2017 Recap

Well ... I was not a very productive blogger here in 2017. On this family blog, only about a dozen posts. I'd have other blog posts in my head, but they just didn't quite make it out of my head, through my fingers and onto the blog.

• Travel Time ... I blogged about Gray's trip to Mexico and the family vacation but there was a lot more.  A January trip to Orlando for work, a Portland weekend with a couple of the boys in March, Moab weekend with work guys early April, Bear Lake in June, St. George with the munchkins and extended family in August, biking White Rim and another Canada getaway (just Gray). I got it blogged. Grayson's Getaways 2017. 
• Medical Moments ... Not too much for us this year (yea!) Ingrown toenails (Cal was in twice), Stomach problems for Landon. Menieres moments. Extended family ... Chris and his semi-colon and Pam's head injury.
• Cars ... I never blogged about the Durango and Cal's Charger (well, I finally did, follow the link. I backdated the post to 2016). Still need to blog about 2017 car changes ... a Charger for Landon. Passing the Monster Truck to Keaton. Sequoya. 
• Other People's Pets/Maga's Menagerie ... been thinking of highlighting Maga's kittens, and chickens, and dog. Also the neighbor's dog who the kids have been hired to care for here and there. Dog bite this year as well :(
• Duck, Duck, Goose ... two geese, four ducks, two ducks then four ducklings again! DuckRun. 
• Apps ... stupid Snapchat (but funny faces) and fun Fight List (play with me!)
• Basketball ... I updated the Basketball Blog but meant to do a general wrap up here. Callahan's senior season and playoffs. Keaton's sophomore year. Cooper's Junior Jazz and Colton's Wolves (winter,  spring, summer, fall) and Grizzlies (winter, spring, fall).
• Girls ... dating and girlfriend stuff (mostly Landon and Callahan, but Keaton went to a girl's choice dance at school too). 
• Summer Stuff ... trips to the lake, little boys out with the older boys and their girlfriends (bowling, pool, Airborne). Movies ... I DID get the Seattle summer vacation blogged.
• Inflatable Fun ... the bop balls and t-rex. Bought but didn't try out the "inflata-bull"
• Eating Out ... many of the food gatherings were birthday related, but there were some good meals and fun photos. Neighbor dinner in the Spring. Red Robin with the Westra clan. Tepanyaki. Jen's b-day Red Robin. Gray's b-day Market Street and Windy Ridge. 
• Ice Obsession: Pebbled ice, ice balls, ice cubes ... Grayson is obsessed with ice.
• Starting School ... got the traditional pictures with all five boys. College kids too!
• Halloween ... didn't get pictures of all the costumes, but did capture me in a Whoopie cushion costume and Colton doing Thriller.
• Christmas (the annual "leg lamp lighting" to start the season. Lights on the house. BOXES! Sitting on Santa's lap. The Westra party, Christmas decor and Christmas morning.
• Birthdays ... Colton got a party this year! Finally!
• Home Sweet Home ... a switch up of "office space" and a new fridge (finally!), dishwasher and oven. The stovetop is induction, which also necessitated new pots and pans.
• Derby Daze ... Gray did 43 derbies this year. He attempted to limit his travel, not booking ones in Utah County (although there were still a few). Keaton was his right-hand man most of the time. 

I am still hoping that maybe I'll be able to get some/all of the above still. We'll see. If I do, I'll leave them at the top for a couple days and then move them to the chronologically correct spot. But I'll update with links.

Here's a quick look at the family. I really should have the boys do their own write-ups to see what makes it onto their list. I was really good at making them write Mr. Missionary every week, but that pretty much ended in 2016 because ...

