The Range
It seemed like the first time in a few weeks, but my friends and I finally had the same day off. Thankfully we had great weather, which meant a great day off. The weather was just about perfect to spend the day outside, which is what we did. Below are some pictures at a friend’s house where we went to shoot some guns. I rarely get to shoot, so it is always a treat when I get to. I enjoy shooting at actual gun ranges, but it does not compare to shooting on private property. I usually spend most of my time shooting with my camera, but I honestly enjoy that just as much. I can easily have a good time with my camera in hand taking pictures while listening to the gun fire echo in the surrounding hills.
The lighting was really harsh for photos. But since it was so bright it made it much much easier to shoot with a faster shutter speed.
Where we got to enjoy the day.
Guns, friends my camera, burgers…..what else could a man ask for? Oh and we also got to walk around in their woods and talk about building an AWESOME bike trail. Looking forward to the next few months!
Winter Hits Hard
It is hard for me to believe that over the weekend the weather was so nice. Yet today and yesterday it was in the low 30s, and maybe peaking into the 20s. Thankfully I was off on the weekend, which meant I could enjoy some of the great weather. (Until my sinuses decided to destroy me, joys of cleaning the garage)
My cousins are in town for the holidays, so we all decided to go out for a bike ride to enjoy the weather. It turned into the shortest bike ride ever. After about a mile of riding one of my cousins crashed. We were going down a hill and some pedestrians were blocking the whole greenway, no surprise there. Well he was not very used to my friend’s bike since he rides a single speed. So he ended up going a tad brake heavy causing him to go over the handlebars and crash pretty bad. I have it on video to enjoy also 
We all stop quickly to see if he was ok and instantly we all noticed his eye. He was bleeding around his eyebrow, and he had instant swelling. He was persistent that he was fine, but none of us wanted to start riding downtown only for his injuries to get worse. So instead of riding, we all decided to spend the afternoon just driving around memory lane. Most of this video was taken that afternoon. The mountain biking parts were a few days earlier from my first chance to test out the GoPro camera on the trails.
Taken a few minutes after the crash, before the swelling, and eventual black eye the next morning.
Merry Christmas!
I am kinda surprised how little I posted this Holiday Season. I guess we never really had time to do much this year with everybody working. This was the first year in awhile that I never made it to Opryland hotel, so that was a disappointment not getting to go. I finally was able to take some more Christmas themed pictures though, but it happened to be on Christmas. So I guess it is a tad late now, but whatever.This year we stayed in Nashville for Christmas. On Christmas Eve some of my family went to the Titans game, and I had work. Then that night we all went to our midnight candlelight service. By the time we got home from that it was around 12:20AM. So me, being the old man I am, headed straight to bed. We woke up Christmas morning around 7:45ish and had a great breakfast. (Even though I hate breakfast since I am not a morning person) After that we went upstairs to open presents and just “relax” until we headed to my mom’s side of the family for the rest of the day. Post Christmas Day was spent with my dad’s side of the family. They actually came to Nashville this year, which was probably the first time in awhile. Now it is December 26th around 10pm with me wondering where the weekend went. I have the issue of thinking the whole time about not wanting it to end since I have to be back at work. Only to realize it has ended and I have work. Lame….
One thing I try and do each year is change how I wrap my presents. After a few years this has become pretty difficult to do. After walking around our local Kroger though I could not pass up the opportunity to use this as my parents wrapping paper.
The past few years one of our family friends has given my mom a Santa each Christmas. So we have a pretty good collection sitting above our fireplace.
Like most families, we have quite a few holiday traditions. One of them would be our family meal before Christmas. Since the holidays are usually pretty hectic it seems like each year our family dinner is on a different night. This year we had it on Dec. 23rd. It is probably one of the few meals we use our dining room for.
Being under the watchful eye of Copper is one thing that will always happen at our house. If you are downstairs he will know it, and he will always keep an eye on what you are doing. So he obviously was interested in me taking pictures in our dining room.
