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!!!

Taking A Break

Kevin and Sheryl will be taking a break from Blogging for a bit. Stay tuned for more later, as the adventure will resume before long.

Thanks for understanding.

Kevin & Sheryl

Jeep Jamboree Work Trips

Each year the Jeep Jamboree is held at the Figure 3 Ranch in the Palo Duro Canyon, the ranch is several miles east of the State Park. The ranch is approx 7000 acres on the rim and in the canyon. The Amarillo Jeep Club (Jeep Exclusive) hosts the Jamboree and people come from all over the country to participate. Each year prior to the Jamboree, the club host a couple of work parties to do trail maintenance (trimming trees and overgrown brush from the trails).

These are a few pictures from the trips (two that we took) to the canyon.

We all met at around 8:30 pm, planning on heading down into the canyon at 9:00. Saturday morning was quite cold, in the 30s, but it did warm up quick. Here every one is lined up for the trip down into the canyon, we split up into 3 different groups, the easy, medium and hard trails groups. We started out with the easy trails group the first day and did more challenging trails the second day.

This is the view at the start headed down into the canyon, very steep areas headed down, which equal very steep areas headed back up. As you can tell, there is only room for one lane, so we make sure via CB radio there is no one coming up or down prior to the start or finish.

Once down in the canyon, we followed a dry river bed for a while until we could go no farther. It was just a short walk to the spring, so we headed out to find it and stretch our legs.

There was lots of travel and stops along the way, here we stopped to let a few folks climb a large rock with their jeeps, one of the guys broke his jeep so we were her for a bit while they fixed it.

Group shot as we headed along one of the dry river beds, these beds were littered with rock fields, so it made travel a bit interesting at times.

Here I am climbing up a steep incline, the shot is at the end of the incline. the picture below, shows the area a little better.

This jeep got stuck here, and had to be towed out by another jeep, so I felt pretty good that I had made it through, considering his jeep was better set up than ours.

After a few hours of trails riding and maintenance, we stopped for lunch. The daughter of the ranch owners was in our group, it was interesting to talk with her and to listen to all her stories about growing up on the ranch and the history behind it. As I have said before, jeeping is fun, but it is more about the people you meet and places you get to see. The jeep is just a vehicle to get you to both.

Since it is kinda hard to take pictures of yourself while on the trail, here are a couple of the more difficult places or trails we were on. This is Jackie, the guy who is does all the work on our jeep.

Thought this was a good place for a picture of the jeep and the canyon, we were stopped here for a while as another one of the guys broke his jeep on the harder approach to this same area. It is amazing what these jeepers can do and fix on the trail (broken axles, broken -joints, holes in radiators, etc.)

Of course we can't go anywhere with out the famous us shot, however this one was taken by Cassie. We stopped at this beautiful canyon overlook, we spent a while here as we all explored and enjoyed the view.

We camped on the canyon rim, my boss was kind enough to let use borrow on of the Jumping Jack Trailers from work, so I could show it to the Jeep club members. It sure was nice to be up off the ground. it was pretty cold that night, but the heater we bought made it pretty nice inside the tent. It was a very windy night, you could hear the wind coming up through the canyon and then WHAM, it would hit the tent and shake it violently. Between the wind and the very uncomfortable mattresses, we got very little sleep. It was still a good time and we enjoyed getting away for the weekend and spending time with friends.
Here I come over a hill with a steep down side, and as Sheryl said, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN WHAT YOU JUST DID!!! like with most of the pictures the photos just don't do the area justice, you really have to see it in person.

All in all we had a great time, good times with good people and the enjoyment of just getting away. Just another way that we Love Our Life and try and enjoy every minute of it we can. So until next time................you know the drill, Love your Life as we do ours!!!

Skinny Girl!!!

Big news of the day, Sheryl has lost 60 pounds in her quest for a healthier life and when a woman looses that much and goes from a size 18 to a size 6, that can only mean one thing.......SHOPPING!!!!!!. Gander Mountain just happened to be running a huge clearance sale on last years summer clothes they found in the back room, I knew Sheryl wold need something to wear for summer, so off we went. Wow did she do good, we didn't realize how god to we got home. She picked up several pairs of shorts and capris, and as many or more summer shirts, with my discount it cost us around $110.00, not bad you say, well it gets better!!. We decided to gather up all the tags and check how much they sold for orginally, and see just how much we saved, well, can you say over $700.00 retail!!! we saved right at $600.00!!! You just have to let bargins like that be known.......did we do go or what!!!

