May 2022

 

The month of May ... there were birthdays (Kate, UncleShane and Uncle Derek, Grandpa and Pammy), Mother's Day and Graduations. There was basketball, pickleball, Zumba. Some get-aways and group gatherings. Here's a rundown ...

• Out of Town ~ Cal and Kate were in Holland for the first week of May. I did get a blog post up about their Tulip Trip. Gray had a weekend down in St. George, and it happened to overlap a Zions trip for Landon and Sol, so while it hadn't been pre-planned, they met up for some RZR riding on the red rocks. Blog post about that HERE. Cal and Kate made it down to St. George on a different weekend.
• Basketball ~ Colton played in a "shot clock" tournament with the WJ team (a shot clock IS being added to high school play next year). He also had three tournaments with his Wolves (in Heber, Juan Diego High and the Expo Center in Sandy). I didn't travel to Heber, but was able to hit all the other games. Cal has been playing in a men's league and they needed an extra player, so Colton stepped in there and I went to watch. At home, Coop has been watching the NBA playoffs.
• Mother's Day ~ I got a lovely bouquet from Olivia, and Gray arranged for all the kids to come to the house for brunch. 
• Out to Lunch ~ Jen made it out to the folks a couple times this month, taking Mom to lunch for Mother's Day. Gathering up some family history stuff and seeing all the progress the folks are making clearing out the house.
• Jobs ~ Landon's office is moving from right by our house to a building out on Mountain View, so we may not be seeing him as often on his lunch break. Sol changed jobs recently, and Cooper is going to do summer work at the school again (it's just so close/flexible) and then hopes to find something else once he gets his driver's license (aiming for October on that, before his Learner's Permit expires). We love having an in-house electrician ... Gray had Keaton install an outlet in the island. Colton SHOULD get a job, but it is hard with all the basketball and such still going on.
• Gray the Party Planner ~ Grayson threw his second baby shower for a woman at work. He also arranged a private screening of TopGun for Symphony employees and their families (unfortunately none of our family made it). 
• Mountain Mikes Group Gathering ~ Aunt Jami was in town from Seattle, so we got the Blackham Bunch together at the local pizza place for some conversation and catching up.
• Backyard Cleanup ~ There is an area in the back that has been a play area (with a swing set, then later a trampoline) and home for our ducks ... but the last year or so it got a little out of control. Gray hired a couple guys to come clear it out, and now we're prepping it for concrete (extra storage space for vehicles, patio, maybe basketball? It will keep the weeds from coming back.)
• Graduations ~ Sol got her Associates from SLCC and Cooper finished up his senior year and graduated from Mountain Heights Academy. He wasn't interested in the ceremony (downtown, and he hadn't really met his peers in person) but we had to have a cap and gown photoshoot. 
• Medical ~ I finally did a follow-up with my PCP after my fall in January. He wants me to check in with a neurologist, but that appointment isn't until October. He also referred me to a Physical Therapist, as I've been struggling with shoulder/arm pain for a while (nothing too bad most of the time although it does interfere with some things, like sleep, and it just doesn't seem to be going away). 

Here's the One Second Everyday in May video ...

https://youtu.be/uoKqAIjmYZY

We were lucky enough to get Aunt Olivia to make a HairCut Housecall ... got the boys, and Gray, trimmed up. Beyond family, there was a "blood moon" (that wasn't really very visible here due to cloud cover) and the tragic news of the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Prices have continued to escalate - eggs were very noticeable this month, with prices more than doubling. Gas prices continue to climb, almost $5 a gallon (thankful for the Tesla right now although the guys drive a lot more than me). There has been a shortage of formula - and as I've gone through items for family history, I found an old "recipe" for formula in my Dad's baby book. Similar recipes and options have been making the rounds on FB.  School is out, so moving into the summer schedule. On to June!

