After work I had to clean up the mud remaining in the driveway before a client arrived to place an order.  I ran Jodi's Mall Krawler to the car wash first as later we would be attending our Jeep group meetup and we can't have her rig showing up dirty.

When we got to the meetup, there was already a good contingent there and the place continued to fill for the next hour or so until half the place was Jeeple.  We enjoyed the food and hanging with our friends for a couple hours. 

Tonight we are heading over to a Jeep friends place and he is going to help me with my light bar harness.  He's a mechanic and machinist and he things he has some ideas to clean up the install for me.  He has a big shop on his property and all the tools in the world.

We have a busy week remaining for us as we have something going on the next three days.  I have an electrician friend coming over Saturday afternoon after I get off work to see about installing some track lighting in our studio. 

Tonight is Jeep night so that meant I had to get the mud off of mine last yesterday after work.  Two days of drying wasn't going to make it easy and as expected, it took some time to get it off.  Non-stop with the pressure washer for nearly two hours.  It is not clean, just mud free.

Here are a few more images from out on the trails this past weekend.  The yellow JK belongs to my friend Jim, who will be sharing our chalet with us in Colorado.  He's a really good guy and is super excited about the trip. 

Frostbite weekend finally arrived and the night before I could hardly sleep.  I wound up getting up early and getting the Jeep loaded up before pulling it out of the garage to mount the hi lift jack and install the CB antennae.  It was a cold and foggy morning and the forecast called for rain later in the day down at the park.  It had already rained quite a bit earlier in the week so we knew ahead of time that we would be dealing with some sloppy conditions.

We met up with our friends and hit the highway, heading to Louisburg where our club was scheduled to meet up.  As we rolled in at the meetup time, we discovered 20 rigs already there.  We were scheduled to roll out at 9am so we hung out with friends until the convoy rolled out.   I think we wound up with 30 Jeeps in our convoy and it took us about an hour to reach the park.

When we arrived, the park had already been open for  couple hours and the parking areas were already packed, and muddy.  We later learned that 203 vehicles had pre-registered for the event and another 135 registered the day of the event.  HUGE!

We checked in, got our goodie bag with our event t-shirts, the raffle tickets I had pre-purchased and then I aired down so we could get out on the trails.  Our club split up into groups and we rolled out into the park.  It was mud and water everywhere you looked but we all did fine until we went up our first trail.  It was not going to be easy getting up this hill due to the lack of traction and the challenge of a serious rocky section that was going to be pretty slippery.  Our trail leader had a heck of a time getting up as did pretty much everyone that followed.  The rig two in front of us was up on two wheels pretty close to going over as it got sideways on the hillside.  Well, that freaked out our friends girlfriend directly in front of us so their trip up was going to be interesting to say the least.  He locked up and headed up but bounced off the side and ultimately into a tree or two.  He backed down the hill into another tree,  Multiple attempts later, he just couldn't find the traction he needed to get anywhere so he was winched up.  It was now our turn and my goal was to get up without much skinny pedal as everyone else was really hitting it hard and doing a lot of bouncing.  I locked up and made it about 2/3 of the way up before the Jeep bounced sideways and my forward progress came to a stop.  My spotter had me back up just a bit and helped me with a good line that allowed me to crawl up the rest of the way.  It was the start of a messy day.

We dropped down into the creek and followed it for awhile before coming out into a lot of mud.  Some muddy areas were 2 to 3 feet deep but for the most part, we all got through it.  We had to do a lot of waiting out on the trail due to other Jeeps having issues traversing slippery sections of the trails.   I didn't have any issues getting through anything bust some did and that slowed things down. 

After spending 3-4 hours out on the trails, we headed back to the staging area and pavilion for dinner that was prepared for us.  We enjoyed pulled pork, cheesy potatos and green beans as we awaited the big raffle.  This year, the prizes totaled to over $22,000 in value.  I never win anything in these types of things but to our surprise, I won a Banks Monster Exhaust system and a set of Corbeau seats.  Didn't see that coming at all.

As soon as the raffle was over, it was a mass exodus as people were tired, cold and extremely muddy.  It certainly wasn't ideal weather for the event but it raised a lot of money for the park to make more improvements this year.  The biggest change I noticed from last year was that they had relocated the air stations and instead of just 4, they now had at least 10 and the new location made it easier to get everyone parked in an orderly fashion to air up.  Really impressed with this park. 

