abraham lincoln once said...

with the approaching presidential election, i think this quote makes a point that we should be concerned about as well.

my concern is not whether God is on our side;

my greatest concern is to be on God's side

for God is always right

what a week

this week started off with me being in a 40 hour rifle school for work. monday was just classroom, nomenclature of the AR-15, weapon handling, etc... tuesday through friday was range time. i never realized spending 30+ hours on a range was so taxing. physically and mentally. when i came home tuesday, i was toast. tired, hot, sore...you name it. for that reason, i absolutely MUST brag on my wonderful husband that i love so much!

i came home to a house that had been cleaned. then, he drew me a bath which included candles and muscle relaxing salts. while in my state of relaxation in my bath, he made me dinner. afterwards, i laid down on the couch with him and he massaged my VERY tired and sore fingers, hands, arms and shoulders. i think i fell asleep on the couch around 8, which he did not disturb me (although i think a bomb could have gone off and i would not have budged). around 10, he woke me up so i could crawl in bed. how lucky am i? what an amazing man i have to call my own. love you squish...

the school was a lot of fun. very demanding but fun. i really enjoy shooting the AR. and i must say i did quite well. just call me annie oakley. i don't know how many hundreds of rounds we went through. well worth it.

this morning, like two weeks ago, i met a group from work to have a training session. this morning's training was an 'adventure with a twist'. and he was not kidding. we started off with a 12 mile bike ride which i again did on my mountain bike which is not quite designed for this type of training. i have been looking at a proper bike to get. once everyone finished with the bike ride, we went as a group for our adventure run with a twist (if only we had video, cause nobody will believe what we did but tiki will back me up). the run started on land through the nature trails out on the island. once we ran to where there was no more land, into the water we went. but this was not your typical inter coastal water. it was the murky, brackish (smells like egg) water through mangroves. off we were trekking through water that was usually about waist deep but sometimes a little deeper. never above our heads. the bottom was very squishy and slick, which is why we were warned to bring 'old' running shoes. we trekked through the kayaking trails and finally made it back to land. we picked up the run again through the nature trails. we were on a boardwalk when it ended back at the water. one of the guys that was behind me, jokingly, stated 'what now? do we jump back in?' and no sooner had he said that, over we went, back into the water. trekked through some more to another boardwalk, climbed out and waited for everyone to catch up and climb up. no sooner had the last guy climbed out when our 'leader' goes right back in. so, back in we go. more trekking through the water to a bridge. we climbed out at the bridge, thinking we would only be jumping right back in, but the run then continued on land. we ran to the beach dropped our shoes and clothes (yes we had swim suits on) and in the water for the swim part of our little adventure with a twist. the swim was in normal beach water except there were some small waves that filled your mouth up with water every time you came up for air. the swim was about 1/2 miles. once you finished that, you ran back along the shore to where we dropped our shoes. although not impossible training, it was challenging. and i must say that was probably the best and funnest training i have done. i am going to miss the next two saturdays but look forward to the next one.

when i got home, i met chris at the barn. he was putting new shoes on libby. he then saddled up knight to train him some. i got to ride guardian for a little bit. knight did good. all the obstacles are set up in the arena and he would walk through some of them. he has a lot to learn but chris says he will be a great work horse. chris is flying tonight (and he is flying over the house as i type). he still enjoys that very much. yesterday, i got on the local newspaper website to see the headline manatee sheriff's helicopter goes down. a bird decided he wanted a closer look at the pilot and decided that maybe his lap was a good place to check him out. didn't go very well for the bird. the pilot landed safely though (the paper needs to tone down their headlines). chris's response was 'see, that's why i need to learn to land in case the pilot gets knocked out'. good point. of course i know have to tell him to watch out for birds. with the holidays approaching, he will be very busy.

other than that, things here at the laster's couldn't be better. oh, we have a new visitor...an otter. you never know what's going to show up next.

morning visiter

chris woke up this morning to get ready for church and we had a new visitor. he was standing by the drive way. chris was about 20 yards from him when he took this picture. not bad, huh?

