2015 Recap ...

I did pretty good getting topics posted for 2015 ... not all were on time, there was a lot of backdated blogging going on. Better late than never though, right? Even with a fairly complete blog roll for the year, I really like an annual recap, a "year at a glance" type of post though, so here we go ...

• Missionary Moments: Landon left ... January was prep, and he left at the end of February. He has his own blog with weekly letters and photos (Letters From Landon) and the boys were quite good at writing weekly as well (with a little "encouragement" from Mom).  Olivia came home from her mission in May. 
• Family Photos: Before Landon left, we finally got some updated family photos and then Gray had some drawings/cartoon sketches made from them as well. 
• Home Sweet Home: With Landon gone, we rearranged rooms. Cal and Keaton now have their own rooms, and Cooper and Colton and sharing the room downstairs.  We switched to only cellular and gave up the home phone (801-280-0372). Maga finished up her move from Farmington to Riverton (Maga's Move)  ... just down the street from Clayton's family
• Cars: Callahan had turned 16 and started driving back in Feb, which worked out well, as Cal could drive the Avalanche Landon left behind. Until the Avalanche wouldn't pass emissions. We ended up trading it in and getting a new Dodge Durango, trying out a lease to see if we like it. We kept the Burb for a bit, that was now "Cal's car" ...
• Animals: We started 2015 with a kitty ... Introducing Oreo. We enjoyed him so much, we added another (A Tale of Two Kitties). Then Gray bought eggs and an incubator, and there were ducks! (Daddy's Duckies).
• Family Fun: We did quite a few hikes this year, canal walks and a walk around Silver Lake. There was a Cousins Campout in Maga's backyard, and a trip to Lagoon and Park City and Pineview. The boys went to the Gene Fullmer gym for basketball quite often, and there was some bowling. . Daddy took the boys to a few movies (PitchPerfect2, Pixals and Antman ... maybe more, we have picture proof of those) and we checked out Cabellas. Daddy made a new and improved water balloon filler for water fun
• Gray's Getaways: Vegas in January, Moab in March.  The BIG trip was Gray's European Vacation. Sanddunes in June (that rhymes!) and a St. George/CedarCity getaway in October. Gray flew to Seattle for the Fall Food Tour 2015.  Finally, a football bowl game in Vegas, and the Hoover Dam.  
• Biker Boy: Gray did quite a bit of biking this year.
• Basketball: There is always basketball! A couple of posts here on the family blog wrapping up the Spring season, then Fall Ball, but the Basketball Blog is the best place for all the details. Cooper even surprised me, wanting to join his friends on a Junior Jazz team. I set up separate social media accounts (FB, Instagram, Twitter) so as not to overwhelm the family accounts with all things basketball. Cal's crew went to Orlando in December. We went to a family Jazz game, Scott's crew invited us when they had box seats.
• Callahan: In addition to staying busy with basketball, 2015 was a big year for him, turning 16, getting his driver's license (and first ticket). Dating ... he had a girlfriend and went to Prom, Homecoming and more. AND he got a job, at KFC (several friends work there as well). 
• Cooper: Surprised everyone by doing a super slim-down and becoming uber-active, even beating Mom in Fitbit steps!
• Extended Family: I mentioned Maga's move, Olivia home from her mission. It was Spencer's wedding, and K&J flew in and we went to that together. The Zundel Reunion.  On the Westra side, we had a wedding as well (McKenna) and my Dad had a heart attack, but recovered. 
• Family Reunion and Family History: Gray planned a big Zundel family reunion that was very well attended. He also got into family history, working on Ancestory.com and going to visit several cemeteries on Memorial Day. He wrote up a few tributes (on FB) that I converted to blog posts here.

JenB's Journey 2015

Time for the annual look at one of my other blogs ... JenB'sJourney. I lost weight back in 2006 and was able to keep it off for a while, but it went back up and by the end of 2012, I needed to "start again" as it were. Part of my plan, was to keep a blog. Internet accountability, and my own personal record. I have a "fitness" Facebook (Twitter and Instagram) too, so I don't overwhelm the family accounts. But once a year here, I figure I'd do an annual update looking at the past year's exercise/eating and activity.

Here's my journey in 2015 ...

For a more in depth look at any month, these are all posted with a monthly update (and daily journal) on my JenB's Journey blog, generally the first blog post in the following month.

Here's a quick look at the weight (ahhh, don't look!)

Much more of a range than last year ;(
September/October is usually GOOD for me (with the kids return to school and such)
It was my low last year (JenB'sJourney 2014)

... and here is how 2015 compares to years past.

