Christmas Pics

I just got a nice, new camera from Dereck for Christmas so I figured I would try it out and take a few pictures of the kids with it. The pictures I took came out pretty cute but I think I am far from being anything close to professional.

The New House!

House News!

So here I am once again giving some news about our house situation. It seems neverending sometimes. The bad news is.......the house we are in now that we were trying to buy completely fell through about 3 weeks ago. After much waiting and convincing, the bank decided to deny our offer and closed out our file. The good news is......we found another house we loved that same day and it is only a block and a half from where we are at now. The even greater news is......this house is not a short sale (although it is bank owned) which means we don't have to go through the whole long process and waiting. And the even greater news is.......the bank accepted our offer and we now have the paperwork going to close. We should be able to close within 30 days or less and we can move in! Yay! So here is a picture of the house and I will put up more after we do our home inspection on Friday.....

Wax Museum

Have I mentioned I love my daughter's school?!? Haylee's school does some really neat things throughout the year and the great thing is is that the preschool class participates in most everything that the older kids do. Her school just put on their very own wax museum where they dressed up to represent a book that they have read and then displayed themselves in their classrooms as a character from that book. The school does this project to help the students enjoy a reading project and gain a love of reading. Haylee's class dressed up as mice from Cinderella and her teacher played the part of Cinderella. They had to be still like wax for 30 minutes while parents and other classes came through to see their project. Haylee had a really fun time with the project and she even made her own mouse ears in class for the big day.

Happy B-Day Haylee

Haylee turned the big 4 last Wednesday! I have to be honest, it makes me feel a little old knowing I have a 4 year old now running around. Haylee was so excited for her birthday this year that she had been talking about what she wanted since Brooke's birthday. We decided to let Haylee choose what she wanted for her birthday dinner and her fun activity this year. So she chose to go to Gertie's (which is an all you can eat pizza place) and bowling. She also did a birthday party with her preschool class at school which consisted of letting the kids decorate their own cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles (what was I thinking on that one!). More pictures to come later.....

Happy B-Day Brooke!

Since both Dereck and I had to work on Brooke's birthday, we decided to wait until the weekend to do any kind of presents, cake, and partying. So on Sunday, we went to Thousand Springs and did a bbq on the river and went swimming. We all had a lot of fun and Brooke enjoyed her birthday party and her own cake even more.

My Baby Turned 1!!!

On Wednesday, my baby girl turned 1! I can't believe how fast this past year has gone by.....

These were pictures that were taken in the hospital when Brooke was born.....

It is amazing how fast kids grow up! It seems like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital. Brooke Lynn has gone from a cute little newborn that I couldn't keep my eyes off of to a walking, babbling hellion that I can't seem to keep up with. I can't wait to see what is to come in the next year for her and for many years to come.....

Our New House!

For anyone that doesn't know......we moved away from Pocatello a few weeks ago and have made our new home in Jerome. It is really ironic that this is where I started out in Idaho and now after so many years, I have come back. It was not really planned this way but I am working in Twin Falls and Dereck is working in Gooding so Jerome just happens to be about right in the middle. We are now getting settled in and I finally got around to taking some pictures of our new home. So here you go.....

We are renting the house while we are waiting for everything to finish going through and close. And just to top everything off, we got a great deal on the house and it is in a great neighborhood. We still have a lot of work to get done in the back yard (I used to call it my little "weed patch" but Dereck chopped down the weeds) but it will all be worth it. So to make a long story short.....we love our new house and we wouldn't trade it for anything different.

Shoshone Falls

A few weeks ago, we made a trip to Twin Falls with the kids to search for a place to live and while we were there we decided to take a quick detour to Shoshone Falls and Dierkes Lake.

Life Has Been Crazy Lately!

I know it has been a long time since I have blogged but we have been BUSY! So much has happened since I last blogged and things are finally starting to feel a little more routine so I felt it was time to put up some new pictures and let everyone know what we have been doing for the last month. I now have a job at St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center and have been working for about a month now on the Women and Children's floor. Despite having to drive back and forth from Rupert to Twin Falls for the first two weeks or so, I have really liked my job so far. Dereck quit his job with Simplot to take a position with Glanbia Milk in Gooding which meant that we could finally find a place to live in the Twin Falls area. So to make a long story short......we found a house we loved in Jerome, placed an offer on it, had the offer accepted by the sellers, and are now renting it while we are finishing up the buying process. So between starting new jobs, working, moving, and trying to spend as much time together as family, our life has been crazy but we love how everything has come together.

I Got A Job!

