Official..In More Ways Than One

It has been a big week in the Boyles/Peek household. Clearly with the wedding so close, one would expect lots of planning and finishing to be going on at this time. What I didn’t expect was a surprise trip to West Palm on Wednesday and Thursday of last week; oh the joys of procrastinating engineers. Our GIS department is a constant source of frustration and anxiety for me. I realize their lack of involvement on the marketing side is due to their project load on the billable side but that doesn’t justify ignoring all our attempts to successfully market their products and capabilities. Just when I think I have things under control, GIS strikes again. This time, the sole conference attendee informed me that while we would be paying for his trip down to West Palm for the So Fla GIS Expo – he would not be able to transport any materials down, nor would he be able to set up and attend during exhibit hall breaks because he was bringing his family down and was unsure what their plans would be.

At two o’clock on Wednesday, my boss suggested I attend to ensure that we would be well represented. I left at four for my whirlwind tour of South Florida, dragging Jeff and Addie along for the ride since he had both days off from work. We were able to squeeze in some visiting time with his parents and had a great dinner both nights. I performed my duties as Conference Queen and we made it back to Gainesville by midnight on Thursday.

Friday was the culmination of Jeff’s law enforcement training. His parents and I had made plans for them to come up for his Swearing In Ceremony with the Sheriff’s office prior to our little stint of a visit. They woke up early Friday morning and drove up to make the 10:00 ceremony. My mom also drove up to see the award for all of the hard work he has put into this dream over the past two years.

The Sheriff in Alachua County has been making waves for some time, being that she (that’s right, she) is the first female Sheriff the County has seen. She has made some major changes and done some necessary “house cleaning” within the organization. After hearing her views and dedication to the deputies during the ceremony, I truly cannot imagine a better place for Jeff. Her tenacity and fervor for her own was refreshing and nothing of the politically correct answers most elected officials lean toward these days. The past few weeks have been tough for law enforcement in our County and hard decisions have been made – yet she made it very clear that she stands behind every one of those decisions made by her employees. It was a proud moment for all of us as we watched Jeff take his oath. Jeff’s ambition for going into law enforcement grew from his father’s constant suggestion of what a great cop he would be. It was only fitting that his Dad be there to pin on Jeff’s badge at the end of the ceremony.

We visited with his parents for the rest of the weekend, the boys did their thing and I shopped with Jeff’s mom. It was back to work on Monday but today brought another official ceremony – the marriage license! We have a 3-day waiting period but other than that we should be good to go! I snapped some pictures in the courthouse despite Jeff’s protests. Horrible pictures but fun to remember that day! Enjoy.