We are looking forward to our Florida trip in just a few weeks.  Hopefully we get to enjoy some nice weather while there.  The conference is pretty much non-stop all day so if we want to partake in everything, our free time will be limited.  It is not a vacation by any means but we will likely take some time one evening to enjoy the beach and ocean.

Jodi's mom and step dad are coming for a weekend visit in a couple weeks.  They are looking forward to spending some time with Jayson, who will be 4 years old at the end of February.  Where does the time go?  

Friday is finally here and I have the weekend off.  We will be holding model team meetings for most of the day tomorrow as we have many of our applicants coming in to hear about our program.  We will be choosing our model team in the next week or so.

Jodi and I went to a Jeep meetup at a local bar and grill last week and there were about 30 people in attendance it appeared.  We wound up spending the majority of our time speaking with a couple from Smithville, which is about 15-20 minutes to our northwest.  They have a 2012 JK that runs on 35's. One Jeep in the parking lot was running 42's!

The group isn't an official club but there are quite a few people who attend the events that are put on and the next one is the Snake Saturday parade that is basically the St. Patrick's Day parade in KC.  The plan is to have a lot of Jeep's in the parade and we plan to attend.

  

It looks like we may get in our first session of the year this week as milder temps are forecasted and we have a client who needs images by mid-February.  Looking forward to getting outside.  Yesterday, I had one of our models over to the studio and photographed her for a couple hours.  

We are planning on going to a meet up for a local Jeep club on Wednesday evening.  It's suppose to rain so I don't know how that affects turnout but we will find out I guess.  Hoping to get more involved in so Jeep stuff here in KC and meet new people.

We are only about 5 weeks away from our Florida trip.  We are both looking forward to the getaway and the conference itself.  We are staying at a resort on the beach and it should be a fun trip for us.

   

We picked up the Jeep last night after the installation of the adjustable control arms and skid plates. The owners wife asked Jodi if she wanted to trade Jeeps. She does have 37's on hers so.... :)  I was a little worried that making these changes could affect the ride that we both liked but apparently they have a good alignment on it and even in a strong wind on the way home, I drove it with just two to three fingers on the wheel.  We will turn our attention to the half doors now and get them installed this Spring.

There are a few Jeep meet up groups here in the area and we are going to attend our first next Thursday.  The meet up location is just 10 minutes or less from our house so it will be convenient. Looking forward to meeting some Jeepers and checking out their rigs.

We are less than 6 weeks away from our Florida trip.  Flying into Destin, there are very few non-stops so we have to fly to Charlotte first.  I'm hoping for good weather during that period so we don't experience flight delays.  

We got quite a bit accomplished this weekend and we have a good plan toward our goals for this year in place.  One of my resolutions was to be more organized this year with clearly laid out plans to stay focused on what needs to be done and deadlines to accomplish them.  It helps with my ADD and it gives Jodi some direction as well.  Often times, she is awaiting me to tell her what I need for social media posts, website or marketing pieces.  We are on the right track now.

Our new intern starts with us tomorrow and we should be producing some pretty cool stuff in the weeks and months to come.  He is pretty excited about the opportunity to work with us and seems really motivated.  I organized all of my video gear in the last week or so so he can hit the ground running.

We did a photo shoot with one of our models the other day in the snow.  I have had a shoot like this planned for quite some time but our snowfall the last two years has been pretty pathetic and we just haven't had the opportunity.  We finally got a 2-3 inches but it was bitterly cold.  We decided to go for it anyway, even though it was 13 degrees and a windchill of -2.  We are glad we did because the late afternoon winter light, our model and the outfit we put together were all perfect.  Here are some examples from the shoot.  You can click on them to see them larger.

The Jeep gets adjustable control arms and skid plates installed on Wednesday.  After that, we will likely work toward getting the half doors installed.

I enjoyed a number of days off over the Christmas holiday, more than I usually get to enjoy.  With the extra time off, I was able to organize our studio and storage areas and it made a huge difference.  We can actually walk around in our storage areas now.  I also found a workbench on Craigslist that I went and bought,  Putting it back together was a chore but it's done and we will be using it for product photography and video work.

I took JD to the gun range and we shot his Beretta, my Glock and the .357 Magnum that Jodi's mom gave me.  It belonged to her father and she inherited it when he passed.  It shoots great!  JD had fun shooting is 9mm and although he has some work to do in regard to accuracy, he made some good progress his first time firing a pistol.

Another Craigslist find over my break was a set of half doors and uppers for the Jeep.  Jodi has mentioned getting them since we purchased it because she doesn't like the "doors off" look.  I tend to agree with her in that regard but the price tag for a set of new doors and uppers is pretty expensive. Fortunately, we got these for about 1/3 the cost of new and the bonus is that they are already black.