Ben F. Newman (my great-grandfather) and family

I scrapped some of the pictures my cousin Kerry emailed to me. I just love getting to see these old family photos! I hope that some day my descendants appreciate the fact that I took lots of pictures too! (Of course I take way too many but they won't have to keep them all)

Old Pics as Promised

Here are a couple of pics Kerry sent to me - which I have never seen before! It is so awesome getting back in touch with family!Left to Right: Me, Tom with Deni, Jeffrey, Kerry (1975)

Left to right: 4 L-R Opal-1903, Ben-1888 (my great-grandfather), Lura-1885, Aubry-1898, Joseph-? (my great-great-grandfather) Dora-? (my great-great-grandmother) Grady-1900, Ivy-1894 (Newmans) (much earlier than 1975!)
There is one brother missing from this picture - Uncle Ted, the youngest (1906). He must have been away at college or something at the time. Uncle Ted and Aunt Mable were awesome! They used to have a cherry orchard in Montana and after they sold it they moved to Tucumcari New Mexico. It was always great fun to visit them.
My great-grandfather Ben lived to be 103 years old and (as he promised when I was born) - he was around to bounce my first-born on his knee! Joshua remembers Granddad bouncing his cane to entertain him. When I was young, he used to come visit us with a suitcase full of honey (he raised honeybees) and he would get off the bus one stop before ours so he could walk the rest of the way. He was always a walker. I guess walking is a good thing since he did live so long! And honey is supposed to be pretty healthy too - hmmmmm....

Facebook Connections

I recently got in touch with some (kind of) lost cousins through facebook. I say kind of because I basically knew where they were and they probably knew where I was but we have not been in touch with each other for MANY years. It has been really fun getting back in touch with them and their families! They are actually my grandfather's (Paul Newman) sister's (Aunt Edith) children - but they are closer to my age than to my father's age. They grew up in Truth or Consequences and we used to make day trips at least once a year to go visit them. I absolutely used to love going there! My Uncle Pat (Aunt Edith's husband) always had the most awesome gardens - both flowers and fruits and vegetables. He also always seemed to have a jigsaw puzzle in-progress and did not seem to mind us helping him with it. I always thought my cousins were so smart and cool and handsome and talented. We would always take a side-trip to the lake and marina with them which was so much fun for a kid like me! Anyway, it has been a lot of fun trying to catch up with them and what they are doing now and all their kids (which I still do not have straight!) . My cousin Kerry sent me some really neat old pictures which I will try to post in awhile.

Thanksgiving

Credits: Paper - Amanda Coudriet; Cardboard Strip, Tags, Bow, Flower, Frame - Sharia Braxton; Numbers - Kimb's designs; Dominican Small Caps Font

Credits: Paper, Paint Swatch - Amanda Coudriet; Cardboard Strips, Tag, Bow, Flower, Rick Rack - Sharia Braxton; Numbers - Kimb's designs; WordArt - Scrapbook Flair;

This year we had some out-of-town visitors for Thanksgiving. My Aunt Paula and Uncle Butch came in from Houston, and my brother's wife, Bonnie and their two kids, Joseph and Laura, were all here also. My brother had to work today and should be here tonight. It was a wonderful dinner as usual. My parents made the turkey and cornbread dressing and the rest of us made the rest of the stuff!! We will all be getting together again tomorrow at our house for a winter cookout.

The best thing this year was getting together with family that we had not seen for awhile.

The other person missing besides my brother Jeffrey was Jeremy. He actually had to work over 12 hours yesterday and the same today - but he is excited about getting double time because he is starting school this spring and wants to save up as much money as possible before then.

3 Brothers

Credits: Paper, Letter Blocks- Creative Victorian; Frame - Sweet Surrender kit by Sherry Ferguson; Labels - Amy W. Designs; Alpha - Lisa Whitney; Bradley Hand ITC Font

This is a picture that Lee's brother Kevin sent me last year. I had forgotten all about it until I found it on my flash drive the other day. The only one of the brothers who really has much hair left these days is Mark - and he still has a lot!

