It Doesn't Matter What I Name This Post-You're Going To Look At It Cuz' The First Picture Is Of Two Adorable Babies!!

Last weekend (July 24-26) we went to Bear Lake for our annual family camping trip and a couple reunions :) Tommy and I both worked Thursday but we wanted to be down there by Friday so we left after I got off work.


Friday morning, !early!, after just getting four hours of sleep I woke up and went to the hospital to see my brother and his wife who were going to have twins!! Heir go-

Meet Brody and Brooks! Brody had a little trouble keeping his sats up so he was on oxygen but still both as cute as could be!

Tommy holding Brooks

Doesn't he just look sooo natural??! ;)

My cute hubs! Dang he looks good with a baby in his arms! ;)

Holding Brody-You had to hold him a certain way (with his head in the sniffing position) to keep his sats up

What an arm full!! This was kind of hard! Especially holding Brody's head the right way! Maybe I better start off with just one ;)

2+2=7! Right? ;) What a beautiful family!! Love them all!!

 After seeing the babies-and holding and cuddling them, we helped my sister get things ready for Casey's birthday party!

I made the bucket while Carrie made the cake

Then we headed up camping for the weekend!
Switch gears from babies to camping, or puppies :)

This is Diesel my nephews new hound pup.... So. Stinking. Cute!

And Casey's awesome firework/candles!

Switching gears again :) 
Saturday we were going to the lake for a family reunion, so of course we had to stop and see the babies again!


Holding Brooks this time :)

Out at the lake we had a great time kayaking, paddle boarding, and being together as a family. Nothing Ever beats that!!

It was really hard balancing on a paddleboard alone, let alone with someone else :)

But we got it!

Then we started tipping...

But never fell off!! #Peace #HangLoose

All the sister! <3

Kayaking with the little sis's

After a fun day at the lake we headed back to camp for the night, then packed up the next day to head back to reality :(

I. Love. My. Family!!

When we got back into service we learned that little Brody had to go to Poky during the night because he couldn't keep his sats up. So on the way home we stopped and saw him in the NICU.

Poor little guy :( But that was the best place for him!

 And a week later, they get to go home and finally be together!

Look at those Cute little boys!!

And just a bonus picture I loved! Of my sister holding Brody's hand in the NICU. So Precious!

So the weekend was a success and soooo much fun!! It had been way to long since we had been to Bear Lake and seen the fam! And even better, a week later, was learning that Brody got to go home! Can't wait to snuggle them this coming weekend!!

A Day Late and a Shirt Short

Well since it was a month ago.... (I'm a little behind), guess I better post a few pictures I've been meaning to post for awhile :)

We went camping and fishing again June 8th, better experience this time! And there's not much of a story so I'll just caption my photos...

Pretty sure I had the first catch of the day! (Always do!)

Then Tommy caught second catch, or third, or fourth ;)

And of course the classic feet picture, with my pretty fishing pole :)

Saved all my calories for the day for this! The ultimate s'more! Two chocolate chip cookies with a marshmallow and chocolate between! Yummy! Just ONE of those will fill your sweet tooth!

Pitched our tent at shore-side :) I was so excited to listen to the water lap the shore all night and then, of course, a big old trailer pulled up up above us and ran their generator ALL night! =Z <==(that's my angry face) Also we still have not learned our lesson about getting some kind of padding to sleep on, so between the loud generator and our old brittle bodies on the hard ground, there wasn't much sleeping!

Our view outside our tent

Us and our baby ;)

Not that you can really tell, but I. Was. Burnt! My burns aren't red, they kind of just go dark but they still hurt! Anyways.... story behind the burn is.... We were heading out to our spot the first morning and I was sitting on my shirt when Tommy told me to reach back and grab the net, so I reached back and guess I lifted up my butt just enough so the wind caught my shirt and blew it out :( So I was shirtless the rest of the trip, (had my swimsuit and tank-top of course), and forgot the sunscreen at the tent, so I was just doomed :/

Well until next camping/fishing trip! (Cause that's all we do in the summer ;) )

Camping in April=Memories

Tommy and I both worked this last weekend and had Monday and Tuesday off so we spent our weekend fishing and camping . .  kind of . . .

