Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Getting Jazzed

Throwback Thursday Post ... I'll be backdating this to March.
For the most part, our family is pretty happy just watching the Jazz games on television (I know I am! I like to avoid the crowds and chaos and just stick to the comfort of home ... and the commentary helps me out too!). But as the boys generally play in the Junior Jazz basketball season, and that includes a couple tickets to a game ... we generally make at least one trip downtown each season, to the nosebleed seats!  This year for the first time ever, the rec center offered extra tickets for families to purchase, which was so nice. As long as Grayson is making the effort to take one kid, he might as well take a few! I bought extra tickets for the other kids, and they had a fun night.

My brother Scott has slightly nicer seats, in a suite with their work. He invited our family up for a game. A very different experience than the Junior Jazz seats! The suite was sweet! Food was provided, comfortable seating, even a private bathroom. And the dessert bar ... yum! If you click on the picture above and enlarge it, you can see some of the treats!

I even overcame my anxiety and attended with the family!

Thanks Scott!

And the Jazz won both times we went to the games!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Callahan's Prom Pictures

Prom. Callahan and Amanda. Ah ... cute couple!

In the weeks before from, there was the asking, and the answering (we ended up with a life sized Justin Beiber cutout in the house). Then there is the fitting for the tux rental (happily there is a local place that is very reasonable), the ordering of the corsage, the making of plans. Normally, the kids to big long day dates, but Amanda had a dance thing in the morning, so this was pretty much just dinner and dancing, without a lot of the extras.  Here are some pictures from prom ...

The corsage and ticket.

 The "pickup" picture at the house.
Mom's of boys often miss out on this - I told him I wanted a picture!

Group shot before ...

Dinner at Olive Garden ...

We mentioned to Uncle Clay that is where they were going ...
Silly texts. I think it stressed Callahan out just a bit ;)


Not a limo, but they had a nice ride arranged. 


 Another group shot.


 BIG group shot!


Another prom down in the books ...




Monday, March 16, 2015

Moab in March (2015)


In March, Gray decided to take a trip down to Moab. It was rather last minute. At first it was just going to be him and his mom, doing some family history stuff. Then Ana and the boys thought they would go, and then Gray talked the three youngest into going as well (say there is going to be a hotel with a swimming pool, and they will probably be on board). Callahan didn't go, and I stayed home with him. It was fun to get photo updates, and hear all about the trip from the boys after. I actually think I prefer vicarious vacations myself ;)


They hit the usual hot spots ...

Hole in the Rock

A small zoo, and a camel ride!

Lots of License Plates
Cooper likes license plates (Cooper's Collection)

The Rock Shop ... and new necklaces.

Scenic Views (Deadhorse Point)
Keaton didn't want to get too close to the edge!

A Memorable Magic Show

Swimming in the Hotel Pool

Then, there was visiting family (the real reason for the trip)
with Aunt Joan

... and Grandma Henry

It was just a quick weekend trip. But they packed a lot into it!
There are a few more photos in my Facebook album (here) and even more on Gray's Facebook.


Wednesday, March 4, 2015

The Great Room Rearrange


There are six bedrooms in our house, but only four being used as actual bedrooms (the other two are the den/homework room upstairs and the scrapbook/lego room downstairs). So excluding the master, that means three bedrooms between five boys; two of the rooms have had double occupancy almost forever. When the kids were young, it was always the "baby" who had the third room to himself, but as we grew out of the baby stage, Landon received this honor.

With Landon off to Mexico for two years, it was time for the great room rearrange! Callahan would move into Landon's room, Keaton would move into Colton and Cooper's room, and Colton and Cooper would move downstairs into the room that Callahan and Keaton had been sharing.

Landon had packed up most of his things, he didn't have a ton of stuff. Many of the clothes he left behind would work for Callahan, so they were just left in the closet. We moved up Callahan's clothes and he was pretty much done. We didn't redo anything ... the same bed, comforter, desk, chair. It looks just the same. 

Then, in the closet and drawer space Callahan vacated (which actually wasn't much! As he took just his favorites to move upstairs, he left almost a full closet of clothes. Big piles of discards and giveaways ensued) we moved in Colton's clothes. With spots in the upstairs closet now empty, we moved Keaton upstairs. Then we moved Cooper's clothes down into the empty spot just vacated by Keaton. 

There was a little rearranging of furniture downstairs. We got rid of one of the old dressers (one that had been mine from childhood), but the rest of the room stayed much the same (bed, bookcase, dresser with the TV on top ... all in the same spot). There were piles and piles (and piles and piles) of clothes to go through from every closet/drawer move. These piles were all in the downstairs family room.

It was Keaton's new room that experienced some change. We had promised him we could paint the walls ...very needed. New carpet would have been great too, but that didn't happen. We pulled out EVERYTHING. The old queen bed C&C had shared. A dresser, multiple plastic drawers, a nightstand. Off to DI it all went (well, the bed went to the dump). Gray bought a twin bed, and we moved in an extra desk from the den. I ordered a new comforter, and picked up a cute lamp and locker-type nightstand.  We washed the walls, and did eventually get around to new paint. One accent wall in navy, the rest in a nice eggshell. At last ...




The new arrangement has been really nice. Keaton keeps his room nice and clean, much better than Colton and Cooper. The basement room actually works out quite well for Cooper. It was where we would have him retreat during storms anyway. He can't really see the lightening or hear thunder. I don't walk by the room as much, to notice the mess ... or smell.  Callahan ... he's not quite as clean as Landon was (I like to have the door open to let the natural light into the hallway, thus it's very visible). 

Previously ... I'd have to trek downstairs and wake Callahan in the mornings before school. Often this would require a couple of trips, as the boy likes to sleep. I'd attempt to tickle or spank him awake, but it was difficult wrangling with him on the bottom bunk there. It's SO much easier to attack him upstairs. I can just grab his legs and pull ... and he's out of bed (much to his chagrin)! The little boys are almost always up on their own, so I don't have to make a morning trek to the basement bedroom anymore. 

I also did eventually get through all the piles of clothes. It was good to go through all the closets, seeing what we actually have, what actually gets worn, getting rid of everything that was just taking up space. It is nice to just start fresh sometimes.

When Landon comes home ... I'm not sure what we'll do. We'll probably clean out one of the two "other" rooms and stick him in there. Who knows if he'll even be living at home, or be off to college. And Callahan would be leaving the nest around that time as well.

But for now, we're all rearranged, and it is good!

Monday, March 2, 2015

Family Photos


I'll admit, I'm a snapshot gal. I generally do get a lot of pictures taken, but nothing professionally. We've had a couple family photo shoots, set up by extended family, but we'd NEVER had one just for us. With Landon leaving, we figured we probably should. 

My SIL Alicia has a photography business (Gray Wren Photography) and as she is family, it did seem a logical choice. Alicia even came over and helped pick out a wardrobe. She met us at Gardner Historic Village the last day of January. It was a bit chilly, but no snow!

Here are a few candid shots from the day (taken by Gray, NOT Gray Wren) *Ü*






We were pretty excited to get our finished photos back. Alicia sent us a link to a mobile album to view online (and an app for our phone) and then dropped off a flash drive with full sized files. 

Here's a little compilation I created to share square on Instagram ...

I went ahead and updated my Facebook ... 
A new profile picture and cover photo for me.

I updated Colton's as well ...

... and, I'm not sure if you remember what this blog looked like before, 
but I updated it as well!

Yea for family photos!

Grayson commissioned a sketch from one of the photos ...


... and he created a stick figure family too.





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