02.08 - Ski Trip 2008

The slopes called. And we answered. The voice on the other line said, "Ski your heart out. No matter what." And, we did. We pulled out of Oak Ridge too early to imagine on Monday morning, February 4 and made the trek through the hills of tennessee into North Carolina. Sounds of sleep and snoring were the only sounds that the group made till about 8am. We pulled into the parking lot at Beech Mountain and quickly got our equipment and gear ready for a day on the slopes. The temperature was wild. A blustery, sunny 48. Which isn't all that bad when the slopes are thick with snow. We had an amazing morning learning and getting our feet used to having two large peices of wood on them. Life was grand. People were careening over hills and jumps that were at first glance impossible. Groups hopped onto ski lifts and rode the mountain for all it was worth. Some stopped in for a quick lunch or a game of table football while others ignored teh human urge to eat. Then at around 2pm the party got even better. Rain moved in, and we had an afternoon full of playing and skiing and laughing in the rain. The rain definately didn't stop us. We filled our day with as much skiing as we could--dry or soaked. We ended the day wet through and through. Our change of clothes were definately used, and we all piled back into the vans for the ride home. 3 hours and a Wendy's meal later, we were snug in Oak Ridge...completely ready for a good night's rest. The slopes called. And we always love it when they call.

Click here to see all the photos from Ski Trip 2008.

01.08 - tackiest christmas ever

It was January, the last of our decorations were put away. No more tinsel. No more garland. No more presents. Or so we thought. Who says you can't have a Christmas party in January? Everyone! CrossTraining boldly went where noone dared go before. Tackiness. The party started at around 6pm and everyone started arriving donned in all manner of ornaments, crazy hairstyles, holiday sweaters, Christmas capes, and three peice suits. It was a beautiful thing. We played some wii, we swept some stockings and we even got in the spirit of giving...tacky style! No small animals were harmed, except maybe a large yellow duck. The Tackiest Christmas party ever just may have been the best Christmas party ever.

Hope you had a great time at The Tackiest Christmas Ever

rewind: 2007

2007, the year, wrapped up in about 9 minutes of fast-paced pics and music. Enjoy the memories!

10.07 - Recharge Race Wrapup

08.07 - Yuck Night Revrse

Yuck night approached and we were ready. Human Banana Splits, Ice Cream, Banana Baseball, Diapers, and a whole lot of soap to wash it all off. We slipped, smooshed, slammed and sloshed our way through the messiest event on the crosstraining calendar. Check out all the pictures at the link at the bottom of this post for all the action!

Here's the link for all the Yuck Night Reverse Photos. Get over there and check them all out!

05.07 - battle.paintball

Because everybody's somebody at paintball, we had to go. Everyone was someone at paintball too. We headed out of Oak Ridge through the mountains to the gorgeously rustic and military Smokey Mountain Paintball shop. Where 22 guns were waiting for us. 200 rounds sat waiting in our hoppers and a feild lie before our waiting camoflaged masses. Life was good. The evening was awesome. A little warm, but it kept us from seeing through our goggles well enough to know who shot us, so we were all good. All of us had a blast running like crazy, shooting even more, and loving life.

Click here to see all the pictures.

03.06 - Y12 Security Training

The Department of Energy was in need of some new recruits for the BWXT plant. You came out by the teams and competed for a spot on the elite squad. Over 700 feet of HVAC ducts were duplicated at an undisclosed location. You completed missions, met informants, had some nachos and got lost in some mazes. Some people figured the mazes out quickly. Others got lost in the shuffle. Y12 Security Training 2007 was a success. Congrats to the Dragons, Katie F, Joy R, and Alyse A on winning the day!

Click here to view all the pictures of the night!