You heard me correctly.....I finally have a job offer! I had interviews with the Medical, Surgical, and Women and Children's units at St. Luke's Magic Valley Regional Medical Center in Twin Falls on Thursday. I was asked to come back for a second interview for the Women and Children's position this next Wednesday. But on Friday afternoon, I received a phone call from St. Luke's offering me a position on the Medical floor. So that complicated things a bit considering I really want the Women and Children's position. They were understanding of this predicament and are allowing me to interview with the Women and Children's unit on Wednesday and still holding my offer on the Medical floor until I know whether I will have an offer for the Women and Children's unit. So regardless of the situation, I know I will have a job with them. I will start orientation on July 6 no matter what position I take and will start working on the floor the week after that. Now to work out all the other details like a job for Dereck and our housing situation.....

And The Results Are In......

I took my NCLEX-RN exam on Wednesday in Boise. I have to say it was pretty rough and I didn't know how to feel after it was all over. I had no idea how I did and I felt like I had failed the biggest exam I would ever take. After worrying myself sick for the last couple of days, I have found out the results.....

I PASSED!!!

I am now officially a registered nurse.

My Little Brother Graduated!

I still can't believe it. My little brother graduated from high school on Friday night. I am so proud of him! Eric graduated from Minico High School with honors and in the top ten of his class. Looking at him graduate the other night made me realize how fast time flies and how old I really am getting.

Waiting for graduation to start.....

Still waiting in anticipation.....

Eric Bohm, Top Ten Scholar with Honors. Walking across the stage.....

Silly string everywhere. Wahoo! Eric graduated.

Just a Few Pictures of the Kids

I DID IT!!!!

I finally graduated from college! After four years, countless hours of studying, cramming for tests, procrastinating papers til the last minute, and staying up late working on care plans, I made it through Idaho State University's Nursing program. It look a lot of motivation, hard work, and commitment as well as smiles, tears, a few emotional breakdowns, and time away from my family. But in the end all of that was worth it. Since my graduation, I have taken some time to reflect on the last four years of my life and all that I have accomplished. In those four years, I managed to give birth to my first daughter, get married, make some really good friends, give birth to my second daughter, and graduate with my Bachelor's of Science in Nursing. And I would have never have been able to make it through all of that without the support of my family and friends.

A Graduation Update!

It has been a while since I posted so I am just going to do a quick update for everyone. No pictures for this posting but I will have a bunch for the next posting. So I finally made it to the end......no more school, no more finals, no more classes, no more clinicals, and no more homework! I am graduating on Friday from the Nursing program in a special pinning ceremony and the official graduation is on Saturday (even though I am not walking). It feels surreal to be graduating from college and moving on with my life. I think this is one of the most exciting things that has happened in my life behind getting married and giving birth to my children. All of the hard work and time away from my family is finally going to pay off. Unfortunately, I still have yet to find a job but I am staying positive and I know something will come along soon. If things work out the right way, I will be working on the Med/Surg floor at Cassia Regional Medical Center in Burley. Dereck also applied for a job at Dot Foods in Burley that he is more than qualified for. So hopefully those jobs will come through for us and we can get a new start. Even though I do not really care to go back to my hometown, I think this may be a good start for us and a positive thing as we have lots of family there to help us out. Anyways.....I just feel so blessed I have an understanding and supportive family and friends that have been there to get me through school and now to get me started in my career. Thanks everyone!

Job Updates, Moving, Etc.

It has only been a week since I last blogged but I feel like a ton has happened lately. To begin with.....this last weekend we were doing some job hunting and found a maintenance mechanic position opening at the Simplot in Caldwell. We were feeling a little optimistic about this job because they wanted previous maintenance experience (which Dereck doesn't have) but decided to go ahead and revise Dereck's resume and submit it anyways. On Tuesday, while checking the Boise newspaper for nursing jobs, I came across a job in Richland, Washington at Kadlec Medical Center that sounded to be quite promising. Feeling frustrated about my job situation, I decided to call the facility to get some more information and left a message for the nurse recruiter. On Wednesday, Dereck received a call from the Simplot in Caldwell and they asked him if he could do a phone interview the next morning. At this point, I was feeling pretty bummed and a little jealous as I have submitted about 5 applications in the last month and have not heard a thing. But anyways....on Thursday morning, he had his phone interview and they told him they would get back with him in the next week or so. By 2 o'clock, he had received a phone call back from the Simplot in Caldwell asking him if he could come there on Monday to take his JSE test and tour the plant. He also got invited go to lunch with all of the maintenance leads in the plant. Later that day, I finally received a phone call back from Kadlec Medical Center. After finding out some more information from the nurse recruiter and talking with him about the available Pediatrics position, I was starting to feel really good about what this hospital had to offer and then the nurse recruiter offered me a phone interview for next Friday. So as you can now see, we have a slight problem. Dereck is probably going to get a job offer at the Simplot in Caldwell and I am doing a phone interview with a hospital in Washington. And to complicate things, we still have yet to hear anything on our house. So I guess we have some big decisions to make.

It Has Been a While!

