December 25th

 

Image courtesy of myspace

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Made It

I made it to Cincinnati! My flight was delayed in Vegas for 2 hours, but I'm finally here, my belly is full, and I'm ready to enjoy my week. I haven't made major plans for this week, mostly because it can snow at any moment and ruin them. But- my family is planning on visiting the Cincinnati Zoo for their festival of lights. I haven't been there since I was a teenager. It is rather cold here though, so I might have 3 or 4 layers of clothing on before I'm ready to walk around and look at lights.

On a sad note, Dan's Grandmother passed away last Friday after a battle with Cancer. Dan's mother was able to be there with her, but I just ask that you pray for the whole family. She was a wonderful lady, full of energy and spunk, and I will miss her very much.

And that, folks, is it for now.

Quick take

I didn't fall of the face of the earth, but my computer did take a flight across the earth. I haven't been blogging because Dan took our laptop with him, so that leaves me, sadly, without internet. For now. I wish I had time to update you on everything that has been happening here in Vegas, but my friend was kind enough to let me use her computer and I don't want to hog it forever.

I guess I should tell any of you who don't know already that Dan made it safetly to the sandy spot across the globe. He's enjoying his job there, and has been spending the last few weeks getting settled. The last few weeks have passed quickly, so I'm hoping the next few months will be the same.

Well that's it for now. Please keep us in your prayers!

Plenty To Be Thankful For

*Dan's family made it into town safely, and we're very happy to have them here.

*We're spending Thanksgiving in our new home...which mean we're no longer in an apartment

*We both enjoy our jobs

*Our health has been great

*I have a friend who has started going to church with me regularly

*We've made a lot of great friends here in Vegas

*The dogs are not getting into any trouble ;)

*With God's provision, we never missed any payments, even with having the burden of paying for the other house

*Dan is leaving soon, but he (with the help of his family) surprised me last night at dinner with a birthday celebration. He bought me this:

So to everyone, I wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!



A Cheap Weekend

Normally Dan and I can spend quite a lot of money eating out on any one particular weekend. We love going on dates, eating with friends, or just getting out of the house. So when we knew we'd have a four day weekend, I was a little worried about how expensive it would be. All that worrying was in vain (side note; it always is anyway) because we ended up having a very inexpensive, but wonderful weekend.  Here's how it all played out
*Thursday we got up and went to eat at a buffet for breakfast. Military was free and I was only $8. We grilled steaks for dinner. Total with tip: $10
*Friday we both volunteered at the air show. We got bagels for breakfast $2 and Starbucks to warm us up $7. Although I would have rather passed on the food at the air show, we were both starving and needed something to eat. Prices, of course, were inflated like any special event normally is. I got a hotdog $4, and Dan got a rice and noodle plate for $8. We had Catfish for dinner. Total: $21
*Saturday morning I made waffles. In the evening we had people over for a fight on TV and we ordered pizza. I picked carryout so I could have it quicker, but 1 hour later, we were the proud owners of 2 free pizzas, and breadsticks. Total: 0

Today we're eating the leftover pizza for lunch and having porkchops for Dinner. Total: 0

This makes our grand total for the whole 4 day weekend $31. I can live with that

Coming out of the woodwork

Life seems to be flying by. I just noticed I haven't posted a blog since Dan's birthday, but it feels like that was only yesterday! Most of my time is spent in the "normal" routine- working at the vet, cooking, cleaning, taking care of the dogs, etc. We have been doing some work on the house to get it ready for our first company at Thanksgiving. Dan's family will be coming and we're really excited to host it. 

We're making a little more progress on the yard, but I think most of the projects will have to wait until the spring. We did get our last tree in the ground about a month ago, but it's finally getting cold here, and I don't feel confident planting anything else. The patio project keeps getting moved to another month due to limited funds (life, as it seems always has other plans), but we did buy a fire pit last week, and we've already been enjoying it.

We had our first Halloween in our new house. The street that we lived on in Goldsboro never passed out candy, so this was the first time we were able to have trick-or-treaters.  I'm sure you're wondering how we kept the dogs from crowding the door every time the doorbell rang, but the answer to that problem was a baby gate. I sat on one side and waited for the door, and nobody ever made it over (much to their dismay). George did finally climb into my lap with some help from Dan, but that only lasted a few minutes before I set him back on the other side.