We left Monday morning for CJ in Bruno to go bass and crappie fishing, and of course the wind started to blow because it never fails that every time we go fishing the wind blows. We stopped in Mt Home to eat lunch at Wingers and wait for the wind to kind of die down . . which it didn't haha

When we got to CJ I started setting up the tent to realize that all the poles were broken, 27 of them . . I told Tommy I didn't think we were going to be setting up the tent. He asked why and I told him all the poles were broken, but that didn't stop him! He proceeded to search the truck until he found some sort of adhesive . . . even, bandaids!

So we bandaided together 3 sets of 9 poles and set up the tent! And all the time we were trying to set it up, the wind was blowing like CRAZY! And then, we didn't have stakes to hold down the tent! And the wind was blowing hard enough that while I was attempting to hold it down, the wind was blowing us both away! Tommy didn't let that stop him either! We were going to stay the night and fish one way or another! He went and found some big rocks to put in the corners to hold it down . . . it worked.

After we got the tent set up the wind subsided just enough that we felt safe enough to get on the water.

It was my first time riding in the boat and I won't lie . . .  it was pretty dang fun!! And Tommy's a pretty great driver too! We fished for a few hours until about dark and headed back to camp :)

After pampering the boat up after it's hard work taking us fishing, we finally got a good fire going after a failed attempt. We cooked hotdogs (the best way to eat hotdogs!) and marshmallows, sat by the amazing fire (by this time), and then went to bed.

We tried this camping thing last year too and it was not a great camping experience . . . downhill slope, hard ground with rocks in our backs . . :/ So this year we set up on a more grassy area and were not on a slope! But the ground was still not all that comfortable :( *Note for next trip. .  get some kind of pad! But we were warm! Uncomfortable, but warm.

I said earlier that the wind had died down . . . sort of. Well there we are sleeping in our tent and 5am rolls around and the wind is blowing again! So strong that it wakes us up because the tent is like blowing on top of our faces! So we try to go back to sleep for 50min but decided it's time to pack up and head home . . . at 6am . . .  in the dark. So once again in the blowing wind, we get everything out of our tent, stuff it in the truck, take down our tent and head home!

Memorable camping trip down in the books!

Spring Break 2015

Since Tommy and I don't get a spring break anymore since we both work and I'm not in school anymore . . . when it was my families spring break and they came up to Twin, we made it our spring break too!

The first weekend of April, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th, two of my sisters and their families came up to Twin for their spring break! (And we missed the ones that didn't come!) Friday we took them to the waterfall with no name . . haha the one you can go behind on your way down to Centennial Park, to jump time, to Johnny Corinos where we stuffed ourselves with the most delicious, my favorite bread and oil, and then bowling!

Saturday I took my sister and her girls to a community Easter egg hunt while Tommy took her husband fishing. Later that day we Zipped the Snake (which was soo much fun!!), went to Gerties of course, and ended the night with swimming at the hotel!

The nameless waterfall :)

Ready to zipline! Don't mind my tired looking self . . . . ?

Sunday (Easter) I had to work :( So I left Tommy's basket out and said goodbye to my sister since she was the only one awake and left for work. But I felt lucky to have gotten Friday and Saturday off  with Tommy as well, so we could spend a couple days with my family! It was a great spring break spent with a few of my favorite people!!

**BONUS**
So just kind of a funny bonus story . . . We went to Gerties Saturday night, because you can't come to Twin and not eat Gerties!, but the service was super slow! Like we waited forever to even be served and then in-between pizzas took forever! And even worse we waited for like 30min for a dessert pizza to even be brought around! Anyways the next week I read in the news that the Wednesday before, there was a guy eating there that threatened to shoot up the place or something if the service didn't speed up and if he didn't get pizza faster . . . . . You'd think that they would have learned from being threatened to be shot up . . . . . apparently not though! Haha anyways I just thought that was funny when I read that in the news :)

"I'm Feelin 22"!

This post is pretty late, I know, but my computer took a poop and I havn't had it for almost a month, and I didn't even want to attempt writing a blog post on my phone!

