{partners in crime}: April 2014

30 Before 30 - Advance in my Career

As I'm sure some of you have noticed... I haven't been doing great with my 30 Before 30. Cooking, reading for fun, running... they haven't been happening. The demands of life have literally taken over. But, the list is never far from my mind as I continue to strive toward some of my biggest goals. Two of those are intimately connected... getting my Masters in Gerontology degree and advancing in my career. I always figured that the degree would come first and then a new job, but life is full of surprises.

I am happy to announce that I have accepted the position as Life Enrichment Director of Assisted Living at Aspen Trace, a new senior living facility in the area. I will be in charge of carrying out programs and therapeutic activities designed to meet the needs and interests of the residents in assisted living and enhance their functional abilities and self-esteem.

After being in my current position for almost six years this is an exciting change, but I have to admit that I'm extremely nervous about leaving everything I have known... my friends, co-workers, students, etc. However, this change is what I have been working toward for so long and what I'm most passionate about. Also, I'll have the opportunity to bring Remington to work with me... and you just can't beat that!

Time to check "advance in my career" off my 30 Before 30 List!

NRA Convention Weekend

This weekend was the National Rifle Association Convention in Indianapolis and over 70,000 NRA members were expected to attend. My husband, being a police officer, is a huge gun enthusiast so of course this was an exciting weekend for him. Because of this, him and my Dad made plans to have an entire weekend playing with guns.

The first stop was Dad and Dan going to a private range to do a little shooting.

Dad shooting Dan's Glock 19

Here is the AR15

I swear they are two peas in a pod!

The next day we all went down to the Convention to check things out. I really cannot even begin to tell you the huge amount of people that were down there. It was crazy! And there were so many exhibits that you could have spent a full three days and not seen everything. I didn't understand what a lot of stuff was, but it was an interesting experience.

The pictures I took were kind of random. Like I said, I had no clue what a lot of stuff was, so I just took pictures of stuff I thought were cool.

Shotgun that fires 7 rounds at a time...

A giant safe! This would be like Dan's dream safe, but we would have to purchase it and then build a house around it because it was literally HUGE!

A professional gun engraver... pretty cool.

It was a pretty busy weekend, but I feel like Dan and my Dad enjoyed it. Mom and I were just kind of along for the ride, but it was still fun.

Photo a Day Challenge : Week #16

Day 20 - Egg

Day 21 - Close (they are the closest of friends)

Day 22 - Four Things

Day 23 - Entrance

Day 24 - A Pop of Color (4500 pound safe for $15,000)

Day 25 - Remember (my 10 pound puppy)

Day 26 - Enjoy the Little Things (I love the relationship my Dad and Dan have)

Life @ LPD - SWAT Training

The second big event that was going on during the month of April was SWAT Training. Yes, my husband decided to schedule two weeks of training back to back. The nerve :) So once again I was scrambling around that week with all the crazy things he had going on.

Here is a play by play of how his week went...

Monday: They worked on manual door breaching and room/building clearing techniques.

Tuesday: They were at several different shooting ranges at Camp Atterbury. They shot both their handguns and patrol rifles and also stationary and pop up targets.

Wednesday: They did less lethal munitions and chemical agent munitions.

Thursday: They did more techniques of building and room clearing then went to an abandoned building and did breaching, room clearings, and mock scenarios.

Friday: They has ballistic shield training and learned several different shooting positions and shot from behind the shield with their handguns and rifles. Also, they practiced officer down rescues with two shields and a rescue team.

Unfortunately this training was pretty intense and there was not time for him to take pictures for my blog! Again... what was he thinking :) I'll leave you instead with a group picture from his Sniper Training the week before. You can click on the pic for a larger view :)

Thankfully, I think we are finished up with all his craziness for a while!

Now that SWAT Training is over with Dan is able to be on full active duty for the team. It's a good thing too, because the week after this training they had an unexpected call out. Being married to Dan sure makes life interesting.

Photo a Day Challenge : Week #15

Day 13 - More Please!

