"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 ;)

Our Snowboarding Adventure!

One of my favorite things to do in the winter is snowboarding!! And I have a brand new board and hadn't been in three years! So on the weekend of the 9-11th we headed down to Bear Lake Thursday night after Tommy got off work (in which we lost my car antenna on the way) Haha That's a different story, but my car is just old and falling apart! Ha my drivers window doesn't go down, my cd player doesn't work, my cigarette lighter doesn't work (not that I need them to light one up, just for chargers), my volume goes up sometimes when I turn it down, my antenna is now gone which my radio now no longer works.. but hey it still runs!! So I'm sure we'll keep it for awhile! :)

Back to snowboarding.. Tommy had never been, he had been skiing but not boarding (which is much better!), So I was really excited when he agreed to go with me! We spent the first little while, probably about 6 times on the bunny hill so he could get the hang of it down and then headed up the lift to do a big run!

First time off the lift and he's a pro.. Didn't even fall..
(Lot's of people do.. Even if it's their 50th time off the lift ;) )

We had an awesome time and Tommy did awesome! Caught right on! At the end of the day we were cold and wet with sore legs, knees, and bottoms.. but it was well worth it!


We took two of my nephews with us and on our way down from our last run we saw Colt was helping the little beginners get on the tow rope.. it was cute! :)

 The fog was so cool that day, I tried to get good pictures (as you can tell by my million pictures).. but the pictures just were not as awesome as seeing it in person!

This was at the top of a run and going down the run looked like we were going into nothing because you couldn't see anything! It was eerily cool!

There were several angles that looked like it was the ocean, or a huge blanket.. it was so dang awesome!

The last picture of the day since the boys were off and running at the beginning of the day and I didn't get a picture of us all

Other adventures from our trip included Tommy going trap shooting Saturday (the real reason we went down!), Me going out to my parents to give them their very late Christmas, Playing games  and eating dinner at my brothers, Playing games and having dinner at my sisters, And driving back to Twin with no radio :)

We Sure Love Visiting Bear Lake!!

The Best Three Years!

I am barely getting to this post because I have been studying to take my licensure test, but today, I need a break! So today I will post a post due two weeks ago! :)

Two weeks ago, the 5th of January, marked Tommy's and my 3 year anniversary! So since it was the first time that he had it off (besides our actual wedding day!) we decided to go somewhere and do something. So we booked a room at the Black Swan Inn in Poky... The Caveman :)
 
I had to turn my flash on because the room was Really dark so you couldn't see anything in the picture, so that's why the pictures look kind of weird..


It was pretty dang awesome!! I was highly impressed!!

 

We even got our very own welcome! Pretty Special! ;)

3 years together and it has flown by!! Seriously though! And we are still Madly in love!!
(mushy, I know :) )

My husband has a hard time smiling! I always have to tell him "ok, now smile!".. It was half way there ;)

The shower/tub was awesome, kinda like a waterfall, the water just came out of the ceiling (you can kind of see it)

 And this is what our bubble bath looked like (because who doesn't take a bubble bath in a huge tub, With Jets, and a leopard print curtain, that you can watch tv from?!).. I didn't take any pictures because knowing my phone luck I would have dropped it.. But seriously though I kept adding bubble bath because it wasn't bubbling up... until we turned on the jets!! Then it turned to this! It really did too! The bubbles just kept growing and growing and soon I could barely see Tommy's face (like this picture)! We had to keep draining water so the bubbles would stay in the tub and not flow over and get everywhere!... My personal favorite story of this years anniversary! :)

 So after we checked in, we left and went to eat at.. (bet you can't guess).. Texas Roadhouse! And not only once this trip.. but Twice! Anyways, after we got done eating, Tommy dug a sticky note out of his pocket that was folded into an envelope (pretty tricky, I'd say!). So I opened it.. and there it was!

A beautiful wedding band he had bought on our cruise from Grand Turk! It is for when I go to work because putting gloves on and off constantly over a raised ring is not fun! And that's what I do all day! I was so happy I cried! And I think it was mainly because it was the thought that counted, Tommy got it without talking to me, picked it out, and surprised me with it.. that's what did me in! ;)

The next day we spent the day going to stores, went to lunch at... Texas... and to the movie Unbroken.. It was pretty good, but quite long and a little slow moving, and very torturous :( And I won't lie, it was kind of awkward coming out of the movie and passing Japanese people who were in the movie with us :/ haha (the movie was about WWII, against the Japs), but that was probably just me haha But we had a great time celebrating the best 3 years of our life and can not wait for the year(s) that lie ahead!!

Merry Christmas! (from Idaho this time)

Be grateful your getting this post, and the last one (The Cruise) for that matter! I sure am grateful that I could post these! You see a few days after Christmas my phone fell in the toilet and was ruined! It wouldn't even turn on, and yes I even tried putting it in rice. So I took it into the store to get a new one and they said if it wont turn on there is no way they can get the pictures off of it! :( I thought that I had lost ALL my pictures and ALL the pictures from the cruise! I was VERY sad! Lucky for me I had icloud turned on to back my phone up (I didn't think I had it turned on), and it had backed it up the day before! I was SOOO Happy!! So anyways.. at least I'm grateful! ;)

When we got back from out cruise Tommy's sister came and picked us up from the airport (it was Freeezing!!) and we stayed in Utah for a couple days.
 
Monday night we went to temple square since Tommy had never seen the lights and since that is one of my favorite places ever! Especially at Christmas time! I was so excited we finally got to go!




Even though I knew it was impossible, this is what I wanted our wedding pictures to look like, except with snow on the ground! Just because I love Christmas lights so much! But instead we were blessed with 50 degree weather (and no snow :( ) and I'm thankful for that, so we didn't all freeze :)



Our attempt to take a picture with a tree that seriously looked like the tree of life, it was Sooo pretty! But as you can see, it didn't work out that well.. in fact none of the pictures did :/

Just the tree.. this picture didn't work out either

After walking around temple square we attempted to go see the Christ, but there was a huge line you had to wait in so we just looked at it from outside.
 
That night we drove to Tommy's brothers house and spent the night there so we could spend some time with them. We went shooting the next morning, in which the bullets were forgotten so we shot what we had, came back and ate lunch and hit the road to head home.


Tommy helping Hunter shoot.. What a good uncle!





I absolutely love the Utah mountains! And the Payson temple and clouds were beautiful too!

But trying to get a good picture with my phone, in the back of a van, going 75mph doesn't turn out too well..
this is the best I could get

We came home the Christmas Adam (the night before Christmas eve ;) ) because Tommy had to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day again this year (he's worked them and Thanksgiving all 3 years we've been married! :( ) So I spend Christmas Eve with his parents at the grandparents and he came over that night. That night I sent Tommy to Twin so he could go to work the next morning and I went to Gooding.. I guess you could say I have separation issues! Even thought is was just for one night, I did not want to let him go and send him home without me.. That was not fun at all!! :( Haha So we celebrated Christmas on the 26th this year.


We had a good Christmas! And with Tommy's chocolate daughter in the background ;) Tommy's main gift was a bunch of fishing lures and my main gift were new running shoes!! I had been needing them for a long time! I had been using the same ones that I used for working out and CNA'ing for 4 years! Oh and graduation ;)

Yep those are the ones haha

Ooop there's his girl! haha
(Sorry a few random pictures added in.. I have a little time on my hands..)

Tommy and me last year and this, I just liked these pictures side by side because first of all, even though he's still Hot as ever.. Tommy looks like a mountain man in last years (he looks much better in this years!) and second, my hair looks a lot healthier and longer this year! Yay!

 Merry Christmas from the McMurdies!