SHOP WITH A COP

Utah County Dispatchers were invited to help out with shop with a cop this year. It was so much fun. Kortney got some video with her phone. Below is the link to her post.

Kortney: SHOP WITH A COP

The 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Son

So, I finally joined Facebook. I feel so hip and modern. I found my son on there. I thought, hmmm, what things will I learn about my son that he doesn't want me to know? I stumbled across this picture.

The caption on the photo was "The most important woman in my life right now, my mom. Love ya."
I was forclempt.






A friend later told me about the following post on another mother's blog and I had to repost it. It was in response to the article by a father called, "The 8 simple rules for marrying my daughter"

The 8 Simple Rules for Dating/Marrying my Son.

Rule 1 (How to Dress) Please don't dress like a hoochie mama when you go on a date with my son. Dear father of the girl...instead of sitting there talking about how you are going to be cleaning your gun and question my son about his intentions...why not look at your daughter, see how she is dressed and then question her about her intentions?

Rule 2 (Calling in a Substitution) There are MANY MANY other girls your age, don't fool yourself, you CAN be replaced! And, if you are replaced, have some self respect, don't pull the "I am going to kill myself act"...you know what happens? Believe it or not, you don't get back together; instead your prize is...a free 3 night stay in the psycho ward!

Rule 3(Game Over)..Just cause you two broke up, this DOES NOT give you license to change my sons character. YOUR friends don't need to be texting, calling or emailing my son to tell him what you think. Believe it or not...it doesn't matter what they think!

Rule 4 (Money,Money,Money) When dating my son, please be considerate of his finances when ordering off a menu, he worked hard for that steak and that tank of gas to drive you there!

Rule 5 (The Reality Check) When you marry my son, REMEMBER-It takes TIME to acquire the things your parents have. He will treat you like a queen, but it will take several years before you move into that dream castle. Keep you expectations in check in the early years for Valentine and Christmas gifts.

Rule 6 (What to call me) You may wonder what to call me. Unlike the article that demands the "boy" call your dad "SIR"..We would prefer you call us mom, not only to our face...but also behind our backs.

Rule 7 (Contract Agreements) The vows you will be taking commit you to be faithful to my son "til death do you part". Be advised, if you break that vow, I will immediately help expedite the second part of the contract!

Rule 8 (Friend or Foe) We can be you BEST ally...Or you worst nightmare...The choice is yours...Oh and PS I can take your dad...

Happy Valley

Utah County as seen from squaw peak overlook

.

My little piece of the valley

HALLOWEEN

I don't remember how many years it's been since I've made a halloween costume. But Jantzen had a party to go to and decided he was going to be Wolverine from X-Men. He found a mask and gloves and enlisted my help with the rest of the costume. We both had a lot of fun designing it. And it gave me an excuse to finally get my sewing machine out of the box (I bought it last Christmas)

It takes a lot of commitment for a man to wear yellow leggings.

PARK CITY

Before Anthony went home we took a trip to Park City. Since the ski season had not yet begun, we got a fabulous deal on a condo. (Highly recommend it for a big group like ours)


You can see the olympic park ski jump in the background.


The loft had two twin beds.



There were 2 bedrooms with queen beds and a pull out couch in the living room.


We celebrated Haley's 11th birthday there.

Whitney waiting for the party to start.


Haley shows off her new purse. She also got plenty
of cash to go shopping at the outlet mall nearby.


We had a good time visiting the olympic park.

Haley the downhill racer.



Ali, Haley & Whitney's bobsled team.

More Moab

Ali, Anthony, Haley, Alisa, Whitney &
random bird near Delicate Arch.





Ian, Haley & Whitney stop to pose while hiking
up to Delicate Arch.

Moab

My cousin Anthony was visiting from Maine.
No trip to Utah would be complete without a visit to
Arches National Park in Moab.


Anthony, Alisa, Haley, Ian, Grandma, Whitney, Ali
and Jantzen. This was taken on top of Sand Arch.
The wind was blowing and the sun was behind
them, giving Haley the crazy mad scientist hairdo.




Grandma and the kids below Sand Dune Arch



Jantzen, Ian, Ali, Whitney & Haley under Sand Dune Arch.

Fabulous at 40

Marla, Pam and Melissa

My two best pals. We've been friends since junior high. We all turned 40 this year. This was taken at Pam's party, she was the last one to turn the"Big 4-0"

More Training

Last week we did some training with lifeflight and they brought one of their ships down. Pictured above are the majority of our dispatchers. Don't look too hard for me. (Someone had to answer the phone)

The Singing Dispatcher

Those of us that work with Kat, know that she has a terrific voice. Now the rest of the dispatch world knows it too. This year APCO (national organization of dispatchers) held their own APCO Idol contest. Kat was chosen as one of 3 national finalists. Here is a link of her peformance at the yearly national conference.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5oHaDffj7g

And here is the link to her winning APCO Idol 2008, and her encore performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akXk2GiLbhY&feature=related

Training

Lisa and I had a great opportunity last month. We spent a week doing earthquake training with FEMA in Emmitsburg, Maryland on the campus of the national fire academy. The campus is really old and beautiful. A big change from the deserts of Utah, lots of birds, squirrels and rabbits running around. I got a huge kick out of the fireflies. This is the 9/11 memorial on campus. The picture hardly shows how absolutely massive it is. We were only 15 miles from Gettysburg, PA and were able to visit it before we flew out.

For more pix of this you can go to Lisa's link under my dispatch pals and see her training slideshow.

Habitat for Humanity

A while back, a friend from work and I volunteered to decorate a room for a family who was moving into a new Habitat for Humanity home. We were asked to do a bedroom for two little boys who love Thomas the Tank Engine. With some generous donations from our co-workers we were able to furnish and decorate a really fun room for them. (Thanks, Kat)

My Grandma turned 96 yesterday!

And just like the energizer bunny, she's still going, and going and going. She is currently visiting us in Utah.

Finally maybe I can take some time off.

Your head is there to move you around

There is a 1980's REM song called STAND. I never appreciated the great wisdom of those lyrics until I became a dispatcher.

Stand in the place where you live
Now face North
Think about direction
Wonder why you haven't before
Now stand in the place where you work
Now face West
Think about the place where you live
Wonder why you haven't before
If you are confused check with the sun
Carry a compass to help you along
Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around

It is incredible how completely unaware of their surroundings people can be. You live in a place for 15 years and you don't know which way east is? Especially on the wasatch front. Little Hint: the big mountains are to the east.
When you tell me that the suspect went "right" I really don't know which way you are facing at the time.

There is wonderful technology available to us. Cell phone towers give us communications almost everywhere, we have caller id, GPS.
But let's not forget our good old god given sense of direction.
Now look away from the flashing computer screen, look outside and figure out where on the planet you are.