"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:10-12

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Cowboy Up!!!


Before i get started, let me warn you that this is kevin - not Jennifer posting this time! It's been almost a year since i've written anything on this blog and it may be another year til you hear from me again!!! So, here goes....

Well, as many of you may know, i've been changing the direction of my tree business. After being spoiled by two fantastic employees (Judd and Shaine - that's you), i've been disappointed by everyone else i've ever hired! So, i've decided to simply scale back and primarily do jobs that i can handle all by myself (Turkey's my emergency go-to-man if i get in a pinch). Ok, already - i'm rambling - long story short - i decided to sell my skid steer (here's a pic for all of you wondering what in the world a skid steer is) ... to a fella in WYOMING......AND DELIVER IT!!!! Hmmm... i began to reminisce.... i've made this trip 6 times before when i worked out there.....but never with an 8 month pregnant wife and a 21 month old little boy!!! It shouldn't be too bad, right?!?! Well, honestly, it wasn't!!! Thank goodness for that DVD player Grammy bought! Anybody ever watched Nemo 6 times in one day...... IN A ROW?!?! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming...!

We definitely had some memorable moments - and that's what i was hoping for - the kind of memories that are etched in your mind - unable to be reproduced on any kind of film! But for your viewing enjoyment, here's a pic of Drew on his "Throne" and one of us crashing after a long day of driving!! They were a couple of real troopers and definitely "Cowboyed Up" to make the trip!!!

After delivering the skid steer and staying with Frank and Karen for a few days, we headed off to Yellowstone and the Tetons! We saw Old Faithful do her thing and then drove on down to Jackson Hole that night (getting there around 1:30am) - Drew was still awake!!! Jackson Hole was beautiful - as were the Tetons and we will definitely be back in a few years to enjoy them for a longer period of time!! We'll add some pics of that leg of the trip later (we don't have those pics uploaded yet).

On the trek home we were able to stop in Denver and see the one friend from high school i still keep in touch with - Cam (along with his wife Rachel and son Cale). It was great to do a little catching up!

About half way across Kansas the big white goat - that's my 98 Dodge Ram - started screaming at me like it was mad!! After an under-the-hood inspection at the rest area i realized that the main bearing on my water pump was on the verge of "crappin' out"!From that point on, for the next 900 miles, we had to stop every 75-90 miles and add water or coolant to the radiator. So... i felt very fortunate that we were able to limp home without having to play mechanic on the side of the interstate!!

Well, we arrived home safe......and tired!!! But very thankful!!!! We brought back a lot of memories..... and Drew, well, he brought back some sort of heat rash on his inner thighs or something!!!!! (He really did and i felt very sorry for him - but we got it cleared up).

Well, here are some other random pics of our trek out west - we'll post more later! Thanks for reading my rambling!

On the road to the Upper Lodge/ In a hailstorm outside of Casper, WY / Jen and Drew outside the Lewis and Clark Museum



Posing for a pic with the horses! / Drew cleaning up with Holli's boys! / Joe Cool!!!