Jim and Rebekeh

Snow for the New Year!

2012-01-02T20:27:00.002-05:00

Good thing the kids are still on Christmas Break. They would probably have stayed home today. We received almost 10 inches in snow. What makes this weird, is that we were enjoying 40 and 50 degree weather the last 2 weeks. All of the sudden, snow, and 20 degree days. Oh the joys of winter in Indiana.

Hair Cut

2012-01-02T20:12:00.002-05:00

Celeste decided that she needed a hair cut. She asked me to do it for her. She wanted it shorter and with layers. I did my best. She finds long hairs every once in a while. She says that she likes it, but I think next time, we will let a professional do it.

Tobogganing During Christmas Break

2012-01-02T19:54:00.003-05:00

We had some friends from Fort Wayne call and asked us to join them for some fun Tobogganing at Pokagon State Park. We had a blast. It is a lot of fun when it's not too crowded, and if you have someone at the bottom of the hill waiting with a car, to take the sled back up to the top. We stayed for 1 1/2 hours. Jim and the kids got a lot of runs in. When we were all done, it was hot chocolate and cookies for a treat.

Christmas 2011

2012-01-02T19:01:00.006-05:00

Christmas was wonderful this year. We all were given many wonderful surprises. Brenae got the biggest surprise of all. Grandma and Grandpa Cochran gave her a wagon. She has wanted one for a very long time. She didn't understand why she was given tools in her stocking. She had a great time putting it together. I think it took her longer to rearrange her room, so that she had someplace to put the wagon, than it did to put it together. She is currently looking for a hill in Ashley to ride her wagon down.
Thanks to all who sent us Christmas surprises. We loved it all.

The Rollercoaster!

2011-11-14T12:02:00.002-05:00

Dad gave the kids this roller-coaster a long time ago. The kids dragged it out Saturday and spent 8 hours putting it together. They got a little frustrated that they couldn't get the car to stay on the track, so we had to call a time out. Jim worked with them a little and they discovered that if they tweaked the setup a little, the track worked. They want to leave it up for Grandpa Cochran to see, but I'm not sure that I can put up with it for another week. We will see.

Snow!

2011-11-11T15:19:00.004-05:00

Celeste came home from school on Wednesday and dared to utter the "S" word. It sent a shiver along all of our spines. She was thoroughly disgusted Thursday evening when it actually did start to snow. We had a slight accumulation. She was upset because it wasn't even Thanksgiving yet, and we were looking at snow. I guess if stores can play Christmas music in October, we can have snow before Thanksgiving.

Home Improvement

2011-11-06T13:36:00.003-05:00

It's time to paint the shutters. We found that as we took them down, that some were no longer black but on the verge of being white. We found this nice bright blue paint, and hope that it adds just a little face lift to the house. McKinstry did manage to tip the ends of her hair blue during the painting party in the backyard. Go figure! Hopefully we will have it all put back together by this next weekend. Pray for good weather.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T19:57:00.004-04:00

I stopped buying and making the kids costumes a couple of years ago. We usually hide inside with a movie and a funky dinner. Since I was sick this weekend, I didn't make any special plans for the family. The kids wanted to trick or treat. I told them that if they came up with costumes that I didn't have to buy anything for, they could go. McKinstry went to hand out candy at a friend's house, and I thought we would surprise them by showing up at Emily's house. McKinstry about fell out of her chair when she got a look of what Garrett looked like in her dress. Just for the record......Garrett decided to be a girl....no pressure here. And for the record....he has eyelashes that I would kill for.........!

Academic Spell Bowl

2011-10-28T20:21:00.006-04:00

Corbin joined the Spell Bowl team at the middle school this year. He had a competition this week and I happened to have a notebook with me. Jim had me spell the words that were given during each round. I'm happy to say that I scored an 8 out of 9 words in the 8th round.
Here are the words that Corbin had to spell during his round. He scored the most points for his team. The words in red are the ones that he missed. Their team came in 2nd for the spell meet.