Not the best year. Here's hoping I can improve in 2016!

Seeing Shows ... Movies and More

Dad hit the theaters with the kidlets a few times in 2015. Mom wasn't in much of a movie mood (preferring to wait until DVD/Streaming, when she can watch with subtitles, and to watch while working out ... she did go see StarWarDs at Desert Star AND the actual Star Wars movie though). Love that Gray thought to grab some pictures with the posters a few times! It caught the progression of boys attending too. Just two at Pitch Perfect 2 (Colton remembers that the theater was empty, only one other small set of people), three boys at Pixals, and four at AntMan. Ironically, these three summer hits would be rented and watched again during the Vegas Trip at the end of the year. 

At the end of the year, the new Star Wars. The Force Awakens, was being released. A family friend rented out a theater for a 9:00 showing. Past my bedtime, but Gray took the boys (Coop admits to falling asleep during it). I thought I remember seeing pictures from that (Star Wars memorabilia all around) but I couldn't find them. A little earlier, we'd gone to Desert Star to see the spoof "Star WarDs" and it was pretty funny. Singing "Yoda Wants Me for a Jedi" to the tune of "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam". After Gray and the guys had their premier Star Wars movie experience, Keaton got invited to go again with friends, and then went a third time, and we went as a family (didn't get a picture). 

Other movies released in 2015 that Jen eventually watched (some several years later, while walking on the treadmill or elliptical) are The Martian, Room, Creed, Cinderella, McFarland USA, Child44, Age of Adeline, Everest, Bridge of Spies, The Big Short, Concussion and a few more ...

On a small TV note, Coop really got into "The Voice" season 9, and Callahan watched all the seasons of "One Tree Hill".

Christmas 2015

** This post will be backdated to Dec25

This year was the first Christmas with our kitties. Although Oreo is over a year old, we didn't get him until this past January (when he was four months, Introducing Oreo).  We put the tree up right after Thanksgiving was over ... we never got around to decorating it. We were just a little afraid of what the kitties would do (we've watched all those YouTube videos!) It still looked pretty, with just the lights that were woven onto the branches, and the kitties spent a lot of time up and in the tree. They never knocked it over though.

I didn't get around to pulling out much decor this year. I put the wreath on the front door, pulled out two or three of the favorites, finally put up the stockings shortly before Christmas Eve ... but of course we MUST put out the Santa head filled with red and green M&Ms! Unfortunately, our little Santa head did fall victim to the kitties curiosity. It was knocked over onto the hard floor and it broke. Keaton superglued it back together (but see the crack?) It still held candy just fine, and I can not believe how many packages we went through!

We have a pre-Christmas party on the Blackham side a few days before Christmas. This year, it was Monday, December 21. There was a little dinner and visiting and then ... you would not believe who showed up. Santa Claus AND his wife! They had little gifts for all the grandkids, even the big ones who are almost too big for Santa's lap ...

Colton is SO cute Mrs. Claus couldn't help but kiss him!

All the grandkids

... and the entire Blackham Bunch!

On Christmas Eve ... we head over to my folk's home.

Soup and breadsticks for dinner. Grandpa had the clever idea of putting Santa hats upside-down in Grandma's glass vases. It was a very festive look! I'd made the annual Westra Slideshow and calendar (although I didn't get the calendar printed in time to make it to the family party, dang it. You can see both on What's Up with the Westras. ) Even though we show my muvee every year, we can never remember how to get it onto the television. See all the men trying to figure it out in the top/right picture! The bottom/left is all the kids playing the candy bar game, another Westra tradition.

I was not feeling well Christmas Eve, and upon returning home, I went to bed. Gray had "Santa" duty, but pretty much everything was already wrapped and under the tree. He just had to stuff the stockings. I wish we'd got a picture of it all. In the morning, the kids had sorted all the presents into proper piles, and pulled in a big garbage can ready for all the paper and boxes.

It was a WHITE Christmas!

We got dumped on.

We went out to Maga's for a bit, then came home awaiting our call from Landon. It was funny to have been following Facebook on Christmas day, as in was inundated with missionary call posts and pictures. I guess we are just at that age where so many of our friends are in a similar situation. We finally got our call to go through, and our 40min Skype conversation went so fast. Landon looked and sounded great (except for the very end, when he ate a little dessert, which had walnuts in and started to have an allergic reaction! Not life threatening, but I could hear it in his voice/coughing as his throat swelled some). Makes things memorable!

Landon sent me this picture ... I LOVE it!

What's Up with the Westras?