Aunt Anne

This is a difficult post for me to write. It is about my Aunt Anne. She passed away Friday. She was just told in about Mid-August that she had a matter of weeks to live. She took it remarkably well - laughing and joking about it as the days passed. The last weekend in August, Josh and I drove with my mother and father to Denton to drop my mother off to stay with Aunt Anne, who is her sister. Then, the next weekend (Labor Day Weekend) Lee and the kids and I made the trip again. Aunt Anne just wanted to see everybody and tell them how much she loves them and remember old times. She told us up front that she did not want this to be a sad time - but a happy one with her family around her. We all had a wonderful weekend just hanging out and reminiscing.

Aunt Anne was just 12 years older than me. When I was very young and we went to visit my grandparents in Arkansas, Aunt Anne and her sister, Aunt Kay, were teenagers. They had a 1967 Mustang which they would take me for “cruises” in, like small-town teenagers tend to do. They always bought me a cherry coke so I was quite happy!!

Later, when Aunt Anne got divorced, she and my cousins, Jennifer and Jerry, moved here in town. She was then a single mother. I would often get to spend the night with them and it was always fun because Aunt Anne was just plain fun to be with. She always made me feel special because I was older. My cousin, Jennifer, used to ask "why does Dana get to do that and I don't?" Aunt Anne would simply reply "Because she's bigger, that's why." I loved it! We used to go to the drive-in quite often, go shopping or just hang out at her apartment. I once won tickets to a midnight showing of the movie “Car Wash” when it first came out. Aunt Anne, of course, was the one I chose to go with me!! (of course I guess I really went with her since she was the one who had to drive!!)

When I graduated from high school, Aunt Anne got me my first job at Levi's. It was so interesting to get to meet the people I had heard her talk about for so long. She was such a blast.

Joel shares Aunt Anne’s birthday because, since I had already had 2 c-sections already, it was just a given that he would also be a c-section baby. My doctor gave me 3 different dates to choose from, one of which was June 21, Aunt Anne’s birthday. Of course I chose that date for Joel to be born even though it was the latest of the 3 dates. Aunt Anne called Joel “my man”.

Several years ago, when my grandmother was very ill, Aunt Anne moved back here from the Dallas area to take care of her. She and her son Andy lived in a teeny retirement apartment with Granny for a few years. It was very cramped and stressful but she toughed it out until the end. She later moved back to the Dallas area to be near my cousin Jennifer.

Now I need to talk about Jennifer. She was a pretty rebellious pre-teen and teenager but has become a wonderful woman. She took Aunt Anne into her home so that she would be comfortable and surrounded by family. She is also taking Andy in and is treating him like her own son and driving him quite a way to his old high school every day. I am impressed with the compassion and caring and strength she has shown.

Then there is my other cousin, Stephanie. She is the daughter of my mother's other sister, Kay, who passed away late last summer. She is a nurse and travelled to Denton from the Houston area every weekend to help out. Another incredible woman!!

Both Jennifer and Stephanie are quite a few years younger than me so I have always thought of them as kids - but they have proven that they are wonderful, caring women throughout all of this.

Then, last but certainly not least, there is my mother. She went to stay with my Aunt Anne for several months about 2 years ago when she had her first bout with cancer. She was basically Aunt Anne's caregiver for a couple of months until she could get along on her own. Now, along with Jennifer and Stephanie, she did it again. She is an incredibly strong woman herself and I love her very much. She is the person everybody asks to speak at funerals because, for one thing, she can actually do it without breaking down and crying, and the other, most important thing, she is a very good speaker and can come up with great things to say about anybody. The first time I remember her doing so was at my Uncle Mike’s funeral. He was killed in a car wreck a few months before Lee and I got married. I couldn’t believe she could actually get up there and speak like she did but she did and it was beautiful.

Anyway, I feel blessed and proud to have such a great family because, in the end, it is family that are the most important people in your life.

