Cal and K8 Go to Italy

In May 2025, Cal and Kate had a vacation to Italy in the books.  They took a lot of pictures and Callahan even kept a journal to share with me, documenting their adventures.  You can read his recap below ...

Italy Trip, Rome/Positano/Naples

May 4 & 5 (Monday & Tuesday)

We flew out at 9pm from SLC to Amsterdam, connecting flight from Amsterdam to Rome. First flight was 9.5 hours, and the second flight was 2 hours with a 2 hour layover in between. We arrived in Rome around 7pm on Monday night so it was seemed almost like 24 hours of travel, but it was only around 14 hours because Rome is 8 hours ahead. After we took a taxi from the airport to our Air BnB, we wandered the streets a bit and got dinner. I got fettuccine Alfredo that was pretty good and Kate got a pesto pasta.

May 6 (Wednesday) 

We didn’t have anything set in stone this day because we wanted to walk around the city and get ourselves more acquainted. We started at Trevi Fountain, got some croissants and OJ right by it. This was around 8:30am, and it was already pretty busy. But we did walk by it again around noon and it was even more crowded. After Trevi, we walked to the Pantheon and stopped by a church along the way. The church buildings don’t do anything for me, but in a construction sense it is pretty amazing the detail in the paintings and the architecture in general. The church buildings generally spook me out more though. After that, we went to the Spanish Steps.

We went back to the AirBnB for a bit to chill, and take a nap. Then we went back out to a lot of the same sites to see them at night. We went to Osteria Da Fortunata for dinner, this was probably the best overall dinner of the trip. I got Fettuccine Ragu and Kate got the carbonara. Both dishes were very good, but for dessert we got a slice of cheesecake and it was so, so, so good! We went and got some gelato from Giolitti (my favorite gelato place that we tried) then walked back to Trevi Fountain to see it a night. It was very busy once again and they do small “light shows” every 15 minutes or so. We stayed and watch one light show, then went back to our AirBnB

May 7 (Thursday)

Before we started our tour for the Colosseum, Kate and I were walking around and a photographer asked if we wanted to do a free photoshoot (we could buy the pictures later if we wanted to) so we did that for 20 minutes before our tour.

Our tour guide had a pretty thick Irish accent which made it difficult to understand a lot of what he was saying. I think Kate was able to understand more, but I think I understood 50% or less of all the words out of his mouth lol. The Colosseum was pretty cool, it would’ve been a better experience if I understood the tour guide. Got gelato this night from Gold Ice, still very good but I thought Giolitti was slightly better. Most times I’m getting some sort of Carmel flavor for my gelato. (Later in the trip I got more fruity ones)

May 8 (Friday) 

We did a cooking class in Rome where we made 2 different pastas and tiramisu. There were 10 total people in the class, all spoke English but none of them were from the US. In pairs of two, we all made some dough for the pasta, just had to measure our flour and water and mix it together. All that dough got mixed together in the end and Chef Max cooked the pasta as we started to make the tiramisu. The ravioli was really good, and the spaghetti was dished up with a pesto sauce that we helped make as well.

Dinner at Roma Sparita, really good pasta in a parmesan bowl. We only got 1 and shared it, but we should each got our own because it was that good. We branched out and tried the grilled lamb chops as our 2nd dish to share, and that was a mistake. The lamb had no flavor and was charred along the whole exterior.

May 9 (Saturday) 

We checked out of our AirBnB in Rome and took a train to Naples. Kate booked this train a while ago, and it was a nice, comfortable ride. We had reserved seats, the seats were bigger than your standard airplane seats. Private car from Naples to Positano, our driver played “Ghetto” by Akon and then “No One” by Alicia Keys right after. Seems like a good start to this part of our trip. I’m glad I didn’t have to do any driving in Italy. These drivers are crazy. In busy areas it would be really difficult because there are so many pedestrians and motorcyclists, and they all kind do whatever they want and just trust that the cars won’t hit them lol. There were multiple moments on our car ride to Positano where Kate and I would look at each other after our driver did something sketchy.

The town is very walkable, road are very narrow and seems like the roads can get backed up easily because of pedestrians. Walking from our AirBnB, down to the beach was pretty easy and only took us about 10 minutes. It’s all downhill and/or down stairs. The walk back up to the AirBnB is slightly more difficult, but it just helped us get our steps in.

Positano and Naples are famous for their lemons and limoncello (alcohol). I don’t care too much to try the limoncello, but I am going to try the lemon sorbet dessert that they serve in a scooped out lemon. You can buy them at basically anywhere that serves food or snacks, and they are really good.

May 10 (Sunday)

We rented an umbrella and two loungers out by the beach of Positano and spent most of our day out there. They were rented for the whole day so we started by laying out in the sun for a few hours, we got in the water for a little bit once I was too hot. It was only high 60’s, low 70s our whole trip, but it felt very hot when the sun was out. The water in Positano was very cold so we weren’t in it long. I always forget how salty the ocean is, so once I put my head underwater I was ready to get out. Getting all that salt in your eyes and mouth is no fun.

We got lunch at a restaurant names Lulu’s and got some fish and chips. Everything in Positano is really expensive, but the fish and chips were only 14 Euros and they were pretty good. At this point we were pretty much over pasta and pizza. We ate our lunch by the beach and laid out in the sun some more. Kate really loves to lay out in the sun while on vacation which is fine with me. I thought I was going to get pretty sunburnt, but I think I put just enough sunscreen on.

We went to dinner at Restaurant Bruno and had an overpriced meal. (Everything in Positano is expensive unfortunately) For most dinners we have been sharing 3 different dishes, usually one appetizer and 2 other dishes. For the appetizer we got a chicken Caesar salad and for our other dishes we got gnocchi, then we got “Meat rolls, filled with cheese and an onion sauce.” The gnocchi was good, and the meat was fine but it didn’t have much flavor and 75% of the plate were onions. There were only 4 “rolls” of meat.