• Landon returned from his Mexico Mission and started school at SLCC. He got a cool car which he takes good care of, and a job at Discover, to pay for said car (and all his new clothes).  He's been attending the young adult ward. He dove into the dating scene and got a girlfriend.
• Callahan finished up his senior year and graduated. Basketball season as a senior was memorable, with pro pictures and name drops in the news. State playoffs and a little post-season fun with friends. Super social, with buddies and his girlfriend. Wrapped up his time with KFC and started working at Caption Call. Started school at SLCC.
• Keaton moved from sophomore to junior and can now drive himself to school... in the Monster Truck Tundra no less! He also started working ... at KFC like Cal, but also still helping Dad run derbies. Finished up his season on the sophomore basketball team. He played Spring and Summer ball (St. George, UofU camp, CHHS camp) but decided not to try out come Fall, opting to play for fun with friends in Junior Jazz (where they are currently creaming everyone). 
• Cooper finished up 7th grade in the Spring, and started 8th in the Fall. He's got a great group of friends and enjoyed hanging out with them during the summer and after school. He's playing Junior Jazz with them again this year. . He lived in shorts for the first 3/4 of the year (and for quite a while before that) then suddenly started wearing joggers again. He got an iphone in the Spring and spends a little too much time on it. Obsessed with NBA, NFL and music.
• Colton started his final year of elementary school. He never stopped playing basketball, although Summer was only with his Wolves team. He got an iphone in the Fall (when Dad upgraded himself, then everyone) so now Mommy can stalk both little boys too.  The silly boy almost always sleeps in his clothes on the couch upstairs. 

• Jen (me) likes the structure of the school schedule, especially for exercise. Both the required rising at an early hour, and not sharing the gym with the boys ;) Still enjoying Zumba and leading classes somewhat regularly.  Reading a LOT (both digital and audio).
• Grayson works, works, works ... although he sure did use up all his vacation this year too. He's still smoking and as mentioned above, developed an obsession with ice. Yes ice ... frozen water.

Monthly Moments ... One Second Every Day

I've been SO BAD at keeping this blog updated, I know. I have blog posts in my mind, but just don't seem to find the time to sit down at the computer and make them happen. I bought a fun new app though, that captures life "one second" at a time, and I've been keeping up with my mini-monthly updates, which I post on Instagram and Facebook. They are a fun, quick (about 30 seconds) way to remember each month. I had links to all the individual months, but decided to just include the entire year here ...

... it's an easy little app. It automatically connects to your photo album to show you what videos are available for each day. The latest Apple products and their "live photo" feature come in as videos, but you can use still photos as well. If you take video on a camera, and can transfer the file to your photo, that can be accessed and used as well. While the videos show up according to date created, you can play around and manually move things. The app is called "One Second Every Day" and that's how I've used it (showcasing each month's memories) but you could do a year at a time, or multiple seconds in a single day ... the app is very adaptable and I love looking back at my memories one second every day ;)

Colton's Birthday Party

I am NOT a good birthday mom. I just don't enjoy the planning and putting together of a party, in fact, it's uber anxiety inducing. Over the years, I'd managed to host one or two birthday parties for each boy ... but that was all they got. Poor Colton though ... with his birthday falling right before Christmas. It always got lost in the hustle and bustle of the season, but the kid never complained.

This year, I committed to a party. We gave him the choice of a few friends to Airborne or somewhere else fun ... or many friends at the local church building, with pizza and the chocolate fountain (and basketball of course). He chose the latter, and the invitations went out.

We waited until after Christmas, hoping to catch the kids with a little extra time as they were out of school. Some friends were traveling for the holidays, but we still had quite the crew. Colton invited his Wolves team, his Grizzlies team, and some friends from school. 

A post shared by JenB (@jenblackham) on Dec 27, 2017 at 11:03am PST

Several of his Wolves teammates live fairly far away, in Utah County. I was a little surprised that they (and their parents) were willing to drive so far to support him! All the brothers came for a bit too. While basketball was the main activity (little pick-up games, tornado, random shooting) there was spike ball and some big inflatable balls too. 

We picked up pizza (and crazy bread) and instead of cake, let the kids "dunk" (basketball theme, right?) strawberries, marshmallows and pretzels in the fountain of chocolate. Colton really "cashed in" too, as money is the main gift at this age. I think the party went well and Colton was pretty happy. I'm just glad it's over, and now I have just a bit less mommy guilt this year. 

Fight List Fun

I don't remember who discovered the game first ... but I liked it a lot. Very simple, you are given a topic, and you have a certain amount of time (60 seconds?) to get out as many answers as you can. Head to head competition with someone else. I always said my lack of texting skills hampered my game, and it was partially true ...

Most of the time, just playing was fun. But from time to time, there were funny things happening within the game, and I'd get a quick screen shot.  Since when is inch/foot/yard/mile a metric unit (middle, bottom row)?? And I loved that the only Kate Callahan could even think about was HIS Kate (bottom right). You can add suggestions, that are hopefully reviewed before being added (metric mile!) like my Robin Sparkles (a Canadian singer in How I Met Your Mother).

