Thanksgiving & A Throwback

Happy Thanksgiving!

This holiday is one of my favorites. Maybe because we never host it, I get to relax. I meant, we usually contribute ... rolls, desserts, Gray's wonderful mashed potatoes. but still, it's usually a pretty laid back day full of food and family and fun.

This year, we went to Clay and Courtney's home for the holiday. Clay smoked a turkey. There were a ton of desserts left over. What was NOT left over?

Turkey Cookies

These have been a family favorite for years. I never got around to making them, so I wanted to be sure I got to it this year. Landon even made some dough and went to a friend's house to make some there. We got a couple batches in. They are yummy!

Here's Landon and Callahan enjoying their turkey!

And a Thursday Thanksgiving Throwback ...

The same two boys.

They have grown up...

It was a nice Thanksgiving holiday ... next up, Christmas!

Catching Up with Cooper

 Looking through family photos, I found quite a few of COOPER ... just miscellaneous ones that didn't really have a "blog post" to them. I figured, I'd do a Cooper Compilation! The picture above? Just Cooper being silly! He loves his Pokemon hat, and usually wears it the right way. 

Speaking of Pokemon, Cooper was very excited when the latest game came out. He'd saved his money and had me pick it up for him the day it came out. Notice the hat in the correct position in this picture!

It looks as though Cooper has been attacked.  By What?
A large snake? A vampire?

It was actually a dandylion digger!

Cooper is hard on shoes! Unfortunately he still doesn't like tying shoes. I've found some slip-ons at Kmart/Sears (which I can buy with my Fitstudio savings), but they just don't seem to last very long! We've gone through several pair, and they all do THIS (see above) ...

Cooper isn't playing basketball on a team, but Colton is, and Cooper still came to most of the practices and would shoot around. Look at the sweat on that boy!

The sport he LOVES, starting this school year, is football. We bought him a ball, and then some gripping gloves. He plays everyday with his friends at recess. He's become quite the football fanatic! 

So there are some random pictures of the CooperMan ... 

No NBA? NO!!!

Last Spring, our Comcast cable bill went up. I called to see what we could do and ended up dropping us to the most basic cable package (which with a bundled deal was actually cheaper than dropping cable altogether). We really don't watch any "TV" anymore ... Netflix and AmazonPrime keep us entertained. Until basketball season starts up again anyway. When the first Jazz game aired, Cooper was quite dismayed to find out that we no longer had TNT, ESPN or Root. That meant no Jazz or other NBA games. Well ... we are back to a higher cable package and Cooper is happily watching again.

Then, Gray was given tickets to a Jazz game. He asked me who I thought should go ... and I immediately said Cooper. Coop has really been struggling with anxiety (he's a homebody like me) and I thought it would be good for him to get out, and have some one-on-one father/son time. Cooper was pretty happy about it. 

 They had great seats! Row 5!

Right up there with the action. 

 Across the court, Clay and Will were there that night too!

Cute picture Uncle Clay!

It was a perfect night out for the boys. The Jazz won!  The next morning Cooper was watching clips on NBA.com, catching the highlights from the game the night before. He then burst out "I can see me!" ... and as he continued to watch he'd say "I can see me again! And again!"

Cooper didn't want to sign up to PLAY Junior Jazz ... but you can bet he'll be watching basketball all season long! With Callahan, Keaton and Colton playing ... so will I!

Falling Back to Bouncing

During the summers, we have stayed busy bouncing at Jump N Bounce. If you follow this blog, you've probably seen many pictures and posts about it. But it's generally a summer thing. It's a little pricey without the month-pass deal (which we only really have time to take advantage of during the summer). But this fall ... we did get back to bouncing a couple of times.

Keaton REALLY wanted to go to Airborne. It's a bit further away (in Draper) and even more expensive than Jump N Bounce. $20 for an hour of play! We went on Tuesday, and got a 2xTuesday deal ($20 for 2 hours ... which is about how long it takes the kids to wear themselves out). It was a bit of a birthday gift for Keaton (but Cooper's birthday is right around then too). We took our neighbor Jacob, and the four boys had a great time. It's got trampolines, foam pits, and obstacle course ...

Then, The DiFran family came to town! Yea, we LOVE the DiFran family. We used to spend so much time hanging with them (at Jump and other places) until they moved to California. As they came in town for a bit, we got together ... where else but Jump N Bounce, just like days past. Our little neighbor Ambree came also (so Mara wouldn't be the only girl). It was so fun to see them again.

Not sure when the next bouncing will be ....

Belated Blog Birthdays

There are a LOT of birthdays come Fall at the Blackham home. I've been a bit behind in my blogging and never got around to my traditional birthday posts. So here's a recap of the recent ones.

Most recently, it was Grayson's birthday! Callahan, Keaton and I were gone for the evening with basketball stuff, but I left the swag on the counter for Gray. He'd told me I'd been "stingy" with the cookies recently, thus the oreo gift pack. The diet coke will help combat the cookie calories. I also made him a new quilt, as the one I'd made him years ago had fallen apart and he hadn't been able to find a replacement at the store. As I have done with the kids, I added a photo album of baby pictures of Grayson growing up through the years. 

Here's a sneak peek ...

 You can see them all here. 

MY birthday also occurred in November. We went out to Texas Roadhouse (sans Callahan, who was at basketball tryouts) and then came home for cake. My mom had been craving the white cake from Sam's Club for HER birthday a few days before. Gray and I had attempted to stop and pick one up, but the store was out! So we invited Grandma and Grandpa and Maga out for cake, and had grandparents and games night.

Landon's birthday was in September ...

His "cake" of choice is cheesecake. The Cheesecake Factory cheesecake to be exact. The whole family went out to celebrate his 19th birthday! I've included the "Little Landon" link. One of the gifts Landon received was shocking!

Literally!

This "game" is called "Lightening Reaction" and four people hold the handles. Lights and music play, and when they stop, the last person to press their button gets a shock! There are four intensity levels. There was a lot of laughter as the boys (and Daddy) tried this game out. It's been a favorite with family and friends as well!

We had two birthdays there at the end of August as well. 

Keaton and Cooper ...

Cooper's birthday was up first. Eleven years old! We had a little celebration with my parents the Sunday before. Cake and ice cream and games ...

 Cooper's dinner choice was Chick-Fil-A

I really attempted to pick up the Oreo Ice Cream cake, which has been a favorite in the past, but the store didn't have it in stock. We had to make due with this giant cookie. Here's the link to reflect back on Cooper's Baby Days ...

Keaton loves the ribs at Texas Roadhouse ... but I don't know if we'd ordered a whole rack of ribs before. His eyes were a little wide at how much food was on his plate! It was a fun birthday dinner out. Fourteen for this guy! Yup, I have Little Keaton photos too.

We had a birthday celebration with the Blackham side of the family the Sunday after. I picked up the favorite fudge cake from Sam's Club for this celebration. All three boys took turns blowing out the candles.  

Let me tell you, with all the celebrations and cake, 

it sure is hard to control calories!

Only one more Blackham Birthday this year ...