2016 Recap ...

2016 at a glance - I hit quite a few topics in the blog this year (although I didn't get to everything), did a few monthly reviews, but I still like to have an annual recap. Top pictures. Top stories. So here goes (written in retrospect in 2020 after reviewing photos, calendar pages, journal entries and letters to Landon). I'm sure I forgot something ...

• Landon: Was gone on his mission. Updates from him on the missionary blog.
• Callahan: Finished up his junior year in the spring, started his senior year! Worked a ton at KFC. Bought his first car (Dodge Charger/Black), went on the pioneer trek ... and basketball of course. Homecoming/started dating Kate (which writing in retrospect, is his future wife!)
• Keaton: Finished up 9th grade at West Hills and started his sophomore year at Copper Hills. Early morning driver's ed, learners and license ... but no car! A girlfriend?? Root canal and the year started with broken wrist.
• Cooper: Ended his elementary years with Shakespeare and the Science Fair and started 7th grade. Very into Pokemon Go and playing Junior Jazz with friends. Ran a 5k and often beating Mom in Fitbit steps.
• Colton: Finished up 4th grade, started 5th. Never stopped playing basketball all year~ two teams. Had his (and Gray's) last derby for our family. Flipping water bottles was a craze this year ... one that Colton participated in!

Grayson: Started smoking! He bought a smoker, and then spent the rest of the year perfecting ribs, brisket, pulled pork, etc. We hosted Thanksgiving with Gray preparing all the meat. Work at Symphony always keeps him busy, but he still managed 54 derbies this year! Got nice black tables and some cones for his setup. He and his work buddies rented tuxes to attend a wedding, and then Gray "catered" a wedding with chocolate fountains. 

Jen: Still doing Zumba, subbing during the summer. Keeping track of food/fitness with the JenBsJourney blog, and always working on weight (161-180 for the year). Got "blondified" and added audiobooks to the reading repertoire. Read 137 books, 52 were audio. Added "Swig" cookies to the baking book.

More from the year ...

• Medical: Not a great year for Gray with Meniere's and Sciatica. Had an MRI, ENT visit and a biopsy on a mole. Keaton had a nasty allergy attack (cashews) and Coop reacted to Remi (the dog next door) a bit. Aunt Amy was in a freak rappelling accident.
• Travel/Trips: Gray had a few getaways ... Vegas in January with work. Bear Lake in August. He and Ana went to Seattle (Fall Food Tour #2) in November. There had been a family trip planned for the summer, but it got called off (due to Gray's Meniere's. There were conflicts with basketball too). 
• Pineview: Lots of trips to the lake (seven) ... a couple with the boys and their friends, some work buddies too. One trip the trailer got a flat, Gray had to bring the boys home, buy a tire and go back for the wave runners.
• Basketball: Cal finished up his JV year and is now a Varsity star! Keaton's wrist derailed his final 9th-grade games with West Hills and affected spring teams. Both boys went to St. George for the summer team camp. Keaton made the sophomore team in the fall. Coop is playing Junior Jazz and Colton stays super busy with two teams, Wolves (6th grade) and Grizzlies (5th grade). Gray got some great seats for NBA games this year (work perks), they hit a summer league game, and we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters as a family (sans Cal, who was working as always). 
• Ducks: Big year for the birds. Eggs in the incubator (only one hatched), five adopted babies. Backyard for much of the summer then they flew to the canal, where Jen continued to visit and feed them. We had a wild pair in the spring, resulting in momma and 13 babies in the backyard too!
• Maga's Menagerie: Two sets of kittens from Princess. Easter chickens, ending up with eggs all year. She got a little hamster ... and a dog!
• Pammy's Party: Gray set up a big surprise celebration for Pam's 70th birthday. 
• Gadgets: Got a new lock for the front door ... LOVE it. Keypad entry. New garage door with an app... can open and close it remotely and receive notifications. Hot Snaps and hose connectors. The boys got a Playstation and then WiiU.  Keaton enjoyed having the portable A/C in his bedroom this summer. The younger boys upgraded to iphones, so Mommy can stalk them with Find My Friends and Coop could play Pokemon Go. Does the smoker count as a gadget?
• Politics: Election year... oy! Vote for Pedro (Uncle Shane's Halloween costume ... timely!)

Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas from the Blackham Bunch

Maybe we should have tried a few of these family photos without the kitties ... they are less cooperative than the kiddies! Colton actually seemed to have Joy handled, it was Oreo in MY arms that was causing the most commotion!

The Blackham Christmas festivities begin right after Thanksgiving.

The annual Leg Lamp Lighting at Uncle Clay's house ...