Words Corbin had to spell:
1. flow
2. cross-reference
3. legibility
4. frizzling
5. hawthorn
6. retrocede
7. canceled
8. monocle
9. auricular

I didn't do so hot on these words. But to my credit, spell check says that canceled can be spelled cancelled. This word was actually challenged at the meet.

National Honor Society

2011-10-26T18:10:00.001-04:00

Brenae was inducted into the National Honor Society last week. Her picture appeared in the paper today. Thought that I would share it with you.

Corbin has talent!

2011-10-26T13:24:00.005-04:00

Brenae had a fit the other day when she picked up Corbin's recorder and put it in her mouth. Garrett told her that she probably didn't want to do that, because Corbin has been playing it with his nose. I am sorry that these videos are sideways...hopefully you will still enjoy!

Cross Country Kids

2011-10-26T12:56:00.004-04:00

Celeste and Garrett both decided to join the DeKalb Middle School Cross Country team this year.

Garrett:

It was fun to watch Garrett run. We nick-named him "Trucker". He always came in 2nd to last for his team, but never completely last for a meet. Through out the season, he took over 3 minutes off of his time. When we asked him why he wanted to run, he told us that it was fun, and that he wanted to get in shape.

Celeste:

Celeste is nothing but legs. She started out the season strong and maintained her position on the team. She went from first and second place for the junior varsity team. By the end of the season she was edging out the 7th runner for the varsity team. She was able to go to Conference as an alternate.

Down comes the tree!

2011-10-26T11:56:00.004-04:00

Today a lot of my anxieties have disappeared. In June, the front half of our tree in the front yard came down and almost landed on the truck and new garage of the neighbor across the street. Then 2 weeks later, our next door neighbor's tree came down on their garage, and if I hadn't been at work, it would have smashed the van. About 2 months ago we noticed that our tree was given a number 8, via bright green spray paint. Today the town of Ashley graciously cut it down. This helps with my anxiety, because every time a storm comes, and that is quite frequently, I would wonder when the rest of the tree would come crashing into my bedroom window. Now I just have to wait for the workers to get it chopped up and out of my driveway....but I am much happier now!

Family Christmas Gift!

2010-12-25T12:37:00.002-05:00

Jim decided to get the family a portable grand piano. The kids have been wanting to learn how to play the piano, and this was a solution for our family. The kids were very surprised and excited. Luckily, Grandpa Cochran sent some really nice headphones, that we can plug into the back and the kids can play all they want. Jim will be building a wooden stand that I will paint, and then it will find it's permanent home in the front room.

Christmas 2010!

2010-12-25T12:05:00.008-05:00

Thanks to everyone for a great Christmas!!!!

Caramels Brenae Style!

2010-12-25T11:55:00.002-05:00

Brenae had the great idea of using our Jello-jellybean molds for the caramels. I was skeptical at first, I was worried that they wouldn't come out of the molds. They popped out perfectly!!!!!! They are the best! With 6 people, they were wrapped and ready in no time.

Yogi Bear and Boo Boo!

2010-12-25T11:49:00.002-05:00

McKinstry and Brenae invited a friend to go see Tangled with them. When we arrived, guess who was there!!!

Komets Hockey!

2010-12-05T19:33:00.003-05:00

There's nothing better than free hockey tickets.
The seats were great and the boys loved it!

Attempt to make buckeyes

2010-12-04T13:27:00.002-05:00

Celeste and her friend Kyra were home alone Friday night, so they attempted to make buckeyes. They taste really good, but the looks don't quite show it. Young chefs always learn from mistakes. We love you Celeste ♥

Can you see me now?

2010-11-29T10:31:00.003-05:00

She wanted curls!

2010-11-29T10:27:00.000-05:00

They just grow up way too fast.

2010-11-10T12:31:00.001-05:00

Wow... Summer is Gone!

2010-11-04T20:27:00.012-04:00

Fall is now here, which means that summer has been over. The year has gone by way way too fast. Summer came and went with everyone's busy schedules. We were a very busy family this year. Summer brought a loot of fun and new things to the family. Here are just some pics of what some of the fun things we did over the summer!

