Husband's at SWAT Training all week in Dodge City, KS. It's supposed to be around 105 degrees every day, with lots of humidity, so a much higher heat index. I feel sorry for all the guys there who have to run around outside with lots of heavy, hot, non-breathable gear on! He is really enjoying the class, though, heat and all. I'm looking forward to having him home again... the house is lonely without him and Callie, Alley, and I all miss him terribly! Their days of training are 10-12 hours long, so I'm thrilled to get a couple minutes at lunch and a few minutes in the evening on the phone with him!

Three guys from Husband's department are at the SWAT Training, and one almost didn't get to go at all. On Sunday morning, a guy here in town was involved in a domestic dispute and had a gun. He was threatening not only others' lives, but his own. He sent a text to his girlfriend saying she should call the cops to clean up the mess he was about to make. An officer responded to the scene, and the guy came out of his garage with a gun in his hand. 27 times he was told to drop his gun, and he refused; rather he continued to advance towards the officer with the gun in his hand. The officer made the appropriate decision to fire his weapon at the guy due to the threat. The guy did die a couple hours later. In a small town, news travels fast, and news of this nature is all the talk of the town. All the officers, the city manager, the department's boss, etc. are all behind the officer and his actions. He took necessary measures which had deadly consequences; thankfully those consequences were not for the officer. The officer's doing well, which is the most important thing, and it's looking like the Grand Jury will have a cut and dry case in front of them. But for Husband leaving for SWAT Training Sunday afternoon, he would have been working Sunday morning, and this call would have been his. I know he feels bad he wasn't able to help his fellow officer out with the scenario, but it is what it is and everything happens for a reason. This all goes to show how quickly things like this can happen (mere minutes and seconds), and how just because we are in a small town, we aren't 'immune' from events such as this.

I'm going to Washington D.C. next week for an Internet Crimes Against Children course. I'm looking forward to what's going to be an amazing training, although I'm going to miss my husband even more! He comes home late, late Thursday night/early Friday morning, so we'll only have Friday evening after I get off work to spend time together before I take off.

When I get back, my dad will already be in town and will have done a ride-along with Husband and probably will have enjoyed some of the Centennial/4th of July celebrations in Husband's home town. I'll pick my mom up at the Denver airport the day after I fly in and we'll head back home. We've got lots of adventures, good food, and some projects planned for their visit, along with lots of celebrations which we weren't together for! In the mean time, I'm trying to get the last minute un-packing and organizing done to get the house ready for their visit. I'm getting closer every day. By Thursday, I should be done enough I can actually take pictures of some of the rooms and post them - especially since I finally found our camera! I've had such fun making the rooms 'ours' and homey feeling. We're loving all the space we have as well as the nice finishes in the house. We are so blessed!

We still own two homes. Our renter turned out to be a bad deal, but she's moving out at the end of this month. We're going to have a lot of repair and cleaning to do when she does. Live & learn, I guess! We've switched Realtors so hopefully soon we'll have some actual bites at our other house. We also have the potential of a Deputy renting the house from us until it's sold, which would be a positive thing. We know he'll take care of it and follow the lease agreement, unlike our current renter. We're definitely looking forward to the day when we're a one house family again, regardless of the cost!! Whoever buys the old house will get a house with a whole new roof and almost all new siding. We're also getting a new roof and some new insulation on our new house. When we were in Denver over Memorial Day Weekend there was a hail storm which has totalled almost every roof in our parts of town! We've found a highly recommended, great contractor who is willing to be the go-between with the adjuster, which is worth it's weight in gold to not have to deal with the insurance company. We're hoping to hold off on repairs until the end of hail season so we don't get dinged again (literally) with a second deductible!

(I built Callie's kennel today at lunch and I'm not sure she's as excited about her new 'home' as we are about ours!)