Nice to meet you!

So, I'm not entirely sure who all is going to read this...if anyone is going to read this, but I think it's going to serve as a way for me to just my thoughts down and I'm excited that if you are reading this then you're interested in what's going on in my world!

I'll introduce myself. My name is Taylor Johnson and I live in Fayetteville, AR. I work as a dispatcher at the Springdale Police Dept and have been for about 3 1/2 years now. I really love what I do, even though it can be very stressful at times. We dispatch police, fire, and ambulance for the entire city of Springdale, rural fire departments in Lowell, Tontitown, Elm Springs, Johnson, and also some for Nob Hill/Sonora, and Hickory Creek/Pleasure Heights. Our ambulance also responds to all of the above areas. Yes, it's a lot!! Every dispatcher at Springdale has to be EMD (Emergency Medical Dispatch), EFD (Emergency Fire Dispatch), CPR, and ACIC (Arkansas Crime Information Center) certified. ACIC, EMD, and CPR are all 3 day courses that our department sends us to and CPR of course is just an 8 hour course. We are responsible for re-certifying in all of them every 2 years and also are responsible for so many CDE (Continued Dispatch Education) hours a year.

On top of all of the certifications we have to posess, we also have to be trained on call-taking, police dispatching, and fire dispatching which normally takes about 6 months. Each dispatcher starts with call-taking and switches to fire or police, whichever the supervisors decide. I am a trainer, and I have trained new hires on both call-taking and police training. Again, it's a lot but I honestly love what I do!

Ok, now that I've given you a somewhat lengthy overview of what I do I'll move past that! I met my husband at work not too long after I started there and we have been together ever since. His name is Gene Johnson and he is one of our K9 officers. Gene started at Springdale in 2001, and has been a K9 for the majority of the time that he's been an officer. Not to sound bias, but he really is our best officer!! Gene makes probably 97% of the drug arrests for our department, and is also on our drug interdiction team.

We got married on December 14, 2006, and we have a beautiful baby girl, Grace who is 17 months old! My husband was married once before and they had 2 boys, therefore I have 2 stepsons. Colt is almost 15 and Corey is 13, I know big kids..but I love them just like they were my own!! We have a rat terrier, Bear and has been a member of our family since he was a puppy. Grace loves Bear! We also have Aros (police dog) who is close to retirement. He's just getting to old.

After I found out I was pregnant Gene and I decided it was time to build a house so that we would have enough room for our family. Gene has worked in construction since the time he was old enough to work, so he and some good friends of ours built our house all on their own!! Gene did the majority of the work, but Eric would come out every opportunity he had to help with our new home. He started on it the end of October in 2006 and we moved in March of 2007 when Grace was about 5 weeks old!! He did such a good job on the house, and was able to get it done so quickly for us to get moved in. It's a two-story with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 2 living rooms. The kids have their own living room upstairs! It's just perfect for us. The boys got to pick what color they wanted and I decided on bright green for Grace's room! We also have a covered porch that spans both sides and the front of the house. We just planted grass this Spring so now we have a pretty lawn! Next year it's flower bed time!

The boys both go to Greenland High School, where Colt will be a sophomore this year and Corey will be in 8th grade. Colt plays piano, guitar, and also saxophone in the school band. At the end of the last school year Colt had the highest math grade in the whole high school. Corey plays basketball and is on student council! They both are very active and keep us busy! They love their little sister so much, and hate to be away from her.

Grace is a ring-tale tooter and keeps us all very busy. She just turned 17 months old and thinks she's 3 already! She says all kinds of words and tries to say everything you say. She loves playing chase, eating, climbing up the stairs, and swimming at her Nana and Papa's!!

I am quite the rambler, and if you've made it this far I'm sorry! HA! Bear with me, I'm enjoying talking about myself...I am my father's daughter!!

There's more to my story, but I'll end for now!

Taylor