Speaking of deals, we were at the Jeep Club meeting and one of the guys we have gotten to know, asked if I needed a roof rack for my jeep. I have been toying with the idea of putting one on, but didn't know if I would like the look or not. Anyway, he said he had one to part with, ok, so now the big question, how much?? He said I'll give it to you, just come and get it, well with an offer like that, you just can't pass it up. So the following weekend, off to Dumas TX. we go, we meet up with Jess and pick up the rack, good thing we brought the trailer, it was bigger than expected. Jess also had a front light bar, to grt rid of, so in the trailer it went also. We visited for a bit, but we had to meet up with Sheryls sister for lunch. We visited with Carol for a bit and headed back home for a list of honey-dos, ahhhhh a man's work is never done.....lol.
Wedding plans are coming along nicely, Sheryl is doing a great job putting all together and just having a great time doing it. It's going to be an elegant event, but not over the top. We found a place for our honeymoon, and decided to venture from the norm a little, how does 4 days of whitewater rafting in Colorado's Arkansas river sound!!!, yup an adventure honeymoon, ok, well with a little luxury thrown in. We will be staying at a diferent Bed & Breakfast each night after a full day on the river (as insted to camping on the river, which were not apposed to, just thoght it would be alittle more honeymoony this way) Gong to be a fun trip!!!


Ok, thats it for now, so take care and Keep Lovin your Life as we do ours!!!

Yucks, but better Now!!!

Having the Yucks, sure does S%$K, we have been having the standard this time of year yucks going around the house, first it was Cassie, then Sheryl and then, wammo!! out of nowhere it hit me with a vengeance!!! However, being my stubborn self, still went to work and have just been feeling like yuck for going on 1 1/2 weeks now. Ok, well you get the picture, as to why no updates lately.


Big news for the family, Chris flew out to meet Kayla while she was in Vegas for a bowling tourney, however, on his way, he stopped by Amarillo to ask me for Kayla's hand in marriage. Wow it's take a great guy and someone who really cares about his girl, to arrange a special trip to ask the proper way. I think Chris is a good guy and as Kayla really seems to be head over heals in love, so of course I said yes. This was all of course without Kayla's knowledge, so it was cute to hear her call Thursday night and tell me "I'M GETTING MARRIED!!!!" She seems really happy, and they are looking at the spring/fall of 2009 wedding, so they are not just rushing into it.


Sheryl and I attended the Gander Mountain Holiday Party on the 13th, turned out to be a pretty nice affair, held at the Country Barn restaurant here in town, all you could eat BBQ and fixins. We had not been there before, and it is nice enough inside and the food was good, so we may make it a regular stop on our eating out list. During the party, several prizes were raffled off, and we won the Digital Camera, it's a 8.0 MP Nikon, comes with a adjustable tripod and water proof case, very nice!!! Not only only did we win the camera, we also won 1 of 4 $100.00 bills they were giving away!!! Quite the productive evening we had.

Before the plaque hit the household, the winch for the jeep came in, and on one of my days off I stopped by to see Jackie to have it mounted. We as in Kevin (and Jackie's) lucks goes, it was not the simple plug and play operation it seemed it was going to be. Seems as if Warm (the winch manufacture) fails to tell you about a mounting kit you need to mount the solenoid to the winch, and which of course you have to buy separately (not a happy man at that point) However, Jackie being the master fabricator he is, made a mount from scratch (better than anything Warn would have done) Long story short, the winch is all mounted on the bumper and ready for action!!! Let just hope we never need it, even though it sure is nice to know it is there if we do!!!


Kailiegh and her grandmother Kay stopped by for the weekend for a quick visit, it was nice to see them both. We all did the standard visiting and catching up. Kay left Sunday morning and Sheryl drove Kaileigh back yesterday to OKC. Sheryl will be back this evening (sure do miss her even when she is gone only for one night)


That's it for now, more of life's little adventures happened also, but nothing really note worthy, so until next time, keep loving your life as we do ours.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Happy New Year one and all!!! Well as we all know it is 2008, wow, where does the time go??? Hope all had as good a New Years holiday as we did!!! We (Sheryl and I) actually dad 3 days off together and over the holiday to boot! Sunday Sheryl and the girls went down to Lubbock TX and did the girl thing, the Mall and Shopping, what else....lol. I hung here and just had a relaxing day. The girls made it back and it was off to dinner, one last night out together before Kaileigh headed back to OKC the next morning.

New Years Eve was spent just putzing around the house together and getting things done (darn, don't you hate when real life pops into your holiday....lol) However New Years eve evening was spent with our good friends and next door neighbors, Brandon and Julie. We had a great time of football and games before ringing in the new year, we toasted one and all, before us old farts had to head home and off to bed.

The following morning (ok, noon to be exact) we joined the Jeep Club at the Canadian river for a day of four wheeling and fun. Approximately 25 jeeps were there as well as a few other folks who had joined in for the fun. The day was spent wheeling most of the area, while stopping for the more hard core wheelers to take on the more extreme areas and obstacles.

A couple of shots of the more extreme areas (pictures really don't do the terrain justice) deep washouts and 4-5 foot rock faces for the more ambitious folks. Some made it look easy and some, well let's just say..........didn't.......lol. Our friend Clint in the yellow jeep (yup the one on it's side) won the glorious honor of the cow bell (must wear it to all jeep club events) for being the first one to roll his jeep since the last lucky fellow.

After the festivities at the river we met some fellow jeepers at the Texas Roadhouse restaurant for dinner and more good times, before heading home. All in all what a great New Years, spent with family, and friend, new and old. Yet anther reason we have to be thankful and love our life. Hope you had as good a holiday as we did, so once again Happy New Year to all.