Snow!

For most of the day it has been snowing here. We do not have much of an accumulation, but it is pretty! Here are a few pictures I took.

Happy New Year

Happy
New
Year


May God bless you in 2009!

Games And The Guys That Love Them

Last Christmas Joe was dying to get the boys a board game called Samurai Swords. It is no longer being made so you really just have to find a used one. Well, it did not happen last year, but he made sure that he got it this year. This was originally a game called Shogun, and it is somewhat similar to Risk.


The guys (Joe, Bubba, Butch, Wesley, and BJ) got together on Friday evening around 8pm and started playing between 9:30-10pm (after all the setting up and learning rules). I came home and put Otter to bed around 10:30ish. Would you believe that the guys played until almost 4am! I could not believe my Joe was able to function at that time of the morning!


To show how bad it was the guys all slept in to around 10:30-10:45am Saturday morning. If you know my two boys, then you know that they never sleep past 8am. What was more surprising is that they were ready to play again within a hour of waking.

Merry Christmas

I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas with your families.

Nadolig Llawen (Welsh)

Movie Night

Sunday night is our movie night at Church. We will be watching Prince Caspian if anyone wants to join us. Food, fellowship and a movie. What more could you want? I was reminded of this as I was listening to the Switchfoot song This Is Home today.

Favorite Christmas Songs

I thought I would share a few of my favorite Christmas songs.

Once in Royal David's City
What Child is This (Third Day's version)
White Christmas (Bing Crosby)

A favorite album is Third Day's Christmas Offerings.

Great Evening

Tonight we had a date night. We dropped off the kids and headed to dinner. We ate at a local Japanese restaurant. I was a little worried because the last time we were there they would fling rice clumps at you (you were suppose to catch them in your mouth). I had forgotten my bib at home! What to do...what to do? Well, we did not have any food flipped for us to catch in our mouths. Whew! What a relief!


After dinner we decided to head to downtown Knoxville to walk around. We parked on Gay Street and headed to Mast General Store. I love that place! We were looking around for gift ideas when I found something that was totally awesome. It was a deluxe lap harp (plucked psaltery). It looks like a lap sized hammer dulcimer. There were music sheets that you slide under the strings. It has the notes for a song that coordinate with the strings. Here is a link that I found online (link). After looking around a little longer ( in the camping section for Joe) we went towards Market Square. On our way we stopped at a quaint little placed called Coffee and Chocolate on Union Ave. We shared a turtle cheesecake and had hot chocolate and coffee.


To wrap up our evening out we stumbled upon a horse drawn carriage waiting by Market Square (on the Union Ave side). It was so much fun! Even with the chilly weather I have to say that this was a wonderful idea! For about 30 minutes or so we traveled around through downtown looking at the Christmas decorations and the wonderful architectural details of some of the historical structures. As we walked back towards where we had parked we stopped to see everyone having fun ice skating in the Market Square rink.
Tomorrow I have been told that we will wake up early to go to a turkey shoot (yes, this will be the third in a row for Joe!). We will see how this goes. Maybe it will be fun!

Our Christmas Tree

Our sad little tree seems only half dressed. I guess that is because it was only half decorated. As we were trying to decorate the tree today we learned that Otter would not respect the tree and the ornaments. Oh well! Last year we did not even put any ornaments on the tree, so I guess this is an improvement! ;) Of course the kids had tried to decorate the tree with stuffed animals first.

Fulmer's Last Game

Here are a few pictures from the
UT/ Kentucky game last Saturday.

Fulmer's last run through the Power T

Celebration after a touchdown

Fulmer as he was carried off
the field at Neyland Stadium

After Thanksgiving Hike

On Black Friday we went hiking in Greenbrier. We were on a mission to see the big poplar tree. The last time Joe and I tried this hike we did not make it all the way before we had to turn around. This time we made it. It was a huge tree, too! Here are a couple of pictures. The first is from the trunk of the tree. I laid down on the ground to get that shot. The second is the guys trying to see how many it took to go around, fingertip to fingertip. It was five of them.

Santa Train

The Santa Train started in the early 1940's rambling through eastern Kentucky, Southwest Virginia and ending in Kingsport, Tennessee. It was a way to thank people for shopping in Kingsport. It happens the Saturday before Thanksgiving every year. The train starts in Shelby, KY and works its way to Kingsport, TN to bring Santa to the start of the Christmas Parade in Kingsport. On the way Santa and his helpers throw out things like candy, toys, and other little things. Here is a link to the train schedule: Santa Train Route

Otter's Friend

My friend, Em, had recently taken a picture of Otter at her house where her hair was covered in bows. Em had labeled her the Hairbow Queen. Well, today we learned that she is willing to have a Hairbow Princess! She was unselfish and wanted to share the bows with her friend. So here they are!

