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

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

Blackham Home Movie Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLimW1d0Dxcgz0_ksYe4BJB2P97wpCCV3-

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 (part 1) Easter. Tball. School stuff. Birthdays. Rockets. https://youtu.be/_EGN2muQFOA
• 2006 (part 2) Colton's birthday. Christmas. https://youtu.be/LsDBL95mv0s
• 2007 (part 1) https://youtu.be/N2EV-06y9GQ
• 2007 (part 2) https://youtu.be/nbGy_imajn8
• 2008 (mov files) https://youtu.be/-Tf8GXQX8to
• 2009 (part 1) https://youtu.be/_hkHNooYs34
• 2009 (part 2) https://youtu.be/UV5WyyzxmF4
• 2009 SPORTS https://youtu.be/-UBYAN2DWRk

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!

Monarch Memories

 This will be backdated to September 2021.

In May of 2021, I posted this picture to the "Utah Friends of Monarchs" Facebook group (because Facebook has groups for everything! It's very interesting and informative). I've liked monarchs, and butterflies in general, but Grayson grew up with the whole experience. He could find caterpillars on milkweed and bring a couple home, to watch them grow bigger, create their chrysalis, emerge and fly away. It's been something he's wanted to re-create with our kids, but monarchs/caterpillars have become nearly non-existent in Utah.  Neither of us had seen one for years. In 2019, I heard about a monarch release, and Gray and I went and it was awesome (My Monarch Man). 

My point in posting this picture was to say "I wish the milkweed plant stayed at this stage!" Right here, it looks like an attractive little bush. Unfortunately, it keeps on growing and growing and gets a bit out of control. It also send up tons of little shoots, so we get more milkweed popping up all throughout the flowerbed. BUT ... it's for butterflies. The HOPE that someday, we might see a monarch, maybe get an egg. 

It happened ... and it was everything we'd hoped it would be.

Monarch 2021

Coop and I had been out and about, and pulled up into the driveway when some movement by the milkweed caught my eye. It was a monarch. I squealed and jumped out of the car, pulling out my phone to catch it on camera (and Coop back in the car didn't know what was going on, "Mom, should I turn the car off?") I was so excited and immediately shared the video with Grayson. There was the small moment when she paused on the smaller off-shoot from the main plant. I looked closer ... and it was an egg! So small.

So we started our monarch observations ... about 10 days after the egg had been laid, I looked closer at the milkweed and there were tiny holes in the leaves, and little tiny black dots (poop) on the bottom of the enclosure. The caterpillar was so small, you could barely see it! Every day it would grow bigger and bigger, eating more leaves, more little black dots. After another 10 days, we knew it was time for the next steps. We made sure there were a couple of sturdy sticks, and a couple days later, the caterpillar moved into the "J" pose. After they assume this position, it isn't long before they move into the chrysalis stage.

A chrysalis is different from a cocoon (which is what moths make, spinning silk around themselves). Chrysalises are not silk. Butterflies molt into a chrysalis, which is a hard exoskeleton covering that protects the developing butterfly beneath. Grayson happened to be checking on the caterpillar after work when he called out "it's happening" ... and we got it on video. It was crazy to watch, as the skin splits and and there is so much wiggling working it off, leaving the green blob underneath, which then hardens into the cool looking chrysalis. It was just over 10 days later, when the monarch emerged. We'd noticed the chrysalis getting darker, a little transparent, but unfortunately we missed the coming out party. We looked, and there it was. A beautiful butterfly. After giving it a day to recover and gain some strength, it was time to say goodbye, as it flew off into the blue sky.

Summer 2021 will definitely be remembered for its monarch memories!

Maybe we can do it again ... our milkweed comes back every year. 

Hopefully the butterflies will too.

I kept the stick, and the chrysalis shell.

Official Timeline: 

• August 9, 2021 - Monarch flyby and egg
• August 19, 2021 - Hatch (when we noticed anyway)
• September 1, 2021 - Chrysalis
• September 12, 2021 - Butterfly
• September 13, 2021 - Release

 

Inflatable Fun

A couple of years ago I'd happened upon some of these inflatable bumper balls (see post here)... I picked up two, and they got a lot of use that summer. They only lasted that one summer though. This year, when I saw some at Sam's Club, I decided I'd pick them up again (with a couple extras, even though the price wasn't quite the steal of a deal from two years ago). Once again, the boys enjoyed bopping and bumping within the inflated ball.

