A Public Servant is Laid to Rest...

Today was the memorial service for Stanley Cooper who was shot and killed on January 4th as he stood inside the front door of the Foley Federal Building. He was there like he was every other morning to protect the building, those who worked there and those who had business to do there. Unfortunately, that morning his fate was sealed by a delusional man who chose to kill.

The service was beautiful and most importantly, well attended by political and law enforcement officials who Mr. Cooper unknowingly put his life on the line for. While we were waiting for the procession a slide show flashed photo memories of Mr. Cooper's life. Not knowing him, I kept trying to imagine the type of person he was. I could tell he was definitely a family man and true public servant - he started a career in law enforcement very young and continued until the day he died at age 72.

The procession brought goosebumps down my arms, there is nothing like the sound of bagpipes playing at a funeral. The service was absolutely beautiful. Senator Harry Reid, Senator John Ensign, Sheriff Gillespie and the Director of the U.S. Marshals all paid homage to Mr. Cooper for his sacrifice. The ceremony was topped off with the most astounding version of Amazing Grace I have ever heard. After the service we all funneled outside where the tribute continued with the 21 gun salute. We all knew it was coming but still jumped when the first round was fired. Then five helicopters flew from the far end of the valley and just as they arrived above the church they proceeded with the fallen man tribute and one fell out of the formation and flew off on its own. Then a voice came over the radio and called out Mr. Cooper's retired call sign for the final time. Finally the American Flag was presented to Mr. Cooper's family for his service.

While outside I noticed a beautiful seagull fly over above us. He floated in the sky above as if he was looking over Mr. Cooper, his friends and his family. This probably went unnoticed to most but caught my attention. My freshman year in college I lost a dear friend and the only time during the funeral that I think people smiled was when a sparrow came out of nowhere and made his presence known as it flew above the crowded pews. I have been to a couple other funerals where I have noticed birds, not just flying by but really taking notice of what is going on below, almost like they are the looking glass for someone up above...

On the way home from the funeral I caught another unusual sight. It was a blue sky, a couple clouds here and there and no rain in sight yet there was a small rainbow in the sky. I asked Charlie if he saw it too just to reaffirm that I was not crazy and he did. I only hope Mr. Cooper's family saw it cuz it just made you feel better about things at that moment.

I hate funerals. I didn't know Mr. Cooper. But I am thankful for him, for his pledge to protect those he did not know and for his final sacrifice. Rest in Peace and Thank You.

Happy Birthday Dani - 2010

My sweet niece turned 22 today! I still remember when she was itty bitty. She has started the year off with a bang and it looks like things are really going in the right direction, a great job at a super cute high end boutique, back to school and a new friend who has brought back a smile to her face and her heart. Happy Birthday Dani...here is to a great year!To celebrate her birthday we headed to lunch at Red Lobster (Yummy). The boys had fun just hammin it up!

Happy 16th Birthday Cody - 2010

My nephew Cody turned 16 today. Watch out roads of Las Vegas, here he comes. Actually, you still have a while, unlike most 16 year olds he is not beating down the door of the DMV to get his license, he is patient and when he gets it he gets it! I told him I would take him to an empty parking lot and he could practice parallel parking in the Excursion. If he can do that, he can do ANYTHING!

He is a great kid and deserves a great birthday...Happy Birthday Cody!

My Million Dollar Dog

On Christmas night we noticed Brewtus's ear was really swollen and hard. We took him into the vet and got some bad news. Apparently, he had an ear infection and to alleve the pain he would shake his head. Well if you have seen my dog, he has a HUGE head and is pretty strong. He unfortunately hit his ear so hard while shaking that he severely punctured a blood vessel in his ear. It would require a $700 surgery to repair. It is a lot of money but he is the best dog and we could not bear to let him suffer. So to the vet he went and they fixed him up. The surgery would require that he wear a cone for two weeks following the surgery. Well they don't really make a cone big enough for his big noggin so they had to rig one together. Poor baby, he just looked pitiful. Not to mention there was no where in this house that he could clear with that cone so needless to say we have some major paint touch-up to do throughout the house. Oh well. At least he is better.

The Sirens Whirled By...