May 11 (Monday)

Got on a ferry at 9:30 to go to Capri. Ferry ride was about an hour, much smaller than the ferries we would ride in Seattle. We did a kayak tour of some caves along the island, at 11am. We were very late to our tour because the ferry arrived slightly late and we were waiting for a few other ferries to leave before we could dock.

Once we got off the boat we started walking to our kayak tour, which was on the other side of the island, lol. So our whole walk was up a bunch of stairs or walking up an incline, until we got close to the top, then we started going downhill and down a bunch of stairs to the beachfront on the other side of the island. It was quite a walk, and since we were already running late we were kinda stressed. I didn’t wear my Fitbit this day because I thought I’d forget to take it off when we did the kayak tour, but I’m wishing I wore it just to know the distance we walked.

We got to our tour about 25 minutes late, but it was no issue because only 2 other people signed up for the tour at this time. We knew the weather wasn’t going to be great, it showed clouds basically all day, but we were not expecting rain. We got out on the water in our kayak and the water wasn’t too cold so it seemed like it was going to be a good time. We saw 2 caves before it started raining. The ride back to the shore felt like forever because it was raining pretty good and we were freezing lol. Once we got back to the shore we dried off, but were still pretty cold. We did not prepare very well for the possibility of rain. We didn’t have any other plans in Capri and both of us were ready to go back to our AirBnB in Positano.

I’m writing my recap for this as we are on the ferry back to Positano and Kate is asleep next to me. I didn’t expect her to sleep on the way back because it’s kinda hard to sleep on a boat in my opinion. (And I’m a very good sleeper lol)

The NBA Playoffs have been going on the whole time we’ve been in Italy. The NBA makes it very difficult to watch games internationally. Even though I pay for YouTube TV, I can’t watch it when out of the US, which I didn’t know until I tried to watch games in Italy.

I found a bar in Positano that was streaming the Denver/OKC Game 4 and I stayed there the whole time to watch it lol. Italy is 8 hours ahead of SLC, so the game was going on at 1:30PM in Denver (and SLC) but it was 9:30pm for me. I was so happy when I stumbled upon that bar and was able to watch the full game.

May 12 (Tuesday)

Today we left Positano via our private driver at noon. We checked out of our AirBnB at 10 and spent our last two hours in Positano by the beach soaking up the sun. Our drive back to Naples was around an hour and a half. Hard to sleep in the car when driving out of Positano because the roads are so windy.

Naples was the city I was least impressed by, at least when comparing it to Rome and Positano. It just seemed gross, loud and busy all the time. Our AirBnB in Naples was pretty nice though. This was our first AirBnB to have Netflix which we were excited about. We weren’t able to relax and watch much tv at our last two AirBnBs.

Our first meal in Naples was a pizzeria that was very close by. Most of the pizza tasted the same to me and I wasn’t super happy with it. All of it was good, I was just expecting it to be better to be honest. After we ate, we explored the city a little bit, got some small desserts if we saw something that looked good. Kate got a cup that had sweet bread and chocolate in it, hoping to fill her chocolate craving but it did not, the top of the bread must’ve been soaked in some sort of liquor, so the whole thing was disgusting. I took one bite and was repulsed lol. We also sampled the famous “limoncello” alcohol this same night, and seriously just one sip of it made my stomach turn.

 ... an assortment of the edibles ;)

May 13 (Wednesday)

Today we took a train from Naples to Pompeii for a guided tour that started at noon. We got to the train station around 10am to get a ticket and make sure we knew where we were going. This train was much more crowded and less comfortable than the train we took from Rome to Naples. The train had far fewer seats, no reserved seating and was much more like a Subway. Kate and I had to stand for our whole ride, which was about 30-40 minutes.

We got to Pompeii a bit early so we ate at a restaurant right outside the train station. We both got a form of chicken sandwich (at this point I wanted something that wasn’t pizza or pasta) I thought it was pretty good.

Our tour guide for Pompeii was MUCH better than the one we had for the Colosseum in Rome. She still had a good Italian accent, but it was easier to understand than our previous guides Irish accent. Our guide’s name was Rosanna and she was very friendly and kept getting stopped or interrupted by other guides during our tour. It seemed like she knew people everywhere we stopped lol. She was very good at enunciating which made her easier to understand.

Once our tour was over, we wandered around Pompeii a little longer by ourselves, but at that point I was ready to get off my feet. We got back on the train and headed back to our AirBnB once again. Not much to say about this train ride, it was similar to the ride there. Train loaded with people, most of them are standing, lots of them have luggage with them. This train seemed to “stop and go” more than the last which frustrated a lot of the passengers.

Our final dinner was pizza, once again. I wanted to get something else, but didn’t have much luck looking at menu’s of restaurants that were close to our AirBnB. Kate was pretty happy with the pizza so I didn’t have an issue going one last time.

Then it was back to the AirBnB to pack up because our flight was at 6am the next morning. We had a taxi booked for 4am to take us to the airport for our long travel day home.

Keaton's Journeyman Journey

Keaton has been working as an apprentice electrician with Camson (and Callahan) and has been taking the classes and tests to move up to Journeyman status. That has two parts, residential Journeyman and Full Journeyman. Keaton had completed the necessary requirements for the first a while back, and had continued moving toward full status, studying for the exams, finishing up the hours and schooling.  He had some funny stories to tell as he wrapped it up these last few weeks, and I asked him to write it all up in his own words.  So here's Keaton's Journeyman journey ...

When I took the residential tests, I don’t think I was that nervous. Probably because I didn’t fully grasp how difficult the tests could be. Somehow I was able to pass all of them first try.