Candlelight dinner with the family? Don’t mind if I do
Taken Christmas morning, hence the lack of stocking hung on it.
Grandparent’s tree
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I know mine was great, I just wish it was longer. It kinda started on the wrong note since work had already turned off all decorations when I went into work Christmas Eve. (Not looking forward to taking down our lights and tree at home)
Wedding Time
As you could tell from my last post, a few weeks ago one of my good friends from college got married. I have only been to a few weddings in my life, and this was the first that I was a part of. So it was a great privilege when he asked if I wanted to. I honestly was unsure if I would even be able to go because of work. Thankfully they allowed me swap some other days off so that I could attend. The wedding was held in Smithville, TN. The day of the rehearsal was a tad chilly, but the day of the wedding was perfect. I can not wait to see the pictures/video from it. During the actual ceremony there were tons of nats or something flying around. At the time it was kinda annoying, but the effect it had as the sun was setting was really cool.
Anyways, below are some pictures from both the rehearsal and day of the wedding.
My attire for the weekend. This ended up becoming quite the hassle. Granted I am not a big customer for Mens Warehouse, so no loss, but I doubt I will go there again. I was the first to go and try on the tux, only to find out that all shoes were the wrong color. So that meant that they had to send the proper ones out the week of the wedding. So Friday we show up to pick up the right shoes, only to find out that my pair had not made it in. Yes we got everything in time, but I do not know what would of happened if the shoes would of been wrong since we had to pick them up on the way to the wedding.
Caramel Apples given out to all of those in attendance. The groomsmen and I were the last to leave after the wedding so we all grabbed about 5 apples each haha.
Pretty awesome bar at the Mill
Terry’s cake…very fitting
Getting to test out the ISO capabilities. It was pretty dark when these were taken.
A few minutes after it was made official.
This looks like a happy couple.
Perfect Day!
Softball League
A few weeks ago I was able to attend a softball game that some friends of mine were playing in. Now I am not a huge baseball fan, so I thought watching them play softball was going to be painful. But it honestly felt like I was watching a home-run derby, which to me made it much more enjoyable. Both teams had some talent, so there were some really good plays. However, it seemed like all the good plays involved me aiming my camera somewhere else on the field. If anyone is interested in watching some softball, they play on Thursday night at the Sgt. Jerry Mundy Memorial Park. Just make sure you park far away from the fence because these guys can hit the ball.
Justin swinging for the fences. I think he has two home-runs
Softball Game
Last week I decided to actually sway away from my lifestyle of being a hobbit. So Thursday night I went out to watch/take pictures of a friends softball game in Mt. Juliet. The weather was rather hot for it being after 8:30. So it did not take me long to kinda wish I was at home in the A/C. But once I started taking pictures all regrets went away.First time I have done something like this, especially for night. But it was nice getting to finally test out the ISO performance for my camera. I have had it almost a year and I not think I have had to shoot in an environment like this. It was nice to be able to shoot comfortably at ISO 1000
All pictures were taken at Sgt. Jerry Mundy Memorial Park
AND one more of the new 4 Runner. I was bored earlier today, so decided to go get the windows tinted before a bike ride. I’m in love all over again
Moving Alex
Well Monday everyone in the family had the privilege of helping Alex move into her new apartment. Thankfully she was only on the top floor and it was just in the high 90s. (End Sarcasm) The drive up there was pretty stressful (for mom), and took us awhile. We borrowed a friend’s trailer to put Alex’s mattress, bed springs, couch, chair, and bookshelves…yeahhhhh it was a lot of stuff. Then we wrapped a tarp around them, and filled up two other vehicles with other stuff. The reason the drive down was stressful is because the tarp had a mind of it’s own. So we stopped twice to try and fix it. Obviously it was not a big deal in the first place, so we should of just taken it off the first time.
ANYWAYS, we arrived in Knoxville around 10:30 Eastern and started the fun process of carrying everything up 3 flights of stairs. I was sweating about as much as I do when I ride my bike, which is a lot. But to get a good idea of the day I thought it would be cool to have a timelapse of the 4 hours it took to fix up her room. In most cases a picture having all of us in the room means we were deciding on how to place things. The timelapse consists of a picture taken every 5 minutes for about 4 hours.