The little "Batman" on the final image? It's the shadow of my phone case (it's a kitty, not Batman), taking a picture of a suspicious tear in one of the balls. I'd noticed it after one of the balls kept deflating. Not really surprising ... the boys aren't gentle. But that hole had clean lines, almost as if it had been stuck with a knife or box cutter. Hubs didn't care for the inflated ball in his garage I guess ... and FYI, the patches don't really work, at least not with intentional, large slashes. A little expensive for one day of play, but I did buy an extra! 

Water Wars and Balloon Blasts

Water balloons are a Blackham staple every summer. In part, because Grayson has made the most awesome water balloon filler. Not every family has one of these if you can believe that. I makes creating an arsenal of balloon bombs easy and fun ... and a little wet. Crazy Blackham boys! Here they are in action!

Gray (and Grandapa's) Garage (and a Stairway to Nowhere)

Belated Blogging. This post will be backdated to the end of 2018.

In 2018 ... Grayson started his garage project. He'd always kept the garage quite controlled and clean, but he took it up a notch. He tore out all the old wooden shelves and pulled down the pegboard siding. He put a lot of stuff in storage and threw out a ton too. He invested in some new Gladiator slat-board for the walls, and some nice new drawer sets ... on wheels, for easy maneuverability. Pretty much everything either had wheels or was otherwise off the ground. He looked into painting what remained of the walls, then ended up going with some wood panel veneer on the top and bottom and any remaining wall space. Looked a little like shiplap to me (Gray was impressed I knew what that was).   He spent HOURS working in the garage, and spent a bit of money too, but it is his "spot" and he spends a lot of time there.

Anytime there is a delivery or something, I get comments on how nice Gray's garage is (especially from the men, but an occasional woman too). Some have even asked if they could snap pictures. 

I don't really have "before" shots, but here's the "after"

My folks came over to visit one day and I showed them Gray's garage. I didn't know WHAT I was starting. As others had been, they were very impressed and it inspired them to do something similar. The Grandparent's Garage was another big project. Gray was involved some, recommending products, doing some purchasing and picking up of items. Derek and Chris did a lot of the work there too.   Mom did take some before shots ...

Before ...

Lots of old apple boxes, pegboard to hang all sorts of items. That blue metal shelf with the saw on top? I remember that from the Hermitage house. It was out back under the deck and we used to keep  the "newspaper logs" in it.

During ...

Some of the same slat-material along the walls for hanging, and the same wood paneling for a more finished look. Some nice big lockers, and a similar set of shelves.  Cleaning off the shelves and replacing the boxes with crates, all the same size and color. Gray even got out his Cricut machine so the labeling would be professional and consistent too. 

... I still need to get some good "after" shots.

I think the garage was a little more my mom's thing ... I think my dad was fine with the way things were. He likes his boxes and his buckets. He's known for digging big holes around the yard. In fact, he has more than just a hole ... he has a cave. Nice stairs down behind the deck, and they lead down to the ultimate hole in the ground. My mom worried a bit about the stability of it. She didn't want it collapsing. They spent a bit of money shoring it up. Another place for my dad to keep his buckets and such. My brother Derek ended up writing lyrics and singing a song about his "Stairway to Nowhere" and I took the clips and photos and turned it into a video. Here it is ...

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 ;)

Blackham Boy Ball Bopping

This will be backdated to September 2017

I bought the inflatable dinosaur this year ... but that wasn't the only inflatable the boys had fun with. These bop balls weren't anything I went looking for, I just happened upon them at Smiths (the regular grocery store no less, not even the bigger store). They were $10 each. I got two. I didn't know if the boys would be interested, or if they'd last. The boys were interested, and they lasted long enough for that price. I don't know if they would have made it through a winter storage anyway. Summer fun!

The Blackham brothers bopped each other, and Cooper and his friend McKay had a fun inflatable day (enjoying both the balls and the dinosaur). Here's a little video ...