1/4 mile swim, 11 mile bike ride, 3.2 mile run (and then some)

that my friends is what i set out to accomplish this morning for the very first time. and i am proud to say i did it! a guy at work started a program he named 'fit for all'. the past few saturdays, those who choose to participate meet at the beach and endure triathlon training. today was the first opportunity i was able to make it. chris went to walmart and got a bike rack that goes in your hitch receiver so i could load my bike and take. i put the thing together last night but apparently did not follow directions very well because it was loose once in the hitch. truth be told, i didn't even look at the directions. so i packed my bike into the back of the truck and got all my gear together the night before so i could be ready.

i meet about four other guys from work at 6:30 this morning at the beach and was briefed on the different routes. you had the option of doing the 1/4 or 1/2 mile swim to start with. of course i opted for the 1/4 since this was my first time attempting something of this caliber. for the bike portion, you could either do 11 miles or 22 miles, once again, i opted the shorter distance. the run was the same for everyone, sorta... approximately 3.2 miles. i however probably did about 3.5 to 4 miles (i'll explain later).

the water could not have cooperated any more. it was smooth as glass which was perfect for me. luckily the water was clear too. i was swimming by myself and had to also keep an eye out for creatures lurking around me. i probably did a little longer than the 1/4 mile due to my swimming in a zig zag pattern. it's hard to keep straight in open water.

after the swim, we transitioned to the bike. as i pull out my huffy from the back of the truck, the other guys are pulling out $1200-$3000 bikes. that was embarrassing. and then, my front brake cable had come undone so i had to get one of them to fix it. but, at least i was out there and trying. the bike ride consisted of going up and over a fixed span bridge...twice. that was a little tough. thought i was going backwards there for a little bit.

since i did the shorter distance, i got back to the cars first to transition into the run. as i started to run, my mind was telling my legs to move but oddly enough they didn't seem to want to listen. no idea why. after about the first 1/2 mile, they loosened up and realized it wasn't up for discussion. they were going to run no matter what. the run went to the south part of the island and then through a nature walk that is on the water in a wooded area. i was told just to stay on the trail and stay to my left. well i did. but all of a sudden i have this prickly feeling around my ankles and legs. i had ran through a patch of sand spurs. it was then that i noticed the trail that i thought i was on, was no longer there. odd. i turned around and went back to where the trail was obvious then went back north along the water. only to realize that land would shortly be ending. again, odd. so unless we were supposed to be swimming...again... i had missed something. i decided to just go back the way i came which ended up that was what i was supposed to do when i hit the sand spur patch. so needless to say, my run was a little longer.

out of all of this, guess what the best thing i discovered was... the best thing to drink for recovery when you finish is...CHOCOLATE MILK!!! i was ecstatic. but seriously, i am very proud of myself for not only trying but actually accomplishing something i have never done before. i basically just did a mini-triathlon this morning. i had to go to a bike shop afterwards because i did not have a helmet and that is something i need to wear so i looked at some proper road bikes. i don't need a fancy smanshy one like those guys had but my huffy ain't gonna cut it. needless to say it was a little embarrassing.

the final product

after a little bit of a headache, i was finally able to get mom's flutterby and my piggy bank from s'platters. and here they are...

not bad for two unartistic minded people. here is why it was a little bit of a headache to acquire them. the day that i went to pick them up, i checked online to make sure they would be open. good so far. i drove up there with an hour to spare to find signs on all the windows stating 'we moved'. it was only a few doors down, no big deal. so i get to their new location only to find it still in the moving stages and closed. so, i go back to the original store to see if maybe someone might be there and of course no one would be there either. a phone call only resulted in a message explaining nothing of the goings on. leaving messages for them did not work either. for the past week, i have been trying to call and get in touch with them so i could claim our prizes. finally, i reached someone with a pulse today (who was probably about 16 and didn't care or want to hear my gripe) so i spoke to a manager. he apologized for the frustration and offered to mail it to me but seeing that chris needed to go up there anyway, we made yet another trip to pick the poor things up. so here they are. mom's flutterby looks great.