As the year comes to a close, and the annual Westra Christmas Eve party nears, I always gather photos from all the families to make into a video to show when everyone is together. This gathering of photos is also used to create a calendar to hang up in all the households year round. Originally, Chris's family did the calendar, then Gray took it over (and switched to digital), then Alicia put her skills to use for the past few years. She was a little busy this year, and as I'm gathering and organizing all the pictures anyway, I figured I'd try my hand at it. Making the calendar and slideshow, it was interesting to reflect on all that happened on the Westra side this past year ...

Most memorable, was Dad(Grandpa) having a heart attack. I remember getting the call from my nephew Jase, who had been with him when it happened. Just that original thought of "this can't possibly happen to MY dad!". Dad has been in excellent health and very active, this was absolutely unexpected. All the siblings gathered at the hospital and it was touch and go for a bit. Then, it seemed he would pull through physically, but his mental health was still in question. Happily, after just a few rough days, Daddy was back.

In Scott's family ... we had a wedding!

The first wedding of a Westra grandchild.

... it was the year of the missionaries! Chris and Kim and THREE missionaries out for 2015. Kim's two girls, Crystal and Kourtney. They both finished their missions here at the end of the year. Kaden is almost home (January) and Corin will be leaving. They will have a combined "homecoming/farewell" for their family! Landon left of course, but so did Janika, Wendy's oldest. 

Shane's family made a big move as the year came to a close ... literally. Due to job changes, they are leaving Utah and heading to California! We've been so lucky to have all our family close by. We will really miss having them around.

Derek and Danielle had some unexpected, but wonderful news! They are pregnant! After infertility and two darling adopted daughters, they were going to get to experience the entire pregnancy process themselves as well. Derek has been so cute documenting Danielle's pregnancy progression. It's another girl, and she's expected in January.

So THAT's what has been up with the Westra bunch this past year. 

Here's the Slideshow I made 

(it is a little long, I mean it's the WHOLE year from seven families!)

... and there are the calendar pages
We use the Apple Calendars, they are so nice!
These are the custom picture pages above the calendar for each month.

 January

 February

 March

April

 May

 June

 July

 August

 September

 October

 November

December

In the extended family~
My cousin Nikki and her family had to bid farewell to their little Eliza.

I'll always admire my cousin Nikki and all she has gone through with such strength and purpose. They are an amazing family!

2015 will be remembered. 

Weekend in Vegas and the Hoover Dam

In all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, Gray got the idea to take the boys to Vegas to watch a bowl game ... University of Utah vs BYU.  Cal was gone to Orlando with the basketball team, and Keaton didn't want to miss his Saturday game, so he sat it out, but Maga, Olivia and Ana and her boys decided to join (for the getaway anyway, not the game).

... it was Friday, December 18, and they were off.  Aiden in the car with Gray, you can see Maga/Ana in the car behind. Gray took the Durango, it's first big trip, but not quite big enough to hold everyone. 

I wasn't there to provide memories, but here's a little look at what Colton and Cooper wrote (in Letters to Landon) about it ...

From Colton: Vegas was awesome. I did learn that Aidan is kind of obsessed with me. He came on both five hour rides with us because I was in the car. We went walking down on the strip and he was always behind me. Whenever he would get in front of me, he would fall back to get behind me. Plus, there were so many escalators around! I love escalators! Also, the place we stayed at, awesome! It had its own pool and hot tub. The hot tub got up to 100 degrees, although, the pool always stayed under around 30. So it was freezing. Sometimes we would do a challenge and jump in! The house was so much nicer than the one in Saint George! ( I'm not saying that the other was bad, I'm saying that this one was way, way, way good.) And for the ride we bought, Pixels and Ant-Man. For the ride back, we rented, Age of Ultron, Shaun the Sheep movie, and Pitch Perfect 2. This was an awesome trip! And it's my birthday today. It almost already over because I had to sit in a car for six hours.

From Cooper: Colton, Dad, and I went to Las Vegas to see the BYU vs Utes game, and last week of school for Christmas Break. Las Vegas was really fun, and we got to stay in a house with a hot tub and a pool. But no one went swimming in the pool because of its temperature, it was freezing, and it was kind of like a challenge to go into the pool. The football game was really fun, the Utes scored 35-0 in the first quarter, and three of them were pick-6's. We left at the first of the fourth quarter, and dad was getting updates about the game and BYU was coming back, but they still fell short. And the Strip is crazy at night. There was so many people, but seeing all of the cool things there made up for that, like the Bellagio Fountains.

Here's some pictures ...

I recall Gray saying the ticket was wasted on Colton ...

He was playing video games for most of the game!

Hit the Hoover Dam on the way home ...