Centerville PD

Well, as of 1/28/2011 it is officially official. I will be working for the Centerville Utah Police Department. This has been a long time coming (which is why I posted pics....for all you non-believers) and can't believe it is here. I got sworn in on Friday morning at 9:45 am. and now look forward to the intense 12 weeks of "on the job training"....affectionately known as FTO or "Field Training". Unfortunately, my parents were out of the state in Hawaii and were not able to make it to my swearing in but, none-the-less, I thank them for their support and love. My grandparents were able to come and that really meant a lot to me to be there and offer their support. I also had my sargeant from POST come and witness the fruits of his labours. He was excited for me.

I am excited and anxious to start this new "adventure". I hope to be as good of a police officer as others I know and plan to work hard to accomplish this. Thanks to all that have worried and prayed on our behalf...we thank you for those prayers.

Enjoy the pics!


This is me signing my "swearing in".

My wife came.....she wouldn't believe it without seeing it with her own eyes!

Me and my P.O.S.T. Sargeant, Dave Attridge.

Me and the kids.....they didn't really understand.

Me and Cheif Neal Worsley.

Luke's 2010 Buck

Well, I am finally blogging about the deer I got this year. I have put off blogging about it in hopes that I would get a big bull elk and then I could blog about them both at the same time....maybe try to redeem myself for the deer I shot this year. But, alas, having been given 3, yes that's right T H R E E, shot opportunities on 3 DIFFERENT bulls I went home with tag soup.....anyway....


Here is the story: I left to go hunting one evening and as I was walking out the door Megan says, "Kill something this time, we need meat in the freezer". Perfectly fine thing to say....but not something I needed in my head when I saw this deer.

I had gone hiking above the Bountiful temple where I had previously placed a trail camera on a water hole I had found. After hiking up to the water hole and checking my camera I made the trek back down, hoping I would get lucky and stumble onto a decent buck. As I was walking down I did stumble onto a buck....but far from "decent". I had jumped a little two point that didn't have the sense God gave rocks. The little guy bolted from me and stopped at 30 yards. Just for practice I drew my bow on the deer. I had no intentions of shooting the small buck but I always practice just for good measure. The buck slowly walked off and I let down my bow.

The buck was gone about 1 minute before he came back, this time at 20 yards, trying to sniff the air and figure out what it was that was lurking just yards away in the tall grasses. Once again, I drew my bow. It was at this moment that I heard Megan's voice in my head telling me I needed to put meat in the freezer. I thought, "You DON'T want to kill this deer. He is just a little 2 point. You can get a bigger deer than this." So, as the deer walked away, I once again let down my bow.

The buck was gone about 1 minute before he came back, once again at 20 yards. He still couldn't figure out what I was and kept staring at me and sniffing the air. Once again, I drew my bow. Like the previous time I heard Megan's voice telling me we needed meat in the freezer. I thought, "You DON'T want to kill this deer. He is just a little 2 point. You can get a bigger deer than this........however, if were to kill this deer, you would want to spine shoot it to drop him in his tracks so he doesn't run down the hill making it a really tough drag back up." The deer walked away and I let down my bow.

The Buck was gone about 1 minute before he came back, once again at 20 yards. He stared right at me. I drew my bow as I heard in my head, "Shoot this deer. It will put meat in your freezer, Megan will be happy.....you can spend the rest of the season focusing on killing a bull elk. So, I took careful aim, aiming for a paralyzing spine shot, and released my arrow.

The buck dropped instantly and another shot to the heart sealed his fate. I saved myself the work of dragging him up hill but the hike out was far from "easy". I quickly cleaned the deer, took a few pictures, and threw the small buck over my shoulders. The 1 1/2 miles back to the Blazer with a deer on my shoulders is a pack-out that I will never forget. About half way through the hike out, I decided to leave my bow on the trail and I had to go back for it later. By the time I was done I was covered in sweat, blood, and dust.

Here are some pictures. Remember, I was all alone...kinda tough to take your own game pictures. Oh yeah, Sorry for the blood.....it is what it is, I guess.