On another note, Dan will be leaving soon for another deployment. I'm definitely not excited about it, but  that's life, and that's definitely life in the military. Due to safety concerns I won't be posting anything about where he is and what he'll be doing, but we ask that you keep him in your prayers.  If the time he's gone goes by as quickly as it has been lately, I'll be happy.

And- in honor of Veterans day, here is the most recent picture I have of Dan in his uniform

Handsome as ever :)

And a big thank you to all others that serve or have served (including my pappaw). Your sacrifice and hard work does not go unnoticed

A Very Special Day

Today is Dan's 26th Birthday.

Dan, I haven't known you all 26 years, but I've been blessed to know you for 11. You are a wonderful man, and I hope you have an amazing birthday! You deserve it! Love, Lisa

Landscaping: Desert Style

Dan and I have been doing some landscaping this weekend. Last week I went with a friend to a nursery that was going out of sale, and I picked up some great deals. I got two of the three trees we want to put in the back, and I bought a few other plants as well. The salesman even gave me some of the plants for free, so it was a good day. But- as beautiful as all these plants were, I still had to get them in the ground before I could really enjoy them. So on Friday I had the mission of getting all my plants in the ground. But the ground wasn't really having it. This soil is like concrete, and it took a pickax to make any sort of progress. I managed to dig one hole, fill it with water to check the drainage, and then I went in and watched a movie. :) Lucky for me, Dan came home from work and was more than willing to help me. He made quick progress of all the other holes (and my poor blistered hands were relieved). There is still plenty more to be done to the back yard, but here is what we planted so far.

Our purple leaf plum tree:

A Fan Tex Ash (We're going to buy one more of these for shade):

Two jasmine vines, two dessert spoons, one trailing rosemary (not pictured) and one trailing lantana.

And now I'm going to give my poor hands a rest

From One Grill To Another

We went from this:

and not a moment too soon- see that leg on the ground?

To this:

And in case you were wondering...yes, Dan is a very happy guy right now. Grills aren't really my thing, but anything that will get Dan to cook dinner is always welcome in my home :)

Dirty Dog

They're Back

Here are the two reasons  Dan drove all the way across this beautiful country of ours all by himself. Thank you to everybody that helped us during our very long and hard transition to Vegas. We're back together now, and loving it.

Sweet Dreams

Our big purchase for August was our new king size mattress. It's been amazing, and everybody (including George) can sleep comfortably.  But- since the movers lost our last bedspread, we were in need of a new one. I spent a lot of time searching for a new one. It's been years since I had to buy a bedspread and I felt overwhelmed with all the options. What color did I want? What style did I want in the room? How much am I willing to pay? I found many that I liked but they were either too expensive or not practical (dry clean? No way). So after a very long search, I finally found this gem on Ebay.

It's brand new, it's cotton, it's reversible, and it was only $100 with shipping. Yay for me!

Now all I have to decide on is the paint color.........

Drama of an Air Conditioner

Our home has two air conditioner units. We had them both serviced right after we moved in, because it didn't seem like the down stairs unit was working properly. It turned out that a bracket up in the attic had broken, so the fan blade was getting caught, thus causing the air not to blow in the down stairs. The man gave us an estimate to fix the problem, but we were given a home warranty when we purchased the house so we wanted to have it cover the expense.

Fast forward two weeks;  I finally received the paperwork for our warranty and immediately put in a work order to have it repaired (did I mention the down stairs has been a healthy 85 while this part was broken?). Needless to say, we were beyond ready to have this problem fixed.

The repair guy came out, and he came to the same conclusion as the first guy (well that's good at least), but he continued to tell me that a support beam was in the way and he wouldn't be able to replace the part without having the insurance company come out, move the beam, and have an inspector check the work. Ok, WHAT!?!?! You're telling me, I have to have a support beam in my home moved before you can fix the problem? Just imagine a very large gulp, and lots of dollar signs spinning around in my head. All I wanted was cold air........