01.07 - Ski Trip

4:40am came early on January 29! We all sleepily piled into 2 vans for a trip up the mountain. Rentals were fitted, lift tickets were stuck, and we all got bundled up for a day full of skiing. We had a gorgeous day! Not a cloud in the sky and temperatures in the 20s. We almost had to put on sunscreen! Everybody did great! A 1 hour lesson in the morning got everybody started and we had a great day shooshing down the slopes together. We all had lunch in the lodge and filled the afternoon with more skiing...most of us did anyway. A few chose to spend the remainder of the day snuggled up and warm near the fire. The lifts closed at 4:00 and we were returning our rentals and heading back down the mountain. We hit a stop at McDonalds or KFC on the ride home, and the trip was done. What a day!

Click here to see all the pictures!

12.06 - The Coalfield Feud

Gorgeous winter?? weather. A farm in the country. Coalfield time warp. Some apples hanging from a tree. A barn filled with hay. A field in which to play. Two tires made the day. A chicken dance with before going away. Life was great in a simple way. Coalfield Feud 2006 is over...but the memories live on! Getting rolled around in a tractor tire, getting tackled in Killer Kickball, Trading for a "bless your heart" gift, and awesome chili dogs will never be forgotten.

Click on the pictures below to view all of 'em!

...Time warp trivia
...apples :)
...Acree and Randall's Prize winning Apple Eating Technique
...Allie and Aimee's tackle in Killer Kickball
...the chicken Christmas show
..."Ahem" Paste
...Getting rolled around in a tire
...falling out of said tire
...the ear muffs...you know which ones
...the Schmutzler's place
...chili dogs and tandy cakes
...Killer Kickball
...Best Duds Award Winner, Brad
...a great day!

11.06 - Manhunt

Photos are up! Click on the picture below to view them all!

Check back later for the full wrapup!

Extreme Challenges

Your mind, body and emotions will be tested every week in ways you never could have thought of. What will the challenge be? Will you be able to compete? Do you have what it takes to win in Extreme Challenges!

Be here every Wednesday night of the fall, for a great game, Godfocused singing and a message from God's word.

See the most recent challenges!

10.06 - Farm Fest

You can't beat a day packed with great preaching, every game you love, and a volleyball tournament all in one place. Farm Fest 2006 was awesome! We headed out of Oak Ridge late afternoon Friday and hit I-40 through the mountains of TN and NC. Gorgeous drive, but thats another point altogether. We arrived at Calvary Baptist Church in Simpsonville, SC and got our beds ready for the night. But, it wasn't time for bed, yet. Knockout, Uno, Dutch Blitz, Soccer, Volleyball, and Football followed with a few breaks for a snack in between. We had a great night together and hit the hay (get it its farm fest... AHAHAH) for the night.

After an early breakfast, we descended upon the Farm. Our group of thirty competed in volleyball in which we won a few matches. We did the platform thingy...and broke a record, congrats guys. Everybody bounced around from carnival game to gazeeball to the arm wrestling platform where someone...who could it be . . . whooped all the girls. The preaching was powerful. Mark Kittrell really connected with 3 power packed messages. His last message on being ready for God to come was especially moving. Don't forget the things you heard! And wasn't it cool to hear all "our" songs sung for special music. :) God gave us a great day together and we had a blast.

Click Here to see all the pictures!

09.06 - Yuck Night

Click Here to see all the pictures!

. . . Roberts new "hair gel"

. . . the itsy bitsy spider that scared us all

. . . Gummi bears hide well in Spaghetti and whipped cream

. . . A balloon toss with a surprise

. . . Steal the bacon...literally

. . . Searching in pudding for words to a verse with your toes

. . . The feeling of hitting a banana with a baseball bat

. . . The feeling of getting hit with a banana in the face

. . . Home Run Derby Yuck Night Style

. . . Extra points for dunking your head in mustard

. . . Vienna sausage hitting you in the face

. . . Flour game

. . . Hurling a marshmallow dipped in your teams special sauce across the lawn.

. . . Sliding down a slippery soapy slide at full speed

. . . Trying to get food from every nook and cranny of your neck

. . . Wondering how you might smell if you left the goop there

. . . the most fun you'll ever have with food!