The practical was pretty easy. The 3 way / 4 way and doorbell were easy because I do those every day at work. The torque wrench was also easy because at that point in time, Cal and I had got our own torque wrenches to start using on equipment in the field. The only tricky one was the motor control / swamp cooler and that’s because it’s what I was least familiar with. Houses nowadays don’t have swamp coolers typically, but this is one of the only semi-complicated motors you would ever see in a house, so that’s why it was included on the test. But even that wasn’t that hard after looking up some YouTube videos.

Then I took the code test. Looking back, I should’ve scheduled the theory test and then the code test. I think theory is easier than code in general. That way the tests are being taken easiest to hardest, in hopes for a snowball effect. The code test is 80 questions in 180 minutes. Roughly 2 min and 15 seconds per question. That’s a tight window. Especially because, for each question, you have to find the answer in the book, so flipping through the pages takes some time, and you have to remember to use the correct formulas, look at exceptions, etc… I finished through to the 80th question and I had 30 minutes left, but I was unsure on about 20 questions. So I took the time to double check those and the rest of my answers, leaving me with 5 minutes left and 5 questions still “flagged.” I was able to find 1 more answer and then I submitted. They emailed me back the scores within a few minutes. 76%, 61/80 - barely passed.

Next was theory, scheduled a couple days later. Figured I’d want a day in between to let my brain relax. That backfired because my buddy Marko texted me saying it was the last day to take our midterm test for school. I definitely forgot about that. I had to revert my brain into everything I was learning at that time in school, which was way more specific than code and theory. So we took the test, aced it, and then the next day it was time for theory.

I didn’t know what to expect on theory because the topics were very vague. Unlike code, which tells you how many questions are on box fill, or grounding and bonding, or definitions and general requirements, the theory topics just said voltage, amperage, power, resistance, and voltage drop. I knew the equation for voltage drop so I wasn’t worried about that so much, but I didn’t know what kind of questions the other topics would be. Turns out I was worried for nothing, because most of those questions were basic ohms law or terminology questions. Either I knew the answer off the top of my head, or it was a very simple equation that I had memorized. I finished the theory tests with over an hour to spare, and I scored 94%, 57/60.

With that, the resi tests were over and I could relax again. 

That was almost a couple years, so fast forwarding to now where I had to take the full journeyman tests, I had quite a different testing experience. I was a lot more nervous this time around. Probably because I had taken the tests before, but also because I knew they were going to be harder. For the practical, I’ve got to bend two pieces of conduit and wire a motor control with a relay, neither of which I do at work. And for the code, I have to incorporate everything else I learned in third and fourth year. AND remember to change my formulas whenever they’re incorporating commercial wiring instead of residential. I didn’t think the theory test would be that different or that hard, seeing that I got a high score in the resi theory test. So I decided to take that first.

My full journeyman tests, there was a lot more things that happened. So get ready.

• CODE: Right before taking the test, I was super nervous. I shouldn’t have been, because I was feeling good on the topics, I knew I had crushed it before, and I studied, so everything should be fine. I got 10 questions in and I realized I severely overestimated this test. It was already way harder than the resi. I wasn’t even sure about half the questions at this point. I figured I wouldn’t finish an hour early this time, but whatever the question is, I’ll figure it out one way or another. I get to the end and I’m feeling a lot better. The first 10 questions were some of the harder ones. I go back and double check all my answers, figure out the equations for the ones I didn’t know, and submitted. This time, no response. I’ve heard sometimes it takes a little while for them to score it, so I just went to bed, very nervous. I was pretty confident I passed, probably not as high of a score as last time, but that’s okay. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw they sent my score. I couldn’t wait til later to see, so I opened it then. FAILED. That. Sucks. It was 2:00 in the morning and I felt like crap. I didn’t fall asleep for two more hours, and then I went to work. I was pretty depressed that morning, but also angry because the score they sent me didn’t actually tell me my score. Not a percentage, not a number out of 50. It should say that, so I called them that morning and asked if they could find my score and tell me. They said they’ll work on it and send me another email. So the day went on, and I was a sad boy, but then they emailed me back in the early afternoon. I figured it had my score on it, so I checked to see how bad I did. 88%, 44/50, PASS. It took me a second, but I quickly realized that it was a technical difficulty. That was my score, and I did actually pass. No more sad boy. That made my day. I had already told a couple people I failed, so I texted them back, “JK I actually passed. There was this thing, blah blah blah, yay.” And with that done, we got the snowball rolling once again. 1 down, 2 to go.
• PRACTICAL: I scheduled the practical next. Figured it’ll be harder than the last practical, but not as hard as the code test. Marko and I had been practicing bending a bunch of conduit in the garage for our labs, so we did it once more before my test. We looked at the motor control boards we wired at the labs and I figured that’s about as much as I can study for that. When I got there, the proctor let me pick which task to do first. That was very nice of him because I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to do the conduit first and be all sweaty for the next two. I chose the motor control, he gave me the line diagram, and clicked the timer. One thing that made me nervous was that in the past, the proctor lets you choose which line diagram to wire. This time, the proctor said that wasn’t an option. Everyone has to do the ice cube relay. I didn’t like the sound of that because the ice cube relay is the harder variant for me. I looked at the line diagram, started wiring, and finished with plenty of time to spare. Called the proctor over, we plugged it in, everything worked, onto the next. I did the transformer next. I was not worried about this task at all. It’s color coding. You memorize the colors in the right order and you wire it. I did it in 30 seconds, called the proctor over, he said it’s good, onto the next.
• CONDUIT: Conduit was last. We had to bend a 4 point saddle and a 3 point saddle. Those bends were exactly what Marko and I were practicing, so I was happy to see it. They had rolling box offsets which kinda sucked, but I figured it wouldn’t be that bad. I did the 4 point saddle. That looked pretty good and didn’t take a lot of time. Then I did the 3 point. I don’t know how this happened, but when I went to cut my pipe to length, I forgot that I flipped it around. So I ended up cutting off the wrong end, which in turn ruined my whole pipe. My saddle was a few inches off center and there was no easy way to fix it. At the point, my heart sank and I accepted failure. That was a critical mistake that I figured I could laugh at a year from now. But I didn’t want to not have a pipe to present, so I decided I’m going re bend this pipe and just try to get it to fit on the board as best I can. Then, in my mind, I didn’t completely give up. I un-did all my bends and this pipe was looking wonky. It wasn’t straight, it was doglegged, and kinked. But beggars can’t be choosers. I made all my new marks and bent the saddled correctly this time, but it still wasn’t looking great. I spent a few minutes just tweaking it by eye, and with 10 seconds left, I made one final cut and placed it on the board. It fit, but didn’t look good. To pass this test, the main things you need to do is have 1/4”-3/4” clearance from the obstruction, the ends of the saddle have to be touching the board, and it has to fit. I stepped back and looked at my 3 point and realized it actually met all those standards. Despite all the kinks and it not being level, I thought there was a very small chance this could actually pass.  I sat down with one of the other guys that was taking the tests and we were chatting while the last guy was finishing his two conduits. The proctor started grading my pipes. Apparently, there’s an algorithm on his computer that he inputs the numbers he got from my pipes. The clearances, how many kinks it has, how off center it is, etc… He clicked enter, then looked at me with the faintest smile and nod. I pretended I didn’t see that. There was just no way that I actually passed. I was fully prepared to go home and schedule this test again asap. The other guy finished his pipes, so we all started talking while the proctor was grading theirs. Normally when you’re done, you just leave and you get an email within an hour that has your scores, but the proctor said it was a Saturday so no one was in the office. They probably won’t send us our scores for a couple days. But, he said he could just tell us our scores there and now if we wanted. So I said let’s hear it. He said I passed motor control, I passed transformer, and my 4 point passed. I knew all that. Moment of truth… he said my 3 point barely passed.

