Greenbelt Pictures

Emily, Michael and I were

awarded our Green Belts in

Taekwondo a couple of weeks

ago. Here is a picture of our

6th degree Black Belt Master

giving Michael and Emily their

certificates.

Mister Hussung, Master Robinson,

Michael and Emily pose for a photo.

Mister Hussung is 16 years old and

helps with the teaching of the class.

Emily showing off her new belt.
Michael showing off his form.

What's up with his mouth?

My Gym Performance at Opry Mills Mall

The Saturday before Thanksgiving
Emily performed with her
gymnastics class out at a local mall.

Here are some pictures of her
doing her thing!

Why is it she is always
picking a wedgie?

Look at that toe point!

Crawling under her friend,
Lindsey's, bridge.

Nightie Night Concert

The Second Grade class gave a

concert at the PTO meeting

the Thursday before Thanksgiving.

It was titled a "Nightie Night Concert".

The class all dressed up in their

pjs and brought their favorite

stuffed animal or doll.

Emily was worried she might

lose Dolly so she brought her

trusty steed with her instead.

These are the members of Emily's

class who performed. They sang

us lullabies. It was precious.

Emily was one of about ten

who got to help out with some

musical accompaniment.

She did very well with it too!

Thanksgiving 2005 part 2

We went over to the Joyner

Thanksgiving celebration

after we ate at Mom's house

Here is a shot of the Joyner Clan.

Pretty good looking bunch! Aunt Kathy and cousin Matt got

supplies to make snowmen.

Michael loved it! I think

he liked eating the supplies

more than building the man!

Emily had to get her

tophat just right on

Mr. Snowman.

The finished product...

scarf and all!

Thanksgiving 2005

Here are some archive

shots from last year.

Doesn't Mom's table

look beautiful?

Mom, Dad and Nana at

her last Thanksgiving.

Emily and Michael had

to get all decked out in

the Pilgrim Hats they

made at school.

Pretty cute!

Greenbelt Testing

Last Friday Emily and Michael had

their TaeKwonDo testing to go up

to Green Belt. I've included some

photos of them during their testing.

Here they are awaiting the

testing to begin.

At each level of TaeKwonDo we

have a form to learn. This is a

very artistic demonstration of

a mock fight. The form will

include punches, blocks and

kicks. White and Yellow belts

are considered beginner and there

aren't any kicks in these forms.

Here is Michael getting

ready to do a double knifehand

strike. He looks to be very

serious in his concentration. This is Emily in her Ready Stance.

There are four different stances

that White and Yellow belts need

to know. I haven't learned if there

are more as you move toward black belt.

Emily is getting ready to begin

her form in this picture.

In addition to our forms, we learn

different one-steps. This are mini

fights in very specific combinations.

For examble: kick, block, punch, punch

These are incorporated to get us

ready for sparring. As a Green belt

we begin to spar. It'll be interesting to

see what Emily does the first time

she gets punched!

We'll find out today whether or not

we passed to our Green Belts. I

am very confident that we did.

Christmas Last Year

Just another brief trip down

memory lane. Here they are

last year before Christmas.

Just a couple of beauties!

John and Star

I wanted to share a picture of

my brother with his girlfriend,

Star. She lives in Iowa and he

is in Arkansas, but they seem

to be able to make it work!

John is picking her up in

Nashville and bringing her to

Knoxville for Thanksgiving.

We'll be in Nashville for

Thanksgiving, but will head

over early Friday morning.

I can't wait to meet her!

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

I took these photos on

Halloween in front of

my house. This rainbow

actually was visable up

and over my house.

It was beautiful! There were actually two

rainbows. The second was

not nearly as bright as the one.

It was awesome to see!!!

It's Our 10th Anniversary!!!!!!

Ten years ago today Kenneth and

I said "I Do" to each other in Nashville.

It doesn't seem possible

that 10 years have flown by.

Today reminds me of that day 10

years ago. It is so chilly this morning

and the sun is shining. We took outside

photos of the wedding party. It was

beautiful, but boy were we (the girls)

freezing in these dresses with practically

nothing on our arms.
I look at this picture and I

remember how wonderful the

day was. It seemed to go

off without a hitch!

My how Kenneth looks good

in this picture!

Kenneth had three requests regarding

the wedding. He wanted Art, his brother's

father-in-law and a Baptist Minister, to

perform the wedding, he didn't want to

memorize or write his own vows and he

wanted to make sure there was plenty

of parking at the wedding and reception

for our guests. Well in the end it turned

out to be four requests. He told me he'd

always imagined leaving his wedding in

his 1983 Mustang convertible. So we did.

Boy were we cold! We kept the top down

all the way to the hotel out by the airport.

Even on the interstate!! We did receive

well-wishes from those who saw us while

we were leaving through downtown

Nashville. I thought that was really sweet.

Pumpkinfest

On Saturday I took Emily, Michael
and Frankie down to one of our many
street festivals in Franklin. This one
is all about the kids. The stores
handed out candy to the kids,
there were games to be played,
pumpkins to be painted and lots
of good food to eat. We went last
year for the first time and found it
to be something to try an put into
our yearly calendar of must dos.

