Smoky Mountain Air Show

On a sunny Saturday in April, we went to the air show at McGhee-Tyson Field.  I was the only one in the family who had been to an air show before.  The traffic was awful for almost everyone (two-three hour waits to park), but we took a different route (totally by accident), and avoided the worst of it.

My favorite performance was the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team.

We were really sad when one of the Blue Angel pilots we saw at the show crashed just a month later. Here is the photo of the Blue Angels over Knoxville.

Noah Finds a Sport!

Noah has never been passionate about any sport - either as a player or a spectator.  Probably his favorite so far has been swimming, but his working as a camp counselor prevented him from swimming on the summer swim team.

Enter Ultimate Frisbee.  The local homeschool team - the Hornets - has traditionally been one of the best in the city.  Noah started playing with them this past fall, and he also played again this spring. He has finally found a sport he can get excited about playing.

These photos aren't the greatest.  Rebecca hasn't purchased a telephoto lens for her new camera yet.
Fortunately, Noah plans to play again next year.  He is number 16.  He is also 16.

Rebecca and Lisa Celebrate

Since Lisa's birthday and Rebecca's birthday are just one month apart, they chose to meet in the middle and celebrate together.  Lisa drove down here and went on a winter hike with Rebecca's FX group:

Then we had some cake by a cozy fire.  I made this wonderful gluten free cake for Lisa last year, so we decided to give it a re-run.

Leftover birthday cake makes a great breakfast, but this one only lasted through one breakfast.

Bridal Show

In February, Rebecca was part of the Bridal and Beyond show, featuring her photography business, Thousand Word Photography.

Here's her booth:

Rebecca did a great job with the event!  Terry and I were very proud of her.  She was the youngest vendor in the show.  One attendee won a $1000 door prize to spend with the vendor of her choice. Rebecca was chosen!

I know I took some more photos of this event, including some of Rebecca outside the venue with the sunsphere in the background, but I can't find them!  So sad.  If I find them, I'll add them to the post later.

Winter Wedding

The O'Bryans have been some of our best friends for years.  This January, Josh O'Bryan got married in Greenville, South Carolina, and we drove down to join the festivities.  It was lots of fun!

Here the bride and groom had to answer questions about each other, holding up shoes to indicate their answers.  It was very entertaining!

Longevity dance - Terry and I have been married 25 years

Line dancing - this one cracks me up!

Laura dances with her grandson

Nathan and his college roommate, Kevin O'Bryan

Photo credits to Rebecca of Thousand Word Photography.

Word Games

Our family in Arkansas loves to play word games.  This year we did a variation on charades.  We called it "popcorn" since all the phrases we were acting out were placed in a popcorn bowl.  I can't remember all the rules, but it was very fast-paced and lent itself to lots of funny expressions.  Like I said, I can't remember the rules, but I will always remember the laughter.  And also all the references to Donald Trump, which was no laughing matter (but we laughed anyway, what can you do?).

Photo credits to Rebecca of Thousand Word Photography.

Holidays at Home

We had a wonderful, quiet Christmas at home this year.  The only thing that could have made it better was a little snow!

Both Caleb and Noah had been working like crazy during the holiday shopping season, and Caleb even worked all day Christmas Eve.  Finally, at about sundown, everyone was home and ready to begin our celebration.

We don't open our presents until Christmas morning, but everyone loves to shake the gifts and try to figure out my system.  I do not put names on the presents, just a code that changes every year.  I believe this year it had to do with their social security numbers.  Our tree is not real, but every year several people think that it is.  I think that's because it doesn't look too perfect to be real.  In truth, it is barely holding together!  We make sure the missing parts are in the back.

We have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve.  Ham is a favorite.  Judging from the picture below, it looks like the menu was just ham and cranberry sauce.

After dinner, we played our traditonal game of Settlers of Catan.

Then we made our ritual picture with our stockings:

Then we headed to church for the 11:00 PM candelight service.  I just love the lights and the carols:

Christmas Day was spent in our Star Wars pajamas and playing with Lego.

Photo credits to Rebecca of Thousand Word Photography.