Reaching for our dreams isn't easy, but it's worth it!

Brandon has been doing reserves training for Jefferson County for the last 4 months. He passed all the tests except one. He needed to be able to run a 1.5 miles in 17.5 minutes. When he did it back in August he was at like 21 minutes. He began running at the gym and training and when he tested in early November he had shaved his time down to 18.5 minutes. That was an improvement, but just wasn't enough! The training was coming to an end and the sheriff wanted to swear the reserves in before Christmas. Brandon trained himself nearly every night. And when his final running test day came around he finished his 1.5 miles in 17 minutes and 4 seconds! Such a relief to hear he passed the test!! That meant he was going to be sworn in as a reserve deputy! :] On Monday, December 12, 2011 Brandon was sworn in by the Sheriff of Jefferson County as a Deputy! I am so proud of him!

As a reserve deputy, Brandon has the same authority as a regular full time deputy- just he doesn't get paid. Brandon has to volunteer a minimum of 120 hours a year to remain a reserve. Basically reserves are volunteer police officers who help ht ecounty out. BUT Brandon wants a job not a volunteer experience... Well when a position opens up for a deputy position the Sheriff asks for names of reserves who have put in extra time and gone above and beyond in helping out. If Brandon puts in the time and effort he will get a job there in the near future. It could take up to a year or so, but he has his foot in the door :] This has brought himone step closer to getting his career started. I love him and can't wait for him to have his dream job. And if I do say so myself, he looks good in uniform ;]

Who Cut the Cheese?

November 28th was one I will never let Brandon forget!

I went to work at 6am and got off at 6pm. When I got home I decided to make a nice dinner for me and Brandon before I snuggled up on the couch to watch some more Christmas movies. :) Well I just finished making the twice baked potatoes and was just about to throw them in the oven to let the cheese melt when Brandon came home. He asked if he could help with anything. I told him to get the country fried steak out of the freezer and put it on the pan, so I could throw it in the oven with the potatoes. He did that and then I thought he was done helping. Just as I turned to get something out of the fridge I hear him yelp. Next thing I know Brandon is over the sink saying he cut himself. My first instinct was to go get the box of band aids. I brought the box into the kitchen and he's crying. I didn't know what was so wrong. I assumed it was a little paper cut or something, but no I looked at his finger and blood was just gushing out! I grabbed a towel out of the drawer and told Brandon to apply pressure cause we were going to have to take him to get stitches! It was so deep. I threw my shoes and coat on as fast as I could. Brandon was freaking out because he knew we couldn't afford a doctors bill and I was like "okay you get in the car or I cut the whole finger off now!" Let's just say I've never seen him get out to the car so fast. And in the car he was starting to panic and hyperventilate. I drove him to Readicare. We went in and the receptionist told us to have a seat and fill out the paperwork. Brandon couldn't fill the paperwork out so I did it and realized that I knew none of his information! Luckily he calmed down enough that he was able to tell me the information I needed. We had to wait almost and hour in the waiting room. His finger didn't quit bleeding and had soaked right through the towel, so the receptionist got me a ton of gauze. People in the waiting room looked at us like ~ "Shouldn't you be in an emergency room." And it was while we were waiting that I realized that I looked like a freak in my pajamas and fuzzy socks sticking out of my brown dress shoes. haha oh well! We finally got back to a room and the nurse took his vitals and then had him put his hand in a tub of sterile water. After a while they put a tourniquet on his finger to cut off the blood flow so it would slow the bleeding. Turns out Brandon has good circulation! His finger still gushed out blood. The Nurse Practitioner finally came in and started to stitch up the finger. It took 8 stitches total! I was completely fascinated at how they did stitches and was kinda excited about watching it done ;] Around eleven we were finally able to go home. Once we were home I noticed that in all the rush we had left dinner out on the counter, so I threw it in the oven real fast and cleaned the blood out of my kitchen sink. In case you were wondering- HOW did he manage to cut his finger so deep? Answer: He was trying to cut a piece of cheese and instead of cutting down onto the cutting board, he cut it sideways and lost control of the knife and it cut right through his thumb! Gives a whole new meaning to cut the cheese hahaha lol :] The next day I went to work at 6am and Brandon came in at about 9. Everyone asked him what happened cause he had a huge bandage covering his thumb. I think he got to tell the story to nearly everyone at work!

If you are grossed out by blood don't look at the pics below...



Things I learned:

- Brandon does not do well with blood or injuries

- I am glad I have some nursing skills and remembered to tell him to apply pressure and to remain calm and try to breath because I wouldn't be able to carry him in if he had passed out

- I need to know Brandon's information in case of a medical emergency

- Don't allow Brandon to use our sharp knives

- We now have a new understanding of the saying I cut the cheese :]

My Birthday :]

It's been a while since I had the time to blog, but let's start with my Birthday!
Spent it exactly how I wanted :] Got home from work at 6 am, slept most of the day away and missed church. When I woke up it was dinner time and Brandon took me out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse.When we came home we set up and decorated our Christmas tree! And decorated the apartment! My grandparents stopped by to wish me a Happy Birthday and visited for a while. When they went home we finished our decorating and cuddled up on the couch to watch Christmas movies :]

Brandon putting ornament hangers on the ornaments!