My birthday was March 10! And I turned 22! Getting pretty old! ;) Tommy and I both had to work on my birthday though so the weekend before he took me shopping in Boise

 We met his parents up there and they took us to dinner at the one and only Texas, where I got sung to and ice-cream, but didn't have to ride the saddle! Thank goodness! ;)

Then on my birthday my husband did not forget me and sent me the most beautiful flower arrangement!

He did good! Everyone was so impressed!! And I don't care what anyone says, flowers are one of the best things someone can give to you! I love them!! And he surprised me with

a new pretty fishing pole!

After I got off work we went out to dinner and decided to try Slice since we havn't yet. I looked up the hours at work and it said open till late.. so by the time we got there it was about 8:15 and the waiter said we had 5 minutes to order.. ? 8:30 is not very "late" to stay open! haha so we decided to go somewhere else and not be rushed to order so we went to Golden Corral, which closed at 9 and by this time it was like 8:40, but they told us it wasn't to late and to come on in, so we did :)

We love cotton candy! Well at least I do!!

And I can't forget my favorite birthday wish I got!!

 From the cutest and my favorite little girl Bentley!!

And a couple days after my birthday we had a game night with some friends... so it was more like a birthday week! And it was a great one!

Finally Something New!

So whenever you talk to someone and they ask "So what's new?" Tommy's and my answer is always the same.. "Oh nothing much, just same old same. Tommy's just working and I'm still going to school.." But not anymore!! We have a few new things going on now that changes up the convo a bit :)

When my Mom would ask I would always tell her, "there will be something new when I graduate from school", so now that that has happened, life has changed! So to start off our new life adventures, you all know I passed my boards (I think I've stated that enough times!), and I got a job at the hospital! I am working on the medical floor, which when people ask what that is I tell them it's where people are just sick.. they're not going or coming from surgery, they're not in the ER, or ICU, or having babies.. they are sick, (so like when you think of a hospital in general, that's what the medical floor is :) ) So I am really excited to be working there because I am still leaning toward going into ER and trauma, and the medical floor is a great basis for going that direction! I also am very blessed to have gotten a job so soon and being able to start working and making money!! I'm working full time, but on a varied shift so I'll switch back and forth monthly, I believe, between nights and days, which will be interesting because I have never worked nights before and really LOVE my sleep!! So we'll see how it goes!



I have waited forever to have that blue RN badge!!

So that's the first new thing going on.. the second change is we finally moved into a bigger place!! Yay! We have lived in a one bedroom, tiny apartment for the last 1 1/2 years and were ready for an upgrade! I went over to one of my friends apartment one time and loved it! It was so big and spacious and had so much storage, and washer and dryer hookups!! We decided that once I was done with school and got a job we would move there... and everything fell right into place and I finished school, got a job, passed Nclex, and we went to put our name on the waiting list for these very popular, rarely open apartments, and they happened to have a 3 bedroom coming available!! Just what we wanted! So we signed the lease!

The apartment wasn't supposed to be available until the 3rd week of Feb. which is when I would be working nights and trying to pack and move and sleep.. But life fell into place once again and it became available the first week of Feb. before I even started my new job and had all the time in the world to pack and move! (In which I also had time to make these cute cupcakes for my sisters birthday.. just a quick side note and picture ;) )

 

I love to bake and just need someone to pawn it off on! Haha

So we are moved into a spacious 3 bedroom apartment with a living room the size of our whole old apartment! A kitchen with 3x more cupboards, a closet in the hall to put coats and my vacuum in so it's not just sitting in the hall, washer and dryer hookups so I don't have to trudge out to the box car to do laundry, in an actual laundry room/pantry with tons of shelves and storage!, two bedrooms with awesome, huge closets, two bathrooms (one in our bedroom), our bedroom which is huge and with an amazing spacious walk in closet, a patio for our grill and even a little storage shed!! (Sorry, a little braggy in this paragraph ;) )

 

We got moved last weekend and then I was at orientation at the hospital all week (9 hours a day in class! :( ) and barely got the house actually unpacked yesterday! It's been pretty crazy! And I'm actually excited to do laundry!! It's so much more fun when you have your own washer and dryer, in your house!