It was a typical Monday morning. We had rushed to get Kadee to school, the kids to the babysitter and try to make it into work somewhat on time. I was chatting away with Charlie on the highway when an announcement came on the radio..."Two U.S. Marshals had been shot in downtown Las Vegas." All of a sudden a numbness came over me. We had seen one too many police officers killed this year, not again! I immediately called into work to see if they had heard anything. At the same time I was on the phone the news was making its way through the office. Unfortunately, nobody really knew what was going on yet. We got off the highway exit and headed to our office. I could see the helicopters circling in the air near the Federal Courthouse. This was not good. As we got on the street of our office everything was drowned out, from nowhere the sirens appeared. Charlie pulled over to the side of the road and patrol car after patrol car whipped by us with lights flashing and sirens blaring. I immediately started praying for the well being of the Marshal's and selfishly started thinking, please don't let it be anyone we know. What if one of our guys was at the Federal building? What if it was one of them? The details were coming in slowly and when it was all said and done we learned that a crazed man who had killed before thought it was his right to go and take other people's lives because heaven forbid his Social Security benefits had been cut!

In the end a court security officer was killed, a U.S. Marshal was shot and injured and the offender was shot and killed. The numbness of that day will remain for some time.I enter that building on occasion for meetings, appearances and trials. I walk through the security and would have never thought that one day, their lives would ever be in jeopardy. God bless them for protecting us and putting their lives on the line. For most it is simply a retirement job, something easy to help them pass the days and stay involved in law enforcement. I guarantee you from here on out, every time I walk through those security monitors I will pay more attention to those men that sit their and put their lives on the line.

Happy Birthday Tanya!

Today is my good friend Tanya's birthday. I first met Tanya in high school. She was on the drill team and I was a cheerleader. We had a ton of great times in high school and made so many wonderful memories. One of my favorites that we still joke about today was the day I caught her and Charlie together. Yep you heard me right. I caught them sneaking around behind my back! Hard to believe I could still be friends with her huh?!? Okay, here is what happened...I was supposed to spend the night at Tanya's that night and she totally blew me off, she had something to do. I was like whatever! Then Charlie my boyfriend at the time was supposed to be at a friends or something, I don't remember the exact details. Anyways, I went to the grocery store to get something and as I turned down the aisle I busted them. There they were, my best friend and my boyfriend in the flower section giggling and having a great time. My heart sunk into my stomach. How dare they, how could they do this. They saw me (probably with my jaw dropped down to the floor) and came up with some silly story about why they were there. I left the grocery store, bright red in the face I am sure. I was furious! Tears, yelling, disappointment, you name it. Until the next day when I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from Charlie. He is not so god at picking stuff out and solicited Tanya's help. Okay, so I felt like an ass afterwards. We still joke to this day about that incident!

Tanya has been a great friend through it all! She is a wonderful wife and a fantastic mother of three. She is that girl that you sit back and ask, how does she do everything she does and keeps it totally together! She never ceases to amaze me with her giving heart...I am blessed to have you as a friend Tanya. Happy Birthday.

Some Sunday Fun

Our garage is still a disaster but after the kids had been stuck inside all weekend we thought it was time to dig out some outside toys for them to play with. Charlie took out Cole's Big Wheel for him to ride around the block. I dug out the push car for Chance which he loves! Kadee chose to take a stroll in her Heely's (she loves these things!). It was nice to just get out of the house and watch the kids take in the fresh air.

Our Last Taste of the Holidays

Over the New Year's Holiday weekend we had gotten a lot done around the house. Charlie got all of the outside decorations put away. We got the tree down, put away the inside decorations, got everything back to storage. Cleaned out the boy's dressers. Cleaned up the Christmas mess. And although it was productive, I hadn't taken a moment like I wanted to to do something fun with the kids.

I decided to take them on a quick ride to the District. We immediately headed to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for hot chocolate. The kids think they are so cool when they get one of those grown up coffee cups :) After that we headed outside to sit and enjoy our drinks. It was a little chilly out but not too bad. We were in for quite a treat. At 6:00 pm the huge Christmas tree that anchored the center section of the District began flashing with a beautiful light display set to music. It was breathtaking. What a wonderful job they did on choreographing this light and music display. We watched for what seemed like hours and then decided to cross to the other side of the District to ride the carousel. It was a relatively quiet night at this usually bustling area. So we took our time. We took in all of the lights and decorations and just savored one last taste of the holidays. It had been so rushed this year that this leisurely stroll was just what my family needed. When we reached the carousel it was absolutely beautiful, there by itself, nobody was on it or even near it except the ride attendant. It was surrounded by trees draped in glistening white lights. The kids rushed to the gate, almost like they didn't realize that there was nobody else there, they had their pick of which animal they wanted to ride. I bought them a couple of tokens and just took it all in. Their laughing faces spun by over and over and I tried to capture their picture every time.
After the carousel it was time to eat so we mosied back over to the other side and were in for a surprise when Charlie walked up to meet us. We strolled up and down trying to decide on what to eat. We finally decided that soup from Panera sounded pretty good. After dinner it was hard to avoid a treat from Ben and Jerry's that is directly and so conveniently across from Panera. It was a perfect night. A last taste of the holidays. I had felt like I had just let them pass me by until tonight. Tonight I got to just stroll along, take in beautiful sights and sounds and most importantly, just see the awe of it all in my children's eyes.