So what do I do? I immediately call the insurance company, but they won't cover something like that (of course), but the lady was kind enough to get me a few names of people that could do the work. Next I called our home builder, Pulte. Thankfully they are one of the few companies that are still in business. Side note: everybody- inspector, realtor, and even the ac guy, said our home was really well built, so at this point I have a hard time grasping that they put a support beam in the way. I was not looking forward to moving a beam. All these back up scenarios has been running thru my head: we would adjust; we would learn to love the heat; we would just wear swimsuits in the house; we could have 5 floor fans running on us constantly. I mean, we made it two weeks- what's a few more months of struggle until the weather cools, right?


I give the Pulte rep a run down of my problem and after a few calls back and forth, she asked me to send some pictures. I did that, and she forwarded them to the ac contractor and structure guys that built our home. After a day full of calls and emails, it turns out that *GASP* the beam is not in the way, and the repairman was just to lazy to do the work. Trust me, I was still irritated, but I preferred that outcome.

Now it was my turn to call the home warranty company and let them know that 1) I needed a different company to come out and FIX the problem and 2) I paid their first company a service fee and he did nothing. The lady was very helpful, and hopefully early next week this problem will be fixed and we'll have ac again. In the meantime we'll just stay upstairs where it's nice and cool :)

In which I sit down for two minutes and finally write a new blog

Well folks, it's been a crazy last few months, but we're finally in (although far from settled) in our new house. It's been wonderful having our own place again. The dogs love it, we love it, and that just about covers everyone involved :)

The dogs really enjoy having the space. Even though the weather is in the 100's, George still wants to lay out in the sun. I think he's so happy to be outside that he doesn't care how hot it is. He is however not too pleased that he can't see anything on the other side of the fence. After getting yelled at a few times for trying to jump the fence (folks, this is a six foot cinder block fence, and he makes it to the top) he has stopped trying to escape...for the moment.

Zelda is also adjusting well. I was slightly concerned about how she would do with all the stairs, but after tripping the first few times, she takes um' like an old pro. And- even though she is blind, she still runs around the house and yard like she owns the place.

The neighborhood we live in has been very quiet and pretty much exactly the opposite of how was life in the apartment. Almost everyone has a dog (which is good for us, cause that means they're dog lovers), but no one lets there dogs stay out and bark, so we're happy. Now that we have a back yard we grill every chance we get. Oh, how I missed you grill.

There is still a lot to unpack, and then there are always things that need to be purchased with a new home, but right now, we're just excited about having a place to call our own.

Happy Friday, Everyone!

First Night

It's finally here: our first night in our new house! So far we've moved out of the apartment and one storage unit. Tomorrow we'll empty out the second unit and then we'll finally have all our things in one place again. It's been over a year since we've had everything together so it should prove exciting to see what I have (or have not) been missing these past months. :)

I wish this post were longer but I'm EXHAUSTED and I must go to bed. Now if only I could find my sheets.....

In Case You're Wondering

We haven't closed on our house yet. Some extra papers had to be signed, delaying our closing by two weeks, but we're hoping and praying we will close this Wednesday or Thursday. We have to be out of our apartment by Saturday so regardless of our closing date, we're renting a moving truck and heading out.

Most everything else is the same around here. We do have George again. Since we expected to close so much sooner the lady he was staying with went on vacation so we had to go pick him up. We're sneaking him around the apartemnt, but he's doing well with it, and it should be over soon.

Anyhow, I know it's not much, but that's it for now.

Happy Sunday!

Coming out of hiding

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. It's been so hot outside I've been unable (or unwilling, whichever way you look at it) to sit poolside and connect to the interent.

Here is what's been going on around here:

*Our closing is still set for the 16th. There have been a few set backs and a lot of time spent on the phone tracking people down. We had a few days when we thought we'd lose the house due to our broker's lack of motivation, but hopefully that's all behind us.