Celeste's friends at Girl's Camp.... her first year and she loved it

Garrett enjoyed going out and shooting daddy's guns on a warm summer day.

Brenae loved spending time with her cousin Kristen. She is a joy to have up ♥

Corbin enjoyed hot summer days out on the Slip n' Slide with his friend Ephraim.

McKinstry got her first boyfriend over the summer. Anthony is just awesome and fits right in.

The family got a chance to go to Nauvoo to see Amy get married. We had a great time!

The kids were at the lake on an afternoon that mom was working and made some fun videos. Here is the best one that they made!

First Place!

2010-04-13T20:52:00.001-04:00

Celeste is on the DeKalb Middle School Academic Team this year as a 6th grader. They had their first meet today. Her team, of 3, won first place in the math department.

Easter Best!

2010-04-12T12:24:00.002-04:00

We had Easter a week late at the Grandma and Grandpa Newhard's this year. The day was almost perfect. I love taking the kids out to her gardens for spring pictures. They love to pick out spots for their photo shoot.

Brenae's 15th birthday present!

2010-03-25T17:42:00.003-04:00

Brenae has been very jealous of McKinstry's rainboots. I found these online at Target, and got them for Brenae's birthday. She has worn nothing else since Monday. Lucky for her, it has rained here all week, so that she can enjoy her boots.

Touring the Dum Dum Sucker Factory!

2010-03-25T17:31:00.002-04:00

My great friend, Janeen and I, took the kids to the Spangler Candy factory today. We were able to take the Dum Dum trolley to tour the factory. We had a really great time in our spiffy hair nets. In the museum the girls saw that someone had made a dress out of dum dum sucker wrappers. They have decided to save their wrappers to make aprons out of......so if you have any, send them our way. We found out today that their new flavor is blueberry....it should be in stores soon....Brenae can't wait!

Cards in the backseat!

2010-03-24T12:05:00.002-04:00

One of the things that I love about Jim, is that he entertains the kids on trips. As most of you know, we travel a lot, and the kids are used to being in the car for 8-10 hours for trips. The kids are always great, bringing books to read and other activities. They don't have gaming systems, so they come up with other ways to stay entertained. Celeste brought a bunch of card games to keep her and Garrett busy, but all of the sudden we hear, "Dad, please come and play with us!" Jim hopped over the front seat and sat in the back of the car for 1.5 hours playing cutthroat UNO with the kids (Newhard version of the game).

Sping Break in Kirtland, Ohio

2010-03-24T11:55:00.002-04:00

Jim's grandmother passed away and he was given 3 days of paid leave. He thought that it would be a great idea to go to Kirtland, Ohio for a day. The kids are on Spring Break, so that made it a real easy choice. We took off Tuesday. It took 4 hours to get there. It was raining, windy, and cold, but the kids paid it no mind, and we had a great day. The highlight of the trip was being able to go to the Johnson farm. We had great guides, that made the tours quite enjoyable.

Backyard Tennis Newhard style!

2010-03-24T11:48:00.002-04:00

Because we are really bad about getting toys and things for the backyard, our children have become quite creative. We marvel at the activities and games they make up to keep themselves happy. Sunday, the kids decided to string some ropes up across the backyard so that they could play tennis. They played until dinner time. Not a complaint or grumble from the pack. These pictures were taken by Corbin. I think that he did a great job.

2010-02-22T10:38:00.003-05:00

We had our annual Pinwwood Derby on Friday. We held it in conjunction with our Branch chili dinner. Garrett and Corbin had spend 3 weeks working on their cars. Corbin won the derby and Garrett came in second. We invited any member of the Branch to bring a car to race, and we did have a few who did. The boys had a great night.