Blogger Foreshadowing ... a second round of balls appear in 2019!

Water Bottles and the Blackham Bunch

Disposable water bottles ... there is a bit of a debate about them (the waste create by the plastic, etc.) but they do have their place ... and not ONLY for drinking!

2016 became known as the year for water bottle flipping! It was everywhere! All the time! Crazy! Driving people crazy with the flying bottles and the THUNK, THUNK, THUNK as the kids tried to flip the bottle and have it land (on the base, or even trickier, to "cap" it on the top). 

More water bottle flipping fun ...

A video posted by JenB (@jenblackham) on Sep 17, 2016 at 11:22am PDT

I posted my first "flipping" feature in August, and had several mom's chime in that this phenomenon was happening in their homes too. Then the kids try to get tricky... 

Double stacked!

He was pretty impressed with himself!

That's not the only unusual activity we do with water bottles though ...

More fun with bottled water at the Blackham home!

A video posted by JenB (@jenblackham) on Aug 12, 2016 at 4:50pm PDT

We'd seen instructional videos on YouTube about how to "instafreeze" your water. We attempted to follow the steps to no avail. We couldn't get it to work. Then, we accidentally accomplished it after putting some water bottles into the freezer section of our mini fridge. The temperature there isn't nearly as consistent as a regular freezer. Sometimes the bottles freeze completely, sometimes they stay liquid (but very cold) ... and when they do, we can do the "instafreeze" easily. When the water is exactly the right temp, a tap to the side causes it to form a soft freeze. It's about the consistency of an icee. It's so cool to see the water change to ice, after a simple tap to the side of the bottle.  If you put that ice in a bowl, and pour the water over it ... it freezes right before your eyes. Pretty cool, huh!  They boys then sprinkle a powdered drink mix over the ice to turn it into an icee treat to eat.

Like I said at the start, we understand the debate and try to use refillable bottles whenever possible. I've been thrilled with my BIG pink water bottle. It always has enough ice and water to get me through class ... and I get an arm workout carrying it in. We have many of the refillable Gatorade sport bottles the boys use for their basketball games, and several of the "mister" refillable bottles too.

... and that is my Bottled Water Blog post ;)

Pineview and Park City

In addition to our hikes and and trip to Lagoon, 

we had a couple other fun family activities - Pineview and Park City. 

We actually only had ONE family trip to Pineview this season. It was in August, right before school started back up. Gray and the boys did go a couple other times, and Gray went a few times with co-workers ... but it wasn't a big waverunner summer. This was partly because of Gray's trip to Europe (which took up a couple prime summer weekends) and the fact that we didn't have Landon around ....

We also had some FAMILY FUN in Park City ...

We went up the last weekend in August. School had started, "summer" was over, but it was the best time to fit it in (giving Callahan enough notice to get work off, and it was a bit of a birthday celebration for Cooper and Keaton). We went up and stayed in a nice condo, with a back door that was right by the pool/hot tub ...

We had some memorable meals (a mouse in the house at one restaurant, overpriced breakfast, and a new family favorite, Windy Ridge! But the real reason for the trip was to hit the activities there in Park City. We got a day pass ($$$) for everyone and hit the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster, jumping, climbing, mini golf and a tram to the top of the mountain ... Gray enjoyed his new selfie stick! ;)

here's a video clip of some bouncing boys ...

Cal and Keaton jumping around... #backflippingblackhams

A video posted by JenB (@jenblackham) on Aug 29, 2015 at 7:01pm PDT

... and some cute coaster captures!

It was a great getaway. Gray had taken Keaton and Colton up to Park City a little earlier in the summer (July) to a Psicoblock competition. Crazy climbing over a pool of water (for when they fall!) While it was the middle of summer, it was a little cool up the mountains, especially when the sun went down.

Those were our Park City and Pineview adventures for 2015!

Not Just ME Making Movies

If you know me at all, you are aware that I like to take our home movies (of late, it's usually been sports stuff) and make them into "muvees" (that name referring to the software I use).