sitting and waiting...

i find it utterly amazing how particular events seem to coincide at the worst of times. for example, tropical storm fay decides to flex her muscles the same time when chris would be out of town. as you all know, chris & cory flew up to montana to help dad with securing the cabin and then will be driving him back due to his little mishap with a 4 wheeler and the side of a mountain. i just spoke to him and had to listen to the sounds of those boys licking their fingers while eating at famous dave's. a restaurant that if ever you find yourself in missoula, montana, it is a MUST. mmm... and if to make matters worse, they are at sportsman's warehouse getting fishing licences. chris read a shirt to me that that said 'i have a marriage license and a fishing license, but i only have one in my wallet.'

in the meantime, i am here, tending to horses, getting put on standby to come into work if they open another shelter and sulking because i am not in montana with the man i love and miss!!! i have realized that i do not function well without him. although they will be working most of the time, they should be able to squeeze in a few hours of fishing before the long drive home. keep them in your prayers that they will arrive safely.

s'platters

mom came down last night to stay the weekend with chris & i. after she decided to sleep until 9:30 this morning (she is standing over my shoulder saying that i have to justify that. she was catching up on sleep that she has been missing), we decided to attempt stacy's craftiness and go to a place called s'platters. it's the pottery place where you paint a piece of pottery and they fire it for you. mom was apprehensive at first but was daring enough to try it.

i picked out a pig and mom did a flutterby. crafty people we are not but we had fun for the several hours it took us. i will be picking them up in a week so will post pictures of the final result. after getting home, we went on a 4 wheeler ride, fed the horses, had dinner then went fishing and are now anxiously awaiting micheal phelps to enter the water. we, along with all other proud americans, are cheering him on for the record setting 8th gold!!!

chris & cory will ride home with mom tomorrow. they will be flying out to montana monday to help dad close up the cabin and drive him back. they will be stopping in kansas to visit the us calvary museum. can't say i envy that long drive... wednesday, i will be on my way to orlando for the international police olympics to play volleyball. should be fun times.

quick catch up

i am off to bonita springs for the rest of the week for work and since i am slacking on posts, i thought i would post a bit. i am officially in my new position and so far things are running as normal. with the exception that i am the new 'doughnut girl'. every first thursday of the month, the city and county detectives meet and the new detective is responsible for bringing the doughnuts. the morning of the meeting i show up with items in hand: watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, bagels and cream cheese. and to cover me so i don't get kicked out, a half dozen doughnuts. i had to explain that things were going to change a little.

chris has been busy with work. between flying and riding, he has managed to get himself sick again. last time he ran himself thin, he had pneumonia. we are staying on top of it this time so that does not happen. i think he could be on his death bed and still fly. as much as he loves the mounted unit, he greatly enjoys flying. i met him for dinner the other night and had to bring him a new flight suit as he had spilled fuel on him. he was quite nauseating to sit by.

brian, jess, brandon, austin, sarah and gracey's visit was full of excitement. to include a little 4 wheeler mishap that gracey was under STRICT instruction to not tell grandma. didn't take long to throw us under the bus. we all learned our lesson. won't happen again. promise. (please don't make chris sell the 4 wheeler grandma!) the weather held up surprisingly well seeing that it poured before and after their visit. speaking of 4 wheeler accidents, chris will be flying up to montana in a week to drive dad back since he decided to drive his off the mountain. our good friend cory, is going to go with him. i think they will be stopping at the cavalry museum in kansas on the way back.

the international police olympics are next week in orlando. my friend tiki and i will be playing on jacksonville's team for volleyball. first time playing at the international's. it should be fun. the guys from our team along with david are playing with the miami guys. hopefully we will get to see them play. they will have a kick butt team.