New Pictures

My cousin shared some new pictures with me today. This is one of my favorites! This is my great-great-grandfather on a boat. Of the few pictures I have seen of him, this is the most relaxed and casual. He is not even wearing a coat! Shocking!

Bearded Man

This is for Joe: I really like bearded men. Well, I also like men with a mustache, but I prefer more facial hair. I have a picture that shows one of my favorite beards on one of my favorite men, too (aka Daddy). If I find a picture of another good beard I will post it as well.

Political Pins

I am sure that this will surprise you, but Joe collects political pins. He can tell you how it started, but I know that he has continued to collect since we were married. Every presidential election he buys campaign pins from both sides.

Well, I saw this and had to share. On Antiques Roadshow on PBS they had someone come in with a collection of political pins. There is a picture, video and a transcript at this link.

Disapointment

There are no words to express the disappointment I am feeling to hear an acceptance speech given tonight by Obama. I pray that God will show mercy on us and that the next four years will not be as bad as I believe they might be.

Fulmer's Last Year

I just read that Coach Phillip Fulmer has decided that this will be his last year at Tennessee. (link)

Game Day

Today we prepared for another UT game day. I got Otter all decked out in her cheerleader outfit and Butch wore his UT outfit. When we stopped by my parents' house my dad insisted on getting his camera to take pictures as soon as he saw them. He was disappointed not to get all three kids in UT colors, but we had just picked Bubba up from a hike with the Boy Scouts.

Harvest Time

Today I finally got out and harvested my sweet potatoes. I was very eager to see how they did. The above ground vines were growing like weeds! I was so glad to see that I had a pretty good crop. I left some of the smaller ones to see if they would grow some more, but I completely filled a plastic grocery bag full of the others. I think it was at least 10-12 pounds all together. Here is a picture of my dirty sweet potatoes! That is one crop I know I will do again. Oh, my Blue Lake green beans are doing so much better this time around. It looks like the frost barely touched them.

Glasses

Otter and Daddy switched glasses!
BTW, those are Joe's old Army glasses.

UT Football

It has been two years since I have been able to attend a UT game. I was very excited when a couple of days ago my Dad offered me a ticket to the UT/Bama game. It was absolutely wonderful to be back there! I have really missed that time with my Dad (and of course my favorite football team!). I was able to also see a lady that has been sitting behind us as long as I have been going. She has known me since middle school and she is great to cheer and talk with.

One of the special guest appearances was from the 1998 National Championship team. Challenger, the bald eagle, made an appearance as well! I also was able to see the changes made to the stadium since I had last been there. I did not take my camera or you would be able to see it from a newer picture. Maybe I will be able to attend another game this season and I can take my camera.

Locks Of Love

Today I completed something that I have been "working on" for the past year. I had decided to grow my hair out for Locks of Love. They look for people to send a minimum of 10 inches of hair so that they can provide realistic hairpieces for children with medical hair loss. I had strangely enjoyed the longer hair which I had not had in many years, especially when we went biking and I did my "biking hair." The biking hair made it's last appearance on the Virginia Creeper last weekend and will not be seen for many months from now. I am now wishing I had a picture of it! :(

P.S.
I will try to get a good picture of my now short hair and my locks that I will send off tomorrow to add here.

Otter's Talent

What new talent has Otter learned? My she is so smart!

Virginia Creeper

These are a few shots I took on our Virginia Creeper Trail experience this past weekend. We rode a seventeen mile section of the trail ending in Damascus, Virginia. This was so much fun! It was kind of cold and I was not as prepared as I should have been, but we still had a good time.

Playing Dress-up

Yesterday was another fun day with Em. Would you believe that since we had nothing better to do we found other ways to amuse ourselves? We took one adorable Otter and played with her! Thanks to Em I now have pictures to share of how cute one little girl can be!

Learn Welsh At Home

I came across this website and thought I would share. I have wanted to learn to speak Welsh for a while now. I found on the BBC website what looks to be a reality show called "The Big Welsh Challenge." Several celebrities are taking a challenge to learn to speak welsh. There is a series of videos that you can watch to help you learn. It has English or Welsh subtitles or speech bubbles. Too bad that you cannot have the english subtitles and welsh speech bubbles at the same time! That way you know what they are saying without going back and turning on the subtitles. So here are a few things in the first lesson:

Good morning: Bore da
Good afternoon: Prynhawn da
Tea: Te
Yes, I'm Sian Davies: Ie, Sian Davies dw i.
Hwyl: Goodbye

I love the fact that you can also pick your tutor, too. Maybe Otter and I can learn and speak to each other in welsh during the day!