Emily with a great Tigger and a so so Pooh.

Frankie and Emily with a scarecrow.
He looks straight out of the Wizard of Oz.

Michael and Frankie playing one
of the many kids games sponsored
by a local church. They had to
play football. Neither of them were
to successful with tossing them
through the holes.

We had a huge Star Wars contingent.
Michael was the only one who'd go
up and see them.

Life-size R2D2. It was remote control.
You can see his operator just behind him.
It was really cool. Unfortunately, it
prompted lots of questions from Emily.
I was trying to explain who each character
was and was continually saying
"You'll understand when you see the movie".

Halloween Fun at My Gym!!!!!

Last Friday I took Michael, Emily

and Frankie to the Halloween Party

at My Gym, Michael takes a regular

gym class called Whiz Kids with other

kids his age on Thursday nights.

Frankie is also in this class. Emily is

in a gymnastics class at My Gym.

Except for a brief 3 month break this

year Emily has been going to My Gym

since she was 18 months old.

Obviously, I love it!

Mystic Force Green Power Ranger

Michael after he slid into the ball pit.

Flapper Emily hanging

on the high bar.

Green and Red Mystic Force

Power Rangers

with their favorite butterfly.

Michael and Frankie with Ms. Stacy,

their teacher.

Emily and Ms. Stacy. Emily was

constantly asking for My Gym

during our three month break.

Memories of Prancer

Saturday evening we got the phone

call that you always dread getting.

My long time friend and horse lover, Kim,

called to say Prancer was down and

wouldn't get up. We hurried home to find

him up and eating. It became apparent

on Sunday that it was time to let him go.

Our beloved vet, Matt, graciously came

out on Sunday afternoon to help

Prancer on his way. Words of thanks

seemed quite inadequate.

It seems impossible to believe he was

with us for the past 22 years. He was very

active with me riding for the first 4 years

and since then he became nursemaid for the

foals, head honcho over the mares, pony

ride giver to family and friends and all

in all ruler of the roost for the past 18 years.

Here are some photos of Prancer

in his glory days. You can't believe what a little

downward slope will do to your

nerves as you approach a jump.

Prancer took it all in stride and

made the jump look effortless.

During the first few months with

us everyone rode him. Here is Dad

in one of his better moments with

Prancer. After we got him off his

rocky hillside, he had a mighty

change in personality. Suddenly he

had food to eat, pasture land to roam

and lots of new buddies. He wanted

nothing to do with us and with riding.

Dad was having none of this. He got

on Prancer and was bound and

determined that Prancer would go

through this particular line of

trees. Prancer was equally

determined that he was not!! They

did circle after circle and Prancer was

winning the battle, but in the end Dad

and riding won the war. My guess

is that Prancer realized the food, pasture

and buddies were always there for

him at the end of the day and there

was always a scoop of grain too.

This picture was taken at the MTPC

horse trials in 1986. We were actually

going to get a ribbon if we finished the

course without any penalties. I was

so excited when we turned for the last

two jumps that I gave him a good swift

"come on we can do it" kick. He promptly

kicked out in protest and the result was

we were all out of sorts while going over

the jump. He was the best boy and did

both jumps as I tried my best to just

hold on. After he landed he took off

towards all the other horses. I tried and

tried to get him to go the other way

in order to get through the finish flags

and to be done with my round of

Stadium jumping. We were headed straight

for the post holding the finish flag and

rather than hit it, Prancer stopped. Guess

where I went? Right on the ground.

Prancer proceeded to pick up both his

right legs and move them over and then

his two left legs in order not to step on

me. He was the best boy ever when

he just stood there waiting for me to get

up and get back on. We walked through

the finish flags and completed our round.

No ribbon, but definitely a lesson learned

and a horse admired for what he did.

Dad and I found Prancer for Mom for

her birthday in 1984. She had no

idea that we did this. What a wonderful

surprise for her that day when she came

out to the farm and there he was

standing there waiting for her.

She rode him for a while. One day while

out in the field riding, lots of other horses

came through the field and Prancer took

off with them. Mom fell off and did the

worst thing a horse person could do. She

never got on him again. Well it might have

something to do with the fact that she

was sitting on this jump holding Prancer's

reins and thinking "Why am I sitting

here holding these reins?" It also may have

had something to do with the fact that

she didn't bounce like she once did!

Prancer with the Mom's brother

and his family. Prancer was

always so reliable with little ones.

Prancer and his herd. He loved his

girls, especially Cinnamon, so much!

Happy 5th Birthday Michael!!!!!!

Last week we celebrated Michael's

birthday with a UT/Football theme.

I asked Michael what his favorite

part of the UT football games were

and he said it was the big blow-up

helmet. At the Volunteer Village on

gamedays there is a helmet that you can

walk thru. Thus the theme for the cake.

Blowing out the candles!

Larry and Kenneth are thinking...

What's he so happy about?

Opening presents with family

and best bud Frankie watching!

Birthday Boy!!!