Decorating the Tree :]

All done :]

Beautiful Angel

Nutcrackers!

Window Clings (I have them for almost every holiday!)

Merry Christmas

Fun placemats!

I love the roses Brandon got me for my Birthday!

                           

I found this reindeer magnet at the dollar store and thought it was so cute :]

Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and 20th Birthday all within 4 days!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! I love that it gives me an excuse to over eat lol :] This was me and Brandon's first Thanksgiving since we've been married. My parents invited us over for dinner and of course we weren't going to pass up that offer! No cooking or cleaning up the mess woohoo!

So my mom was cooking all the main things that morning and was just starting the potatoes when she accidentally set her hand on a burner that was turned on! OUCH!! She burnt her hand pretty bad, but was okay. Nevertheless, my dad got stuck finishing up the cooking... haha he basically can only make rice pudding jk ;] I will give him credit he did a pretty good job. Me and Brandon went over at about 3 and had a wonderful dinner with my family. After dinner we looked through the newspaper ads... AND then we found it! A 40 inch TV at Walmart for $248. We weren't going to do the whole black Friday thing, but this sale changed our mind.

We left my parents house at 7:30 and figured we go stalk out Walmart to see where they had the TVs located. When we found the place there was already a line. At 8 we asked a Walmart worker how many TVs they had and how many people were in line. The guy said his manager was counting right then and that they only had 50 TVs! We decided to stand at the end of the line to see what number we would be. When he got to us he said 49! We were second to last! Guess we weren't leaving anytime soon if we wanted one! Brandon had a few things he needed to do that night, so he left and I stood there. Got to know the people around me pretty good. The girl behind me was really nice and we chatted for about an hour or so. BUT the lady in front of me was driving me up the wall! She had about 6 energy drinks during the 4 hours we were in line.... Holy Cow that lady needed to calm down! Anyways Brandon finally came back at about 10 and stood in line while I went to find a cart. Had to go all the way out to the parking lot to get one. On my way back to our TV line I picked up some awesome Rubbermaid containers (which I really really wanted to get while they were on sale) :] Anyways that last two hours seemed to go by pretty fast, but people kept trying to get in line behind us. And that crazy energy drink last was gettin all worked up that they might beat us up to get our TV! What a nut! haha and plus I had Brandon to fight off anyone tryin to steal our TV from our cart lol We finally got our TV in the cart and headed towards the checkout. On the way we scored some movies for 2 bucks. We checked out in like 10 minutes which was a surprise to me. Then we headed home.

Brandon and I decided this was our big Christmas present to both of us and we didn't wanna wait till Christmas to use our TV. So that night we swapped out the old one. I couldn't believe how big it looked in our living room! Even though Black Friday is crazy it was so worth it!

Thank you Santa for coming early, now me and Brandon can cuddle up and watch Christmas movies :] (which I plan on doing tomorrow)

Speaking of tomorrow... It is my 20th Birthday! I plan on going home from work at 6 am (I'm working a long night shift), sleeping a few hours, getting up for church at 9, and coming home and sleeping a few more hours. THEN Brandon and I are going to set up our Christmas tree and decorate the apartment! I am so excited to have all the Christmas stuff out!! Once that is all done I wanna cuddle up on the couch with a big cup of cocoa and watch Christmas movies :] Ahh that sounds like a perfect day to me!

As a little side note: I plan to start putting craft projects on my blog and new recipes I try out also, so keep an eye out for them :] 

11/11/11 ~ First Night Shift...

Wow this is gonna be a long night...

So as you may have read I am going into Nursing! Well I've been told that the best nurses were once cna's. When I was a senior in high school I took a cna class. When I graduated I was a Certified Nursing Assistant. I didn't get a cna job until August of that year. I worked full-time for QualiCare Home Health. That was a great company to work for, but when it came time for school to start in January they weren't able to work with my school schedule. So my search for a new job began.

I applied just about everywhere. Then I saw an add in the paper at Hospice of Eastern Idaho. I got an interview right away and got the job because I showed up in my best business dress suit and was professional. (I thank Mrs. Scott for teaching me that!) When I got the job at Hospice I didn't even know what hospice was.... I quickly found out that it was caring for the terminally ill.

Let me just say, seeing people on their deathbeds takes a toll on you emotionally especially when you get attached to the person. I was working part-time while I went to school and was told I could go to full-time when I was off track. Things worked out good until the week after my wedding... I only had like 13 hours! Gahh we couldn't afford that kind of pay cut. When I talked to Brandon about it he suggested I look for another or get a second job. I prayed about it and had a feeling that I needed to take his advice. 