... a lot of people, a LOT of donuts!

... about a week before Christmas, the extended Blackham bunch gets together, and for several years, Santa and Mrs. Claus have put in an appearance. We were sad that Callahan had to work and missed out on the family and fun.

Callahan also had to work Christmas Eve, and missed out on the Westra family party too. Soup and breadsticks for dinner. The annual slideshow (Westra2016) viewing, the candy bar game, and we even did the nativity this year, after skipping it for several ...

Uncle Derek was definitely the STAR of the show! A big thank you to some of the older cousins who were willing to dress up and play a part. The Blackham Boys are noticeably absent ... absolutely uncooperative. 

It was a rather lean Christmas (not a bad thing! I mean what do you do when you already have everything?). Grayson HAD put in a hot tub ... so I guess that was the "big gift" for the family. He even hit it first thing in the morning, before the boys were awake. We did have a white Christmas, so he had to shovel a bit to get there, and we had to put the boys to work clearing the driveway after our Christmas morning was completed. 

Landon had sent us a cute picture ...

...and then we got in a family one via Facetime a little later.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas ...

We've had this little "Santa ski slope" for 20 years. Simple, but so cute ;)

A video posted by JenB (@jenblackham) on Dec 26, 2016 at 8:12am PST

Allergy Alert

Oh no! Allergic Alert!

When Keaton was a mere munchkin, we figured out he had allergy issues. He would react badly to cow's milk and cheese, egg(pasta), even to steak. The worst was when he grabbed a nut, a cashew. His little face would get spots, there would be some swelling ... not enough that it interfered with his breathing thank goodness.

Ironically, on the day I was taking Keaton in for allergy testing, I dropped off the older boys at Maga's. Little Landon ate a brownie (with nuts) and immediately said his throat was hot.  I finally put two and two together, that he had allergies as well. Through the years, after eating a bit of a cookie, he'd want a popsicle out of the blue. His throat was hot and itchy, and that was his little way of counter-acting it! He hadn't shown physical signs like Keaton had, but now noting Keaton's reactions, I finally figured it out!

As we added baby Colton to the family, he appeared to have allergies as well. We did end up at the ER with him once. Through the years, Landon and Colton have several accidental exposures to nuts. Nothing too serious. Usually, they would feel the tingle in their mouth immediately, so much so that they rarely even swallowed the offending allergy item. Benedryl and sleeping it off was the usual result.

Keaton outgrew his allergies to dairy and egg. Over the years, he added in peanut butter with no problems. Nutella (hazelnuts) has been a happy recent addition to his diet. He has eaten Maga's pastry wreath (with almond paste and slivered almonds) and had a banana nut (walnut) muffin without incident. In fact ... since that last cashew catastrophe when he was about 15-months old, I don't think we'd had ANY allergy issues. Had he outgrown them all?

He decided on a little experiment.  

He ate a cashew. 

Still allergic.

It took a couple minutes (and he ate more than one cashew) ... but then it started. First, with a tingle. Then his lips got swollen. Then the spots appeared. First on his face, then all over his body. I mean ALL over. His nose was running and would not stop. He went through an entire box of Kleenex. And oh, the itching! His head, his chest ... other manly areas. Keaton put oven mitts over his hands in an attempt to not scratch himself silly. He was red, and hot. He stalked outside, sans shirt, into the snow. I kept asking about breathing, but the swelling didn't seem to extend to his throat, but we kept constant tabs and were ready to rush to the ER if needed. I called a doctor and we were given a prescription for oral steroids and an epi-pen (we had administered Benedryl immediately as it all started). We were still on the verge of heading to the hospital when Keaton emerged from a cold shower, which had seemed to help. He'd moved out of the scary, angry itchy phase into the funny, drunk Benadryl phase. This phase was much easier to handle ... and even get a photo and video.

Ummm, allergy. We were a step away from an ER visit, but with Benedryl and time the attack faded. With our kids and their allergies, it seems mostly a topical response. Definitely showing (and feeling ... itchy!) on the skin. He had bumps all over his body, and his poor eyes got so swollen! Nose wouldn't stop running. The drunk benedryl funny phase was easier to handle than the insane angry itchy episode preceding it. Feeling a ton better this morning and is heading to school ... he even has a basketball game today.

A video posted by JenB (@jenblackham) on Dec 8, 2016 at 6:58am PST

This initial eating of the cashew had been around 9:00 at night. We didn't figure we were over the hump until almost 11:00. After the exhaustion of the attack itself, plus the Benedryl, Keaton was out cold in no time. I had a little trouble sleeping after all the "excitement" and also was still somewhat worried, so I was up and checking on him every hour in the night to make sure he was still breathing. There was some residual swelling around his eyes in the morning, but other than that, he seemed fine, and was off to school and sports as usual the next day.