I actually jumped, I didn’t believe it. He was laughing too because he said it’s the worst pipe he’s ever seen that passed. He said if I literally had one more kink on the pipe, or it was slightly more off level, or if I was another 1/16” off, it would’ve failed. So that was that. I stayed to hear the other guys scores, they both passed all the tests too. They also had a couple mistakes, but we all made it work. It was a pretty fun time. The proctor said this was one of the most fun groups he’s watched. 2 out of 3 done. Onto the next.

I think I was the most stressed for the code test, but I did study a lot for it. Even a couple days before the test I felt ready. I had a game plan. I didn’t want to just have 30 minutes at the end to work through all the hard questions. I wanted a lot more time, so instead of limiting myself to 2 minutes per question, I did 1 minute. The hard thing with doing that is that it can be very, very difficult to flip through the pages and find the answer within a minute. But I thought it would be worth it to have a ton of time at the end for the more difficult questions and checking my work. Taking the test, I actually was able to keep up with that pace. Better than I thought. I knew a ton of the answers off the top of my head, and I was able to find a lot more within that 1 minute. I was cruising. I eventually slowed down at question 60 because I had more time than I thought I was going to have. I made it to question 80, I had about 25 flags, 80 minutes left. I just relaxed. It wasn’t over, but I felt like I set myself up perfectly that there was no way I wouldn’t pass. I burned through 10-15 flags in 20 minutes, spent another 20 minutes double checking all my other answers, then another 20 minutes on 5 of the harder questions, and I felt like I was golden. I figured I would pass, but in my head I was hoping to get a 90%. That would be cool. I didn’t think it was very realistic because most of the time I hear people taking this test? they get anywhere in the 80s. I submitted, got my score a few minutes later, 95%, 76/80, PASS.

I saved the hardest for last and it ended up being the easiest. I’m pretty stoked that I passed them all first try again. And I’m happy it’s all done. Time to relax.

 

L&V ~ Portland Getaway

Landon planned a trip to Portland, just a quick weekend getaway. He sent me some updates along the way, so here's the trip details in his own words...

Valentina came over last night since we had our flight first thing in the morning. All went well with our flight and we landed in PDX. We picked up our rental car and left to Kolby and Jami’s house. We said “hi” to Kolby, who was the only one home at the time, and met the animals for the first time. We dropped off our stuff and left for Cannon Beach.

The drive to Cannon Beach was wonderful. It was about an hour and half drive through tons and tons of green trees and vegetation. We were excited since we saw the temp for Portland in the low 70’s for the day and thought that would be perfect while we are at Cannon Beach. Turns out, it is a good 10-15 degree difference there, colder than Portland. It was a breezy day too.

We did not have any breakfast, apart from sharing a little sandwich from a coffee shop by K & J’s. So as soon as we got in to Cannon Beach, we went to the fish and chips spot that Jami recommended. They were scrumptious! We devoured them as we sat on the rooftop deck of the restaurant.

From there we walked the beach awhile. Walking down about a mile to get close to Haystack Rock. The amount of people we saw with dogs was incredible. Of course we loved it and said hi to as many as we could. We walked back to where we parked, but went through the town instead of back through the beach. We took our shoes off to walk barefoot in the sand, but that ends up roughing them up a bit. Valentina wanted to get a little gift for K & J for letting us stay, so we visited a little wine shop there and picked up a bottle.

Being an hour and a half out of Portland, we wanted to make sure to take advantage of Cannon Beach while we were there. But other than eating fish and chips and walking the beach, there wasn’t much more for us to do. We made our way back to the city, where we had plans for dinner at Bamboo. I was super excited to have Valentina experience the Green Machine. Our first date was for sushi and it continues to be one, if not her favorite food.