*George is staying with one of my co-workers now, and I'm not sure I'll get him back. They love him. They have four other dogs at their house, but that doesn't seem to matter. He fits right in. Even the original plans of keeping him in his crate have fallen away and now he's roaming around when he wants to, and sleeping in their bed. Ahh....George- what a lovable guy. :)

*We put in our notice at the apartment, so we're starting the process of moving (again). Hopefully this move won't be too hard since we have two weeks to get everything out of the apartment and the storage unit.

*I'm working entirely at the vet now and it's wonderful. I work Monday- Thursday and I love my schedule. I'm still running a room for clinic on Wednesday and Thursdays, but now that I'm there more frequently I've been able to assist with surgeries again. Last week I was able to do a dental on a military dog for the first time. It was great, and I'm looking forward to learning new things.

*Dan was finally able to go try out the MMA gym he's been dying to go to. He really enjoyed it, so once we get settled in the house I think he'll start going regularly.

*Zelda is still her regular ol' crazy self. It's been a lot of fun having only her, but I think deep down even she is ready to see the other dogs again. Well.....maybe deep deep down.

*I'm sorry for any birthday's or anniversarys I have missed or forgotten. I've been very absent-minded lately with everything going on, and I hate to forget things like that!

Well that's it for now. Happy Friday, everyone!

And in case I don't get to post again- HAPPY 4th OF JULY!

Home Inspection

We had our home inspection on Wednesday and the house passed with flying colors. Of course the house was only built in 2004, so I would be deeply dissapointed if something was wrong, but luckily for us there were no red flags. Plus the home was built by a very respectable builder, and they still have warrenties on certain things. The inspector pointed out a few small things on the report, and he also explained how we could just pick them up at lowes and fix it ourselves. Trust me- we are very familiar with Lowes (Goldsboro, I'm looking your direction).

One thing we would like to change in the home is some of the flooring. We were able to get measurments when we were there for the inspection and we've been checking prices and options at various places.  We are also very familiar with flooring  (again, I'm looking at you Goldsboro). However, none of these changes are things that just can't wait, so after a good cleaning we can move right in.

We're putting in our notice at the apartment and at the storage unit soon. These changes make the move seem more real- and more exciting.  I'm just not ready to pack and unpack- AGAIN!

Here it is!

In just a few weeks this will be our new home

And this will be where the dogs expend all their extra energy (at least that's the plan).

To say we're excited would be an understatement, but we definately want to stop and praise God for letting us find a house so quickly.

Home again, Home again

We really enjoyed our time spent in Cincinnati. During our week there, we were able  to see lots of family, and have lots of fun. I was definately sad to see it end, but who isn't when it comes to vacation.

As for what we've been up to since we got home...well I immediately went back to work, but Dan took Thursday and Friday off to go house hunting. I went with him and saw a few that he really liked and we've put an offer on two of them. After talking to our Realtor, it might be harder to get into a home then we thought because there is a lot of competition in our price range, and we're SUPER SUPER picky about the location. Hopefully we'll hear an answer about our offers, and of course in the mean time we'll keep looking.

Right now I'm still looking for a home for George. It breaks my heart, but I'm still hopeful I can find him a temporary home until we find a place. He's such a good boy. I hate to give him up completely :(

Well I know it's only a short update but that's it for now. The temp is 107, so I'd rather be in the pool, then sitting next to it.

6 years

Six years ago today, these two crazy kids decided to make it offical......

And that's exactly what they did!

*image couresy of bridalwave.com

Closing

Good news.....everyday we're getting closer and closer to closing on our house (it's set for Tuesday). And everyday we're also getting closer and closer to our vacation (also starting on Tuesday). I can hardly wait for EITHER! :)

Mother's Day

I hope this Sunday finds everyone enjoying Mother's day. I especially wish my Mom, my mother-in law, my grandmas, my sisters, and my sisters-in-laws a wonderful day (whew- there's a lot). I wish I could have been there to celebrate with everyone, but I look forward to seeing you all very soon!

Week in Review

Like most weeks are for us, this one has beenno exception and has been jammed packed. However, this one had some extra excitement crammed into it. I'll start by telling you about last Saturday night, when we ate at P.F. Changs. We had a great meal together, and when they brought the fortune cookies, we did like everybody else does - we opened them and read them out loud. Mine said, "New financial resources will soon become available to you," and Dan's said, "No obstacles will stand in your way during this lucky month." So then I laughed and said, "Well I guess this means we're selling the house soon." And with that, I stuck those little pieces of paper in my wallet and we went home.