Click Here to see all the pictures!

08.06 - Whitewater Adventure

Ahh. The beauty of the mountains, the thrill of raging rapids, and the rush of hurtling over falls and rolling rifts. It was a perfect day to hit the mighty "nanny" river. 90 degrees warm and a clear blue sky greeted us as we pulled into the Paddle Inn parkign lot. A safety lesson involving calling our teen girls "kids" and Reagan Dunn being picked up by her life jacket started off our trip, and in no time, we were piling on the bus and winding up the treacherous mountain road to the put-in. After getting our boats off the bus, our groups in order, and our splashing/dunking/pirateering strategies figured out, we rolled, flipped, splashed, yelled, swam, and enjoyed our trip down river. Everyone conquered the final 3+ rapid at the end, well almost everyone. Some decided to hop into the drink. We headed back to get dried off and cleaned up. Subs were waiting for us, and we gorged. I'm pretty sure everyone was a bit hungry after the day. Before heading home, we played some football and enjoyed the afternoon by the river. Whitewater Adventure 2006 was a blast!

. . . Seeing all the teen guys life jackets whipped into shape by the rafting instructor.
. . . Pastor Jon's boat full (literally) of water after the first rapid
. . . The crazy bus ride to the top of the mountain
. . . Learning to paddle and obey the guide.
. . . the smell of the life jackets. Mmm.
. . . "River tattoos"
. . . Jon Crop. Joe Klopp. Jon Coop. Yup, we heard them all.
. . . Stroke! Stroke! Stroke!
. . . The warnings of danger that weren't really all that bad
. . . tasty subs.
. . . The race that only one boat competed in.
. . . Being overtaken by the Pirate Boat
. . . Seeing Stephen Mee hop into the drink on the scary rapids
. . . picnic by the river
. . . fun times on the ride home.
. . . a great day!

Click Here for all the photos!

What did you all think of it? Any memories?

07.06 - Mission:NYC

Click Here to see the sights, read the updates and get the burden for New York City.

06.06 - The Wilds Camp Trip

We had an awesome week at the Wilds. The weather was great, the speaker was right on target, the staff was exciting, and the week was a blast. The group did the Giant Swing, the lake, the super slide, tubing at 6:00am, a hike to the falls, Cool Beans Coffee Shop, a bunch of meals, some goofing off with their counselors, and a lot of power-packed services. God did a work through everything to change us to be more like Christ!

Click here to read the play-by-play of the week's events.

Click here to check out all the pictures from the week!

05.06 - BounceOUT.06 Pics

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We had a blast bouncing out of school for 2006. The 4 inflateables were huge! The excitement was in the air. We brought our coolest moves and fastest speed. An obstacle course, a boxing ring, a 25ft slide, and a 4 on 4 basketball court loomed before us, and we attacked them with all the jumping, slamming and bouncing we could throw at them. Amazingly, the four puffed up peices of rubber and plastic survived everything we could throw at them and everybody came out okay. Well, almost everyone, sorry Stephen. :) We had 1.5 hours to bounce and a half hour to snack and recover. All in all an awesome night!

Click on the photo below to view all the shots!

...slam dunk contests in the basketball course.

...Allie Dunn beating most of the guys in the obstacle course!

...Ben Herwig breaking every rule.

...Boxing with gloves the size of your head.

...Climbing up the slide.

...Racing against the clock in the obstacle course.

...Air Hockey

...Its all fun and games till you hit the plastic and burn your flesh off in a race.

...Smelly feet

If you have photos EMAIL Me!

What a great night! Enjoy your summer!

AWANA Fair 2006

www.flickr.com This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called 05.06 - AWANA Fair Carnival. Make your own badge here.

Another AWANA Fair success! Thanks to all the CrossTraining team for serving the younger kids in our church. You did a great job modeling the love of Christ to even the youngest while helping kids, encouraging ones in jail, working carnival booths and passing out candy.