I remember once I wanted more games, and Callahan had just come in from school or work or basketball and I did a little Sesame Street "Somebody come and play, somebody come and play today" and when that didn't get the desired result I did a little toddler temper tantrum "play with me, play with me, play with me!" Callahan just looked at me with wide eyes, then laughed. Then played with me. 

Landon and the littles played with me too (I can't remember if Keaton ever did). 

Here were some funnies from Landon ...

I played with others too ... you could connect it to your Facebook to see who had the app and was playing. You add peanuts to chili Colton? Sorry Phil, I was trying to see if I could enter words quicker with Siri. Ah, Paul adds love to his guacamole (and I only knew the ingredients because Grayson had started to make it from scratch quite often). 

Similar to the accepted "metric" measurements ... I disagreed with weights and such being cardio (but sometimes you'd had the category before and remembered some of the answers, but seriously, neigher of us put "treadmill"????).  Stoned fruits? Ah ... those with a pit or seed. You could start games with random players, but there were some "pros" out there ... bottom/right screen grab ... 96 answers? HOW do you even type that many, let alone actually know that many? I stuck with friends after that ;) 

When you finished a game, you could click and see the "answers" ...

It wasn't just a straight one-point per correct answer, very common/easy answers were just one point, while more complex or rare were worth a bit more. Of course that was subjective to the game creators. I didn't always agree with the points. I played this game quite a bit for a few months ... and then interest in it petered out. I still sometimes think of things fitting into certain fight-list categories.

There was a second game by the game company that was more like scattergories ... lots of different categories, but the answers all had to start with the same letter. I didn't like that game as much, but played it a bit too. 

Chocolate Milk Taste Test

Growing up in the Westra household, premixed chocolate milk was pretty rare. We had Nesquick powder, which we could mix to make our own with the regular white milk, and that's what we did. But true "chocolate milk" ... straight from the bottle has its own taste. Rich and creamy. Of course some brands are richer and creamier and chocolatier than others. Or so the boys claimed. Once upon a time, any chocolate milk was fine, from name brands to generic versions. Then the boys got picky. ONLY Tru Moo. Then ... no Tru Moo, only DariGold.

We decided to do a blind taste test to see if the boys could REALLY tell the difference. Landon made the rounds to several stores to pick up every brand of chocolate milk he could find. Well ... he stopped at seven and we figured that was fine. Then it was taste test time ...

... this front image is the same as posted above, 

click to the second square for more pictures

Which chocolate milk is best? We had a blind taste test to see ... Darigold won, with Kroger a close second.

A post shared by JenB (@jenblackham) on Dec 10, 2017 at 7:19pm PST

We SHOULD have picked up a better blind-fold and smaller cups!

We tried to trick Daddy by adding in a cup of regular white 2%
... he could tell! No chocolate!

The kids COULD tell the difference in the various brands. Tru Moo was rated lowest by most ... it is quite watery and light on chocolate taste (which I am actually okay with myself). Surprisingly the Kroger brand was hard to tell from the name brand DariGold. Unfortunately, the Kroger stores (Smiths) don't sell the Kroger brand in the big gallon jugs (they carry Mountain Dairy as the store brand) so the Kroger in small bottles is still pretty pricey. 

As we had oodles of chocolate milk left over I offered some to the neighborhood (we have a facebook group) and one family came and took all we were willing to give and had their own taste test too! It was a fun family activity. Years ago, we had a rootbeer taste test, and we'd done the same with vanilla ice cream ... but I guess I didn't get pictures or a blog post for that one. 

Blackham Ducks 2017 - The Fall Four

2017 was a year for backyard birds. We started in the spring, incubating eggs and ended up with four babies. Four ducklings that grew up and flew away so fast, we don't have too many memories with them. Admittedly, we had two geese at the time too. We have many memories of the geese. Then the geese were gone.  We then took in a pair of ducks from a neighbor. There were eggs, and offspring. We ended up with The Fall Four, who would be with us for a while. This is the start of their story~

While we had a momma duck, I didn't want to give up the eggs (she'd stop laying if she sat) and I didn't want a full clutch. It was really too late in the season for babies, but Grayson was intrigued to see what a Mallard/Buff cross would look like. So we stuck five eggs in the incubator. Early candling indicated one of the eggs was not developing, but the other four progressed as expected. Soon it was time for the hatching. We've hatched three times before, but this was the first time I was there to watch every baby emerge. I caught it on camera too (video below).  Two eggs hatched pretty quickly, but the other two seemed stuck. It's SO stressful to watch and wait. Finally the third duckling made it out, but the fourth was still stuck and struggling. I ended up having to help a little, and I wasn't sure she was going to make it. Even when the egg was off, she was still curled up in the same shape, not really moving.

