IPhone, Glymse, and Shadow Paks

In the past few weeks I have discovered some new favorites of mine...

1.) I got an IPhone... I know, I feel guilty about it, but our contract was up with Sprint so it was time to switch back to Verizon because Dan's job gives him a pretty good percentage discount on their services and anything brought there.  Plus, we both sold our old phones on Craig's list which got us a whole IPhone for pretty much free.  The sad thing is that I was pretty obsessed with my Blackberry, but now I have a seriously unhealthy obsession with the IPhone... uhhhgggg!  I love it!

2) One of my blog readers told me about an app that might be helpful during my night time runs.  Remember I told you I worry about running at night and no one really knowing where I am... well this app solves all my problems!  It's called Glymse, and I love it.  I can now send Dan (or whoever) a Glymse text message or email and my phone will start tracking my location.  This way Dan can actually watch me during my entire run.  How freaking cool is that!  Even though I still get a little freaked during night time runs, this app has allowed me a little piece of mind... and Dan too :)

3) Oh yes... and I told you that I had been running with a fanny pack (uncool) well, I have been looking for something a little less noticeable, but still able to hold my important stuff.  I found the perfect solution!  A shadow pak!  It is teeny tiny, but just big enough to hold my essentials!  I ran with it on last night and I couldn't even tell it was there.  It's so small I can pull my shirt over it and you wouldn't even know I had it on!  HOLLA!

I got the purple of course!

And there you have it folks... a few of my new favorite things :)

The Lazy Factor!

I've been lazy these past few days.  I haven't done a darn thing.  This weekend I spent most of my time watching TV, reading a good book, or just plain sleeping.  What can I say, I needed a little R&R!  Even though my time spent doing nothing was much needed, I know I'm gonna kick myself this upcoming week.

O'well, it was fun while it lasted!

The two extreme views people have about LEO's

I have meant to write up a blog about this subject for some time now yet it slowly fell off my radar, but something happened a few days ago that brought it back to the surface of my brain so I had to sit down and share this with you all.

During the time that Dan has been a police officer I have noticed that people have two extreme views on cops.  They pretty much either love them or hate them.  I have two perfect examples of this to share with you...

The first view I want to discuss is the love people have for cops. When Dan picked me up from the airport recently I was so happy to see him.  We put my stuff in the police car and hopped in so we could go enjoy breakfast together.  However, before we could pull out, one of the security officers at the airport flagged us down and motioned for Dan to roll down his window.  I thought we were in trouble or had done something wrong.  But, once the window was down the security officer said to Dan, "Officer, I just wanted to thank you for all you do and for protecting our communities every day."  Dan thanked him and went on with his day.  This comment struck a cord with me however.  It amazes me how often Dan gets comments like these not only when he is on duty but also when he is off. Even though I find it very awkward at times for complete strangers to do this,  it truly makes me proud and makes the job that he does every day worth while.  I'm blessed to have people out there that love and respect what police officers do everyday. 

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the hate people have for cops.  Dan told me a story a while ago that still gives me goose bumps when I think about it.  The story goes something like this... an officer was driving in a bad area of town.  A father and daughter were crossing the street on foot,  so the officer stopped to let them cross by safely.  Just as he was about ready to move along and continue with his patrol the man's daughter, probably 5 years old, turns to the police officer and makes her hand into a pretend gun and proceeds to pretend shoot the cop.  Every time I think about this story is breaks my heart.  Obviously, the father had a hate for cops and has passed that along to his 5 year old daughter.  How tragic... It is stories like these that makes it hard for me to understand why Dan loves his job so much.

I just hope that there are more people out there in this world that appreciate LEO's and less who hate them. And even though I think it is strange and awkward when complete strangers come up to my husband and thank him for what he does for a living, I deep down appreciate it because it helps me to realize not only is he a hero to me, he is a hero to others as well.

Momma Comes Home!

As many of you know, I came home from Arizona early yesterday morning...

Did I remember to tell you how excited both of my boys were to see me?

Especially my furry boy!!

Oh how I love him!

Arizona Trip: June 14th - June 21st

Thank goodness for scheduled blog posts!  You never would have known that I've been MIA for the past week and a half would you? For those of you who didn't know, I've been off visiting these little cuties for the past 8 days!!!!

My mother-in-law, Pam and I flew out to Arizona for a much needed visited!  Not only have I not seen my sweet little niece, Hannah, for over a year... I have NEVER met the twins, Max and Blakely, in person until this trip! Dan was unfortunately not able to make the trip with us because of work... go figure... but I feel so blessed to have gotten to go!  It is so hard not being able to see our nieces and nephews like we want to... we seem to only see them growing up through their pictures.

I'm not gonna lie, my time there was exhausting.  I cannot imagine doing that everyday and I give Heather and Matt tons of credit for taking care of all three of them by themselves most days.  It is non stop motion or "controlled chaos" as Pam would say almost every day there. However, even though I felt overwhelmed a lot of the time there with all that was going on, I'm happy I was able to help out, even if just a little bit.  Below are pictures of our daily adventures during my time in Arizona!  Enjoy, I sure did!

We went to see Hannah's Bible School Program...

We did a lot of swimming...

We took pictures of Max and Blakely and the cute things they did!

We celebrated the twins 1st Birthday!

And then there were those miscellaneous pictures we took :)

The trip was wonderful and I wouldn't trade it for the world!  I'm so thankful for the little bits of time I get with Hannah, Max, and Blakely because they are few and far between!  Aren't Dan and I the luckiest Aunt and Uncle ever! We certainly think so!