and afterwards the lid popped right off! Not only did I save the hassle of going to the store, but I also saved money! In order to prevent this from happening again, I clipped (with nail clippers) the pieces of plastic around the lid preventing an easy "twist" off. So proud :)

Along with cleaning the house this week, I completely reorganized my coupons for the new year! I rid my coupon binder of old coupons, got the Sunday paper, and organized my new coupons. I also planned a grocery trip (we were in dire need of food after being out of town for the last several weeks) and saved about $25, which isn't bad :) I wanted to show you guys my coupon book, because it's been a lifesaver for me in my quest to save money effectively! I went to a coupon class this last summer, and they suggested a binder like this, with baseball card holders to hold the coupons. I also labeled the sheets into categories. The lady who led the meeting, Mrs. Jeppsen, was SO sweet and gave me my own coupon kit for a wedding gift! She blessed me with a binder full of coupons, baseball card holders, labels, pencils, pens, notebooks, and even a calculator. What an awesome gift!

My binder with the baseball card holders to hold the coupons! 

Labels!

There is one more thing that I just have to share for all of my lady readers. Thanks to my mother-in-law, LeAnn Miller, I recently discovered the most amazing nail polish! It is a Sally Hansen base coat that helps your nail polish stay on for 5-7 days! I was unbelieving first, because I have never had good luck with finger nail polish. I pretty much gave up on painting my nails, because a day later they would chip and look disgusting. This polish is the answer to my prayers! It looks like Shellac, but it is much cheaper. I put on this Sally Hansen base coat, then I put a regular clear base coat on, then two layers of whatever color you choose, and end up with a final layer of a regular clear top coat.
I have done this three weeks in a row now and get compliments all the time! It always lasts me about 6 days before I even see a sign of chipping. Here's what it looks like, you can find it at Walgreens for only $5-6 :)

On another note, my sweet little brother, Luke, turned 8 yesterday. We went to Nixa to celebrate with the family. Poppa and nana came into town for the day, and we had a great time with everyone! 

8-year old Luke with his brand new dirt bike!

Thanks to all of my family and friends raving about the book series, The Hunger Games, I fell into the pressure and began reading the first book. I am reluctant to admit that it may be as good as everyone has talked it up to be. I started reading it last night and couldn't put it down! My goal is to finish it this weekend before school starts. The movie comes out on March 23rd. There is always something fun about reading a book and then seeing the movie :) Besides, I have to admit that the story is very creative and catchy. This is a good lesson in "Don't judge a book by it's cover" though, because judging by the cover and my "romancy novel" tastes, I would have never picked this book up to read!

Don't judge it by the cover! :)

To summarize this week food-wise I would like to say Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest. I knew coming into this week that it would be the last for awhile that I would have freedom to roam around on Pinterest, finding delicious recipes and trying them out! A few that I would love to highlight:


Monkey Bread- Kristyn and I originally tried this out in San Antonio last week. However, it was such a hit that I made it again this week! It's super easy and the recipe is on the Pillsbury website as well as below :)

Monkey Bread Minis

Ingredients

1/2

cup butter or margarine, melted

1/2

cup packed brown sugar

1/4

cup granulated sugar

2

teaspoons ground cinnamon

2

cans (7.5 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated biscuits

Directions

1Grease or spray 12 regular-size muffin cups. Mix butter and brown sugar; spoon 1 tablespoon mixture into each muffin cup.2Mix granulated sugar and cinnamon in 1-gallon bag. Separate dough into 20 biscuits; cut each in 6 pieces. Shake pieces in bag to coat. Place 10 pieces in each muffin cup.3Bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 1 minute; turn upside down. Serve warm.

Chicken & Dumplings- I changed this recipe up a bit- added more pepper, an onion (which I blended together with the celery since Logan doesn't like the texture of either), more water, and pillsbury biscuits instead of ones made from flour. It was pretty good!!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups whole baby carrots
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups all-purpose baking mix
• 2/3 cup milk

Directions

1. Place the chicken, potatoes, carrots and celery into a 6-quart slow cooker.
2. Stir the soup, water, thyme and black pepper in a small bowl. Pour the soup mixture over the chicken and vegetables.
3. Cover and cook on LOW for 7 to 8 hours* or until the chicken is cooked through.
4. Stir the baking mix and milk in a medium bowl. Spoon the batter over the chicken mixture. Turn the heat to HIGH. Tilt the lid to vent and cook for 30 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked in the center.

