TOP TEN WORST CARS IN MY GENERATION

In copying my sisters ten fer tuesday themes and being trapped at my in-laws with no pictures to post to my blog I came up with the following post.

10. Chevy Celebrity (Okay I actually like this car)
9. Mazda Miata (Cool at first, annoying later)
8. Buick Rendezvous (Are you serious Tiger?)
7. Anything made by Oldsmobile
6. Chevy Uplander Van
5. Saab
4. Anything made by Saturn before 2006
3. Pontiac Sunfire
2. Ford Aerostar van
1. Ford Tempo/Mercury Topaz

Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus...he is just really little.

Mason Duke Roane

Jen and I had a very special gift given to us on December 9, 2008. Mason Duke Roane came into our lives at 7:33 pm that day weighing 8 pounds 4 ounces. It was an emotional high for me as I imagine it is for most new dads to see their first child. The first few screams were amazing to hear in the operating room as stood up to see over the operating sheet and see our baby. I felt like jumping for joy and kept looking around the room wanting to tell everyone in the room that that is our boy...that we made that little baby you just pulled out of my wife. I didn't thought because I had a muzzle on me to keep the germs in my mouth and nose to myself. After seeing the boy I really wanted Jen to see him put she wasn't able to until a few minutes later after they had him cleaned up. It was a one of the greatest experiences I've ever had in my life. And I just want to thank my wife for all the pain and suffering she went through to our little masonite into the world. And thank Heavenly Father for this great opportunity he has given us to raise this child. And thanks to my parents and family for their support. And Jen's family deserve a special thanks, especially Carmen for coming all the way from Morgantown in the middle of the night to be with Jen. And to our friends, especially the ones that have let us hang around their babies and learn from them.

Having bought a new camera in June, a Canon XSi, I had realized that cameras can be really expensive...and that lenses that go on the camera body can add even more to the expense...so it is semi depressing to realize that a lot of the shots you see everywhere are not just thanks to somebody being able to capture the moment just right, but that their camera equipment lets them take a decent picture in unperfect circumstances. Anyways, Cameras are like most material things we set our hearts on...you can spend a lot of money on them to get the very best...and that is why the video clip above is so funny to me.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Jen eating Thanksgiving dinner. It was a glorious dinner thanks in large part to the Johnsons who made a great turkey and some killer gravy. Dinner also included some great rolls, stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole and black olives! I made some cranberry sauce from my cranberry pie and I liked it better than the can stuffed. In ode to my uncle Cary who made a cranberry-orange sauce for Thanksgiving one year I made half of the cranberry sauce with orange rinds and little bit of grandpa's orange cough medicine (really just some orange flavoring).

For the finale there were five different pies all of which were great.

Simple Cranberry Pie

I made this simple cranberry pie for Thanksgiving. It is really much simpler than it looks here in the photo. All you really have to be worried about is having a clean pie dish and washing the cranberries. After that it is all downhill.

The Baby Crib

I was finally able to set the crib up last Saturday and it came with a lot of cool parts. The photos explain why it took me 5 hours to set it up, but it was a good experience. I really felt the bonding between me and the baby.

I love Jenny so much that the other night I set my camera on a longer exposure and proceeded to take a series of 5 photos with each representing a letter of her name. Then with a photo stitching program I created this little gem.

Recently we went to Arlington Cemetary and watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is quite the event. It is a time to be reverant and unfortunately the guard had to step off his guard twice to remind the crowd that was gathered to be quiet and respect the area they were in.

Jen is holding her birthday gift that came about two weeks late. This isn't a normal iTunes card that I just bought from the internet or store. It is a card I have been trying to earn ever since last November through http://www.epolls.com/. To get the card I had to earn 9,750 points. Which means I had to take approximately 9750 points / 500 points per survey = 19 surveys. At about 15 minutes a survey that is about 4.75 hours which means for this $15 iTunes card I was earning $3.16 per hour. That reminds of the wage I earned at Roane Manufacturing Company (RMC) making plastic bags or loading grommets when I was in the 4th grade. You should try it out...maybe you are faster at taking surveys than I was. The only problem is that they only e-mail you one or two surveys a week and most of them were about the TV programs you watch.

Jen and I went for a drive tonight to look at the leaves and it got to dark before we saw them but I did get this nice 35-week silhouette of her in the sunset.

Lychee The Magical Fruit. I first tried lychee in an asian/mexican grocer in Clearfield shortly after my mission. I bought a can of the juice and drank it and decided it wasn't bad. Fast forward to now where we live very close to a large asian/lation grocery store (more asian...which you tell by the shoppers and fish smell). It carries a wide variety of fruits and vegatables and animal parts compared to a normal caucasoid grocery store of which I bought these lychees pictured in my hand. They are like a big juicy, slightly slimy grapes.