A few days later, Keaton had a school assignment to write a poem for Language Arts.

Of course he turned to recent events for inspiration. First, an attempt at a limerick ...

The boy's face was swollen and red.

He was itching all over his head.

He ate a cashew

He's allergic, it's true

Some Benedryl, and then to bed!

... and then Keaton and his friend came up with this rhyme ...

I ate cashews

I nearly died

My throat swelled up

My tongue got tied

My eyes dilated

My skin was dried

"I guess I'm still allergic"

I sadly sighed

No more cashews for Keaton!

Grayson Started Smoking!

Ribs Anyone?

It was back in May (2016). Gray had his trailer hooked to his truck and inside I saw ... a BBQ? I looked at him questioningly and he sheepishly replied "Happy Father's Day to Me?" It was a Yoder Smoker, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased that my husband has started smoking!

I did buy him that HUGE wooden cutting board for Father's Day (after he sent me the link for it) and both it and the smoker have gotten used a lot this past year.

Ribs are a family favorite! 

They are so tender, they literally fall off the bones!

... and Sunday morning smoked bacon. Yummy!

I guess I haven't grabbed a picture of the pulled pork. It's delicious! 

Grayson smoked a turkey (well, multiple turkeys) for Thanksgiving.

He's smoked a prime rib and tri-tip.

... and then there's brisket

 Inject that baby!

... and the finished product!

It's ALL Grayson ... but as brisket takes hours and hours, one Monday he put it on before he left in the morning, and then had me help wrap it mid-day (as I am home and he's hard at work). There was a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, figuring out how long things take. There were a couple of times we were planning on dinner, only to have a stall, and the meat coming in hours late. There was a time or two it wasn't done until after 11:00 at night! But practice makes perfect, and Grayson's perfected things at this point ... and we've enjoyed his practice! He still likes to experiment with different spices and sauces and recipes. He'll browse youtube channels for smoking tips and tricks and sometimes he just goes out to the garage and sticks his head inside and sniffs. 

Mmmmm .... smells delicious!

Tastes that way too!

Car Catch-Up 2016

In previous "car" posts I'd mentioned Gray's (then Landon's, then Callahan's) truck, the Avalanche, and the issues it had. It wouldn't pass emissions testing. In 2014, we managed to get the registration renewed on an exemption for a year ... and before we knew it, registration rolled around again and we were in the same boat. Pay for repairs? Buy a different car for Cal to use? What Grayson ended up doing was buying a nice new family car, and having Callahan drive the Suburban, which had been "my" car for several years.

Introducing ... the Dodge Durango. 

August of 2015.

Now, if you'd have asked me (Gray doesn't really ask me) I would have said I didn't need all the bells and whistles. I don't care. I just want a car that goes when I need it to go. Reliability. But this baby HAS all the bells and whistles ... and I like them. The rearview camera? LOVE it. The keyless ignition? LOVE IT.  The heated steering wheel makes winter so much more bearable. Stereo inputs with iphone attachments make music and audiobooks easily enjoyable. Auto start and the easy open back gate ... it's all great. So now I'm spoiled.  If I ever had to go back to driving the big ol burb (the Durango was also a bit more compact, while still seating six) it felt so old and clunky!

Callahan was the one driving the suburban now. That was his car for his Junior year. He'd often pack it full of friends and drive them around. As school ended, Gray brought up the idea of a new car for Callahan. One that he'd be at least partially paying for himself. Cal wasn't that picky, I think it was more a Grayson idea to look at Mustangs and Chargers. 

 Cal's new car ...

 Meanwhile ... Keaton got his learners permit.

... and then his license. 

Keaton didn't really drive much his sophomore year. Callahan was a senior and was driving him to school. I'd have to pick him up occasionally when Cal's schedule had a conflict. Unfortunately, Keaton was carless for quite a while, as Grayson had said "bye bye burb" and sold it. But with 2017, Landon would be coming home and needing a car, and Callahan would be graduating, so Keaton would need something when school started (if not before, he got a job, at KFC, which is close, but still a struggle if he needed to borrow a car or get dropped off and picked up)... so more car changes would be coming in 2017!

Cooper driving is closer than we'd like to think.
... and Colton already has an eye on the goods. :)

It's been a while since Cooper and I have "collected" license plates, 

but I find myself still looking ...for out of state plates or punny personalizations.

... I don't know whose car this was, but it made me laugh!

Muhahahahahah!