Clear Lake

2010-02-22T10:10:00.003-05:00

A typical Saturday activity, here in snowy Indiana, is to take the kids sledding. Jim usually does it, as Brenae has to borrow my winter boots, but he was in Indianapolis attending a meeting with Elder D. Todd Christopherson. I was elected today, and so we loaded up the van to head out. One of the kids asked if the lake was frozen yet. We called my friend, Joann who lives on the lake, and she said that there was 13 inches of ice, plenty thick enough to walk across. We headed to Clear Lake, because the kids wanted to sled at the island. It was really a lot of fun, but very tiring, to walk across. We all came home pretty wiped out, but the kids loved the experience.

Snow Day!

2010-02-09T16:48:00.000-05:00

2010-02-09T16:42:00.002-05:00

It's a snow day today. The kids were really excited to stay home and hang out. They were out at 9:00 this morning to shovel. They didn't complain once, they actually had a good time. Jim brought home hot chocolate and peppermint discs, so that after the second round of shoveling was done, they could have something sweet and warm.

Semi-formal

2010-02-05T20:23:00.001-05:00

2010-02-05T20:17:00.003-05:00

McKinstry and Brenae are attending semi-formal tonight. They decided to go with some friends from school. They went out to dinner and then on to the dance. They were both very excited, and both looked so beautiful.

Me!

2009-10-24T21:30:00.005-04:00

Everyone who knows me, knows that I hate to have my picture taken. I cringed, a little, when my good friend Janeen called and said, "Let's do a fall photo shoot!" I have to say that I did have a good time and we got a lot of really great pictures. Thanks Janeen for making me get out of my comfort zone. We have a scrapbook challenge going on. We are scrapping our own individual shots, and our friend shots. We will get together in a week to see what we each were able to come up with. I will post my layouts when they are done.

State!

2009-10-24T21:15:00.008-04:00

Today the Dekalb High School girls ran at Semi-State in Fort Wayne. The weather had not been cooperating at all this week. It has been raining since Thursday afternoon. Everything is soggy and cold. The girls ran really well, considering. Brenae came in 36, out of about 159 girls. Out of the 20 teams that participated today, they placed 4th overall. This qualifies them to participate at State on Halloween. We will be traveling to Terre Haute to watch this fabulous team run. Brenae will miss school on Friday, as that is when the team will be leaving. This will give them a chance to run the course a couple of times, before Saturday. I have to give my admiration to Brenae's teammate, Carlina. She fell on the course today, got back up, and still placed in the top 50, not far from Brenae.

Semi-state here they come!

2009-10-17T17:56:00.002-04:00

The Dekalb Lady Barons are going to Semi-State!!!! They placed 3rd in Regionals today. Brenae ran 20:24, and came in 25th. They will be running at the Plex, Saturday the 24th. Keep them in your prayers. They have all worked so hard this year, and continue to make personal bests, and score well together as a team.

Cross Country Sectionals

2009-10-13T21:24:00.004-04:00

Brenae Arin ran in High School sectionals tonight. She did a great job. She ran a 20:14, another personal best, came in 15th, and her varsity team came in 2nd over all. She qualifies for regionals personally and as a team. She runs regionals on Saturday, so keep her in your prayers. If you would like to see all the running stats for this race, just go to www.runindiana.com.

Happy 12th Birthday Celeste!

2009-10-08T20:24:00.003-04:00

We celebrated Celeste's birthday tonight. She was so excited to celebrate today. Jim bought her beautiful flowers. She requested a raspberry chocolate cheesecake for her dessert. I improvised and it turned out really good. She get to get her ears pierced on Saturday. She has been begging to have them pierced for years, but her dad told her not until she turns 12. The boys are excited to see it happen. They are convinced that the lady is going to stand across the room and shoot a hole in her ear from there. Silly boys!

Family outing!