here are a few pics from last weekend. jess has more on her blog to see. the dog on the 4 wheeler with goggles on is cassidy. she thinks she belongs to us, as does chris. then our bobcat, ricky bobby, decided to pose for a picture one day at our drive way. he's quite large and very beautiful.

congratulations to me

i first must explain in order for you to understand. due to the budget cuts and reorganization within my department, my position was getting moved to a different division. currently, the position of gang coordinator falls under patrol. with the reorganization, the position's title will be changed to detective. it will now be the gang investigator in the intelligence division under criminal investigation division. due to this move and so as not to violate policy within the department, my position had to be opened up to anyone who wanted to apply for it. so last thursday, myself and one other officer had to interview for the job. i was told yesterday that i will get to remain in my position. the change of divisions/titles will be official next wednesday. i am excited, and relieved. the other officer applying for the position is well qualified and did an excellent job in his interview.

there will come some changes with my responsibilities but for the most part, i will continue working solely with gangs. this past sunday, i assisted working the snoop dogg/311 concert in tampa. it was for lack of better words...surprising? not quite what we were all expecting.

brian, jess, brandon, sarah and gracey will be with us this weekend. very excited. we always have fun! i will take and post pictures as the weekend unfolds.

thin blue line

i did not know officer andrew widman, but neither did a few thousand other law enforcement officers. i sat solemnly in a pew and listened to friends and family members describe a dedicated, loving and virtuous husband, father, son and friend. so did a few thousand other law enforcement officers. officer widman of the fort myers police department was fatally shot on july 18, 2008 while responding to a call for service. a call for service that those few thousand officers have responded to countless times. as i sat and listened, i could not help but look at his wife, toddler son, 21 month-old daughter and 5 month-old daughter. he was 30 years old and 16 months on the job. along with a few thousand officers, i thought about my family. although i try, i can not tell my husband i love him enough. i can not kiss him softly enough in the morning so i do not disturb his sleep. i can't help but throw my arms around him when he leaves, not wanting to let go. he will never fully understand the pride that i feel when i see him in church, on the job or with friends and family. i am honored and blessed to say he is my husband and i love him. i am proud of the family that i was raised around. we are our own strength and i want them to know i love each of them individually and dearly. my friends are my family. they remain by my side and do not judge.

as the horse drawn caisson carries officer widman to his resting place, a few thousand law enforcement officers stand in full dress uniform under the sun, at attention. the flag is folded, the guns salute, the helicopters fly over head, the bagpipes play amazing grace, and a final radio call for id 413 is heard over the radio. he is 10-7. i cry. so do a few thousand other law enforcement officers.

family, camping, hiking, snow, fishing...montana memories

where do i begin? first let me just say that spending time with family is such a blessing. we had so much fun that it is going to be hard to condense this action packed vacation into a blog. but, like stacy, i will try to condense. dad, mom, amy, will and bailey drove out making stops along the way at mt. mushmore (not a typo), laura ingalls hometown and other sites. chris & i flew out on the 5th. this was a much needed vacation for both of us. sunday, aunt margaret, uncle gordie, mickey, charly, amanda, uncle reid and aunt peggy came over for lunch. we just spent the afternoon enjoying the no humidity and each others company.

monday, we packed up the camper and headed to glacier national park. there was an avalanche (yes, snow in july) on the going to the sun road but it was cleared by the time we arrived. we camped at a beautiful koa on the west side of glacier. we were promised snow to play in and i think amy & i had more fun in it than the kids. the drive on the going to the sun road is breathtaking! we made it to logans pass where it was a blanket of white snow that was calling our names. how could we resist! we all started to hike up to hidden lake but the strong (aunt kimmie, uncle chris and will) are the only ones that made it to the top. i think if bailey had not been so cold, she would have been a trooper and hiked the whole way. we weren't exactly dressed properly for snow. no one mentioned to bring the snow boots to us. the view at the top of about a mile to two mile hike was gorgeous. the lake was still frozen. once at the top, we ate a snack and will fed the ground squirrels. he was a hit.