 

But that's all that's new for now!

The Dreaded NCLEX!

I started this post about two weeks ago and then things got crazy (I'll explain in the next post! ;) ), so I am barely finishing it up! And I debated on whether to post about the Nclex or not but I knew if I didn't I would forget how "fun" it was! (I kind of already have :/ )

So you know how you do something or go through something that really sucks during the time but then as time goes on you start to forget and your like ehh it wasn't that bad.. (that's why we continue to get pregnant and have babies ;) ), after I took the Nclex I was determined that I would Never feel like that about the Nclex! I would never forget how much "fun" it was! But I have.. so I'm glad I got most of it documented before I went "ehhh it wasn't that bad!" ;)

Tommy and I went up to Boise the night before since by test was at 8am, I would be totally stressed driving from Twin that early! We went to the hotel and I stayed and studied while he went to a fishing store. When he got back we went to find a place to eat and everywhere had like an hour or even two hour wait! And I definitely could not handle waiting that long when I could be studying! Major Stressor! Haha so we finally found a place that only had a 20 minute wait and ate there, it was a really good BBQ place. Got back to the hotel and practiced some final questions and went to bed... to only be awake at 3am! And not being able to go back to sleep! I really thought about just getting up and studying some more but I knew that would make me really tired when it came to test time.. So I finally got back to sleep for a couple hours. We had to get up earlier than I wanted because the hotel didn't offer comp breakfast! :( Seriously who does that! Anyways so we had to go eat at I-hop.

Went and took the test... The Hardest Test of My Life!.. while Tommy went to Cabelas. I was done by 10 so we went to the mall and walked around a little bit, but I was seriously so drained I just wanted to go home. We started on our way home stopping at a scrub store to pick up some navy blues in hopes that I passed the test and could start working :) Ate some pizza, got a rocky mt apple and headed home, in which I slept to decrease my stress level for a bit, since I had to wait 48 hours to know if I passed or not! Talk about major stress for 2 days!


This is me after the test!

So the nclex, is the state test nursing grads have to take to get their license to actually practice nursing. I think it consists of like 235 or 250 questions or so, I can't remember, and gives you 5-6 hours (I cant remember that either-I'm washing my brain clean of this experience!) But it can shut off at any question if you reach the passing mark, or can shut of at any question if you reach the failing mark.. so you can never really tell! I took the test in about 100 questions (stopped watching which question I was on after about 85) and it took me 2 hours before it shut off.............. haha that's how I felt.. but I was GLAD to be DONE!

I won't try and explain what the test was like because I have tried several times and can't.. but I'll tell ya this, it was like no other test I have ever taken before... worst test of my life... a test that made me doubt myself more than I ever have.. and nothing I studied was on it! So on the subject of doubt, the more the day(s) went on, the more I doubted myself. I told Tommy, "I don't even know if I passed" and "If I didn't pass, I seriously wont be surprised" so it was not a healthy 48 hours!

But after 48 hours of feeling sick to my stomach, doubting myself, worrying about what I would tell my new job I just got hired at, exc, exc, I was getting ready to go to the gym one morning at about 7:30 and it hadn't quite been 48 hours yet but I decided to check real quick and my results were in! You had to purchase your results if you wanted them early (totally worth it! Why have 10 days of stress?!) so I entered my card info probably about 7-8 times because I was so nervous and shaking! I finally got it entered and..

Holy Smokes! Was I sooo relieved! and happy!! I immediately texted Tommy and absolutely loved his reaction!


He was a doubter ;)

So I jumped up and down and screamed a few times and then went to the gym to get all my energy out :)

When I got home there was a knock on my door and it was no other than my amazing, amazing in-laws with a surprise congratulations gift for me! Made my Whole day!!

I was glad I passed because I did NOT want to take that test again!! And I had no idea how I would have studied for the second go round.

So there it is, in a nutshell, (A big nutshell!), documentation of the biggest test of my life before I forgot what it was like!

Sincerely,
Kylie McMurdie RN ;)