2009-10-07T00:48:00.003-04:00

Jim's work hosted a party at Page's Crossing in Columbia City. We were all able to go, except for Brenae, who was running that day. There were go carts, roller coasters, golfing, batting cages, etc. Corbin had the best time on the roller coasters. The other kids couldn't get their fill of the go carts. I haven't been in one, since the Dr. Pepper Special, and managed to go 3 times with Jim and the kids. Celeste is not EVER going to get her license. She is a maniac behind the wheel. She got so erratic that Jim side swiped her to teach her a lesson. Did it work, NOPE! She just kept on driving like a maniac. We did have a great time, and went home exhausted.

Doing great this year!

2009-10-07T00:38:00.002-04:00

Brenae is having a great year. She is a freshman at Dekalb High School and is running on the varsity cross country team. She started out on the reserve team, but that didn't last long. She made her way towards the front by the middle of the season. Her fastest race, she ran 3.2 miles in 20:21. This is her personal best, so far. October 3 she ran at Bellmont High School for Conference. She placed 16th out of 56 girls, earning an honorable mention. She isn't very happy with herself, as she wasn't feeling very well, and let one of her teammates get in front of her. We are very pleased with her progress. Jim has promised her that if she can break 20:00 he will take her to IHOP (She has an obsession with pancakes). Next week she will be running at Sectionals, so I will update then. She was told earlier in the year that you letter in cross country if you run in the post season. We will see what becomes of that when she is officially done running this year.

Hanging with the animals!

2009-10-07T00:29:00.004-04:00

My good friend, Janeen, and I took the kids to the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo. We had great weather, and a really good time. The kids loved the new safari sky ride, feeding the giraffes, and petting a boa constrictor. I even got up close and personal with the snake. Yuck! The kids are begging to go again, hopefully we can get there before the weather gets really bad, and before they close.

Pucker up!

2009-10-07T00:20:00.002-04:00

Jim had gone out fishing, he hadn't been able to do that much this summer. He caught quite a few bluegill and bass. McKinstry came home from school and flew out the door, when she found out that her dad was getting ready to fillet them. He taught her how to properly fillet a fish, and she did a really good job. She isn't shy much at all when it comes to wet, slimy things. She is now writing a paper in English about this new skill that she has learned.

Nauvoo!

2009-10-07T00:10:00.002-04:00

McKinstry and Brenae were invited to accompany Sis. Ball and Sis. Bork on an outing. They were able to go to Nauvoo for a few days to visit the sights and to see the new pageant. They were able to meet up with their cousin Kristen and Uncle Bill while there. They also met up with a family that has recently moved from our branch. It was a big Indiana reunion in Illinois. The girls had a great time getting lost, exploring and spending time with these two very generous sisters.

Summer math camp

2009-10-07T00:00:00.002-04:00

Celeste had a very unique opportunity this summer. She brought home an application for a science math camp. We looked at her like she was crazy. She needed teacher recommendations, and had to write an essay as to why she would benefit from this camp. After all of the applications were sent in, she received a letter telling her that she was chosen out of 150 other children to attend the Exxon Mobil Bernard Harris Summer Science camp at Trine University, in Angola IN, for 2 weeks. She was thrilled. At this camp she was able to meet Bernard Harris, an astronaut for NASA, make robots, and learn all kinds of other neat things. She did just happen to meet a girl there who is also LDS and goes to her grandma and grandpa Newhard's ward in Fort Wayne. They became great friends, and spent 2 weeks being as grown up as possible.

Proud owner of a car at 15!

2009-10-06T23:52:00.002-04:00

McKinstry was head over heels when some very good friends of our gave her a car. It's not pretty, and it's not new, but it runs really well, came with replacement parts for anything that could possibly go wrong with it, and it is paid for, insures cheap, and the taxes are next to nothing for the plates. It can't get much better than that for a 15 year old, who doesn't have a permit yet, but has the car. Thanks Candace and Eric, what a great gift.

Corbin James

2009-10-06T23:43:00.002-04:00

Corbin never fails to entertain. We love to listen to music, really loud, when we clean the house. McKinstry caught Corbin performing while vacuuming one day.

Playing catch up!