She (I don't know if this was one of the girls, just assuming that she ended up being our smallest one) finally seemed to unfurl, and she was fine. We had four, fluffy baby duckies. We had the usual weeks of bathing, feeding, playing ... and of course changing their pen. Oh ... the poop! When they got a little bigger, we moved them outside. Even as fast as they grew, I was worried about the timing. Our other batches of birds had hatched in the Spring, and were fully grown before flying away. I didn't think these babies were prepared to be wild. And being a mix with a domestic Buff, they were a bit bigger and I wasn't sure they would be able to fly. They did though, only as far as over the fence and into the neighbor's yard. We retrieved them (Blackfoot hadn't made it over), and committed to caring for them throughout the winter. We upgraded the pen we'd been using to a more sturdy and spacious dog run (even though we let them free range most of the time). We'd never kept ducks during the winter before, and I wasn't sure how it would go. We made it to Spring ... but that will be another post.

Two boys - Two girls

Abbot and Costello, Gabby Girl and Blackfoot

Here's a video compilation of The Fall Four - Blackham Ducks 2017

Office Space

Grayson FINALLY has a spot. He's wanted a little desk space at home for a long while now. His space. We've tried various options (Rearranging Rooms and a New Computer showcases a couple that didn't end up working out). I think this one will work. Finally. It is in our bedroom, where my computer was before. Simple set up. Basic. Uncluttered. That's how he likes it.

So where am I now? When Gray first brought up the idea of setting up a spot again, he mentioned moving into "middle earth" again (he had tried that area before). I knew that wouldn't work for him. The clutter drives him crazy. But me? It was doable for me. Now anyway. With our recent change from Comcast cable to Direct TV, my computer was now on the wireless network (where it had been wired directly before). So time for another room re-arrange. 

My new spot ... complete with cat.

We thought about getting a desk, but ended up just putting up one of Gray's old derby tables. I  covered it with decorative paper as it was discolored from years of graphite (and to combat the slight texture on top). It's cuter that way though, right? I have more space to spread out with the printer on the floor underneath (it was on the desk when I occupied the bedroom). While I don't have drawers, I was able to clean out several shelves nearby. I have spots for things I didn't before (montly bills, various chargers). If I'm a little cluttered, it's not right in Gray's line of sight. It's working out well.

There is still a window to let some sunshine in. I'm a sunshine gal. The bedroom has better view of the backyard, and I must admit, I will miss the easy glimpses of the ducks while working at the computer. Now I'll have to walk to windows or peek out the back door to see them. But there were times when Gray was resting when I wanted to work on the computer and didn't feel I could (didn't want to disturb), so this spot is better for that (although now he may have the same issue if he's awake in the night and wants to work).  I'd been occupying the bedroom desk pretty much since we moved in here (so 20+ years), and unforunately I was often in the way as Grayson would have to manuevor to his side of the bed. This arrangment solves that issue!

I'd always just used a simple kitchen chair at the desk, as I felt it was the least intrusive (but I still always ended up in the way). Now, both Gray and I could upgrade to nicer "office" chairs.  We took a trip together to Office Max and test some out. I discovered we have very different tastes, and that chairs are often angled more to men/women. I felt a little lost in some of the bigger chairs, and the one that I ultimately selected Grayson sat down in for one second and stood back up saying "um, that one is a definite NO". Based on the picture above, you can see that Oreo approves of my choice. I don't really approve of him commendearing my chair though. And it's fabric, so his shedding sticks! I've resorted to putting Cooper's basketball backpack on the seat when I'm not there to deter the kitties from settling there. 

While Gray seem to really like his new desk, he feels a little bad pushing me out (although I'm the one who volunteered the idea) ... it's really working out well for both of us though. 

Here's to office space!

(Have you seen my stapler?)