Impromptu Party In Hurricane Utah

 

The second weekend in May, Grayson headed down to St. George with his buddy Jon. Landon and Sol and a couple friends were heading down to Zions. As Landon updated me via text, I let him know his dad was down in that area ... and although it hadn't been planned ahead of time, they met up and hit some red rocks on the RZRs together.

Here's a little video Sol took (she said she thought they were going to tip over and die!)

https://youtu.be/EVFKljdS3nc

Cal & Kate ~ Tulip Trip

 

Grayson and I had recently gone to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point ... but Cal&Kate took it a step further, and actually went to Holland! This was a trip with Kate's parents. They flew out Wednesday,  April 27 from Salt Lake. They had a non-stop flight, which averages about 10 hours. Then there is the time difference ... the Netherlands are eight hours ahead.

Callahan sent me their basic itinerary ...

We're staying in De Pijp, going to the Anne Frank house, Van Gogh Museum, Rijkmuseum, windmills, Kuekonhoff Tulip fields and a twizzy tour tour through the fields. Hitting the Red Light District, The Hauge (beach town), Volendamm, a canal ride and a bike tour.

Callahan's AT&T plan wasn't working internationally, and Kate and her folks had spotty service. Often they would only have access where there was wifi. This did cause some stress when they needed Covid test results (which were sent to said phones). It was quite a bit cooler than expected, and they did a lot of walking around. 

Some of the scenes ...

... the windmills

... and the eats!

Blackham Home Video

 Both the Blackham and Westra family have some classic film from the 1970s/1980s ... The Westra video camera hit the scene in 1970 (shortly before Jen was born ... coincidence?) It was reel film and only captured the visual, no sound. I remember we'd watch home movies and Dad/Grandpa would set up a projector and the film would go from a reel in front, to the reel in back. Sometimes he'd reverse it and we'd laugh and laugh as our film selves would go up the slide or walk backwards.  The Blackham home movies hit a little later, and they have sound as well as video.

• Westra Home Movies (1969 -1984) https://youtu.be/IlVlhP8qoK8
• Blackham Home Movies Part 1 https://youtu.be/qVcNtN9f2F4 
• Blackham Home Movies Part 2 https://youtu.be/yIcy-4q67QM

Then there were the VHS Years ... I'm not sure when the Westra family got it's first VHS video camera. There are tapes of my high school productions, but those were "professionally" made and sold to the students. By the time we hit the 1990s, the family had a video camera (Dad/Grandpa/Lamar was the videographer for the LD Singers productions). We must have got our own (or absconded with the Westra one?) in 1995 when the first baby was set to hit the scene ...

• 1995 Little Landon  https://youtu.be/TsvyBsJUdy0
• 1997  Little Landon (18 months and up) https://youtu.be/e8fl4InWrig
• 1999 Callahan Comes ... https://youtu.be/jWzue6HkFn8
• 2000 Keaton Came ... https://youtu.be/jkZBCHeMVqA
• 2003 Before Cooper ... https://youtu.be/qlPrHqj48BY
• 2003 Cooperman Came ... https://youtu.be/40fX5Ijt26c

 The VHS video recorder was quite large and bulky. It had to fit the standard video tape as well as all the required machinery. There were times it would get quite heavy as the videographer had to hold it up. Most families had a VCR to play the tapes on when it was time to watch the videos, but the camera could also connect to the TV via cables - although the older TVs didn't have nearly as many inputs as the ones today. 

Technology improved, and the new video camera's were 1/3 the size of the old VHS recorders. They still used tapes, miniDV. Unlike the standard VHS tapes, people didn't have a way to easily view their videos. This required hooking up the camcorder to the TV and using it to play the tapes. As DVDs hit the scene, replacing VCRs, many people had their tapes, both VHS and miniDV (and there were other types too) converted to DVD. I remember Grayson got the VHS tapes converted to DVD and the boys enjoyed watching them. We'd almost always get them out at the family birthday parties, to remember the younger years.