But I'm not the ONLY movie maker in the Blackham household anymore! Grayson recently decided to put his new "Go Pro" camera to use, with the RC car he got last Christmas, and then he made his own little movie (using i-movie).    Here it is ...

He had so much fun, 

he went and grabbed the video and photo files
 from his recent  Lake Powell trip 

and made another movie ...

My sister-in-law Alicia also got into the movie making ... 

check out her cute GINGERSNAP video here.

Do YOU make movies with your video files?

Origami Keaton

I'm always on the lookout for books my boys might like. They are all very reluctant readers, and nothing much seems to appeal to them. I saw the book "The Strange Case of Origami Yoda" and thought it might be worth looking into. I checked it out of the library (in both physical format and audio book) and gave it to Keaton to read/listen to. Although he seemed to like it, it did take him FOREVER to get through. In the evenings as he'd be watching TV or playing games I'd ask him "Origami Yoda???" and he'd sigh and go off to put a few minutes of reading in.

At Parent/Teacher conferences, he had a surprise for me. He had picked up book 2 (Darth Paper Strikes Back) from the school library, and had made a little origami Yoda himself! I went ahead and bought book 3 (The Secret of the Fortune Wookie) for him, as at this he seemed quite interested in the series.

While he has continued on with his reading (he just finished book 2!) he's gone crazy over the little origami critters featured in the books. Each book has step-by-step instructions on how to make them, and Keaton has been folding away! He even requested I buy the 4th book (Art2-D2), which is more of a how-to book, and included some specialty origami paper, perfect for making these Star Wars creations. He'd practice a few times with scrap paper, then he'd try with the specialty stuff.

The little boys and I are now reading "Origami Yoda" for our reading time ... we're listening to the audiobook (so I'm not really reading TO the boys, we're all listening together) but it's really cute, different voices and such.  As for Keaton, he's taken his StarWars stuff to school and several kids there are now interested in the series as well. I've ordered another StarWars Origami book for him too.  I know many of these aren't true origami, as you are instructed to cut and paste parts (cousin Corin is a true origami master!). It's been fun to see Keaton excited about his paper projects!

I don't have a memory of Keaton making this video - I didn't help him with it!

https://youtu.be/Ya_O572swFU

M-Day

Ah Mother's Day ... I'm not a big fan (the same goes for birthdays and other similar stuff ... sorry. I do really like Christmas and Thanksgiving though *Ü*). I got cards from the kids and flowers from hubby (aren't they pretty? I have to take pictures, as the flowers fade but the floral photo will always be around).

Another gift from Grayson was a new video camera. If you follow this blog, you're probably aware I enjoy making muvees, especially of the kids sporting events. Grayson doesn't quite understand the need to capture EVERY game ... so I laughed a little that he got me something that will encourage me to do that even more *Ü* I had just been using my digital camera for videos (not even a camcorder) ... I went around the house giving my new gadget a quick test run ...

Landon spoke in Sacrament Meeting. The kids sang a couple songs (I was the substitute chorister for the day). We got our yummy truffle at the end of the meeting. Colton had the talk in Primary. We had seen Pam yesterday at Thanksgiving Point, so we went out to visit my folks Sunday... played some games and ate brownies. Happy Mother's Day!

Happy New Year! 2011!

For the past several years, we've hosted a New Year's Eve party at our home. This year was no exception. Family is invited over and we get out the favorite games and play them all night long. This year we had Grandma and Grandpa, Chris and his boys, D&D and baby Ani ... Shane's family was planning on coming, but they had to cancel due to sickness. Keaton actually wasn't feeling that great either, and he went to bed early, as did Cooper and Colton (and Gray!) Landon abandoned us to go to a church dance (doesn't he look handsome in the picture above?). So it was the grandparents, Callahan and cousins who were the main game players ... a little Blokus, Apples to Apples, Pictureka, Rat-a-tat-Cat, SET and Farkle (my SIL put together this dice game as gifts this year, GREAT instructions found here if you'd like .... it's a new favorite) ... a highlight of the evening was a little earlier, when D&D introduced "Just Dance2" for the Wii, here's a little video ...