I know I promised that I was going to catch up on my posts before but I am lacking on the blogging once again and never really did catch up. I completely missed posting pictures of Brooke at 6 months old and now a whole month has already passed and she is 7 months old. I have still been really busy with school and clinicals but our lives are finally slowing down a bit. I am officially finished with clinicals and I am now on Spring Break. I graduate in about a month and a half and it is starting to become surreal that I will actually been done with school and will be moving on into another chapter in our lives. I have started applying for jobs in the Boise area and am hoping a Pediatrics position I applied for will come through. Our house has gone through the seller's mortgage company and is supposedly in the final stages before we can claim it as our own. So things are moving right along and we are getting very excited to see what the future will hold for us.

Brooke is now 7 months old! When I took her in for her 6 month well child check she was 16 lbs. 7 oz. and 26.5" long. Apparently, she also has a huge head and the doctor was concerned that her head circumference had increased quite a bit since her last appointment. So we now have to take her back in to the clinic in a couple of months to have her head circumference rechecked. Anyways.....I am not too concerned about any problems with her head as she is still reaching her milestones way ahead of time. Brooke is now crawling all over the place and is trying to eat everything in sight. She has also started attempting to pull herself up to a stand and although she has not accomplished that yet, she can hold onto things and stay standing. Brooke's hair was starting to get too long so I finally succumbed to temptation and had a friend trim up her hair for me about a week ago (Thanks Randee!). Although it was a little hard for me to part with her hair, she looks much better with it cut and she is liking the fact that it is out of her eyes.

Haylee is becoming quite the little smarty pants and she amazes me everyday with little things that she has picked up from other places and other people. She even told my mom this last weekend that my mom was too old to come and play tag with her (haha). Eric is playing tennis for the high school this year and has gotten Haylee hooked on the idea of tennis. My mom even got Haylee her own tennis racket this last weekend. She actually is not too bad so who knows maybe she will be the next Venus or Serena Williams. Spring is finally here and it is starting to warm up which means the kids and I can spend more time outside. Here is a few pictures of the kids from the last week or so.....

Another House Update!

So.....we just got a call the other day from our real estate agent saying our offer was now with a negotiator from the bank. He said that it should be about another 15 days or so before we hear our final answer. We are so excited that the whole process is moving along and now all we have left to do is hope and pray. More to come later......

State Wrestling Tournament

Eric wrestling a kid from Wood River. (Eric is in the red and gold)

Eric had a bittersweet victory in overtime while wrestling at Regionals a couple of weeks ago and ended up making it in to the State tournament. Since the wrestling tournament was at Holt Arena and Eric is a senior, I figured I should probably go and suffer from the sore butt and legs I was going to get from sitting there all day. Eric started out the wrestling tournament with a loss but came back to take his next two matches to move on to Saturday. Unfortunately, he was matched up with the 3rd seed in the State for his first match on Saturday and he ended up losing this match which put him out of the tournament. But to make a long two day story short, I actually enjoyed the tournament and the sore butt and legs was worth it. Even though they don't hand out awards or titles past 6th place, Eric would have taken 7th place and I am a proud big sister. Congratulations Eric!

Just a Quick Update!

It has been a while! Things have been so busy with school and everything else that I haven't taken the time to blog. So I am just going to hit on a couple of things that have happened lately to get everybody updated. I only have 10 weeks of school left! I have been very busy lately trying to get clinical hours done and out of the way but I will be done with most everything besides class by the middle of March. Dereck has just been working and working. He has been on days for the last month and I have to say it has been kinda nice having him home at night. But this is short-lived as he goes back to nights next week. The offer on our house in Nampa was finally accepted by the seller and we are now waiting for it to go through the bank. Haylee had strep throat a few weeks ago and luckily did not pass it on to any of us. Brooke just turned 6 months old last week. She is a little monster and tries to get into everything (I will post 6 month pictures this weekend). Eric just got done wrestling at regionals last week and won his final match in overtime to make it to the state tournament. It was pretty intense! The state wrestling tournament starts tomorrow and it just so happens that it is in Pocatello so that means I don't have to go too far to watch. So that is it for now.....more to come later.

5 Months

So here it is January 31st and I have yet to post some 5 month old pictures of Brooke. I am only 12 days late and it is already halfway to her turning 6 months! Oh well I guess that is what happens when you are busy. Anyways.....Brooke is still the same healthy, happy baby as she always has been. Since we came back from our trip to Denver, she has figured out how to roll from her back to her stomach and then from her stomach to her back again. Once she figured this out she soon found that rolling was a good mode of transportation. So she rolls from place to place to get where she wants to go or get what she wants. Since then she has managed to almost eat a hair clip and a granola bar. Brooke can also sit on her own now and only falls over if she gets too excited or loses concentration on sitting there. She is already trying to get into everything and it won't be long before she is crawling all over the place and even walking. I can't believe Brooke is almost 6 months old!

Brooke absolutely loves playing in this exersaucer. This thing can keep her entertained for quite a while so I use it when I am trying to get some school work or house work done.