Mid-Summer Update
I will start off by saying I did not take any pictures of the actual fireworks show on July 4th. I wish I would of taken my camera, but since we rode bikes down to the show, and with the chances of rain I did not want to take the risk. Anyways, before July arrived we had to say our goodbyes to some of my cousins before they move to Burlington, Vermont. So we all went to my grandparents, and that was quite the treat since I got to see how much they had to pack. I still can not believe how much they fit into their Accord. But there is no feeling of jealousy from me about their 20+ hour drive.
Baby Will enjoying his time with me….who wouldn’t… Hopefully I will get to travel to Vermont to see him and the rest of my cousins.
Big Sissy Taylor playing with Daddy before his long trip to Vermont.
Nom Nom Nom
I do not really have a good transition to the next topic….so here it is…I clearly hate Grape Jolly Ranchers, so if anybody wants them give me a shout…
These fireworks are actually from their Prelude show which lasted about 5 minutes. It was decent, but compared to the show on July 4th it was a joke. I do not know if I have seen a fireworks show as good as this years. But maybe that is because I enjoyed the whole night. It was a great feeling riding home on the dark greenway with 5-10 bikers in front of me, and another 10+ behind me. Seeing the lights blinking, and getting to ride silently with the cool air in my face was easily one of my favorite experiences in a long time.
Take A Picture of Tay Tay
Like the title says, I was taking pictures of Will, which I guess did not make her happy. So she asked for me to take pictures of her haha. She is quite the adorable little girl. She definitely has the princess attitude when it comes to many things. So here are the pics of Will’s sister Taylor.
Maybe she will have the same musical talents of her Uncles?
or maybe she will be a great cook like her Grandfather? (She did the sprinkles)
Writing her first score.
No it was not her birthday haha
and she is not quite 30.
Licking just the icing haha! WIN!
She sure knows how to stake blocks, and Taylor must be a perfectionist since she was not happy with this and quickly tore it down.
Barkley!!!!
Bailey!!!
Baby Will
Well we had some b-days to celebrate this month. So we decided to met up and celebrate two of them since everybody had a semi-open weekend. My cousin Kelly and her two kids, well three if you count the dog, came over from Memphis. So I had to take advantage of this opportunity to take pictures of Taylor and Will. Today’s pictures will just be of Baby Will!!
His eyes were watering up because he was so happy to see me.
Awwwww!!
Graduation Time
Sorry for the recent hiatus, but I have been extremely busy at work. With the recent shipment of bikes I have spent almost every waking moment building bikes when we are not open. So yes I am pretty burned out from the bike shop.
Anyways, recently one of my good friends graduated from the Metro Police Academy. Thankfully it was on my day off, and gave me a good reason to avoid going into work to build bikes. The ceremony was great, minus the late start because of some guy named the Mayor and the so called traffic. GRANTED the traffic was horrendous, but I was able to get there 30 minutes early, so I see no reason others could not. BACK ON TOPIC. The graduation was for Session 64 of the Metro Academy, and specifically my friend Braden. Braden along with the other officers, spent a grueling 22 weeks (I think) becoming the officers that they are now. From the stories I have heard it was definitely no walk in the park. Just a leisure jog in one. (JOKE, don’t taze me bro)
Below are some pictures from the ceremony.
Braden entering the building minutes away from becoming an officer.
Congrats to Session 64!!!
A New Beginning
We have some good news in our family. Last week my cousin, Jarrett, proposed to his girlfriend Samantha. It may be be generic to say, but they are a great looking couple and I wish them well in the future. I grew up always hanging out with my cousins, so it is crazy that we have gone from playing with toys to being out in the real world so fast. It was almost a known fact that they would marry each other, but it still was great news to hear when it happened. Jarrett is a great guy who will no doubt be a good husband, but it will be tough to compare him to how great of a wife Samantha will be. I am very excited to see what their future will bring.