I only hope that if I was put in the same situation as Jennifer, Stephanie, and my mother, that I would be half as great as they are!! Here are some pictures of Aunt Anne:

More Treasures

It has been so much fun going through these old slides!!
This is my mother, my father's father and my father's sister playing a game of dominos in 1961!
It is awesome to have found it.
My aunt's two daughters (Jennifer and Michele) are the "80's hair" girls from a few posts ago.
I probably should explain that I have 2 cousins named Jennifer - one from my mom's side and one from my dad's side. They are actually Jennifer Leigh and Jennifer Lee. When the second Jennifer was born, my aunt Anne had no idea that Aunt Paula's Jennifer's middle name sounded just like Lee.

Credits: Paper - lizandherbabes; Tabs - Atomic Cupcake; Domino pics from the internet; 1942 Report, Elephant and Arial fonts

Then and Now

Again, while visiting my Aunt last weekend, she had this old picture of Jeremy and Andy. I couldn't resist the opportunity to do a 'Then and Now' page!!

Credits: Ribbon and Stripes Template - Scrapbook Max; That's Super, VAGRounded BT, and X-Files fonts; Scrapbook Max Software

The Girls

Here is another picture taken during our visit to see my Aunt Anne...

Credits: Moulin Rouge Kit by Molly & Max; Frame - Katie Pertiet; DymoFontInvers and Arial fonts

Cousins, Cousins

Josh and I went with my parents to Denton, Texas this past weekend to visit my Aunt Anne. Here are some of my cousins along with some spouses and kids:

Credits: alpha_stitchinglower - unknown; Tag - Creative Victorian Designs;Typewriter a602 (dead Postman) and Arial fonts.

I got a kick out of my cousin's hair and he got a kickout of Joel's hair and I could not resist doing this page:

Credits: Photo Turn - DerekMDesign; Tag - Veronica Ponce ; Cookie Mouth and Arial fonts

That 70's Picture

Here is another picture I found, scanned, and scrapped over the weekend:

Breakfast with Grandpa

Quick Post for now: These are some pictures from awhile back that I just got around to scrapping.

Credits: What Boys are Made of kit by lizandherbabes; Photo Mat - Katie Pertiet; Folder Tab - Tracy King at florescentjellybeans.com; Framed tag - Osten Wilkins; Corners - Heather Watson; Goudy Stout and Arial fonts

Weekend in the Mountains & Hair

We spent this weekend up in the mountains with my parents at their place. It was very relaxing and the weather was great! My parents found some old pictures and documents that had belonged to my grandmother and I spent a good part of the weekend scanning them into my computer . We even found my grandfather's graduation announcement (dated 1925) and his 5th grade report card... fascinating. Here are a couple of more recent pictures of my cousins from the 80's. I thought they looked pretty cool and very indicative of the times...

Credits: Nailed and Nina fonts; Adobe Photoshop Elements Software

Diablos Baseball!

Last weekend, my company had an outing at the local minor league baseball park. Mark and Amy were here for the weekend so we took them along too. And all 4 kids actually went! We had a very nice time.

Credits: What Boys are made of kit - lizandherbabes; Stacked Journal sheets - ; Elements - Scrapbook Max;Mesh - Kim Liddiard; BellCent BdList BT font

Credits: What Boys are made of kit - lizandherbabes; Stacked Journal sheets - ; Stamp - JuLaender Designs; Stitches - Jerline'S DigigrapiCS; Mesh - Kim Liddiard;BellCent BdList BT font

Family Reunion

In early June, we went to a family reunion for Lee's side of the family. It was great to see people we hadn't seen in awhile and also interesting to meet people we hadn't met yet. Our kids did not know most of the people there - except for a few they met last summer at Amber's (Lee's niece)wedding.

Credits: Ilétaitunefoi Kit by petit_moineaux; Photo Edges - unknown.

Airplane Ride

Just a quick post today. When we flew home from Dallas, I once again used the self-timer on my camera to get a shot of the whole family in the DFW airport. Once on the plane, I had to make sure I got pics of each family member. Joel took the one of Lee and me.