Happy New Year...2010!

Wow! 2010 just doesn't even look right to me. My how time flies when you are having fun. Well along with New Year's I guess I should come forward with some resolutions to break. I am not trying to fool anyone...I know these are only set to be broken, it is really only a matter of how long it takes to break them.

1. Lose Weight. Three kids and wowee! I knew Chance was my last little bundle of joy so I decided to do this pregnancy thing right...yeah a whole 50 pounds right. What was I thinking? Well I was pregnant and I am one of those that actually loves being pregnant. I can wear whatever I want and don't have to worry about my big belly sticking out. Well those days are over, no more kids in my future so it is time to once and for all lose weight. After having Chance I was able to lose about thirty pounds on my own and then I hit a major plateau! Nothing, no matter how hard I tried my weight was not budging. Clarice talked me into doing P90X with her at lunch and I did it here and there for a couple of months. I wasn't totally committed but would do it at least 2-3 times per week until I hit the Holiday lull and took a week off here and a week off there. All in all though I was able to lose an additional 10 pounds. I have set my short-term and long-term goals and will work hard to get there. I think this resolution will be my easiest to keep. I want to be healthy, I want to have the energy I need to play and play hard with three kids and I want to feel good about the way I look. So wish me luck!

2. Stop being late. Those who know me know I am ALWAYS late. I hate it. It is nothing I try to do, it causes me nothing but stress and it drives me crazy! I am late to work, I am late to appointments, I am late to just about everything. So this year I will stay up late getting the diaper bag ready, setting out clothes for all three kids and myself, getting Kadee's lunch ready, making bottles, whatever it takes to get there on time. I am not making promises but this is the one resolution I really need to keep. I need to keep it for myself, my kids, my husband, and my colleagues. I NEED TO BE ON TIME!

3. Write Thank You Notes. I am so thankful for my family and my friends. When they take time out of their busy lives to show that they care about me and my family I am typically overwhelmed in gratefulness! I count my blessing for my life and the people in it and it is time I step up and express my thankfulness. I always buy the thank you notes, I make the thank you lists, yet I never get the cards out. I plan on doing it and something else comes up and before I know it a month has gone by and I think to myself, "oh it is too late now." I feel horrible for not expressing my heartfelt thanks. These people spend time and money on me and/or my family and I can't get it together to express my thanks in a note...shame on me!

4. Blog more often. I am so glad that Carol introduced me to blogging. I love it. I love that I get to express my memories in my own words with pictures that capture the moment. I don't have a lot of time in the day but I want to try to blog much more often then I currently do. It makes me feel good to make this memoir for my family. God forbid something ever happen to me, I will leave them with the best present I could ever imagine...my memories. Blogging makes me take the time to take that picture of a moment when my heart is full or even sometimes when it is sad. It makes me want to go places, do things, create memories. I will memorialize each year in a blog book for my friends and family to peruse to see who I am, who I want to be and what makes me smile.

I could probably go on and on but these are the ones I am picking for now. We'll see how it goes...

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010!

Although we live in a great town to celebrate we typically have a pretty quiet New Years Eve. We ordered Pizza and watched some of the NYE TV specials. Chance went to bed pretty early that night so we decided to take Kadence and Cole into the hot tub. They donned their swimsuits and covered up in the bathrobes that Grandma Neilson had bought them a couple years ago. I made a pot of hot chocolate for the kids and had a little myself and off we went. It was decently cold out so the hot tub felt great! The kids splashed around and swam for about twenty minutes then it was time to get. As always, this tuckered them out and they lasted approximately five minutes after getting their PJs on. I tried my best to stay awake till midnight but as always Charlie ended up waking me up just before midnight! Pretty uneventful but I am not complaining. I kissed my babies to ring in the New Year. Welcome 2010 may you bring happiness and good health to our loved ones.