Check out that bling
And how we finished the night.
Away in a Manger
Well Christmas has come and gone. This is the first year I have had a full-time job around the Holidays, and I must admit I hate it haha. It is very hard to enjoy Christmas when you work Christmas Eve and then start back on Monday. But without complaining too much I will get to the pictures.
Christmas Eve Eve dinner with just the family.
This first set will be of our Christmas Eve at my grandparents house in Nashville. This year we were in Kentucky on Christmas Day, so that meant we celebrated it with the Nashville clan on Christmas Eve. It was a great day, once I got off work, and I always enjoy spending time with the family. I spent the majority of the time taking pictures of my cousin Taylor. She has got to be one of the cutest kids I have seen, and I am pretty sure she knows it.
G-parents tree
Taylor waiting for dinner to begin. Or preparing herself for the song she was about to sing, and never finish.
Present time
B-Town!!!
Baby Will making an appearance after we finished opening presents.
This was planned thankfully.
That is all for now. The next posting will be more pictures from my grandparents, but mostly of Taylor.
Thankful For My Family
This is an additional post to the pictures posted from Thanksgiving day. These are of my cousins who I grew up with until college years when we all headed different directions. It was nice to have everyone back together for pictures, food, and games.
The traditional photo. We all are standing like we did in a photo many many years ago. I think we have around 3-5 pictures of us over the years doing this same pose.
Jarrett playing in the streets…tis tis tis
A panoramic photo turning into a great portrait of Jordan haha
My ghetto wide-angle in action again.
Obama’s choice of beer from hometown Chicago.
Another traditional photo from the holidays.
B-Town was tired.
Jordan not feeling the love.
Family Time
It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving has already arrived and gone. I am not in the mindset of decorating, even after doing it today.
But for Thanksgiving we were in Nashville this year. We went to my grandparent’s house for lunch/dinner. It was the first time all of the family has been in one household in a long time. Below are the pictures from that day along with a description if needed.
First off are the pictures of the new addition. Meet Will, who had the privilege of spending his first Thanksgiving with me.
Will’s big sis Taylor.
Uncle Jordan looking on as I take pictures of Will.
Taylor doing flips for Jarrett.
Taylor was making some funny faces at Uncle Jarrett.
Family picture…
Cousins 4 Life
Gatlinburg Day One Part Two
Now onto the rest of the day’s activities. After the skyrail we decided to head to Ober Gatlinburg. We decided to drive there which was nice except for the way down. The driver in front of us was on his brakes the whole way down so it kinda smelled bad.
The first thing we did up there was ride the slides. So more money was spent, another line, and then back onto a different skyrail heading up the mtn. The view from this skyrail was great, and we even were stopped a few times which allowed for a peaceful break. Once we hit the top we grabbed our sleds and got ready to go down. I must say this was the biggest waste of my time on the whole trip. Not because it was stupid, but because I had to go behind the slowest girl in the city. Evidently she was on her brakes the whole way down which meant I caught up to her about 1/4 of the way down.
We do not like each other that much.
Since Rachel and Alex looked the same I think Rocky was mistaken and asked the wrong girl.
I am not a fan of ice skating so I just sat to the side and watched. If I was meant to be on ice I would of been born with ice skates as feet.Rocky however was a beast on the ice even though it was only his 2nd or 3rd time to skate.
After skating for awhile we decided to head down the mountain. Before we went to eat we made a stop at Wal-Mart to get me a new bed. I was not going to sleep on a broken air-mattress one more night. So after wasting an hour in Wal-Mart we left with an air mattress, some sheets, and 2 gallons of water. (Quite the combination) By the time this was over it was nearing dinner. So we decided to go to Old Mill for dinner. It was pretty packed, but thankfully had many distractions. The first distraction was the waterfall in the front.This was the last time Alex would be this close to one and have dry socks. (Tune in another day for that story)
We then stopped by the store and found a slingshot sitting next to some marbles. Not a good thing to have near each other.
