christmas 2008

i have been wanting to put this picture up but just have not really had the time. it was great to be around family during the holidays and i too, like stacy, am missing everyone!

our promise

although i am no stacy or jessica, i get a creative fire lit under my toosh at times. and i try. sometimes those attempts are better off as thoughts in my head because when i see the finished project, it looks nothing like what i had imagined. but then there are those times when the finished project, as simple as it might be, is quite lovely. so i wanted to share my most recent project that was a success.

i have always wanted to frame our wedding vows but just did not know how. so after doing some 'other' projects, i thought that i could incorporate part of it into the wedding vow display. here is the finished project...



the only thing that i added to it was the ribbon with the letters on it. simple. and to think it took me two years to think to do this. since the photo does not show the vows, i would like to share them:

Chris's vows

I Christopher take you Kimberly to be my wedded wife.
You are an answer to my prayers.
I love you & I know that God has ordained this love.
I promise to lead, guide, & protect you, & show you the same kind of love as Christ showed the Church when He died for her.
I promise that I will lead our lives into a life of faith & hope in Christ Jesus.
Ever honoring God's guidance by His spirit through the Word, I will be the man God wants me to be & I promise to be the man you need me to be.
And so throughout life, no matter what may lie ahead of us, I pledge to you my life as a loving & faithful husband.
With this ring I seal my vow of love to you & pray I may fulfill God's place in our home.

Kim's vows

There is a time in my life where I can define before & after.
That time came when you were brought into my life.
Each & every moment of every day, you are an example of what love is.
You have shown me how to trust again.
You have given me strength, security, protection, dreams, serenity, laughter & friendship.
I give to you my time, thoughts, trust, & prayers.
I promise to protect you, care for you, comfort you & to listen to you.
I cherish your friendship, adore your personality, respect your values & see you for who you are.
I want the best for you & for us.
I wish for your success & for the fulfillment of all your endeavors.
I believe in our marriage to stand by it through the pressures of the present & the uncertainties of the future.
I will keep my promises to you & pledge my loyalty & faithfulness to you.
I know at this moment my prayers have been answered with you becoming my husband.
I have chosen my love & I love my choice.

since amy let the cat out of the bag

it only took three years but i finally made it on a wall. let me explain. in my line of work, i deal with gang members tagging places all the time. whether its the name of their gang or calling out rival gang members or crossing out rival gang members graffiti, it's a constant battle. and a very time consuming battle at that. so, recently i passed on the responsibilities to one of my gang officers since he was willing to take on the challenge. yesterday, he calls me and tells me he is at one of the places that is repeatedly tagged. it's a wall about 100 yards in length so when it gets tagged, it is a large project to clean up.

so the officer calls me to see if i will come out to photograph some new tagging. when i get there, this is what is on the wall (i have photo shopped the bad words)...



i am so proud! i could not resist getting my picture with it. YEA for me! i know some might find this reaction odd or not typical but spend some time in my shoes and you would completely understand this feeling.

i also have a good idea of who is responsible for it. i am in the middle of an attempted homicide trial that was scheduled for court thursday and friday but got continued. the case is between these two rival gangs. this makes me feel like i am doing my job...

it was VERY tempting to cross out SWATTS and put LASTER because i know it is getting painted over today, but...

turkey day

nothing like good food and good friends for the holidays. although we missed not being around family, we had a great turkey day. chris had worked the turkey trot the night before, not getting home until about 4 in the morning so he slept in until around 11. i got up, took care of the horses, took the dog on a 4 wheeler ride/run and started getting ready to head over to our friends, the kuchar's house. us along with one of the pilots and his wife and son, and the helicopter mechanic, his dad and 3 kids all joined us. chris fried the bird. mmmmmmmmmmmm................. it was scrumptious! we had all the sides to make it a delicious dinner! we had a good time playing horse shoes and rock band! thanks karen for letting us crash at your house!

let me explain two of the pictures. heather, the kuchar's oldest daughter was in georgia. but we used a butter dish that she had made for our butter. so that one is for her. the one of the guys with the turkey... let's just say that we are lucky they left us some.

not to get to sappy, but i am extremely grateful for all the blessings that have enriched my life. from my family to my friends to my health. i am trying to make a more concerted effort to not take things for granted, especially during these times. it is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle at work with everyone complaining. i think to myself and have said out loud, i am very grateful i have a job.

chris, thank you loving me unconditionally. thank you for the patience that you have with me. thank you for telling me and showing me that you love me. thank you for being you.

to my family, thank you for your love and support through all these years. it is a true blessing to have such a wonderful family.

i hope everyone had a very thankful thanksgiving day!

family visits

my niece and nephew have been asking to come down and visit, so this past weekend, my sister had the opportunity to bring them. they did not get here until saturday evening but billy's high school football team played one of the local schools here so i went to the first half of their game friday night. i have not been to a high school game in a while. brings back memories. i did notice though that on the boone side, it was mainly the adults who were cheering. regardless, boone won by a landslide. they are playing dr. phillips tonight so waiting for a call to find out who won.