We made it to midnight ... but I was very ready for bed (Gray had to go pick up Landon from the dance at 12:40, good thing he got that nap in). Luckily everyone got to sleep in the next morning, January 1 ... a new year. 01/01/11 ... I pointed out the date to the boys at 1:11 as we were in the car headed up to Maga's house. Another family tradition is spending New Year's day at Maga's.

For the past ... I don't know for sure, 25 years or more, Maga has been making this delectable pastry wreath, it's very flaky and flavorful, and it makes people break any resolutions they had just made, YUM!

Basketball Begins

Basketball season has begun ... with Callahan playing basketball year round, basketball never really ends for the Blackham family. But during the winter months, it's ALL the Blackham boys, and Callahan plays on TWO teams. Saturdays are busy with Jr. Jazz games. There are several practices during the week ... Friday nights have been taken over by basketball practices ... Mom and Dad had to move their date night to Thursdays.

Cooper's Game

Cooper had played a lot of basketball out front during the summer, so I had planned on signing him up for Jr. Jazz when the time came. As the deadline drew near, I asked Cooper if he wanted to play basketball. He said no (he just wanted to play soccer). So ... I didn't sign him up. That week, a transformation took place and the kid became OBSESSED with basketball... playing it, watching it ... he knows all the NBA player's names. The registration date at the rec center had passed, but I checked with them and they had a team with an open spot, so we were able to get him signed up after all. He got his cast off the week of his first game, but he's still wearing a protective brace while playing sports for a few weeks. Cooper's had three games so far, and he's really been a star player each game.

Keaton's Game

Keaton has played Jr. Jazz for a couple of years now. Last year was a bit rough, we had actually considered NOT putting Keaton on a team this year, but he said he really wanted to play, so ... he's playing. He's had three games so far and has done great every game. It will be interesting to see how he handles a game when (if) they do NOT win and he doesn't get multiple baskets in.

Callahan's Jr. Jazz Game

Callahan's Superleague Game

Callahan is continuing with his same team for Jr. Jazz (although they lost a couple players, so they'll just have eight on the team ... more playing time?). They will be playing in the more competitive "team" division. Unfortunately, the location the 6th graders were slated to play in had some scheduling conflicts, so they did NOT have games the first couple weeks (much to Callahan's dismay!). Luckily, Superleague has started on time (basically the same team as last year, lost a couple kids, gained a couple others). Callahan did AWESOME in both his first games ... gave Mom plenty of video highlights *Ü* Between the two teams he usually has four practices and two games a week ... Callahan loves every minute!

Landon is reffing again. This year he's over the 4th grade team division. When it was time to pick him up from his shift, I went a little early to see him in action. Whereas many of these kid refs are very hesitant and quiet when it comes to making calls, that wasn't Landon. He was confident and self assured (he had great training last year). I was very impressed with him (I could be a bit biased, but I really think he did a wonderful job).

Basketball is just beginning ... looking forward to a great season!

Making Movies

In 2004, I found some software that helped me take our home videos and photographs and make them into short little movies set to music. We had a link from the computer to the television, so the kids could watch the movies over and over, and they did. Ultimately, there were equipment issues, (the computer crashed) and while the movies weren't lost, they did disappear for a bit, as did my movie making software.

Fast forward five years ... I repurchased my Muvee software (several different new versions available, from basic (less expensive) to advanced (more expensive) ... I bought the mid-priced one) and I started taking more video and making movies again. I've posted several here and I'm sure now that I'm really back in business I'll be posting even more. Callahan LOVES my Muvees of his basketball games ... it is a great way to capture them (I edit out all the misses and just show all the great shots).

I started uploading them to YouTube, as a bit of a backup, and so that they could be easily accessed and shared. As I pulled out the old muvees from years back, the boys gathered around the computer and watched them all, laughing and pointing and it was wonderful to see.

Muvee had a little contest on their site, calling for sports videos. I submitted the one I made of Colton's Summer Soccer and won first prize, which was a $20 Itunes GC and the latest Muvee software. I do get stuck in my ways though, I can see me still using the old software out of habit. As I looked over the muvees from four years ago, I can see the changes in the software that give me more options (captions, focusing on parts of the photos) ... it's just hard for me to try NEW things, even if they are better *Ü* Grayson did get me a new computer last year ... and I've already filled it up. I need more space for all my music, pictures and video!