2009-10-06T23:19:00.011-04:00

Our garden exploded this year. We had tomato plants that were almost 5 ft. tall, zucchinis that were huge, and peppers like you wouldn't believe. We made around 30 quarts of salsa, ringed banana peppers, and tried our hand at spaghetti sauce. I don't like salsa, but what Jim made is really good.

Malia Alice Benkenstein

2009-06-28T21:40:00.004-04:00

This precious little girl was born to Tyler and Shannon yesterday afternoon. She was 5 weeks early. She weighed in at 5 pounds 5 ounces. She is doing great, and is super strong. Her hand is only as big as Jim's thumb (as seen in the picture). Her mom and dad are doing great!

Early Father's Day

2009-06-20T21:43:00.001-04:00

Girls Camp

2009-06-18T22:30:00.004-04:00

2009 Garden

2009-06-18T22:21:00.002-04:00

So, our garden is huge already. We bought some compost here in town, and the plants are growing like crazy. We have harvested 10 quarts of strawberries, 3 heads of broccoli, 4 plants of spinach, herb after herb after herb, the potato plants are 3.5 feet tall, it's crazy. Tonight we found green tomatoes, and bell peppers on plants. Thanks to McKinstry for taking all of these great pictures. She is my star weeder.

Rappelling in Ohio

2009-05-18T10:25:00.005-04:00

Jim taught all the kids how to rappel while we were in Ohio. Corbin was the first, of the kids, to do it right. He was so proud of himself. This video is of McKinstry. You might want to turn the volume down, the wind was blowing and makes for bad audio for this piece.

Hocking Hills State Park

2009-05-18T10:09:00.002-04:00

We ventured out 2 weeks ago for a mini family vacation. Hocking Hills is known for its waterfalls, caves, and cliffs. We hiked and climbed for 2 days in perfect weather.

All tied up

2009-05-18T10:04:00.003-04:00

Corbin was captured and tied to the play center. The funny thing is.....they all wanted to be tied to the play center.

Garrett track meet

2009-04-30T20:24:00.000-04:00

Brenae ran a great race yesterday and today. Yesterday she came in 3rd and 4th in her races. She took a few seconds off of each race. Today she came in 1st in both of her races, maintaining her times from yesterday.

Track season is here again!

2009-04-23T12:05:00.002-04:00

Brenae is back at it again. She is running beautifully! Her first meet was a tri-meet. She is running the 1600 and the 800 again this year. She came in first for her school and third overall, in both races.
She had another tri-meet yesterday. She came in first for her school and third overall in the 1600, and she came in first for her school and second in the 800. There was a terrible head wind this race, but she overcame it and performed really well.

New family pictures

2009-04-11T23:58:00.002-04:00

Good Friday

2009-04-11T23:38:00.003-04:00

Good Friday was spent at Jim's parents' house. It was a drizzly and cold day. That didn't stop the kids from hunting eggs. This year "The 4 cousins" are 14. Easter is the only time of the year that we catch McKinstry, Kristen, Brenae, and Ayrika all the same age.

Academic Team!

2009-04-11T23:32:00.002-04:00

Brenae is on the Academic Team for DMS. She competes in the English portion. Her team placed 4th in English and 3rd in Interdisciplinary. She was captain of the Interdisciplinary team.

Bondage!

2009-04-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

Garrett was harassing his sisters last week. They decided to take matters into their own hands. After he was captured, the Ashley police drove by and thought that it was pretty funny.

First time bowlers

2009-04-06T15:42:00.001-04:00

My friend Janeen and I took the kids bowling during Spring Break. We had a blast. McKinstry won both games. Afterward, we went to a new store in Fort Wayne called the Half Price Book Store. I know you Texans are familiar with this one. They loved it! It was very hard to stick to a budget there.

Spring Break studying

2009-04-06T15:37:00.001-04:00

What do you do on the first day of spring break? Corbin decided to do some studying in his dictionary and encyclopedia.

A glimmer of spring

2009-03-16T11:03:00.002-04:00

We are enjoying a few days of 60 degree weather. The kids have been outside playing since Firday. They spent the weekend making scooter swings and forts in the backyard. Spring break is next week, so we will probably get snow....so the kids are enjoying the sun while they can.