It was still a bit early for us to go to the restaurant, so we stopped at a mall and browsed some shops there until it was time for our reservation at Bamboo. Once at Bamboo, we ordered up a couple of Green Machines, and a couple other rolls. I wasn’t aware of the variations for the Green Machine when they add fish to it. Valentina really loves her salmon, so we ordered one with salmon, and the other one was a classic Green Machine. I was shocked how quick they were to serve us. It wasn’t even a half hour that we were in the restaurant!

After dinner, we obviously needed dessert. From the little time I’ve spent in Portland, I did notice that wherever there is a Bamboo, there tends to be a Salt & Straw close by. We went over, but with the nice weather, everybody around had the same idea. Instead, we went back to the house to say hi to everyone else we hadn’t seen yet. Maddie had the idea that we go bar hopping that night. Valentina and I just needed a bit of a nap before going out since we already had a loooong day.

We left in an Uber along with Mia to go closer to where Maddie lives, as it is a great spot for a pub crawl. First up was Quarterworld, which is a bar/arcade. We played around for a while and had a few drinks. I kicked Valentina’s butt at the arcade basketball as usual. Right across the street was our next stop at Spaceroom. We didn’t play anything there, but we had some good conversations. And from the Spaceroom we went to Zak’s Shack. Some of the people were hungry and ordered some hot dogs. We made it to about 1 am until we called it a night. Valentina and I were sooooo wiped. It was a looooong day for us and it was loads of fun in Portland.

It was a slower start to Saturday after having a late night and long day yesterday. We made a plan to leave to see a waterfall in the late morning. While we were driving in that direction on the freeway, we saw a sign that said the exit for the waterfall was closed and that the parking was full. Instead we decided to turn back around to head to the city for some lunch, as we were getting hungry.

There was a Mexican place called “La Cocina” we found and wanted to try. On the menu they had mole Poblano, which I was pretty skeptical of, as I’m very critical of it being authentic. Luckily, it was quite authentic! We ordered chilaquiles as an appetizer, then ordered enchiladas de mole and enchiladas poblanas and shared between the two of us. Very delicious.

The rest of the day was practically wide open for us. While we were already in the downtown area, we went to the Saturday market as Kolby recommended it. We toured through all the little shops and found a couple of cute items to bring home with us.

From the market, we left for the Portland Japanese Gardens. Valentina found it recommended on TikTok, so we went to check it out. It was a really nice place to go to just be surrounded by all green. We simply wished people would be more quiet and it is supposed to be a more reflective experience as you wander through it.

Before heading back to K & J’s, we needed to make our second attempt at Salt & Straw. We found one nearby and went. We were not in a rush to go anywhere luckily, so we got in line to order. The line appeared long, but it was maybe only 15 minutes to get our ice cream. I ordered a mint chocolate chip, which Valentina did not appreciate, as she doesn’t care for it. Whoops hahaha. While she ordered the coveted Salted Caramel Ribbons. Still easily the best flavor in my opinion.

Back at the house, we took a quick cat nap before Colton came over with his girlfriend, Haley. Kolby prepped some mussels with the same recipe he made from years ago and I loved it. It was a little appetizer for the dinner we had. They as grilled some chicken and it was a great night.

Sunday, it was Easter ... Landon didn't do a write-up but said they had a relaxing morning, and then headed to the airport for the flight home. He was grateful for Kolby and Jami's generosity in letting them stay there, and Landon was so excited to get in some time with their animals! 

Blackham Bunch Quarterly Recap ~ Q1

 The first quarter of 2025 ~ January, February and March

The Blackham Bunch had gone to Oregon (Visiting Clackamas) at the end of 2024, and flew back on New Year's Eve, ready to jump into 2025. Lots of basketball, three new trucks, the Blackham Builder's Convention, some snow, some sweet treats, lots of great eats, ping pong and back to pickleball! We watched the Superbowl, Cal had a birthday (26 - kicked off the folks insurance) and Keaton was called for Jury Duty (it was a murder trial! He didn't get picked, and he was relieved). Here's a little more info on some of these items ...

• Colton Basketball: Region games with Colton at Clackamas, playing eight teams twice (once home, once away). Colton had a great year, often being the leading scorer in games, and holding the top spot in the NWAC for assists. He started every game and got tons of playing time. Unfortunately Clackamas didn't make the playoffs, but they were able to end the year with a win.
• Callahan Basketball: Cal still LOVES basketball, and he's been playing with a few different men's leagues. In January, he had several games at Gene Fullmer (so I went to watch and get video). He also played in Herriman and South Jordan (they won the championship there). 
• Cooper Basketball: Coop got together a couple of times with his buddies (friends made back in 5th grade) to hoop it up at the local church gym. 
• Colton College: In January, some of his Utah buddies came up for the weekend to hang out and watch him play.  Colton has a job at Walgreens for a little extra cash. He and his two roommates (also on the basketball ream) get along well and are planning on keeping up the same accommodations for next year. He even met a girl! As far as school, he got a 4.0 for term 2! We got to have him home for a week at the end of March between terms, his Spring Break. 
• SNOW: There really wasn't much snow this year ... only pulled out the snow shovel a couple of times. Okay by us, as long as we do get it up in the mountains, but snow pack there seems good. Colton/Clackamas got snow in February (rare for them) and it closed campus for a couple days. 
• New Trucks: Grayson bade his big black truck truck farewell and opted for an EV (Ford Lightning). Both Keaton and Cal were truck shopping as well, and they are pretty pleased with their new (to them) trucks. 
• Blackham Boys at the Builder's Convention: Gray had always thought it would be fun to take his builder boys to IBS in Vegas ... so he made that happen this year. Full write up HERE. 
• Coop Concert: Coop is BIG into music (obsessed with the Spotify wrap at the end of the year) and instigated going to a couple concerts last year. He got his first concert of the year for 2025 ... The Hails/NeverEnding Fall. It was downtown, Kilby Court. He went with a buddy for work. 
• Piano: Jen got back into playing the piano at the end of 2024 ... here in 2025, we got the piano tuned, as that hadn't happened in years! Jen is still playing quite a bit most days. 
• Pickleball: The weather turned nice enough in March that Blackham Pickleball resumed. We even got Grayson to join us a couple of times. 
• Marathon Man: Gray did a ton of races last year (running/biking) and has quite a few planned for this year as well. He did his first half-marathon in March - in Moab, and got in some RZR riding that weekend as well. He's been doing a ton of running, biking, and even swimming (training for a triathlon). 
• Eats: Lots of steak and smoked stuff. Butter cake. Gray and Keaton made eggs benedict, which was pretty complex!  Keaton had ordered the fun and unique flavors from Licorice.com for Christmas. Grayson decided it was time for another order ... lots of licorice! 