Here's a video clip of some of the fun we had. 

Yesterday was Jayson's 5th Birthday and we celebrated with breakfast with him, Justin and Megan.  Afterward, we went back to our house and gave him his gift from us.  We got him a Razor 4 wheeler and he was pretty thrilled.  He was pretty nervous getting on it at first telling us that he was "shaking on the inside".  He took it slow and in a matter of 5 minutes, he was at fulls peed around our court.  The "ATV" is a 24 volt electric and it runs about 40 minutes on a charge.  I did look at a small gas one at the Yamaha dealer but legal age to ride one is 6 years old and I felt that he was still a bit too small for it.  Plus, the $2K price tag was a bit much for now.  Maybe when he is 8 or so.

My light bar arrived a day early and it's on my Jeep but not wired.  As always, nothing goes to plan with me and the things I do.  Getting the bump stop set was ridiculously difficult and I finally needed a hand from a friend.  I think it's good now but have not test driven it yet.  The wiring harness supplied will need to be modified to work with the SPOD it looks like.  This uses a relay and extra wires as they have it designed to go to a small switch, which is included.  My friend is going to try to come up with something else for me to use but it won't be until next week.  So, I'll be rolling with an inoperable light bar for a bit it appears.  It looks great on the Jeep but it's another reason I just pay people to do the work for me. 

We are rolling out to Frostbite tomorrow morning at 7:30am to meet up with our club which is staging for a convoy to the park.  The conditions will be far from perfect but that's off roading. 

We got quite a bit of ice yesterday so the organizers of our meetup decided to postpone the event until next week.  Well, some us decided that the roads weren't bad at all and we went anyway.  We had some good food and conversation for a couple hours and we always enjoy getting together with our friends.

Lots to do today as we hit the final stretch of getting our studio ready for the weekend meetings we are having.  Jodi has to run Angus to the groomer, go to our picture framer and get some work done and we have more samples arriving today along with my big brake kit.  This evening we will have to get all of the samples up on the walls and I have to prepare a slideshow for tomorrows sales session we have scheduled. 

Heard yesterday that they are raffling off over $15,000 worth of off road related prizes at Frostbite.  It may be a bit muddy but it's going to be a great event and we are all itching to get off road again. 

Well, my light bar was sitting in a warehouse in the state of Washington so it won;t be here until Friday.  My big brake kit was in Kentucky so it will be here tomorrow.  Wish it was reversed but I'll just have to spend Friday evening putting the light var on and be ready to roll out about 6:30am on Saturday.  We are getting ice and rain this week so that's going to make for a wet and muddy Frostbite in all likelihood.

Tonight is our Jeep group meetup at a local bar and grill.  We have an ice storm underway so I don't know if that will limit attendance or not but I expect the roads to be pretty decent by the time we have to leave.  Looking forward to seeing our Jeeple.

Jodi and I spent most of the entire weekend working on our studio in preparation for our upcoming model team meetings as well as a new year of clients.  We took down most of our samples and started hanging the new ones we recently received.  We have our final samples coming in this week from our labs as well as our picture framer so it will be a mad rush here at the end to get things finished up.  We'll be losing a couple evenings this week to work on it as we have a Jeep group meetup Tuesday night and a sales session on Thursday evening.  Saturday is our wheeling adventure at Kansas Rocks and that is a full day lost as well.  We always manage to get things done so I'm sure this will be no different.

Today I am ordering my light bar and big brake kit from Northridge 4x4.  I am hopeful the light bar will be here by Thursday so I can get it installed for our K-Rocks trip.  The big brake kit will wait at least until the following week.  Not looking forward to bleeding the brakes.

I did a photo shoot yesterday afternoon with 4 of my models.  It was really windy and they were on the cold side being in their prom dresses but we got it in.  Jodi and I followed that up with dinner with our friends.  Great company and conversation. 

We had a great off road club meeting last night and the attendance was amazing.  There were close to 100 people there and to accommodate everyone, we had to use the pool tables and folding chairs to get everyone seated.  Apparently they are used to using the pool tables for large groups as they put pads on the table to fill the playing surface and then put a cover over them.  You can seat a lot of people at a pool table!  I was joking with everyone by recalling the Beverly Hillbillies who ate in the Billiard room and pulled out he pool cue and told them these were the pot passers.  The older folks got it, the younger ones didn't.  We didn't win any raffle prizes but we enjoyed hanging out with our friends and it was a good time. 