Little did I know that on Wednesday, we would finally get an offer on the house! We countered and they accepted so now we're under contract. As you can imagine we are beyond excited. Now we just have to push past the few little things to make it to closing. So continue to pray that every goes smoothly.  If everything does go well, our closing is set for the 25th of May which, incidently.........is the first day of our vacation. Yep, we're all set to come back to Cincinnati for a week. The plane tickets are purchased, and a friend will be coming over to watch the dogs. It'll definately be a good kick-off to our vacation, and a nice present for our anniversary.

Everything else around here is going well. Dan's busy at his work and I'm still busy at mine. I'm really really enjoying the vet job, and although I only work there two days a week, it's my favorite two days. This is definately what I want to be doing, and I'm even planning on going back to school for my Vet Technician license once we get settled.

Friday I went and got a much needed massage. It was wonderful, thanks for asking. :) I had actually scheduled it before we ever knew anything about the house, but this was just a cherry on top.

Yesterday we went and hiked Red Rock Canyon, and that's always fun. We only took George this time so we could go into some different areas. As always, he enjoyed hiking, chasing lizards and relaxing it the creek water.

Baseball season is upon us once again, so we took in a triple A game last night. They lost :( but it was still fun to go.

Well that about wraps it up for me. Happy Sunday, everyone!

The Tennis Ball That Was

Since we live in an apartment, we try to find the best ways to get the dogs some excersise. George's favorite way to pass the time (aside from sleeping) is to chase a tennis ball. I'll sit on the couch in the livingroom and I'll throw it all the way to the back of the bedroom. He'll run and do what any good dog does: he retrieves it. But there is also another thing George likes to do. He likes to chew the ball. Actually he LOVES to chew the ball. The funny thing is he'll still fetch it when it's looking like this.

Below are some picture of George enjoying his favorite past tim: chewing on toys and laying on the bed :)

Big Ben

Well I've almost wrapped up another work week. Both jobs are going well, and the change of pace is nice. And in case you're wondering, yes, I am at work right now, but I'm on my break so it 's fine. :)
I worked at the Vet yesterday, and we had clinic all day. The day always goes by so fast there. We have 15 minute appointments all day, so I'm constantly going going going, but it's really fun. I've missed working with and seeing all the different animals. Yesterday I actually had a dog that weighed 165lb! Yes, I said 165! He was a well behaved dog, but lazy, and the work that it took just to get him on the scale was exhausting. This guy was named Big Ben (appropriate), and he came in for shots and traveling papers to fly to Italy. Uh, good luck finding a airplane that will be able to fit the size crate that, this monster will need. It also made me think about how Dan is always complaining about how much room George takes up in the bed, but just imagine sharing with that guy!

On another note, we heard from our realtor on Monday about a lady that had just seen our home and wanted to put in an offer. HOWEVER, she still had to be approved for a mortgage, and we're still waiting to here about how that went. I'm not holding my breath. If she's not approved, this will literally be the 8-9 person that wants our home, but can't get a loan. Come on people- I only need one person that is willing and able to buy my house. Stop looking at homes before you are approved! Not only are you getting my hopes up, but you're just wasting the realtors time by taking you around to different homes you can't purchase! *Okay, I'm getting off my soapbox now. I've said my piece and counted to ten. Just keep praying for us. We'd love to stop paying for this place soon.

Well that's it for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Shots Shots and More Shots

I was able to sneak a few hours in at the Vet last night and today. Yesterday we did appointments, and I was able to observe their procedures for everything. Once I feel comfortable with their computer system I will have my own room ( yes, completely alone) where I will give vaccines, draw blood, and do a general health checks on the animals (Checking ears, eyes, heart,etc..). Of course I can't diagnose anything (obviously if I spotted unusual the Vet would have to take a look), but you do a general wellness check to see if they're okay for shots. We are a small clinic with a part time Vet, so I won't come in contact with too many truly sick animals (unlike my previous vet job). We don't do any surgeries, and we don't board or hospitalize animals, so that makes my job a lot easier.