Being in a Muvee Making Mood, I went ahead and took the video and pictures from Cooper's Fall soccer season. I had put off making the movie, thinking I'd get a little more footage, then I'd forget to charge my camera, then Cooper broke his arm and missed the last game ... so here is the belated Kicking it with Cooper Muvee production (below) ... and a list of ALL the Muvees to date (and there's a link to the page in the column to the right as well). I'll try to keep it updated as I keep making muvees! *Ü*

SubZero

There's a new ice cream shop in town (actually ... just over in Jordan Landon, between Target and Best Buy) ... it's called SUBZERO. It's not a regular ice cream shop, it's even different from the Marble Slab or Cold Stone ... here, they actually MAKE the ice cream, anyway you want it, right in front of you. You start with your liquid base, (premium cream, lowfat milk, or soy ... they have several choices) then you choose your flavors, then your mix-ins. You can create unique ice creams. Then, they add liquid nitrogen to freeze it right in front of you. I grabbed a little video ...

So ... we've already been TWICE ... the first time Gray got chocolate/peanutbutter with Reeces cups mixed in, Landon got mint chocolate chip, Callahan got cookie dough, Keaton got banana (looked bright yellow like Laffy Taffy), Cooper got chocolate and Colton got vanilla ... I just taste tested everyone's. The next time, I got cookie dough (with the lower fat base), Landon tried chocolate malt, Callahan got smore (chocolate, marshmallow and graham cracker), Keaton got orange with chocolate flakes, Cooper got chocolate again, and Colton got the banana. Grayson had his weigh in the next morning, so he abstained (except for a couple sample bites). The kids are already thinking of new combinations to try. Now I'm not really an ice cream connoisseur ... I'm pretty happy with the generic vanilla or the Kroger Mint Chocolate Chip, but that "smore" ice cream ... it was pretty good. If you get creative and make something you can't just buy off the shelf at the local store, than it could justify a trip in. I think we'll be going back.

AniMaTioN

Ssssscouts ... Grayson has recently been called as the leader of the varsity scouts (Landon's group). He's served in many other leadership roles before and often as he would prep for the various activities, I would be surprised at the variety of things the scouts needed to do to fulfill the assorted requirements. These past couple weeks, they have been working of finishing up the POTTERY merit badge. One of the nights they created various clay figures, and then for the final activity, they used a camera and recorded a stop-motion animation. Landon initially groooaanned when he learned it was "clay-time" again, but then he and the other boys had a blast. It took a couple of HOURS to create the 14 second clip shown here ...

Easter Activities

When I was young, a friend introduced me to meringue nests. She would make them friends each year, topped with a little peep chick and a couple of jellybean "eggs". Now, I make them myself each year and the kids look forward to this Easter tradition. They are SO yummy, flaky and chewy, super sweet, melt-in-your mouth good. They are also very messy! They break into bits as you bite, and I always have quite a mess to clean up after the kids eat theirs.
We have a big egg hunt over at Grandma and Grandpa Westra's house with the cousins. There are a lot of kids, so we need a lot of eggs ... does this look like enough? I try to put in lots of little toys, stickers and non-edible stuff as well as just candy. The bigger boys helped hide ... the little ones enjoyed hunting (Colton, Cooper and Keaton in the photos below) ...


EARLY Easter morning (6:30) ... the kids snuck out of bed to see their loot. They were trying to be sneaky, as Mom and Dad were still asleep. They had a flashlight and a camping lantern ... but they weren't quiet enough (I caught them) ...

...and another photo with the lights on ...

The boys get Legos every year (putting them together above). The bigger boys were thrilled with a new pellet gun (you'd think the Easter Bunny would be opposed to such an item, wouldn't you?). Even though it was cold and snowy, the boys couldn't wait to go out back and give it a try (nice smile Grayson!).

Later in the day when it warmed up a bit, even the little boys got in on the action ...

Gray bought me a pretty Easter lily ... very fragrant too ... Hope YOU all had an "egg"cellent Easter! *Ü*