Because the tapes could be removed, and another put in, sometimes the end result wouldn't be perfectly chronological. I remember when Callahan was first born, I tried to have a "Callahan" tape and a "Landon" tape, although in the end I probably just went with whichever was already in the machine when it was time to record. Reviewing the smaller tapes, while it looks fairly chronological going by the labeling, there is some jumping around in time. 

The newer video camera must have come on the scene around 2002 ... the earliest recorded on a mini-tape was Christmas 2002. I'm often slow to transition, so it looks like the VHS camera was still in use most of 2003 for Cooper's birth. 2004 there was an official switch to the Cannon miniDV. 

I don't recall how we got these digitized ... it wasn't professionally done (at least not for most of them). I must have figured out how to transfer the files to the computer (it might have been directly to Muvee, it had a "videocamera" input). In 2004 I took a TON of videos and really got into Muvees (making little videos with film/pictures and music). In the later years, I stayed busy making highlight reels of the boy's sports (check out BlackhamBall for all the sports stuff, and dedicated YouTube channels for Callahan, Keaton and Colton).  I got 2004-2006 burned onto DVDs using Muvee and our home computer. When I wanted to create a YouTube backup, I did some shift, moving some sections around to TRY and get things in chorological order. Also, these YouTube versions are slightly edited, as any child nudity (even innocent bath time home movies) will get flagged and removed. So if you compare these versions to the originals (tapes, ripped DVDs) you might notice a few differences. 

• 2004 (part 1) Callahan's B-day, Easter, Landon's Derby&More https://youtu.be/6EjR1XC72E8
• 2004 (part 2) Buca, Mother's Day, Puppies, Soccer, Spring Stuff https://youtu.be/6EjR1XC72E8
• 2004 (part 3) Summer, Father'sDay, Lagoon, Rockets  https://youtu.be/jmgrBTmqK7c  
• 2004 (part 4) Gunnison Party, Birthdays, Ana's Wedding https://youtu.be/etYe7fiuRvs
• 2004 (part 5) December/Christmas https://youtu.be/etYe7fiuRvs

• 2005 (part 1) Before Colton https://youtu.be/oKSQvtd68F8
• 2005 (part 2) Colton Caboose https://youtu.be/Q5FDBN836z4
• 2006 - coming
• 2007 - coming

I think it must have been 2005/2006 when I received a new digital camera, one that had a "video" setting in addition to several options for still shots. I would use it primarily for pictures, but started switching it up and using the video more and more, instead of using a dedicated video camera (although it was still being used some). So instead of one long video file pulled from a tape, there are lots of little files that were directly digital. Recorded onto a memory card in the camera, easily transferred to the computer. I did burn these to DVD (2008/2009) so they could be watched on the television more easily.

Mother's Day in 2011, I was given a new video camera (the small Samsung in the photo above), and it was an improvement in quality and ease, especially for sports. With all the boy's basketball, it was in constant use over the weekends. I'd sometimes have to record with it plugged into a charger if it hadn't had time to recharge between games. After a few years with this camera, Gray got me a new one (the Sony) which had an external battery pack, so I could have backup power. It also connected directly to the computer via USB, which was just a little easier than moving data with a memory card.

Through the years, phones kept improving as well. Soon, the iphone (we are an Apple family) was as good as a digital camera, and was always with us, not an extra item to carry and keep charged. It worked for videos too, although I kept to a separate video camera for sports still.  All the family videos in later years would come from the iphone. Even still pictures had a "live" setting, which I loved for my One Second Every Day videos (started in 2017).

So hopefully with this post, we'll have a bit of a "table of contents" of the video we have, and where it can be located (in the YouTube links, and on Dropbox in Video Backup). The Dropbox Video Backup has family files from 1995-2011. Then videos filmed with phones are mixed in with the photos for the more recent years (maybe I'll try to get them all organized and together). Plans for the future!