Jason graduated for him Correctional Officer's Academy this week with top honors. He's been attending the academy in Yuba City (about an hours away from our house) for the past 5-weeks. He was assigned duty as Class Sergeant, the second highest rank in the class. He was in-charge of all of the class discipline and leadership. He also won an academic award for being ranked #3 in the class for G.P.A., which he was actually disappointed with! He'd been ranked #1 for most of the academy and ended up missing getting the #1 slot by 0.2 of a percent. We were still proud of him!
The awards Jason we most proud to get were the two he was nominated for by his classmates. Jason was voted "Best in Class" for his overall academic and physical performance as well as his leadership abilities. The second award his classmates nominated him for was for leadership. His classmates chose him as, "someone with good ethics and judgement skills, the ability to stay calm in a stressful situation, a true leader and the one person everyone would choose to work beside them." It was a big honor to win these awards!
Currently, Jason is attending another academy at Yuba College that will make him an official Peace Officer and enable him to be able to carry a firearm while on the job (although they do not carry firearms in the jail). In this academy, he has been chosen as the Class Platoon Leader, the #1 rank in the class. We are so proud of all Jason's accomplishments, and we know so many good things are to come of his career!
My big boy had his very first dental exam! I was so proud of him, he did such a great job! He loved visiting Dr. Crabtree and having his teeth cleaned. James' favorite part was riding up and down in the chair, but he also giggled through having his teeth cleaned and he loved the strawberry flavor of the polish. He was so cooperative, he even sat and smiled while they took x-rays of his teeth! He keeps asking if he can go back soon, he really was impressed with all the equipment and meeting all the new people in the office. Who knew, a 4-year-old who LOVES the dentist?!?!
The day after I turned 31 years old, a group of my best friends and I made a pilgrimage to Arco Arena to relive our teen fantasy. It had been 18 years and so much had changed, yet here I was, screaming like a teenager over a group of 40 year-old men bouncing around on stage to a set of very familiar tunes. We screamed and sang along until our throats were sore and our voices were gone. We stayed through both encores ("Step By Step" was the first, followed by the grand finale: "Hangin' Tough"). The show ended around midnight, a very late hour for all of us these days. On Friday, back in our regular adult lives and jobs, we were all dragging, but I think each of us had a little glimmer in our eyes for days following the concert. There's just nothing like having you breath taken away by a beloved boy band for the first time in almost two decades.
Joey *sigh* McIntyre.... still so dreamy after all these years!!