Day 14 - Dirty

Day 15 - I'm Reading This (learning about my tire pressure monitoring system)

Day 16 - My Vice

Day 17 - Something I Learned (Dan isn't a "selfie" fan)

Day 18 - Good (good day to play with my Frisbee)

Day 19 - Money

Life @ LPD - Sniper Training

When Dan and I started the month of April we knew it was going to be a hectic but rewarding month of events. The first of those happened last week when Dan finally got the chance to attend Sniper Training, which officially made him a certified police sniper for the LPD SWAT Team. Even though it was an awesome opportunity for Dan, it also flipped our lives upside down for a short period of time. But, what can I say... after being married to a cop for the past five years I'm completely use to our lifestyle not being exactly normal.

I won't lie and say that I wasn't annoyed most of the week. Throughout the week bullets, guns, rain gear, random packets of food, muddy boots, bags full equipment, etc. littered the entire house. Me being the clean freak I am... all the "stuff" kind of drove me insane. AHHHH! Also, I was driving back and forth from home to work 2-3 times a day because Dan and I's hours currently are insanely long and I was in charge of making sure the dog was fed and let out. PHEW! But, let me tell you, hearing about Dan's awesome week and seeing how much he enjoyed himself made it ALL worth it!

So now, with a little bit of Dan's help as I type this post, I will try to fill you in about his week and also about what each picture is of... bear with me as I'm not the expert on this Sniper stuff.

Most of the week was spent on the 100 yard line as 26 students practiced their shooting skills at different targets they were presented.

Here is a picture of what it looked like looking down the range. There were 13 target backers. Below the targets are the "butts," where people worked to swap out targets while bullets flew over their heads.

Another shot of the 100 yard line.

Here's a picture of several shooters down in the "prone" position.

Shooter on the glass getting ready to take a shot.

Picture of Dan enjoying trigger time. They got to have a lot of that and he came home each evening talking about how fun it was.

It rained during the beginning of the week and was very wet and muddy. Dan came home several nights and had all his wet/muddy gear laying out on the floor of the kitchen. The joy I felt... NOT!

A shot of one of Dan's rifles.

More shooting going on...

Here's a pic of the scope turrets... whatever that means?

Some of Dan's fellow classmates and instructors on the 500 yard line.

So now after a week of Sniper School Dan was certified to shoot a bolt action precision rifle, which only Snipers can legally shoot. He practiced shooting at the 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500 yard lines to gain experience at those distances. He also spent several hours just laying in one spot and observing a house that simulated a real life sniper scenario. He shot moving targets and pop up targets. And he practiced several different drills with the different kinds of rifles he has. Dan thought this experience was great and gave him much more confidence behind his rifles. We are very excited that now he can put his skills to use if he ever has too.

Remington's Rundown

Hey Doodle Lovers! It's Remington Bear here!

There has been a lot going on lately, but Mom has been so busy she hasn't had time to help with write up my blog post!

I have been keeping very busy with my Therapy Dog visits and I absolutely love them! Every Thursday at 6:30 in the evening I go do visits at assisted living, long term care, and the memory care unit at Greenwood Village South. Everyone there really likes me and gives me lots of snuggles and treats when I visit.

I usually do my visits with my buddy Bella! She is a medium sized doodle and lives close to me. We are hoping to get together this summer for some play dates outside of our work time together. I secretly have a little crush on her!

Sometimes dogs from other organizations besides Paws and Think come to do visits with us. This is Cubby who works with ICAN! We did a visit together this past week and had a fabulous time! In this picture we are patiently waiting to enter a room for our visit together.

Another big event that took place is that I had my yearly check up at the vet. Mom was a little worried about my visit since I had two lumps she was a little concerned about, but the vet told us they were just fatty tissue and nothing to worry about. I weighed in at 73 lbs, my teeth are still fresh and clean, and all other aspects of the exam checked out perfectly! HOORAY for having that completed for another year.

"Let's get out of here Mom!"

Last weekend Grams and Gramps came to visit! I hadn't seen them in quite some time so I soaked up as much love as possible from them while they were here with us!