2023 ~ May Recap

 Memories from May ... 

• Jen's Medical: The head is healing ... it's a pretty big/bad scar this time, that not even a lot of hair covers up all the way. It's been a little tough getting back to the exercise and eating. Walks on the treadmill and Zumba have been fine (there was even an evening Zumba session with the Young Women), with pickleball added back in. A tetanus shot was needed near the end of the month after some gardening ended with an encounter with a rusty piece of metal ... and the day after that Jen was hit with dizzies and nausea. Couldn't get out of bed for the whole day (500 steps on the Fitbit). Hoped it was a one day thing, but it stuck around for about a week, getting only slightly better each day. But it was a solid week without leaving the house, and not leaving the bed much. Missed out on Colton's Wolves basketball tournament :(
• Car Stuff: Gray's truck wouldn't start mid-month ... and luckily we're in a pretty good situation with Coop/Jen able to share the Durango, so Grayson was able to take the Tesla while the truck was in the shop. Landon has been driving a work vehicle for a while, but with the divorce final and the house sold, he was in a good spot financially to finally get a car. It's a  2023 Toyota Camry - and it's RED! In addition to Colton's Charger having the spoiler ripped off at the car wash (and that's not something they claim responsibility for) his front license plate gets bent every time he goes through. He installed a plate frame to help with that issue before it broke off completely.
• Ice Ice Baby: Our icemaker in the freezer has been having issues for a long while. Sometimes it would work fine, then other times ... nothing. Then it would drop some ice cubes and pour water directly over them creating a big, solid block. We are super spoiled with out nice commercial pebbled ice maker, but we want the bigger cubes too. I called for repair ... it took FIVE trips. But we have ice again. Finally.
• Keaton's Corner: Keaton moved into his place back in March. Not many photos were taken the first day, and we hadn't been back to see him settled, until now. So if you wanted to see his spot, you can check out the blog post HERE. 
• Blackham Bunch Activities: The Blackham's got together for an MS Walk at Veteran's Memorial Park, super close by! You can read a little more about it HERE. We also gathered to try out Clay's new pizza oven (the WJ Blackham's have a couple ovens that have been used quite a bit the last year or so). The dessert pizza was a hit!
• A Trip to the Tulips: Gray surprised Jen with a day date to see the tulips at Thanksgiving Point ... with the cooler weather, there were still a lot in bloom later in May. You can see photos HERE. 
• Mother's Day: A lovely bouquet of flowers. It was drizzling, but we did a little family pickleball in the rain. Cal and Kate had been gone but got back in time to drop by in the evening.
• Pickleball: We've been hitting the pickleball courts each week. Originally Keaton had said he didn't care for the game as much, but he's become one of our regulars as well. He has a crazy lob! So there are five regulars (Jen, Coop, Landon, Cal and Keaton) and once in a while we get Gray and Colton out too. Jen also plays once a week with the relief society ladies, and went with a friend to an evening session in Murray. 
• Basketball: Colton had a tournament with the WJ Jags the first week of May. Jen's still been cautious (especially in the evenings, driving and going out alone) and so Landon accompanied her to the first game, Keaton was the chauffer for a late Friday night game (the boys had a great comeback). Colton has still been practicing with Metro and with Coach Scott. He had a final tournament with the Wolves (they won the championship) and Cal's men's league has started up again, and Colton has been filling in there when they need an extra man. 
• Hiking Hubs:  Grayson's hiking adventures were mentioned in the April update, and the dedicated blog post about all his activities has been updated. New hikes, pictures, maps, there's even a haiku and new lyrics to a hit song (with a little help from ChatGPT). Scroll down HERE to see the latest updates. 
• Books! Jen's Bookclub read(s) this month were Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (had a bit of a "To Kill a Mockingbird" feel. Wrote a lot on the GoodReads review!) and The Measure by Nikki Erlick (what would happen if everyone over the age of 22 suddenly had the choice to see how long they had to live?) Tons of discussion ideas on this one. Horse by Geraldine Brooks was another favorite.
• ByeBye Beta: Colton had received a little Beta fish last year (an answer/ask to a date/dance). The kitties loved to drink out of the beta bowl (ewww, fishy poop) and one day I found the bowl knocked over and poor Beta exposed. I scooped him up and put him in water, and he was alive, but never quite the same after that. It was a bit of a relief when he was out of his misery, and flushed. 
• Cal&Kate: It was a busy month for these two. They had a weekend away in St. George, then a trip to Oregon. Kate also had a birthday!

School was wrapping up as the month ended ... so things will shift into a summer schedule for the next few months.  Here's a look at a month of memories one second style ...

https://youtu.be/PTgKoSoepcM