Since I'll be around animal constantly, and I'll be counting on the owners to hold their animals while I check them over, I needed to get my rabies vaccine. We didn't have much going on today at the clinic so we decided to run over to the hospital and get it done while we could. You get your first vaccine, and then after 1 week you get another, and then the third and finally shot is given 21 days later. It was voluntary at my last job so I hadn't bothered, but here it's mandatory.

When we got to the hosiptal the nurse informed me that I also had to recieve the H1N1 to work there, and I might as well update my regular flu shot (recomended annually when you have asthma), and my Tetnus shot is due in July so why not just get it over with. Uh, because I don't enjoy getting poked over and over? But anyway, four shots later I left with two sore arms, and some very cool crayola bandaids.

So that was my Friday. I'm hoping Dan will take pity on me and let me have or do whatever I want tonight, but I have a feeling we'll still end up watching basketball........ I mean, what's the point of all those shots if you can't milk it a little?! 

First Day

It's the day I thought would never come: my first day at the vet. I worked the first half of the day at my old job, and then I headed over to the vet for training (thank goodness these two building are only 3 minutes apart). Currently they don't have appointments on Wednesdays, so we went over computer procedures instead. It's a different program then I used at my previous vet job, but hopefully it won't take me long to learn it. The people are nice, and I'm looking forward to working with them. I think I'm just still in shock that I'm actually working at the Vet again. Can't wait to see what each day brings. :)

'Bout Time

I got the vet job! It's alittle more complicated then originally planned and I will try to tell you the story as best I can.

First, when you apply on base there are specific things that bump your application to the front of the line. These things were items like spouse preference, veterens preference and so forth. You can only use it once, so since I took this full time job at the Arts and Crafts center I used mine and I was basically pushed to the bottom of the stack on the applications for the Vet.

I knew they wanted to hire me, but if anybody applied with my same experience and spouse preference, they would have to hire them. No way around it. So I was holding my breath, and just waiting. At my interview she told me nobody had my qualifications so she was going to put in for me, and we'd move forward. I was super excited, but as I've learned before (especially with this job) things can change quickly.

Finally on Monday I got the call from HRO I'd been hoping for. I got the job...... but there was a slight hitch. There was one girl who didn't submit a full resume, and she ended up having spousal preference and almost as much experience as I did so HRO told the manager they had to hire her even though they'd put in for me. The manager at the vet asked if there was any way she could hire us both because she still wanted me, and they said yes, but she'd have to split the hours between us. And that's what she did.

 So,  to wrap this up: since my current boss is wonderful, he's going to allow me to work both jobs (it basically helps him out too, because he won't have to hire a new person) and it allows me to keep all my benefits from my current job. I'll be working no more hours than before, three days at Arts and Crafts and two days at the Vet. I am so excited and thrilled to get my foot in the door at the Vet, and God has worked this out amazingly (like He always does).

So that's my big news for now.

Happy Thursday, Everyone!

A Trip to the Vet

Dan came back on Tuesday from his trip to Cincinnati, and we're all happy to have him home. Things were getting back to normal, although Zelda had been a little sick while he was away. I thought she was getting better, but these past few days she's been coughing more then usual, so I decided to take her to the vet.

I had both the dogs to myself because Dan had volunteered for the NASCAR race. That being said,  he couldn't stay home with George, and George wasn't having any part of the stay-at-home-in-his-crate-while-Zelda-rides-anywhere thing. So leashes were put on, dogs were loaded in the car, and we were finally off to the doctor. 

The vet (different from the vet I'm trying to get a job at) was very nice, and Zelda was checked from head to toe, given a shot, and placed on some meds. While this was taking place George was making over all the receptionists, techs, and veterinarians. They loved him. Words like "handsome" "sweeheart" "good brother" (hah) were being thrown around. At one point I thought I was going to have to hold Zelda for the Vet, because the tech was too busy making over George. Too bad the whole world doesn't see him the same way.