Ready, Aim, Fire...

2009-02-21T14:39:00.002-05:00

So, it is snowing today. The boys thought that it would be a great time to get in some target practice.

TWISTER!!

2009-02-20T20:33:00.003-05:00

McKinstry and Brenae invited a few friends over tonight for the branch's annual chili dinner. After dinner, they decided to hang out at the house and play a game of Twister. What a tangled sight!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T19:45:00.002-05:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all. We have a tradition of spending it with the kids. We have a fun dinner, with candy as a main course. This year Jim wanted to have red food, thus the red kool-aid slushies, spaghetti, and red bread sticks. The picture of a red loaf of bread is for Dad. I do make bread, but somehow it comes out looking weird! Hahahahahah!!!

Great grades!

2009-01-26T18:16:00.001-05:00

Report cards came out last week. All together the kids received 22 A's and 3 B's. As a reward we took them out Friday to see Inkheart.

Snow Fun!

2009-01-13T14:57:00.002-05:00

After a trip to the dentist, the kids went out to play in the 11 inches of snow that we received this past weekend. Notice anyone missing? McKinstry severly sprained her ankle while we were in Texas. She didn't think playing in the snow with a pair of crutches sounded like fun.

"Hey Kell, what ya doing?"

2009-01-12T20:23:00.003-05:00

So, there is never a void of excitement in the Newhard home. Jim banged up his shin. I asked to see it, but he said that I didn't want to see it. I know what that means, it is bad. It was bad. When you look at the pictures, I loaded them backwards, so start at the bottom and work your way to the top.
Jim called his buddy, Kelly, and asked him if he wanted to stitch up his leg. Kelly was all for it. This is Kelly's first human leg that he has performed stitches on. He did a great job, so good that Jim was eating dinner in the middle of the procedure.
Thanks Kelly!!!!!! I couldn't stomach another ER trip! -Rebekeh

2009-01-12T20:13:00.000-05:00

2008-11-04T19:52:00.006-05:00

We attended the fall sports award night at the middle school last night. Brenae was awarded a participation certificate for cross country and track. She was also awarded one of two sportsmanship awards, by her coaches.

She finished out the year strong. She ran 12:10 at conference, coming in 13th over all. The DeKalb Middle School girls cross country team came in 2nd overall!!!!!

2008-11-04T19:46:00.004-05:00

McKinstry joined the fall sports coaches on the stand. She was recgonized as a DeKalb Baron freshman cross country assistant coach. She is planning to return and help coach next year.

Halloween

2008-11-04T19:13:00.003-05:00

What does a PUMPKIN...

a MUMMY...

a LADYBUG...

a GHOST...

and a LAUNDRY BASKET have in common???

CANDY...CANDY...CANDY...CANDY...CANDY...CANDY...CANDY...CANDY...CANDY...CANDY...

2008-10-01T19:55:00.002-04:00

Brenae Arin ran beautifully today. She attended a Tri-meet today. Summit and Indian Springs are hard schools to beat. She ran a personal best today, running 12:16. She came in 7th out of 60 girls. Jim promised her ice cream if she beat her best run, and surprised her with a Blizzard from Dairy Queen. Way to go Red!!!!

Go Dekalb!

2008-09-28T13:22:00.003-04:00

We are well into the
Cross Country season.
McKinstry is an assistant
coach for the 7th and 8th
grade team. Brenae is the #2 runner on the varsity team. We have been following them around for a few weeks now, and love to cheer for our favorite runner.
Brenae is coming in around the 13:00 time at her meets. She came in 2nd overall at the meet they had against one of their rival schools, Carroll Middle School.
Brenae ran in the New Haven Classic yesterday. She came in #29 out of 221 girls. Her time was 17:05, running 4k.