chris was in orlando last weekend working the florida classic football game so we had horse duties over the weekend. the kids love it and are big helpers. they know what to do, where to go... sunday, i took them to show the house that we have an offer on (have not heard anything as of yet). then we went to myakka state park which is just around the corner. it's a beautiful park and i think i have only been there a couple times. the kids climbed trees. amy had to show them how to do it. brings back more memories from old town days. she hung upside down with some assistance.

they stayed through tuesday morning since we all had to go back to work. it was a nice visit since chris and i would not be making it to orlando for thanksgiving.

like father, like son

here is my proud nephew with his 3rd buck for the season. apparently this one is getting mounted for his room. congrats brandon!!!

winter is here

you can tell winter is here. we had our first fire for the season.



and the horses are relaxed.



the weather is a nice change. i love this time of year. we have already been to a pumpkin festival and the start of holiday parades and get togethers are just around the corner. can't hardly wait.

our lives have been busy. chris was in orlando last week for some emergency response training. he will be up there again this weekend for the florida classic football game (don't ask). with the holiday season fast approaching, they will be patroling the malls and shopping centers. with the hectic shedules, we will be staying home for thanksgiving but will head to orlando for christmas. my work is going great. not sure i mentioned this but the week before the presidential election, both mccain and obama came to sarasota. i had the opportunity to work both details. it was a nice change from gangland. i had fun. i worked with the secret service, meeting new people and learned new things. i like that aspect of this position.

we will be bundling up tonight. supposed to get into the 30's. brrrrr....

4991 tucumcari trail

isn't it funny how some things just fall into your lap? or you are in the right place, at the right time? or better yet, you go to check out and that item you are purchasing is on sale??? well, that seems to be the story of chris and i. things just kinda happened. and sometimes, there is no other reason than to just simply bless our lives. take our current vehicle: we did not go out to trade in the one that we were driving. we actually went out to buy chris a snorkel since we were going scalloping the following weekend. but, everything just fell into place and next thing you know, we had new wheels. another example: the country club where we had our wedding reception. as soon as we walked out the door from the first visit, we looked at each other and knew, that was the one. it was that easy.

this seems to be the outcome for many things in our lives. call it whatever you believe in: fate, circumstance, luck... but i call it being blessed. about two weeks ago, chris and i went to the hunsader pumpkin festival after church. nothing like a fall festival to kick off the holiday season. chris decided to take the back way home. it was a beautiful, clear, crisp day so i was game. we cut through the myakka state park and then chris wanted to show me a house on some property where he had to seize three abandoned horses. mind you, we have not even talked about moving from where we live currently. we are very VERY fortunate right where we are at. the house was very nice with a large screened lanai and pool. the property was beautiful. the landscaping was very nice. barn needed some work but what barn doesn't? we called and talked to the realtor who was on a cruise to learn that it was not within our price range. so we continued to just drive around. the community is called myakka valley ranches. most of the houses are on 5+ acre lots. horse community. our kind of living. we turned on to tucumcari trail and saw a guy doing some yard work that chris knew (a lieutenant with the sso). as we were chit chatting with him, chris mentioned that we were just out looking at houses. the lieutenant said, have you looked at this one? pointing to the one next to his. either the for sale sign was not out two minutes earlier when we drove by, or chris and i were oblivious. this is the house:




it's a 3/2 with a den on 5.4 acres. pool and barn. it has been vacant for about 16 months. the owners came from texas, completely remodeled the inside, then went back to texas. we called the realtor who informed us it just went into short sale (one step away from foreclosure). the house was just reappraised but will sell for well below what it is worth. so we thought, why not us? take advantage of the market and who knows. crazier things have happened. and if they do not accept our offer, nothing is lost. something else will just happen to fall into our lap at the right time. our lives are blessed either way.

toga...toga...toga...

so last saturday night we had a toga party. everyone participated and wore a toga (although as the night grew on, a few of us changed). the weeks leading up to the party were VERY busy for chris and i. so busy that we contemplated rescheduling. we knew though that if we did not stick to that saturday, it would have not happened because it is only going to get busier.
cory- thanks for smoking all the delicious meat and beans and helping with getting chairs and tables brought back and forth.
angie- thanks for all the yummy cupcakes (i think chris had about 4)
bill, karen, heather and cierra- thanks for letting us crash at your beautiful house!
karen- thanks for the queso dip.
heather- thanks for the salsa.
as you can tell, i could not have done this by myself. it's always fun to hang out with your close friends and family!!! thanks for playing along guys!

shining light bible church worship team

chris sings in the praise & worship team at our church and they have recently posted a few of their songs on youtube. thought i would link them to the blog. he makes me very proud to be his wife. you will need to pause the music on the playlist first.

i would not have known

you reign