And in a similar story: I had my "official" interview at the vet, and I'm just waiting to here back from HRO. I think it looks pretty good, but when it comes to military jobs, I'm never going to assume anymore.

Happy Saturday, everyone!

An Alarming Evening

After returning from dinner last night, it wasn't long before we heard sirens and helicopters outside. We rarely hear much of anything around here (especially sirens) but last night was definately different. We didn't think much of it (because let's be honest- what were we going to do), until we woke up at 2:30 to a knock on our door. Police officers were out looking for informaition about a shooting near us, and wanted to know if we had seen anybody suspicious. There were at least 10 police cars outside, and even k-9 assistance. Obviously we didn't have any information for the officer, but here is the newspaper article I found this morning.

Police officer shot, escapes serious injury when round hits badge


By Sun Staff (contact)

Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010
3:42 a.m.

Officer-involved shooting

A North Las Vegas Police officer was shot Saturday night, but the round struck his badge and he suffered only minor injuries, authorities said.

The officer was on patrol about 9:55 p.m. in the area of Losee Road and Deer Springs Way when he heard shots coming from an apartment complex, police said.

The 31-year-old officer, whose name was not immediately released, came upon a “suspicious person” near Deer Springs and McCarran Street and tried to stop him, police said.

At that point, there was an exchange of gunfire between the officer and the suspect in which the officer was struck. The suspect, who fled, may also have been hit, police said.

Police were searching for the gunman. No further details were released.

Feb 14th

Wishing everyone (but especially my wonderful husband, Dan) a happy Valentines day!

Image: Majorlycool.com

Baby Makes Three

I'm an Aunt again!

Dan's sister and her husband had their first baby. His name is Caleb and he was born early early early this morning. He weighed 7lbs, 15oz, and was 21 inches long. Please note how adorable he is :)

I, of course, cannot wait to get my hands on him.

Congrats, guys! 

Among Other Things

I just can't seem to get in the blogging mood anymore. I don't know if I'm just tired, or if I just don't feel like writing about anything that's going on. Most things around here haven't changed very much. Right now I'm still working at the Arts and Crafts center doing the lasering. I'm still hoping to start at the Vet office at Nellis, but they are having trouble creating and opening the job through HRO on base (paperwork, paperwork, paperwork..). It's a long, complicated story, so for now I'm staying put til I know otherwise.

Working full time has made my weeks fly by, and a few pounds fall off. :) Dan's also been working nonstop as they prepare for an inspection on base. We try to spend as much quality time as we can during the evening and weekends, but usually one of us is falling asleep early on the couch (okay, it's generally me).

We've had a little news on the house. Our Realtor told us that people really like the house, but they're having trouble getting loans. I guess even though it's not quite the news I want, it's better then nobody liking it. He thought a lady he showed it to last week might put in an offer, so we're praying someone will buy it soon. We also lowered the price again so maybe that'll help.

Well that wraps it up for now, but before I go I want to wish my brother-in-law, Philip, a very happy birthday! Hope it's a good one!

Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!

Quick Update

I'm still here, but too tired to ever blog! Hopefully real updates will be soon :)

Year in Review

If I could think of one word to describe this year, it would be..... Change!

The past five months have been the longest we've lived in one place this year. All the dogs have lived in at least four different homes, and some have been in five. This year I have filled out three differnet change of address forms (the mailmen just love us). So here's a quick flashback of the months of 2009

JANUARY: Lived in our home in Goldsboro. Dan had cross-training orders which we were super excited about. Projects around the house that we procrastinated on were being finished so we could list our home. All the dogs lived with us, but not for much longer....

FEBRUARY: Home projects were still being worked on (what can I say, we're slow movers). Me and the new floor had it out when it didn't want to go in properly but I won. Dan was wrapping up any loose ends before his cross-training. The very end of the month he left to drive Zeus up to Cincinnati. This was the last month all six of us we lived in that house together.