The long range forecast says 51 degrees for Frostbite which will make for a very comfortable day for the event if it holds true.  I'm looking forward to getting out on the trails again and seeing if there is any noticeable difference in how my new steering box handles on the rocks.

We didn't do anything special for Valentine's Day other than spend a little time with JD and Jayson who dropped by.  When he visits us, he never wants to leave.  Jayson will start kindergarten early this summer and he is very excited. 

Tonight is our club meeting and I'm hoping to win the big raffle drawing item, Pro Comp cube lights for the A-pillars.  They will probably go on Jodi's Jeep if we win them.  We are looking forward to seeing all of our friends and talking about the upcoming Frostbite event as well as our Colorado trip.

Last night I had a couple of our model team members over for a "valentine's" photo shoot.  I had them wear pink dresses and I photographed them on a white background and we used some left over props from a past shoot.  It was a fun shoot as I had not picked up my camera in at least a month. 

Today we will receive a lot of new studio samples.  We've already had 4 new albums and two canvas gallery wraps arrive as we freshen up all of our products for the coming year.  We want to have the studio finished by our model team information meetings on the 25th so we still have some work to do.

It's always nice to get visitors on this side of the state and this past weekend, our niece, Rachel, came for a visit.  She had some free time and wanted to get away for a bit so she came to KC to hang out with us.  The day she arrived we took her sight seeing in downtown KC.  It was really cold and windy so it wasn't the best day for it but we had fun.  That evening, we went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Cascone's.  The Italian cuisine is really good and none of us could finish the platter of pasta placed in front of us. 

Saturday we got up early and headed over to the Big Biscuit for breakfast.  Pancakes, biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon filled our plates.  It's our favorite place for breakfast as the food and service is always very good.  After breakfast, the girls went next door for a big sale at Plato's Closet, a resale shop for young folks.  They were having a 90% off sale and Jodi bought a bunch of stuff for our studio closet and Rachel found some things for her too.

In the afternoon, I had an appointment to get my Iphone battery replaced as part of the discounted battery program so we drove over to Kansas to get that done.  The store was completely packed.  We are talking at least 100 people in there, probably more.  Luckily they were well staffed and it only took about 5 minutes to drop my phone off for repair.  It was going to be a couple hours before my phone was ready so we went shopping in the area, and went to lunch at Imo's before going back to get my phone and then back home.  The rest of the evening we lounged around and Jodi and Rachel watched the Vampire Diaries, a series they both like.

Rachel was leaving around Noon on Sunday but before she left, Justin and Megan came by to see her.  It was great to have her.  She has really matured and is doing so well.  She starts paramedic school early next month and while she was here, she learned she was promoted to a new position, field training officer.  We hope she continues to enjoy the field she has chosen.

The balance of Sunday, Jodi and I worked on a lot of business stuff.  We ordered new studio samples, delivered an order to a client, I wrote an email to clients and we designed some new products we will be offering.  It was a fun and productive weekend.

Last night we had a sales session with one of our models and it was a fun two hours spent with her and her parents.  Her parents just gushed about the photos and the experience their daughter has had as a participant on our model team.  It really makes you feel good to create joy in people's lives. 

Tomorrow I get to go have my Iphone battery replaced as it is one of the ones involved in the big Apple battery debacle.  I've had this phone two years and I am not upgrading it to start paying for a new phone all over again.  Our cell phone bill has dropped $150 a month since we are no longer paying monthly for previous phone purchases and we are making both boys cover part of the bill to stay on our plan. 

Ready for the weekend!

Jodi and I ran over to Frontier Justice after I got off work and hit the range for an hour or so.  She is getting better each time out and definitely more confident.  You can see her shake her head now when she has a flier, which lets me know she is really trying and wanting to do well.

After shooting and purchasing some new apparel, we headed to the Jeep dealer for their JL event.  When we arrived, a number of our Jeeple were already there looking over two JL's they had on the showroom floor.  The Sahara had the doors and roof off as well as the windshield down.  They had a black Rubicon as well, which most were drawn to.  Both stickered at $46K.  

I liked the interior improvements most of all but there are definitely some things I don't like.  Not a fan of the body line that sweeps from the mirror and down the side.  The doors now have a hinge, or detent to keep them from swinging open.  To remove the doors, you have an added step.  I'm not crazy about the grille and I'm definitely not a fan of the fenders.