We only suffered a few injuries for the night. Josh Herwig got whacked in the head with an errant golf club, Aarin Hammond suffered a serious contusion at the cookie walk site (it was crazy over there), and a sailing dart pierced Jonathan Randazzo's ear. Only one of those is true...and for that we are sorry, Josh. :)

Click here to catch all the pictures.

04.06 - Price is Right Pics

It's the game-show-a-palooza grand finale!

Over $700 (actual retail prices, mind you) in prizes were given away.

25 different chances to win.

10 people at the big wheel.

2 contestants at the showcase showdown.

1 $100 grand prize winner.

Click on any of the shots below to view all the great pics...

04.06 - fan the flame. Photos

We had a blast in the cool mountains of Frozen Head State Park. Our site was beautiful, right on the edge of a bubbling creek. The night was perfect. The tents were set up in no time, and before heading out for some crazy games, we roasted some hot dogs over the fire. The field was ripe for some serious soccer and blind man's kickball competition. All was going great till Brad blasted a kick right at Aimee Craig. She survived. Then moments later, Ben came soaring across the field for a stray ball. He nailed Anna. She survived. Finally, Bryan was calling for an inbound pass, and while waving his arms slugged Beth in the shoulder. She yelped in pain, but she survived. After soccer, we headed back for some smores and some testimonies around the fire. A game of spoons and some dunked heads in the creek later, we all hit the hay for the night.

The morning came faster than we wanted, but some tasty eggs and hashbrowns woke us all up. A few people ventured to the creek for some harrowing adventures, and a few others found a "beaver dam" although most claim that its only a tree that fell over the crick. We headed back out of the mountains and into the foothills of Oak Ridge. All in all an awesome day.

...The beauty of the TN mountains
...the girls got thier tent up first.
...Jonathan's "I promise its safe" hammock
...soccer at sunset
...blind man's kickball complete with distractor flashes
...The outhouse
...a "Hair-straightening" creek for Bryan
...smores
..."fan the flame..." of the gift of God that is in you
...the most intense spoons game ever
...a broken lantern
...an hour British accents around the fire
...powerful fire
...going to bed at 1...getting up at 6
...the guys didn't bring toothbrushes
...cold but cozy
...a great trip

Enjoy the pictures. Click here for all of them.

True Beauty

A new computer with a cool camera caught our students in all their glory. Click on the gorgeous picture of Pastor Jon below to see them all.

Who looks the funniest warped? Who looks the coolest? We await your comments! Comment on this post, so we all know can keep up with the conversation.

03.06 - Curling Photos + TI

View All the Pictures

The Beverly Hillbillies, Cowboy Clowns, Warriors, Pinheads, Strikes and Spares, Bleus Clues and Pirates Who Don't do anything, converged on the ORBC (Oak Ridge Bowling Center, that is...) for a crazy night of team curling. Form, enthusiasm, unity and briberies were factored in to see who would be crowned the winning team from Curling.

The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything!

. . . Grannies can bowl.

. . ."someone" slipped down the lane

. . .learning what is really going on when a speaker pauses mid-sentance

. . .watching Acree hurl an 8-pounder halfway down the lane...in the air

. . . learning that Alyse is a skilled curler

. . . Aarin Hammond has the form of the pros

. . . Beverly Hillbillies make a lot of noise when they curl

. . . Stephen Mee can and will sleep anywhere

. . . Some teams don't need mascots. They are thier own. Right, pinheads? :)

. . . We aren't the only ORBC - ORBC is also Oak Ridge Bowling Center

. . .Cold pizza makes a great Sunday morning breakfast

. . .Teens Involved is a great Sunday!

If you have pictures email them to me! You could be featured in the CrossTraining Pic of the Week!

02.06 - Dads + Kids UT Game

Click Here to View all the Photos

12.05 - a Redneck Christmas

Click Here to check out all the pictures from the event.

