April 2017

It's April ... it was pretty full! 

• Basketball: Cal was off to Idaho for a tournament and Colton had doubleheaders most weeks, with both his Wolves and Grizzlies. Keaton's Spring ball started. March Madness wrapped up, and Landon and Coop hit a Jazz game and the NBA playoffs were always on at the house.
• Gray's Getaways: Gray started the month in Moab, and then did some biking, and took Landon and Keaton to the shooting range. 
• Bowling: I took the littles to All-Star Lanes during Spring Break. Landon set up Janika (and she set him up) and they did a double date bowling. 
• Group Gatherings: Kolby's family was in town, so we got together with them a few times. Had them over for breakfast, and for a smoked dinner. Memorial meeting at Gordy's grave. Red Robin with the Westra side, as Uncle Shane was in from California. 
• Late Spring Snow: Near the end of the month, it blanketed all the flowers, but didn't last long. 
• Easter & Spring Break: Both were pretty low-key this year!
• Ducks&Geese: I saw a black and white duck at the canal ... wondered if it was one of ours from last year. Gray brought home eggs and stuck them in the incubator. Then he brought home two goslings! 

What else ...

Jen got about six inches cut off her hair.  Cooper and Landon did a 5k race.  Cal got his senior pictures taken.  Gray had EIGHT derbies.  Keaton interviewed at In&Out. He needs a car, it's been hard sharing, but the driveway is pretty full!  New tires for the Durango.  The boys had Ana bring her boy kitty over to meet Joy ... it did not go well! Poor Cosmo!  Landon went to "The Lion King" with Maga and Olivia. Cooper upgraded his Fitbit to the Alta, and Landon got a Blaze. Keaton got registered for classes next year (a stressful couple of minutes!) Landon is in training at Discover Card. 

A Super 5K

Ever since my #4 ran a race last year (My Little Man Ran) he'd wanted to try it again. Hubs health slipped, and I certainly didn't feel up to it (anxiety issues dealing more with driving there, checking in, dealing with crowds affect me more than the actual "running" although that is a challenge for me too!) But big brother came home from his mission to Mexico, and he said he'd be willing to go give it a try. So I scanned the local 5k races and signed the boys up.

It was the end of April, and it was COLD. The boys almost wimped out due to the weather. But after paying the registration fees (I think it was $35 a person) I told them they better not wimp out. The theme was "Calling All Heroes" ... and they dressed up appropriately (minus capes). They both had on Superhero socks too!

I watched (stalked) them with the Find my Friends app, and noticed they stayed together the entire time. #1 pushed #4 a little ... and they crossed the finish line together. There were 74 racers, and the Blackham boys took 4th and 5th. Not sure WHY it says my #4 is 98 years of age (he's thirteen). Maybe I did a typo on the entry? Probably would have been first in his age division, if they'd had age divisions.

... another race under #4's belt. Speaking of belts, Hubs had purchased a Flipbelt ages ago, and had never worn it. We'd pulled it out when #1 son started running and he loves it. I guess I might need to invest in another one!

Easter Edition - 2017

We didn't get around to decorating eggs this year ... not actual eggs anyway. 

I made some sugar cookies in egg shape, 

and frosting them counts as decorating, right?

 I don't eat hard boiled eggs ... but I DO eat these!

And Reeses eggs, M&M eggs ... I don't care for Cadbury though.

Easter was pretty underwhelming. Callahan was out of town playing basketball (Idaho tournament) and Kolby&Jami had been in town (big breakfast get-together yesterday) but before Kolby headed out (flying separately from the family to a work location) he and Gray made breakfast plans Sunday morning (Easter morning). I put the buckets out Saturday night and told the kids not to look through them, but then said, what the hey ... I did grab a picture Easter morning though.  Everyone was SO Egg-cited don't you think? ;)

Red Robin with the Westras

Shane and Adria were in town from California ... doing a little visiting, then flying out and taking the folks with them back for a California visit. But while they were here, we had a group get-together. We were able to get seated in the back room and had it almost all to ourselves. Landon had just returned from his mission in February, so it was the first time he'd been able to see many in the extended family. Keaton was so cute entertaining D&D's girls with snapchat filters ...

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A post shared by JenB (@jenblackham) on Apr 9, 2017 at 2:50pm PDT

... and the classic picture of Dad in Mom's glasses! He had to see to pay the bill!