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)