GURNEY TOURNEY
Jen has to put up with me a lot especially when we go somewhere fun and I whip out the camera and take a few gigabytes of pictures...like the one above which I made her pose for against this brick wall. We went to the Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield Gurney Tourney in Richmond, Virginia where people race through an obstacle course in their suped up hospital gurney beds. Jen's Grandma helped start this event some 10 years ago to help raise money for the Hospitality House which provides accomodations to family members of hospitalized people.

Here is a collage of all the gurneys that raced. The paraded down the route and then presented in front of judges in which they would usually entice the judges with a baskets of food, candy...and alcohol. My favorite was the batman team with all of them dressed like the joker in nurse whites.

At the finish line was the national headquarters of Philip Morris USA...which I thought was kind of funny since the race was to help people in the hospital.

I asked these kids if I could take a picture of them jumping off the stairs on their skateboards. This was the best picture I got. The kid was pretty excited to see it.

Jen and I went to the bookstore the other week looking for this book and when we got there a lady was holding the only copy of this book trying to get her friends attention with it. Fortunately she put it back on the shelf and we snatched it up. It was the first I've bought for the lil' chitlin. I thought this was an awesome book when I was young...so in hopes of forcing my kid to like everything I do I'm preparing early.

How to Make a Pregnant Woman Happy

All ya gotta do is make a stop in Perryopolis, Pennsylvania at "Gene & Boots" like we did last Saturday. It was a time of childhood reflection for the Jones' as this place brought back good memories for them.

Black Likorce. Yes!!!

I've been wanting to photograph my drive to work for some odd reason so I set up the tripod in passenger side of the car and with a wireless remote I took pictures all the way to work.

The painting progression...It only took me about 12 hours to finish the job from start to finish!

Last time I was at the Washington DC Visitor Center I snapped this picture of a replica of the Nauvoo Temple that someone had made out of Legos.

Animals of the Beach. Virginia Beach, Virginia. July 2008.

FOUR RANDOM PHOTOS I TOOK ON JUNE 28, 2008

This is my boss Walter cruising down the road in his Toyota Matrix

Duke Realty is a local real estate company in Virginia. My dad goes by Duke and I share it as my middle name.

I saw a ward member pass me and lo and behold when he pulled in front I noticed his license plate which I had never seen before.

M. Ali, M.D. stands for Muhummad Ali the doctor. I had a physical and this medical office and this was one of the doctors. According to Jen it is a popular name in Northern Virginia

MY FIRST HDR PHOTOThis is my stylin' '88 Chevy Nova parked in front of the house where we live. HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and involves melding photos from different exposures through a program. I used Photomatix for which I did not pay so I have the watermarks.

BLaCK licooorice ICE CREAM

The best stuff ever from Farr Better Ice Cream. Ogden, Utah.

KAYAKING FUN!!!
Tony and Tiff trying to catch a wave that eventually ended up with Tiff getting stuck under the kayak.

Andrew taking one to the face while Matt brings up the rear.

Unfortunately they didn't get far. You gotta love the arms and legs flying all over.

Eric and Tony taking the wave in.

Taking on the waves on the way out could be brutal.

I was getting a little excited to take the two-seat kayak into the deep blue. We all had a good time kayaking though. Eric and I got to take a few waves in. Eric was like a V8 engine in the back. Andrew and Matt came close. Tony and Tiff caught one but with the second try and Tiff ended up getting swallowed up by the Kayak so we called it a day. Too bad it was the last day of the trip.

These were some palm trees behind the beach house exposed for 15 seconds. It turned out a nice orange.

Jen Tony Bennet Eric Janica Dad Mom Tiff Jimmy Matt Drew Kari Ethan Missing Emma

U.S. Open 2008 Favorite Photos.
La Jolla, California.
This was the logo for the US Open and this one is actually stuck to the Napkin Dispenser.
I almost got to buy this big golf ball.
Here is Tiger taking a commanding approach to the ball.
I didn't realize until after I took the photo that Tiger and the other guy were posing the same way...kinda weird.

Black and Green Jen. Watching Michael's baseball game on Saturday.

Randome Birde Droppings of Mickey Mouse #1 at Coopers Rock, West Virginia

Random bird dropping of Mickey Mouse #2

The Ball Game

The Washington Nationals Logo

Food!!! Guess who the plain hot dog is for?

View of the Nation's Capital from the National's Ballpark

Jen at the National Cathedral

Jen at the Temple