MARCH: The first few days of march I drove up to Cincinnati with the other three dogs. We were able to have a few days of seeing family before Dan and I drove back to Goldsboro so he could fly out to California. We spent our last few days together in the first home we've owned together. I sadly dropped him off at the airport, and then  I proceded to drive back to Cincinnati, where I would live for the next four months (address change #1). George would go to live with my younger sister, while Zeus was with my in-laws. I had Onyx and Zelda. Our home was now officially on the market. 

APRIL: Missed my hubby. BUT- I was enjoying getting to spend so much time with my family. It was nice not to be alone while Dan was away this time. Plus I was able to keep my nieces while my sister and my brother in law went on their anniversary trip to Europe. I would have never had gotten to spend so much quality time with them if I was in North Carolina. It was nice it worked out that way

MAY: After 9 weeks of being apart, I was able to take a trip out to California to see Dan. He took me to Disneyland and driving down the highway the hugs the coast. It was so great to see him and celebrate our 5th anniversary while I was there. Of course my trip was over far to quickly and before I knew it I was back on a plane to Ohio.

JUNE: The beginning of this month I was able to travel with my sister, Karen to her in-laws house in Tennessee. I enjoyed seeing old friends. This month also brought a new member to the family. My baby sister had a little boy and I was thrilled to be around for the birth. He was also born during the week of VBS (which incidently is one of my favorite weeks). Since I was once again a member of my old church, I was able to teach a class during VBS. I had the second grade girls, which lucky for me, included one of my neices (hey- they needed a teacher and I was available). Purely coincidental ;) Oh, and after Fen was born, George also came to live with me. Good thing he adapts so well cause this year was putting that to the test. And of course, thanks to my parents for putting up with me and three of my dogs. 

JULY: Loving every second with my new nephew. Enjoyed getting to spend time with him, rather than just hearing from everybody else how great he was. I was able to go with my church to be a counselor at teen camp. I hadn't been a part of camp in years so I was soaking up every minute of it. Good times. I was also getting more excited everyday to have Dan be done with school and come back for our big move. Although his plans changed a few times and he had to stay a few weeks longer dues to the movers, he finally made it back to Cincinnati.  After just a few days we packed up the dogs and headed for Las Vegas. Road trip, anyone?

AUGUST: We got into Vegas on August first. We started living with people we had been stationed with previously (address change #2). Dan started his new job and loved it. After six years of night shifts it was great to have him on a regular schedule. With our home in NC still for sale, we moved onto our third (and hopefully final) realtor. I started job hunting. We sold our old friend, the truck, and Dan got a new grown-up car that makes him very happy.  

SEPTEMBER: Still had our house in Goldsboro (although we now call it our vacation home to make us feel better. Still job hunting. We did have a nice change of pace when Dan's sister and brother in-law came to Vegas around Labor day. We had a great time with them, and I can't wait until they get to come back. This next time will be with a new addition.......hurry up and come baby Caleb! :)

OCTOBER: Finally got a job on base which allowed us to finally move into an apartment (address change #3). Unfourtunately we could only bring two dogs with us so George and Onyx stayed at the other house. That was so hard to do. I missed them everyday. We quickly got into a routine and could enjoy our new jobs and the new city we were living in. At the end of the month Dan celebrated turning the big 2-5.

NOVEMBER: Adjusting to life in our new town, our new place, and our new jobs. Spending more time with new friends. This Thanksgiving was the first year we didn't have any family come, so we just ate out and went to movies. Oh, and we were still waiting for our house to sell.

DECEMBER: My birthday was at the beginning of the month. Most Decembers fly by and this one was no exception. Dan was working more and more hours getting ready for an inspection on base. They changed his shift constantly (some time while he was at work), and I was offered a different postion at work and started training for that. Still wanting to get George and Onyx into different homes we asked family to take them again and they (graciously) agreed. The hard part was getting them to Cincy but after many failed attempts to make arrangments I decieded to drive them myself. Luckily my work was closed for almost two weeks. So on Christmas Eve I started the second great road trip of 09 driving back to Cincy. Zeus went back to live with the in-laws, and Onyx is trying out a new home with my neices. So far I've only heard good things, but they should be used to living anywhere by now. I started driving back on new years eve and on January 1st 2010, I made it safely back to Vegas. And thus began 2010.....