Credits: Tag and Journal Block by Schmooangel; Overlay by Lindsay Jane Designs;
Paper and Plane by Shellshok Designs; Stamp Act and Times New Roman Fonts

A weekend in Dallas

Last week I was in my final training class (yay) for this huge project I am on at work. This time it was in Dallas. Lee's dad Damon and Lee's brother Kevin live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area so we had Lee fly out on Wednesday to meet me and stay for the weekend. On my way to the airport to pick him up I realized I was pretty early so instead of just sitting at the airport, I decided to see if I could find somewhere for a quick shopping trip. I ended up at the Grapevine exit and saw a sign that said Historical Main street so I thought I would go have a look. It was really a pretty interesting place that had been nicely restored and rebuilt with lots of cool shops and restaurants, an old movie theater and other cool old stuff. I kept on driving for a bit (following signs to a place called Katie's Woods and Campground). This led to an absolutely beautiful lake. (It doesn't take much to impress me since I live in the desert- just a few trees and maybe some grass or flowers does the trick - but throw some water in there and WOW!!)

This left the kids (Josh, Joel and Jenna) home alone for 2 nights which was a little unnerving, but they did just fine. They (the kids) then flew to Dallas on Friday and met Lee and I. Meanwhile, Lee's mother Judy and her husband Hal drove in from Austin to see us at the airport at least that was the original plan. Lee and I ended up meeting them for a quick dinner in Grapevine (because I wanted to go back there again) before picking the kids up and then they (parents) were tired and returned to their hotel room. Then we went to the airport ,got the kids, turned in the rental car my co-worker and I had rented for the week and we picked up a van (gotta have a van with this many kids!) . Then - we went to the hotel where Lee's mom and Hal were staying so they could see the kids. This hotel was in North Dallas. Then finally, we drove down just past Arlington to Kennedale where Lee's dad and his wife Claire live. Whew!! I guess we finally got there close to midnight.

Oh - and I forgot to mention this - we were not sure if Jeremy was even going to be able to go at all because he was in Gallup New Mexico for work and was not sure if they were coming home Friday or Saturday. He finally found out Wednesday that he would definitely be home for sure Friday, so I bought him a Southwest airlines (they had later flights available than American) ticket to fly to Dallas Friday night, and an American Airlines ticket back home so he could fly with us. I thought that was all settled when he called back late Wednesday night and said he was actually getting to return home a day early - on Thursday. So, I ended up cancelling the Southwest ticket and getting him on the same American Airlines flight as the other kids. Needless to say, his round-trip flight cost more than twice as much as Lee and the others'!! But we were really glad he got to go because we all had such a good time.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from the weekend. For the first time in 4 years of owning my camera I actually used the self-timer so I could be in the pictures too. (I don't know what came over me but I totally forgot to take any pictures of Judy and Hal with the kids Friday night. Maybe my mind just finally shut down because of the week of training and the logistics of getting everybody to Dallas and worrying that Joel and Jenna would be flying for the first time without either parent and worrying that they all would not get to the airport on time or something!!!)


Here are Lee and I with Judy and Hal in Grapevine.
And here we all are in Arlington I think - it's near Kennedale anyway.
left to right back row are: Jeremy, Lee, Kevin, Josh, Claire, and Damon
front row: Shelley (Kevin's wife), Joel, Allison (Kevin's daughter), Jenna and me.

Atlanta Cousins

Olden Days Page Layout from Scrapbook Max; Corners - Wild and Wonderful kit by Scrap4Brains; Crazy Girlz Blond BTN Lt font; Scrapbook Max Software

Our Family

Lee's grandfather and two of Lee's Aunts were in town a couple of Saturdays ago and we met them for breakfast at Village Inn. This has come to be a regular meeting place whenever he comes to town. There was a lot of picture-taking going on and they wanted one of all of us so I took the chance to have them take a picture with my camera. It's not very often that we are all in a picture together!! This is the family!

My PaPa

I actually participated in an online scrapbooking challenge for the first time. This was my entry for a Heritage Baby Picture Layout. This is my father's father as a baby. I just love this picture with the old stroller and baby gown!

Credits: Heritage Rose Kit by FishinMom Designs; You Are Beautiful Kit by Verena Karolyi; Give Thanks Kit by Raspberry Road Designs