Foothills Parkway

I heard on the news last night that a section of the Foothills Parkway will be open to the public next weekend October 18th & 19th. Hopefully this time we can get a chance to go! Here is a link for more information: WATE 6

Popcorn

This is the annual popcorn sale time for the Boy Scouts. In a time when we should be rolling in popcorn, carrying the scent of popcorn on our clothing constantly, it seems the unthinkable has happened...

A Popcorn Shortage!

Is this all related to the "crash" of our economy? Is this the effect of the use of ethanol? Where has all the popcorn gone? We must find the next meteor coming towards Earth...perhaps it will be a (insert outrageous Scottish accent) popcorn meteor!

Bubba's First Solo

Last night Bubba had his first concert with the band at his new school. As well as preforming all together, several students preformed solos and also a quartet. Bubba was one of the soloist. He played a small section of Ode to Joy. He did amazingly well for one who had never played a clarinet before a month ago. Defiantly not a Squidward Tentacles!

Em, This Is For You!

Due to our conversation yesterday I thought of you when I saw this picture. This is adorable!

Shopping For Baby

Yesterday I spent a lovely day with a friend, Em, looking at baby stuff among other things. It was a fun day that ended all too quickly. Boy, time flies when you are having fun! I so enjoy shopping for babies. Well, I just love babies period! It is always exciting to prepare for a new little one to begin it's journey through this life. It is also good to spend time with friends face to face, just hanging out and having fun together.

It was nice to eat lunch at a new place, too. I wanted to eat somewhere that would be pleasing to her (being pregnant means you sometimes have cravings or strong dislikes for certain foods), so she mentioned McAllister's Deli. I had seen it before, but had never been. I was pleased that I did not go for a plain sandwich, but got the Sweetberry Chicken sandwich. It was great! I loved the orange cranberry sauce that was on it. Otter liked it, too. Sometimes it pays to step out and try something new!

Bicycling

This evening we headed out to ride our bicycles again. There was one difference, though. We had an addition to our group. Linda joined us as she tried out her "new" bike. It was fun having her join us! We rode over six miles and played in some of the local fountains. Butch actually rode through one. It is an interactive one that consist of a circle of many water spouts. When they started going down he tried to ride through it. It did not go all the way down and started building up again. He ended up riding right over top of one spout getting soaked! Ahh, what fun!

New Look

For a while now I have wanted a new look for my blog. I have been searching for my new favorite template, but until that happens I came up with a compromise. This is close to what I have envisioned before, but not quite there. Enjoy!

Flowering Garden

I have been growing something in my garden that I do not eat. Okra. This is something that others, including Joe, like to eat (especially fried). I have never grown to acquire that taste. I have enjoyed growing it though due to this beautiful flower it produces.

Safety City

On the 6th of this month we went to a place called Safety City. They held a safety course for school children as they ride bicycles. The kids watched a video that taught them bike rules, had someone that helped them to properly fit and wear their helmets, then they showed what they learned in the small "city" in the back.

Here they are learning to stop and give hand signals to show where they are going

Otter found a house that was just her size. She knocked but no one answered!

Learning how to go around parked cars

Welsh Wedding Traditions

There are so many traditions that have been lost through the passing of time. I found this about Welsh Wedding traditions and thought it was very interesting.

Welsh Wedding Traditions

Greenways

For the past several months we have taken to evening bicycling in our household. We have all loved our new hobby. We were driving around in Oak Ridge the other day and noticed a greenway there. I looked it up online and thought I would add a link here for anyone interested.
Oak Ridge Greenways
City of Knoxville Greenways
Maryville-Alcoa Greenway

Hummingbird

My First Bicycle

I only recall having two bicycles growing up. We did not have a good place to ride bikes around our house, so I mainly rode in the yard or the gravel driveway. My first bike was a small Strawberry Shortcake Bike. So far this is the only picture I can find of it. I have not seen one of my second bike. It actually had my name on the cover for the chain. Now I ride Joe's tie dye bike and I have "biking hair"!

Amazing Athletes

I have been busy with not only the first week of school, but also the 2008 Olympic games. I love the Summer Olympics. Diving and swimming are some of my favorite sports. I have had a great time watching these amazing athletes that are breaking and sometimes shattering the previous world records. I also love the artistry and talent of the diving. I like to watch the beach volleyball as well. Just so many interesting things to watch!

Habanera

Thanks to Wesley for showing this to me! It was so funny I thought I would share it with all of you.