Starting New Job

Today I start my new job, working for Jackie at Fabwright Custom Fabrications http://www.fabwright.com/index.html I'll be driving a local delivery route in the mornings and working in the sop in the afternoons. As you can tell, Fabwright specializes in all things Jeep, it will be good to learn all the in's and out's of my jeep and how to fix it myself should something go wrong out on the trails in the middle of nowhere. Like any other change, I'm feeling a little apprehensive, but that will soon pass.

Ok, duty call and have to run, more later.

Sheryls New Adventure!!!

Sheryl has begun her new adventure in travel nursing, you are saying What?? Why?? What About....?? Well rest assured, we discussed all the options since her being let go from her job and travel nursing was the best one. Various reasons went into the decision and we are strong enough in our relationship to weather being apart for a bit for the betterment of our future. I will be staying in Amarillo until our daughter graduates next summer and strikes out on her own. Ok, enough about reasons, you want to know where she is........Sheryl is headed for Long Beach, CA. a small town just south of Los Angeles and home to the Queen Mary. She will be working at Long Beach Memorial Hospital for approx 4 months. Her assignments are 8 weeks at a time, and she'll probably do 2 back to back. After Long Beach, who knows, wherever the best job and nicest area is. Best part is, I get several mini vacations to go and see her..Woo Hoo.....
Just wanted to give a quick update to share a new milestone in our quest to become full time travelers/RVers, hopefully we'll have some pictures to share next time. So take care for now.

Return to the Blog Part Deux

Part two of the return brings us to The big "D" and I do mean DALLAS!!!, Kayla was offered a job in Dallas with a bowling company (and since bowling is her passion...well hey why not!!!) and she accepted their offer. So the big move from the Sunshine State (FL) was on, and of to become Texans they headed. They did find a nice apartment in Arlington, just down the road from work. Their second day in the Dallas hmmmm what to do, a Cowboys game what else, ok pre-season but it's still a Cowboys game none the less!!! Our best to both Kayla and Chris, I know they will do well.

Amongst all the turmoil of the last few months, we decided to take an overnight camping trip to unwind and just get out and away. Our destination was the Canadian River Valley just north of Amarillo.

Once we arrived, looking for a camp site was first priority as we got a late start. after a few miles we came upon a pretty nice location right on the river. Camp was set up and relaxing was in order.

Sheryl was off to explore the river banks in all her cuteness. There were several tire tracks in the area but as luck would have it, we didn't see another vehicle the rest of the time we were there.

As Sheryl explored, it was my time to man the grill, a simple dinner of hotdogs and chips was the cuisine of the day

Night fall came early as did morning, so morning coffee was in order. Sheryl whipped up some eggs and sausage for a great start to the day.

Since ladies love their comfort, we picked up a camp shower enclosure at Wal-Mart along with a port-a-potty (will spare you the pics of the potty...lol) To our surprise the enclosure was very well built and very sturdy. The bottom is mess to let water drain away, and it was pretty easy to set up. What a great deal for only 35 bucks. Now to get a solar shower to hang in it and give that a try.

After a morning of breakfast and packing up, we decided to wheel around the area alittle. The river valley has some pretty steep ups and downs and everything from mild to wild.

All our gear was loaded onto our trailer which I had set up for off roading behind the jeep. This gave me my first chance to try it out, it is a standard 4x8 utility trailer which I did a spring over conversion and installed 15" tires on. The trailer now sits pretty much level with the jeep.

As in most shots the terrain is much steeper and rugged than it shows. The jeep towed the little trailer with out even a whimper and the trailer took everything I threw at it.

In the end we had a great time, got away, if only for a night, tested some new equipment and just enjoyed each other and the outdoors. What better way to say we are just Lovin Our Life.

Our Return to Blogging!!!

Wow, it's been a few months since our last post and a lot has been happening. We have experienced the highest highs and the lowest lows, this roller coaster has made sharing our thoughts with the world very difficult. I won't bore you with the details of having to be in the proper mindset to write, instead we'll just get you caught up on the past couple of months.

The past few months have brought us a string of bad luck,

Cassie had some very serious issues toward the end of the last school year and into the beginning of summer, these issued weighed very hard on Sheryl as she tried to deal with them.

Sheryl developed kidney stones to the point of disabling her for a couple days at time, this would occur every couple of weeks.

Sheryl's mom was diagnosed with lung/liver cancer and passed way with in 3 weeks, this was by far the hardest of the hard for Sheryl to deal with. Sheryl was very very close to her mom and was one of the main reasons we moved to Amarillo. Sheryl took a leave of absents for her job to care for her mom during her final days, I'm so prod of Sheryl for this and I hope she knows what a truly great person and daughter she was to her mom. Audrey was a great and strong lady, like many people her life was full of high highs and low lows, however she persevered, and became one of the strongest ladies I have ever known. Audrey you will be missed by all.

Now for some happier news, the wedding of Kevin and Sheryl!!! took place on July 28th 2008. We were married at our home here in Amarillo, Sheryl handled all of the decorations and wedding planning and what a wonderful job she did!!! As you can tell by the photos it was a simple but elegant affair. A couple of highlights with in the wedding were the ability to have all our kids here to celebrate with us, and also be a part of the wedding party. Sheryl's mom was also able to make it, even as sick as she was, she said she wouldn't miss it for the world and she didn't!!!

After all the stress of the above events, Sheryl's health began taking a turn for the worse, and she was diagnosed with Gall stones, she had been putting off caring for herself to care for her mom and it finally caught up with her. She was hospitalized and had her gall bladder removed. As with all surgeries, there is a risk of complications and this was Sheryl's turn. She developed a bowel obstruction and ended up hospitalized for a week along with another surgery to fix it.

Poor girl has been poked and prodded more than anyone should ever have to be and is still recovering.

To add insult to injury, as Sheryl was recovering her first day home from the hospital, she received a call from her employer and was terminated for missing to much work (the things we could say about her former employer, but we'll keep it civil)!!!

Sometime as they say, things happen for a reason and and Sheryl's termination was just a blessing in disguise. After some thought and soul searching, we decided she should begin her travel nursing adventure, the decision was both financial and for her mental well being. We know we will be apart for some short periods of time, but in the long run it will be for the best. Sheryl applied for and was excepted by the FASTAFF Travel Nursing company (like there was ever any doubt....lol) and on average will be making double and triple the pay than her old job (hence the blessing in disguise!!!). I will remain here in Amarillo until Cassie graduates high school next year and strikes out on her own, after that I will join Sheryl where ever she may be and begin our full time traveling adventure together.

Speaking of Sheryl's new job, just as she completed the final steps to employment, they called her to ask if she would like to assist in Hurricane Gustav relief, and of course she jumped at the chance (not to mention the pay is well worth it :) So she is in San Antonio , TX. for a week or so at the FEMA headquarters Kelly AFB. She is feeling good about herself and being able to help others is a great benefit.

The house is up for sale and of course perfect timing with market in a slump once again, good thing is we do not have to sell, so we can wait it out and not be stressed. Even with the slow housing market, they are still building new homes n our area, so we are having to compete with lower priced new homes, while attempting to sell our upper end home in the same area, just need to find that right couple to fall in love with the house as we did. So if you know anyone in the market for a beautiful home in Amarillo at just over 200,000 send them our way, they won't be sorry!!!

I know this one was kinda long so I'll break it off into another post, just wanted to begin catching everyone up. So until next time Keep lovin your life as we do ours!!!