we went on a hike to a water fall area on another day. the snow was so inviting that we had to go back to logans pass. the jackets that chris and i purchase out there (since no one told us to pack for SNOW) made great for sledding down the mountain. we figured out that if you jump backwards down the mountain and keep your legs in the air, it is a hoot to slide down. then we would hold the kids on us and take them for a ride also. everyone tried that one at least once. like i said, i think amy and i had the most fun doing that. there were several goats and big horn sheep scampering for food while we were there.

after getting back to the cabin and before mom, amy & the kids left, we made a lunch trip out to lake como. there were some crazy people swimming and skiing in the frigid, still snow on the mountain feeding into the lake, water. we tried to fish but no luck.

after dropping mom, amy & the kids off at the airport, dad, chris and i decided on our 'adventure' that i have already posted on. the photo slide that is titled 'big creek lake hike' is where i stood in one place & just did a circle while taking pictures at our campsite. stunning. i think we are all recovered from the very treacherous hike. again, you would have to experience that one to even remotely begin to understand how difficult yet very rewarding the hike was.

mickey took us fishing one day to stoney creek near skalkaho pass. he did not tell us it was about a 2 mile hike once we drove as far as we could. probably a good thing he didn't. the last mile was straight down. and worst yet, we had to hike back up it when we were done. our legs were not yet recovered from the other adventure. talk about adding salt to the wound. we all caught a lot of trout. probably about 40 total! we only kept 2 or 3 though. a few hours into it, i discovered VERY FRESH mountain lion tracks. big tracks. and so fresh that we probably scared it off when we got to the lake. nothing like adding to the excitement!

the day before chris & i flew out, we fished the river that feeds off of big creek lake (our earlier 'adventure'). but this time, the furthest we hiked up was 1 to 2 miles. it was an interesting morning. let me explain. mickey was going to meet us there. dad, chris & i got to the meeting spot and began to fish (good fishing too). dad took off down stream and chis took off up stream. we had two-way radios (which i will NEVER use again!) but they only worked some of the time. i tried keeping up with chris but mr. jack be nimble through the river was off and running. mickey finally got there and i could talk with him on the radio. i tried talking him to the spot where i was at, which i need to add that i was now ALONE. in the woods. where dad has warned MANY times that we are in bear country. mickey then relays on the radio that he just ran off a black bear. so, what did i do? according to chris, i "turned into a girl". i sat myself down on a rock in the middle of the river and started blowing the whistle (which my dad gave me in case of emergencies and i deemed this an emergency) to help mickey find me since i was abandoned by my father and husband. radios weren't working to well! chris finally heard the whistle and sorta made his way to within earshot of me and called out to me, then continued to fish. i remind him that, I AM A GIRL! anyway, once reunited with chris, i was fine. just a momentary lapse of courage. we fished the rest of the day, literally. it was a great ending to a wonderful vacation!

we had a few issues on the flight home. our flight out of montana was delayed which caused us to miss our connecting flight from chicago to charlotte to sarasota. so, we were put on a flight to tampa out of chicago. our luggage flew to sarasota. after renting a car to get us home from tampa we had to turn around and get up this morning to drive to sarasota airport to return the rental and get our luggage. but we made it back safely. dad is remaining at the cabin until maybe late august. lucky him.

chris and i are very thankful for the time that we had to spend with family. it always creates memories that are fun to share over and over again. we especially needed that time together. its so easy to let the busy work week interfere with with 'our' time. i am so very blessed to have such a loving husband who is so much fun to be silly with. i love nothing more than to create these memories with the man i love. we are already planning on our trip back next year! more 'memories' to be created. brian said he would do the overnight backpack trip to big creek with us. lucky for us, we are quick learners and learned a lot in our 'hiking 101' experience. (horses are a wonderful animal).

dad, mom, amy, will, bailey and all our montana family...thanks for the memories! we love you all!

snow in july

glacier national park

a little fishing