Finally, I made some black bottom banana bread this afternoon. This is a great recipe to whip up if you have bananas lying around, about to go bad! It's also a great way to get kids (or Logan) to eat bananas to begin with. The ingredients are pretty simple. The bread is very moist. It's almost like cake. 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in the bananas. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture and mix well.
• Divide batter in half. Add cocoa to half; spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Spoon remaining batter on top and swirl with a knife.
• Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until the a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool a wire rack. Yield: 2-1/2 to 3 dozen.

Well, that about sums up our week! We are both about to see a change of pace starting this next week. Full-time school begins for me at College of the Ozarks, and part-time online classes begin for Logan through OTC. It will be interesting to see what our lives look like once everything begins again, but I have no doubt that we will be able to do it all, if we continue to keep Christ at the forefront of everything! Please be praying for us as we learn to manage our new way of life for the semester!


Love,


Logan & Haylee

san antonio shenanigans

Logan and I were blessed enough to have the opportunity to ring in the first week of 2012 in San Antonio, Texas with family and friends. We spent the first few days with my dad, stepmom (Heather), and my sisters Macy and Mia. I'm so excited that we had the opportunity to spend some quality time with them over the break. We don't get to see them near enough as we would like, since they live in Dallas. However, we cherish the time we do have together. We stayed in a gorgeous condo and spent the weekend swimming in the heated pool, enjoying the hot tubs, playing ping pong, watching movies, shopping, river-walking, and of course eating lots of mexican food (my favorite!). It was really just a relaxing time of enjoying family. Below are several pictures of our time with the Van Curen's.

On NYE we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores outside the condo!

Mia and Dad making their s'mores!

Logan and I with our s'mores

                               

         

Macy Claire

After we had our s'mores, we found a guy singing country songs outside the hotel bar/grill. We hung out there to listen for awhile (:

Mia, Heather, Macy, and Dad

Later that evening the girls had a spa night (:

On New Years Day, we went down to the River Walk. We enjoyed the sights and sounds of downtown San Antonio, shopped, and ate some authentic mexican food!

The group of Hispanic musicians playing at our restaurant. SO authentic (:

Family pic with everyone at the river walk (:

Our time with the Van Curen's flew by all too quickly. We miss them and can't wait to see them again!

On Monday, we made our way over to Ronnie and Kristyn McCulley's home in San Antonio. We were so excited that our trip in San Antonio worked out so that we could spend time with our good friends. When we arrived on Monday, we packed up picnic lunches and headed out for Corpus Christi. It was almost a two-hour drive, but it was well worth it. We had plenty of "catch-up" time on the way there. Plus, it was a gorgeous day on the beach! Below are several pictures that were taken between Kristyn and myself.

The pier that we had lunch next to!

The picnic!

<3

Friends!!

Favorite

Logan absolutely loved playing with Ronnie and Kristyn's dog all week while we were there. It was Mia's first time at the beach. Although I'm not a dog-lover by any means, I will admit that she was pretty cute to watch.

The boys had fun chasing Mia up and down the sand dunes.

Kristyn caught me in a moment of awe at my Creator.

Me and my husband walking the beach again for the first time since our honeymoon (:

Cute couple.

Feeding the gulls....sooooo awesome. They would swoop down and take food from their fingers or catch it if they threw it in the air!

The next day we went down to the River Walk to see the gorgeous lights at night!!

Inside one of the old hotels on the River Walk.

The boys.

The last morning we were in town, Ronnie and Kristyn took us to the Japanese Sunken Gardens and WOW they were breathtaking!!

Wow, that was a lot of pictures. I'm afraid they didn't even do our trip justice though. We didn't take pictures of our Mission Impossible dinner and movie, the fun time we had playing bingo and seeing the military hospital and Ft. Sam, or our game nights! Kristyn and I also had some fun trying out some new recipes from Pinterest....always a good idea (: Thank you again to Ronnie and Kristyn for being such great friends, driving us all over SA, letting us invade your home, and cooking us great food (Kristyn). We love you guys and will be missing you til we see you again!

Haylee & Logan