. . . a redneck night before christmas
. . . some tasty chili
. . . a trip to the big city to buy some "supplies"
. . . all the funny looks at the grocery store.
. . . that flannel matches anything anytime.
. . . Bryan Tinnerman has a mean accent.
. . . The Davidson girls were born "southern"
. . . a TV hurts if you drop it on someones foot.
. . . a still is a hot item in a redneck gift exchange.

Anybody have more pictures?? Email em to me. I'll post em right away.

11.05 - manhunt wrapup

Click here to check out the MANHUNT 2005 pictures.

If you have any from your digital camera...pass em along to me right away! I'll post them for everyone to see.

Motivational Posters

Read on to learn how to make your own. Email it to Pastor Jon right away!

HERE IS HOW TO DO IT:

1) Find the photo you like here.

2) Copy the URL from the photo page.

3) Paste the URL into this page.

4) Come up with a funny name and wording.

5) Save it to your computer. (Right-click on it then click "Save Image As..."

6) Email it to Pastor Jon.

7) I'll post it here.

10.05 - Farm Fest Wrapup

What a great day to spend together as a group. Our trip to Simpsonville went fine, and we had a blast on the trip down in Big Bertha (15-passenger) and Little Boy (mini-van.) We pulled into Calvary Baptist Church in Simpsonville just in time to hang out, play some crazy knockout B-ball, volley a bit, chuck a football, eat some snacks, and hit the hay. Farm Fest was just a 10-minute drive away in the morning, so after a home-cooked and store bought breakfast, we hit the road. The activities were great, the preaching was powerful, and the fun was huge.

Ahh, the memories

• As objects were flying across the room, "That was my shoe...that was my other shoe...that was my flashlight...yup, that was my sleeping bag..."
• Beth knocking out the competition in Basketball
• A-C-E...You know! You Know! You know!
• A horse wranglin preacher
• "I love him better every d-a-y."
• Andrew Monroe's Yoohoo + Pickled Sausage Bomb
• Someone fell off a log in the obstacle course... :)
• Daisy
• Sloppy Joes
• We want Rocky Top! We want Rocky Top!
• An awesome day!

Memory Game

Something to try if you are bored...

Play memory with CrossTraining Event Photos

Or if that version is just too hard, try this one.

Post it in a comment below. I wanna see who has the best memory.

09.05 - The Big Help Photos

For whatever it is worth, I now know that juniper is a force to be given respect and honor. That green leafy plant is one menacing foe, especially when its been setting up camp on the side of our hill for the last 20 years. But that didn't stop the CrossTraining teens. With every yard too imagineable we kicked, beat, axed, and raked the scraggly prickly pine off the side of our territory. Then we promptly dumped the remains down in the kudzoo where all bad plants go. :)

All I can say is, amazing work everyone! The hill looks incredible, and we did it! Thanks for giving of your time to serve the church and ultimately your God. Your spirits were great, and you worked harder than any teenagers I've seen in a long time. Just beware of Raymond and Rolland when they have shovels in thier hands.

By the way, I'm thinking of making Bocce the official sport of CrossTraining. Any other suggestions?

08.05 - Tubing Trip Pictures

Tubing Trip Pictures

We had a great time tubing in the mountains of Townsend. A gorgeous day, a short yellow bus, and tubes are all you need for a kickoff to a new school year.

Just a few things we don't want to forget from our Back 2 School blast:
The Rapids at the "Y"
"Welcome to the Smokies!"
The Beth Target as men jumped off the cliffs.
Josh Herwig getting stuck in "that group."
Cold water.
Chilling out at the River Rat.
Great times.
The Ch-eff cooking up a pyramid of hot dogs.
"Grilled Chips"
"Grilled Brownies"
"Grilled Anything"

Make some notes or comments on the pictures or here...what did you like best about our trip?

08.05 - The Wilds Photos