Beyond all that, the guys stay busy with their work & play (Keaton has been going to Classic for skating many weekends), and Jen continues baking sourdough, Zumba-ing and listening to audiobooks. There's been a struggle with foot pain, pretty much textbook plantar fasciitis that has impacted exercise, although ... pushing through!

Here's a LIVE look ... One Second Every Day style! 

January 2025

 

  https://youtu.be/O-2oS-zzKAM

February 2025

 

https://youtu.be/t2GCEfBHEdk

  

March 2025

https://youtu.be/G-kgHoREYII?si=-7XzPBKar6bthxLB

The Blackham Builder Boys (IBS2025)

 

Being in the home building business for 30+ years, Grayson has been to the International Builder's Show many times. As the older boys have been getting into construction careers as well (Landon with LKL in their roofing dept, Cal and Keaton at Camson Electric) Gray had thought it would be a lot of fun to attend together with them ... so he made it happen. So February 2025, the four of them were off. 

I was updated with some pictures along the way, 

and Landon wrote up his memories for me ...

Monday, February 24 ~ Everything went smooth as it could for our arrival. We landed, got off the plane, and collected the rental car. We didn’t even need to wait in line at the rental kiosk! Simply found the car reserved for us, loaded in, and took off for the hotel. It was late by the time we checked in and didn’t have any plans for dinner. But everyone wanted to eat. We walked to and on the Strip for a while. It ended up being quite longer than I expected, which was unfortunate for me as I didn’t have my good walking shoes on. So my feet were beat up a bit, but it was fine. We first stopped for some tacos from a restaurant I had visited during a previous trip. They were pretty good. We continued walking until we found Haute Doggery. We ordered some corn dogs, fries, and cheese curds. The curds were my favorite. Callahan then realized we were close to the big candy store, so we made a stop there. I bought some gummy peach rings and sharks. Yummy! We walked far out enough that we decided to get an Uber back to the hotel. I was very grateful, as my feet were done for the night.

Blackham Boys at Blue Man

Tuesday, February 25~ We started the day fairly early. Had breakfast at the hotel, where it appeared that Home Depot must’ve rented out the rest of the hotel complex. Just loads of them. After breakfast, we walked to the convention center for the opening ceremonies. There were some cheesy speakers talking about the building industry, interesting music performances, and a finale of an appearance by David Spade. No joke, it appeared that the guy got out of bed with a minute to spare to get on stage. He had bed head and dark circles under his eyes. But it was still a good time with some jokes. From there, we split up to explore our the different exhibits we wanted to see. I saw a few of my vendors and after that I was ready for lunch. I ended up taking the car for a bit to a burger place off the Strip. It was a simple spot with smash burgers and tots. I was enjoying myself and ordered some for Dad, until I realized I had less than a half hour to get back to the convention center for our tour of the New American Home. I rushed back to leave the car at the hotel and started running to the convention center. Made it with two minutes to spare. The New American Home tour was really cool. Just a home that is totally decked out with the latest technology and design trends. My favorite part was probably the kitchen and back patio area. The tour took a little longer than expected, especially with traffic coming back from the house. We had reservations at Del Frisco’s for dinner and were a bit nervous we could miss it. But we made it just in time luckily. This wasn’t my first time at Del Frisco’s, but it was only my second time. We ordered too much food as usual. The food was good, but honestly the highlight is just the butter cake. To finish out the day, we went to the Luxor Casino, which is the one built like a pyramid. There we had the show for the Blue Man Group. I was stoked as I hadn’t been to one of their shows before. It did not disappoint! Low key, I was most impressed when one of them ended up catching over 15 marshmallows in his mouth.

Memorable moment from Primal "Careful, it's going to be light on fire!"

No "no hat" rule like DelFrisco had - much to Cal and Keaton's chagrin!

Wednesday, February 26~ A much more relaxed start to today compared to yesterday. I had time in the morning to take care of some work things before we headed over to the convention center. While yesterday we split up to check out our different interests, today we went to check out the kitchen and bath section together. First we stopped by the Truewerk booth so Cal and Keaton could sell Dad and I on it. The kitchen and bath area was really neat. Loads of high tech appliances, clever cabinetry designs, and sinks with gadgets. Then we split up for lunch as I had an appointment with a vendor. We met at the Peppermill and had some decent food. One of the guys I was with ended up ordering a fruit plate that was meant for five people, and there were only three of us. I had a shrimp scampi that was tasty. After lunch, I was close to the casino I stayed at last time I was in Vegas. I played for a bit at a blackjack table that was pretty brutal. At least I saved some chips for Dad’s collection. From there, we relaxed a bit back at our rooms until it was time for dinner. We went to Primal Steakhouse, which I’d say I preferred overall compared to Del Frisco’s. We had some tasty appetizers like ibérico ham, which Keaton really liked. Instead of everyone ordering their own steak, we ordered one of the bigger ones to share. But Cal still ordered his own lol. Again, we went back to the hotel for a bit until it was time go visit the Sphere. It was incredibly cool! Inside the architecture was very interesting. But once we actually sat down for the show, is when it was truly impressive. Basically a panoramic screen with insane pic.