We still had quite some time until we were going to be called so we headed over to the fudge store. After buying some fudge we were finally called for dinner. The food was good, and the servings were large. Food was one thing we never lacked in Gatlinburg. This is Alex’s face after she was given her plate. She seems to be a tad surprised about the amount of food.
Since this was a very eventful day we decided to call it a night. We headed back home, watched a movie, and then went to bed preparing ourselves for another great day in the mountains.
Class of O-ten!
The time has finally come and gone, and my little sister has officially closed another chapter of her life. Over the weekend she graduated from Donelson Christian Academy and now has her sites on Knoxville. I am not the type of person that enjoys going to events like this. To be honest, I hate going to ceremonies like this. But it was one of the greatest graduation ceremonies I have attended. Usually the speakers at these events leave me counting sheep, but the two at this graduation did a great job at grabbing my attention. The valedictorians all had a well thought out speech followed by a video that portrayed the seniors and what they will remember about their last year of high school. If only my graduation had the same thing.
I am not really a big talker, so I am going to shut up and just show some pictures.
The ceremony was held at Hermitage Hills Baptist Church.
Alex seconds away from her name being called
Class of O-ten
Alex outside and talking to her friends and family
Friends since the beginning
Mom showing her love…and Alex showing her “leave me alone face”
Family pic
I had to find out what the world looks like to them. Not a pretty site.
COOKIE!!!
And the tradition continues…Alex and her scrapbook
College Bound
Below are a few pictures taken of my little sister and two of her future college roommates. The photoshoot was for their senior party invitations. It was a very fun shoot since we went to a few different locations. First time I have ever had to take group pictures, so that was a bit difficult. The end results were good from the last 2 locations we shot at. The first location turned out really bad in my opinion, which is why you see no pictures from it. As you can guess, they will be attending The University of Tennessee.
This ended up being the picture used for their invitations, and is definitely my favorite of the set.
Few pictures from the first dock
Then the mandatory jumping photo
DCA Prom
Well this weekend was my little sister’s prom. It is her senior year, so it meant that the majority of the prom was for her and the rest of the seniors. They have a senior walk(which is really lame now) and an awards ceremony(which also is not as good as it used to be). It was a pretty fun night minus standing outside in the coldish weather for over an hour while senior walk was going on.
The first location we went to was Two Rivers Mansion. We ended up getting a few pictures taken until a woman on a power trip decided we needed to leave. Evidently we were in the way of a wedding party that had not started and was inside the mansion, while we were outside. But whatever, the Clover Bottom Mansion ended up being better anyways.
First of the many pictures that followed.
Not sure what Rachel was doing. But I guess it was something important.
About an hour after the pictures started and she was still all smiles…this was about 10 min before the power hungry woman showed up.
Finally at Clover Bottom enjoying the freedom…and incredibly unstable floor
Alex and her future college roommates
Wide angle photo…you can tell when I am getting bored by the type of pictures I start taking..the next few will explain
Rachel, Rocky, and Alex before the goofy picstures
Another boredom pic…Blowing the dandelions in the field
After the senior walk but still while I was freezing to death…
I hope you enjoyed the pics!!
Birthday Celebration!
Saturday I went to my cousins house to celebrate two of their birthdays. Kelly came in town with Taylor for her birthday. Then Jarrett and Jordan flew in from Chicago for Jordan’s b-day. It was nice getting to see everybody again. First few are of Jordan and his cake.
Make a wish! I really like the glow of the candles on his face. Oh and the barn at the bottom right haha.
Kelly about to blow out her b-day candles..lots of noise in this photo…sad since I was only shooting at ISO 250
Barkley making a funny face for all to see.
Flag Football
Saturday I went out to take photos of some friends playing flag football at our old high school. It was fun, minus the really cold weather. I believe it was around 24 degrees, so about 20 yards of the field was frozen solid.
The first photo is a panoramic shot consisting of I think 6 photos.
Now onto the actual game photos
So cold outside!!!
Diving in the end-zone for the game winner.