In the interior, the media connections for phones and such is a nice addition.  The interior has more detail, maybe a bit more luxurious, which I don't know is a good thing for an off roaded Jeep.  The molle straps behind the front seats is a nice addition and they moved the subwoofer for the premium sound system out of the floor and it is now mounted on the side of the cargo area.

They also had a JL Sport there which had a 3" MOPAR lift and 35" KM2's.  Some friends took it for a test drive and they said it rubbed twice when hitting some dips on the road.  Yikes!  All for $52K too.  They wanted $13,500 for the lift kit with Fox shocks, the tires and wheels, a gas filler cover, all weather mats and a hood decal.  Unreal.  The Sport does have 3.45 gearing, which is a small improvement over the 3.21's.   

Afterward, we went to dinner with some friends and didn't get home until 9:30pm.  It was a fun evening.  

Tonight is Ladies Night at Frontier Justice so after work, we plan on heading over and getting some range time in, since it's free.  On the way home, we will probably swing by the Jeep dealer where we bought Jodi's as they are having an unveiling of the 2018 JL. Several friends are planning to attend too so we look forward to seeing them all.

Jodi's mom's surgery has been postponed due to a death in the surgeon's family so she won't be going to St. Louis this weekend.  We are waiting to hear when the surgery will be now.

Jodi spent all day at the computer yesterday getting graduation announcement templates ready for our clients to choose from.  The ordering window will soon be here and we need to get our grad card catalog out to the clients at the end of the month.  She also finished up some new designs for our new sample albums we are ordering.

Frostbite is coming up fast.  I cannot wait for this event and we are pre-registered and have our raffle tickets bought.  They give away some pretty awesome prizes and it would nice to win a winch for Jodi.  Once I find out how much income tax we owe for the year, I may do some further upgrades to my Jeep.  Brakes, light bar, new front bumper, etc...

We are suppose to get a few inches of snow here in the next couple days so we may get the opportunity to go out and play in it with the Jeep as well as our models.  I really like doing snow photo shoots but the opportunities for the last 3-4 years have been few.  That drought may end soon.

Jodi is pretty much caught up on her work so now is the time to create more for her.  :)  We have a lot of marketing pieces to create for social media, price and product guides to update, new studio samples to order, grad card orders to take care of and preparation for next year's model team meeting at the end of this month.  There really is never down time in this business, just less deadlines to hit. 

Day two of working the weekend has arrived.  The silver lining is that it's double time but my preference is not to work weekends, or work period.  :)  Friends are running the Kikapoo trail today and I get to miss out on that.  Next weekend a group is going to Tuttle. 

Jayson spent the night with us last night.  He was suppose to a couple weeks ago but Jodi and I were both sick so we had to postpone his stay.  We took him to dinner and Toys R Us where he got a new toy. 

After work yesterday, I spent some time re-painting some of our studio walls to freshen them up.  I have a photo shoot with an area model on Saturday evening and will be experimenting with some different lighting techniques.  It's been a bit since my camera has been in my hand so I'm looking forward to shooting again.

I have to work both days this weekend so I don't get any time off until the following weekend.  The extra money will be nice though as I'm eyeing some more Jeep parts to add.  I really want to add the big brake kit.  I'm not having any issues related to braking but the bigger the better in my opinion, especially on the high, narrow trails and switchbacks that can be found in Colorado. 

Last night Jodi and I went to dinner and then met up with friends for ice cream afterward.  Next thing we knew, they were locking the doors on us.  We had been there an hour and a half, just talking away.  These two have become really good friends and we are sharing our chalet with them in Colorado.  We are all looking forward to the trip.

While chatting, we discussed the itinerary for the trip and we decided that since I am the organizer of the trip that I should put together a plan and present it to the group.  People will be free to partake in the activities scheduled for the group that day and if they want to go off and do their own thing, they may do so.  I have a number of trails picked out for us and some days will be longer than others.  I also intend to schedule a day trip through Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park.

This trail is Red Cone and will be one of the trails we do.  It goes up to about 12,800 feet, has some good obstacles on it, rocky trail as well as great scenic views.

This trail looks pretty awesome but Jeeps without lockers and a decent lift probably won't be able to navigate the obstacles.

One of the days we will combine several trails for an all day wheeling event.  We will have lunch out on the trail and there will be lots of photo opportunities.  Many of us want to get some great pics of our rigs in scenic locations to print for our home.