Thursday the guys packed up, headed to the airport and flew home. Cal had missed his Monday Men's League basketball championship (and without him, they lost) and he hadn't even made it home before he got a call that he was urgently needed for his Thursday night Men's League - he went straight there, didn't even get to go home first (they ended up winning the championship). 

IBS 2025 in the books ... and on the blog! 

 

Visiting Clackamas

When the basketball schedule came out (Clackamas Colton) I saw that there were three games at Clackamas the weekend after Christmas. I wanted to visit and check out Colton's apartment and area in person, and getting three games seemed like the best time to plan for, to cheer him on in person and get some video. Gray was on board, and I suggested taking Cooper (who had the week off work anyway) and Keaton (who hadn't used much of his PTO). Then we figured we'd see if Landon and Cal&Kate wanted to join. Kate decided to stay home with Vera, but everyone else was on board. Grayson booked the flights, found a place to stay, typed up an itinerary ...

In the week before Christmas ... Keaton wasn't feeling well. After a few days he bounced back. Then it struck Cooper. If the thermometer was reading right, he hit 105° and yes, tested positive for Covid. Then Gray said "I'm feeling poorly" ... both missed the Westra Christmas Eve party. Christmas was low key with just the family. Gray and Coop were both feeling better and the trip was going on as planned. Except the morning we were to leave, I got sick. I didn't feel like I could spend the day traveling and sadly decided to sit the trip out. It was now a BlackhamBOYS activity, with me vacationing vicariously.

Originally, we were all flying out together, but Colton had a practice and had to be back earlier, so he had flown out at 8:00 in the morning. The rest of the crew was scheduled to fly out at 5:15. The flight was delayed almost an hour, but they made it to Portland. With one less person, it actually made the travel a bit easier, as the rental car could fit five people (maybe not comfortably, but they fit). As they went to check into their VRBO ... Gray realized he'd been ghosted. No responses from the host.  Luckily, they were able to find three rooms at a hotel that wasn't too far. That was Thursday (Dec26).

No game on Friday (games were Saturday, Sunday and Monday) but Colton still had practice in the afternoon. The gang got together for breakfast, Colton joining the crew. After eating, Colton gave the family a tour of the college campus and gym. The boys humored their father, going to Benchmade (a knife store. Gray likes knives. A lot) and then dinner out at Oswego Grill. 

Up next? Salt & Straw, an ice cream shop Gray and Keaton had visited when they dropped Colton off in August. As the trip had been coming up, Keaton had said "I'm SO excited to go to Oregon... I'm going to eat so much ice cream!" And they did.  They went to Salt & Straw four times...

Cal and Keaton tended to stick to a favorite flavor - salted caramel. Gray was a little more adventurous (olive oil ice cream anyone?) and liked to take advantage of the free taste samples. Of course Salt&Straw was dessert. There was lots of eating out for meals. Here's a peek ...

The group had McDonalds a few times. Breakfast at various locals to try pancakes, eggs benedict and hashbrowns. For more meals; Oswego Grill,  Din Tai Fung,  Bamboo Sushi, more than once ... the Green Machine rolls were a hit. 

The hotel worked out (and was about half what the VRBO cost was) ... A Safeway and McDonalds next door. A gym ... both Gray and Coop hit the treadmill there. Cal and Keaton shared a room, Landon and Cooper shared a room, and Gray had his own. 

No central location to hang out, so they'd just pick a room and gather there to watch a show together, or to play their nightly game of The Great Dalmuti. 

Originally part of the plan was to go visit Kolby and Jami at their new house in Portland. But with the recent sickness, that got shifted to another time (they had just barely moved in too, hadn't really unpacked and settled yet). 

The gang hit Ground Control, and old school arcade instead. 

Oh course the REAL reason for the trip, was to cheer Colton on in his tournament!

The Clackamas Holiday tournament ... Clackamas played Green River on Saturday, Walla Walla on Sunday (you can see the BlackhamBoys in the stands a few times here, and Clackamas got the win!), and Edmonds on Monday.  The games were livestreamed, so I was at home watching, and sharing texts with the crew.

The guys were good about keeping me updated on everything. Pictures and texts, and even write-ups of how things were going. Grayson had an itinerary that he added his personal thoughts/memories to (see it here), and both Cal and Keaton wrote up their memories of the trip. It's so fun to get the different perspectives, see what mentioned (or not) by each person, and to hear their unique voices!

On Tuesday (Dec31) it was time to return home ... sans Colton.

Some pictures of the travel along the way ... the flight into Portland, stuffing into the rental car, the Delta SkyClub on the return trip home. Wrapping up 2024 and welcoming in the new year. 

#JenBsBooks in 2024

I will be creating an annual review on my JenBsJourney blog for all the books this past year, featuring the Goodreads "Year in Books" and Storygraph stats. But here, and now, I'll do a collage compilation. I always enjoy glancing over all the covers, seeing which books stick out in my memory ...  All the books are rated and reviewed on both Goodreads and Storygraph. I'm JenBsBooks on both. 