I must say I did marry an amazing guy! Because that same day he talked to the Director of Nursing at the place he works, Promontory Point Rehabilitation. Brandon told me to give her a call and just talk to her. She asked me to come in for an interview so she could get to know me a little bit. I went in for the interview and she offered me a position doing night shift. I immediately took it! I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to have a guaranteed amount of hours and set times that I would work. Plus I knew nights would be slow, so I would have some time to study once school starts again.

I have trained on days and I just have to say I love this place! I enjoy the atmosphere here and all the employees seem really friendly. And I absolutely love that people are getting better here. It's great to see people go home and become independent again. This is the kind of health care I want to be providing!

Tonight is my first night shift and boy it is different to work nights. I got here at 6pm and get to go home at 6am. I knew it was going to be a long night because I have a hard time staying up late, so I tried to sleep all day before I came to work. I also bought an energy drink as backup in case I get too sleepy...

I needed something to keep me awake tonight, so I asked Brandon if he would bring my laptop over to me. Thankfully he was so kind and brought it over! I sure do love him! I found that it makes the time go by faster when you have something to keep occupied with. I sure will be happy to get home and crawl into bed. :] 

 

I can't wait till tomorrow!!! Our new ward is having a Super Saturday Craft Day!! :] I absolutely love, love, love, love crafts! When we move into the ward I was hoping they would have a Super Saturday and sure enough they passed around a sign up sheet that first Sunday we were there. I didn't even see what the craft projects were... I just signed up for whatever sounded cute! haha ;]  When I went to pay the sister who was in charge she showed me the things I signed up for. I can't wait to go put my projects together tomorrow! I will definitely post pictures!!

Outside the Temple :]

Can you tell we are tired of pictures yet? lol



About the McIntier Family

My first post starts today! My wonderful husband works late allot of nights, so I decided to start a blog.  I sure will be glad when Brandon only works one job, so I can see him more. But I know he works so hard to provide for us :] We just got married about a month ago and I love married life!

A little about us... We both grew up here in East Idaho. When I was 16 I got a job at Primo's. A few months later Brandon was hired. I really liked him and we became friends. Then we had a year where we couldn't stand each other! Then time brought us back together and we began dating. My senior year of high school we became an "official" couple. Right after I graduated, Primo's closed. We could no longer get paid to hang out haha :]

I was planning on attending the University of Utah Honors College that fall, so we were sure that we would break up at the end of the summer. BUT then I found out that the U of U was going to cost me $30,000 a year! Thus my plans changed and I applied to BYU-Idaho. I was accepted to BYU- I right away. The Christmas before school started Brandon gave me a promise ring and we talked about getting married once I had my degree. I began college there in the Winter of 2011. Brandon stayed by my side and even drove to Rexburg every other day! When he wasn't coming to see me. I was coming to see him.  

I moved up to school and... You know they call it BYU-I DO for a reason! Everyone up their is getting engaged and married!! Well the pressure began to rub off on us. We began toying with the idea of getting married sooner than planned. Although I had conditions.... Brandon had to get the priesthood and take me to the temple to be married for time and all eternity. Well I guess that sounded like pretty reasonable terms to him because in May he asked me to marry him!

Of course he asked my parents, so when we told them they already knew! My little sister Emily was soooo excited! She was set on being the "flower girl." We set the date for October 14, 2011. Then the wedding details began! Oh boy we did so many crafts for our wedding reception! I think Brandon is crafted out for life!!! lol But after all was said and done our special day finally came!

We were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on October 14. It was such a beautiful sunny day (which we were praying for because the Friday before we had yucky snow)! Our wedding day went perfect! I got up early and had my hair done at 7am, so we could be at the temple by 9am. We were supposed to be married at 10:30, but had a little delay due to miscommunication. Oh well, things got straightened out! After our sealing, my Aunt Robin took pictures for us on temple grounds. Then we went to lunch at Chuck-A-Rama with my Grandma and Grandpa Morris, Grandma Cathy from Maine, Aunt Robin, cousin Abbie, Aunt Tyra, cousin Cassidy, my Mom and Dad, sister Katie, brother JJ, and little sister Emily. Then we had time to kill before our reception. Note: we decorated and set up our reception ourselves with the help of my family and gramma Cathy the night before. Then we had our reception from 6 till 8. It was great to see all the people who supported us. And it was nice to meet more of Brandon's family.

We spent our honeymoon here in IF. We were pretty much broke from the wedding and so tired that we decided to go on a real honeymoon next summer, when I'm out for summer break. The day after our wedding we went grocery shopping! I know people think we are crazy, but all we had in our apartment was cereal and half gallon of milk! Then we went to a yummy dinner at Olive Garden. And to end the night we went to the "expensive" theater and saw Courageous. Very wonderful movie to watch as we began our journey together.

We have been very blessed since our wedding! We have a beautiful apartment, reliable cars, good jobs, great schooling/training, and best of all we have each other! Can't wait to see what other blessings the Lord has in store for us!

Don't worry I'll post some of our wedding pictures...when I figure out how to do that on my blog! lol :]