Garrett sings at the Dekalb County Fair

2008-09-25T18:02:00.002-04:00

Garrett joined the Rockin Raptors at school. They were invited to sing at the annual fair in Auburn. He sang the national anthem, a song from Grease, and Rockin Robin. This video is Rockin Robin, his favorite. We could hear him clearly from our seats. He really had a great time.

2008-09-25T17:58:00.002-04:00

Jim came home from work last week with a source for free apples. We took Celeste, Garrett, and Corbin out for 2 hours and picked 450 pounds of apples. We spent Friday and Saturday processing all of them into applesauce. We ended up with 120 quarts and 20 pints of cinnanom, brown sugar applesauce.

Apples, apples, and more apples

2008-09-25T17:41:00.003-04:00

Tubing with the family

2008-09-17T22:10:00.011-04:00

I've been managing a cafe on Clear Lake this summer. My boss, and good friend, Joann let us take a pontoon boat out for the day. We had never gone tubing as a family before. We had a blast! I went for the first time ever and loved it. The kids loved jumping off the boat and flipping off of the tube. It was a great time!

Clear Lake, Indiana

2008-09-17T22:10:00.008-04:00

Playing catch up

2008-09-17T22:10:00.007-04:00

So, this summer flew, and before we knew it school started. I just wanted to get everyone caught up. Garrett turned 9 in June. My sister, Tiffani, and her two children, Spencer and Aubrey, came to visit for 3 weeks. I could not have survived without her. Jim's brother Jacob, and Jessica had a new baby boy. What a cutie!!! Welcome Joseph Tyler Newhard! I was the stake girl's camp director this year. Jim, his dad, my two girls, and two nieces were all at camp together. It was a Newhard family gathering. McKinstry went to Youth Conference and stake dance for the first time. She came home with a boy's email address. Crazy!!!!!

June and July in a nutshell

2008-09-17T22:10:00.004-04:00

2008-05-20T18:10:00.003-04:00

Jim and Brenae ran in a 5K that was sponsored by the high school. They both did really well. Jim ran it in 19:59, and came in second. Brenae ran it in 22:37, and came in fourth. There were about 50 runners. Brenae was the first girl in and Jim was first for his age bracket. It was a lot of fun watching them.

2008-05-20T18:05:00.000-04:00

2008-05-20T18:03:00.002-04:00

Mother's Day was exciting here in Indiana. Jim was called and set apart as Branch President of the Angola Branch, LDS church. Jim's dad was able to stand in on the setting apart. Jim was, and still is, nervous and excited about this new calling.

2008-05-20T18:00:00.000-04:00

2008-05-06T18:00:00.001-04:00

Candy Keefer came into town for the Vera Bradley show. It was really good to see her, Zoey, and Annabelle. Too bad Chelsea wasn't able to come also, the girls were sad. Maybe she can convince her mom to send her here for Girl's Camp!

2008-05-06T17:59:00.000-04:00

2008-05-06T17:55:00.001-04:00

This is how McKinstry unwinds after a track meet. She cozies up with her froggy blanket.

2008-05-06T17:53:00.002-04:00

2008-05-06T17:53:00.001-04:00

This is how Brenae unwinds after a long track meet. She cozies up with a good book.

2008-05-06T17:51:00.000-04:00

2008-05-06T17:50:00.001-04:00

McKinstry's jump at the DeKalb vs Angola measured 12 feet. This jump is her personal best.

2008-05-06T17:47:00.000-04:00

2008-04-26T20:53:00.002-04:00

Jim ran a 5K today. He has been running with McKinstry and Brenae for the past few months. He ran the race with his brother Jared. They both did really well. Jim placed 31 out of 273 runners, coming in at 20:50. Jim hopes to get his time down closer to 19:00 by this fall. You can view his and Jared's running stats at www.fwtc.org. Just click on the Mastadon Stomp race to view.

2008-04-26T20:47:00.000-04:00

2008-04-26T20:45:00.001-04:00

Brenae participated in the regional Academic Super Bowl this afternoon. Her English group placed 2nd over all. Their school took first place for the entire meet.