Leg Lamp Lighting 2024

 

The Blackham family was a fan of the Christmas movie "The Christmas Story" with the now iconic Leg Lamp and pink bunny suit. Clayton has created his own tradition, with a leg lamp, and official "lighting" ceremony that day after Thanksgiving, and he even dresses up in the pink bunny suit. He also makes donuts, and invites all the family, friends and neighbors. And they come ... I get a little anxious with the crowds and the cold, so I sat it out, but the rest of the Blackham Bunch made it out. 

Several from the extended Blackham/Zundel crew came out too ...

Kolby and flown in to spend Thanksgiving with the family.

Cal and Kate and Vera got a cute family photo

on Clay and Courtney's cute Christmasy front porch!

Catch of the Day in Cabo

Landon had been taken on a work fishing trip to Louisiana in October (Big Fish), and then in November, he and a couple co-workers were treated to Cabo! More fishing!  Again, Landon sent some photos and a little write-up of his experience ...

(Thursday, November 14, 2024)

We ended up having the trip moved forward one day due to poor weather expected on Sunday. The vendor changed our flights and everything to make it happen, which we were very thankful for. Not that we’re going to be here an extra day, but simply moved forward a day.

Juan (coworker) and I left from SLC at about 7 am. Our flight was to Denver and then to Los Cabos. While in Denver, we met up with Johnathon and Kyle (the vendor that invited us on this trip). It was a quick layover in Denver with just enough time to get a quick breakfast sandwich to go. We boarded and then arrived in Cabo around noon.

Kyle got us a shuttle and we were off to check in to the hotel we were to stay. It was about a 45 min drive, so I bought one of my favorite snacks for the ride: Japanese peanuts. Not sure why they’re referred as “Japanese” as they’re entirely Mexican. The only thing that matters is that I can enjoy them once again.

We settled in very briefly to our room and left to go meet the crew at the boat. “Bull Rider” is a 60’ boat and has more square footage than my apartment lol. It is so big that the mileage for it is reversed.. Not how many miles you go with one gallon of gas, but it is actually four gallons to go one mile. Yikes.

No fishing today, but simply a quick trip around the bay to sight see. It was a beautiful day and perfect weather to do so. This was the first time I met Rick, the owner of the company sponsoring this trip and owner of the boat as well. He’s a great guy with many stories.

For dinner, we went to one of the restaurants near the dock, where Rick gave them some of the white fish they had caught last week to prepare for us. Some of it grilled and some battered and deep fried. It was all delicious.

We finished up dinner, made a plan for tomorrow, and then Johnathon, Juan, and I left to see a bit of the town. Probably stayed out a bit later than we should’ve, but it was a fun time.

(Friday, November 15, 2024)

 Up and on the boat early setting out by 6 am. Johnathon, Juan, and I were exhausted and not feeling well from our drinks last night. Whoops. This was also my first real test with motion sickness, so I was a bit nervous how it’d go.

The guys brought us some breakfast, but none of us were ready to risk eating yet. We all opted to take a nap while we set out for a 50-60 mile ride off the coast.

Once the sun was up, I woke up, but was feeling awfully woozy. At this point, I couldn’t tell if it was the hangover or sea sickness. I went to the upper deck to go get some fresh air that helped a lot. I had taken Dramamine and put on some motion sickness patches too to hopefully prevent getting sea sick.

Luckily, it ended up just being a little hang over for me. A couple hours in I was feeling much better. And then it was time to chum up the waters and set the lines.

Right away, we had something on one of the lines. And it was big. It was a blue marlin. Juan went to work it first, because they told us the blue marlins fight hard. Juan lasted about five solid minutes before he tapped Johnathon to take over. For a fish this big, you have to use the boat controls to help you bring it in. They got the marlin in right beside the boat before it came loose. It was a bummer, but you can’t keep the marlins anyway.

It took some time to get the next fish on the line, but sure enough we did. And then I was up. Mine was a striped marlin. Not as big as the blue, but at least we got mine up for a nice pic. Because of you didn’t get a pic, it didn’t happen lol. The striped ones don’t fight as hard as the blues, so I got it in by myself within five minutes. But my arms still had a nice pump.

We were struggling to find tuna for a while. Then on the radio someone called out where they were biting, so we headed that way. Then it got crazy.

To increase your odds, you put out more lines. Most of the day we had five lines out at one time. Once we found these schools of tuna, we would have them on the lines every few minutes. It was awesome. We sit for a minute, then there’s a bite and everyone jumps into action. Then another bite, and another! We had three fish on at the same time and it was chaos, but so fun at the same time.

I honestly got to the point where I started to dread the sound of the reels of another fish on the line. My hands and arms were so tired and needed every second of rest they can get.

Our haul was mostly small yellow finned tunas. Roughly 18” and weighed 15-20 lbs. I ended up bringing in the biggest tuna of the day. Just over 24”.

When we finally called it a day, we headed back to shore with our haul. We went back to the hotel room, cleaned up, and left again for dinner. Rick took us to this Italian restaurant that was delicious. I ordered a shrimp scampi, but when I saw the lasagna that Johnathon order, I’ll admit I was jealous. It was a solid brick of lasagna. He shared a bit with me, but kept the rest and I don’t blame him. Luckily, Rick ordered a few to go to take as our lunch on the boat tomorrow.

To end the day, we went back to the boat just to watch the Paul v. Tyson fight. It was quite underwhelming in my opinion. Rick and Johnathon fell asleep during it. Nor was it the outcome we hoped to see Tyson win.

*****************

I didn't get a write-up from Saturday/Sunday, but heard from Landon that they went back out Saturday, didn't catch anything. There was a LOT of tuna from Friday though ... and they sent it home with the guys. Packed it up with dry ice and had them take on the plane (seems like maybe it would have been easier to have it shipped?) So back at home, Landon has been giving out some tuna steaks, and looking up recipes!