P.S. Although he's not the biggest deer I've ever killed....he tastes pretty good!

the end of an era

Today is the end of an era. The end of Piderman. Today, Noah said, "Mom. I'm Spiderman!" I looked at my boy in astonishment. Spiderman? What happened to Piderman?!?!

Actually, it's okay. We work with Noah all the time with the soft S followed by a consonant so this should really be no surprise. But it is still sad.

Reminds me of the times when my niece, Taytum, called me Geman instead of Megan. I loved it and I think I may have cried the day that something in her brain clicked and she called me Megan instead. Boo.

Still, Noah is pronouncing snow as tow and stop as tops, so I still have some things to love.

Meanwhile, we are getting ready for Christmas. I feel a cold coming on which is a bummer because I was sick (with different ailments) the last two Christmases. I am overdosing on the VC and gargling with salt and baking soda (my mom's remedy). We'll see if I whoop this or end up in bed. I vote for whoopin' it!

today

I wanted to do a quick journal entry somewhere to remember a couple things... This morning Noah told me he saw Thomas the Train in his sleep. Cool! He told me all about this Thomas dream. This is the first time he has ever told me about a dream!

The kids are getting so excited for Christmas. Especially Noah. We took them for a quick drive before bed to look at Christmas lights and every time we saw a house with lights they would both shout, "More lights!" They loved it.

We saw "Father and Mother Christmas" at Swiss Christmas on Saturday. Noah was so excited to sit on Santa's lap. He has asked Santa for Woody and Buzz this year. Emma was happy just to retrieve her candy cane from the Mrs. And move on. I asked her later what she would like for Christmas and she replied, "Me!" I asked Noah if he knew what Emma wanted for Christmas and he replied, "Herself.". Hmmm. Not quite sure what to do with that.

I love the way the kids pronounce Christmas. Noah says Trifmas and Emma says Nimmas. It is so cute! I love hearing Emma and Noah getting excited as we walk through stores or drive around and shout Look! Nimmas Tree! Mom! There's more Trifmas lights!

And finally, tonight as I was putting the kids to bed Noah said, "I don't want my nighttime music." And I asked why not. He said, "I want Trifmas music because it make me happy!" So he fell asleep to the crooning festive tunes of John Denver, Bing Crosby among others.

Ah, the magic and fun of Christmas is finally here!

Sunday's Stupendous Six

September has slipped by and October is on its way out... so I thought I would pick up a new habit of blogging Six Stupendous things on Sunday before too much more time goes by and I just quit blogging altogether.

1. My sister's birthday! Today, it is my sister, Melanie's birthday. I won't mention her age, for that may give mine away. Love my sister. Miss my sister. We were supposed to be getting together in St. George next week but life gets in the way and nobody could make it. So bummed this isn't happening. I might need to plan myself a little road trip for my birthday or something. Love you Mel!

2. Blustery Days. Today was an exceptionally blustery day. We spent the day (after church) inside in cozy clothes, watching movies and reading books. Sometimes a blustery day is a good thing.

3. Soup! For our blustery day we had Minestrone. Yum. If I am feeling ambitious I might post my recipe. If.

4. My chickens. That's right. I have eleven and I love them all. They aren't laying yet, but we are all very excited. Hennie, Barb, Hero, Goldie and Blanche (can't tell these two apart), Roadie, Fez, Star, Lil' Red, Buffy, and Snowflake... here's to you.

5. Conversations with my kids. So entertaining. Last night Noah and I had a conversation that went a lil' something like this:

Noah: "Mom! That was a Christmas Tree at the big store." referring to the too-early trees at Wal-Mart a.k.a. The Big Store.

Me: "Yes it was. Christmas is almost here. Do you know why we celebrate Christmas?"

Noah: Puzzled look

Me: Proceed to tell a brief Christmas story ending with, "and we celebrate the birth of Jesus because he helped us and saved us so we can all live with him and Heavenly Father again."

Noah: "What about Spiderman? He helps people too!"

6. Halloween. Emma's birthday and Halloween. For which, Emma will be a Pirate (if you ask her, she says she will be Emma) and Noah will be Spiderman, or Piderman as he prounounces it. Hopefully we will be on the downslide of this Spiderman infatuation as Christmas nears or Noah will be expecting him to be a member of the manger scene or slide down our chimney. That is, if we had one.