Room Rearrange 2017

I've written a few "Room Rearrange" blog posts over the years. The front bedroom (the red one in the lower right corner in the picture above) has been through the most changes. It was the nursery when we moved in over 20 years ago (The Noah Nursery). In 2011, we let Landon move in (New, U of U). It was his room for several years, until he left on his mission in February of 2015. We did a HUGE room re-arrange then. Callahan moved into Landon's old room, the two little boys, who had been sharing the back upstairs bedroom moved downstairs (to the room Callahan and Keaton had been sharing) and Keaton moved up to their old bedroom (Callahan and Keaton getting their own rooms for the first time). 

But two years has sped by, and Landon is coming home from Mexico. What to do? Where would we put him? Downstairs, there was an extra bedroom. Unfinished when we originally built, it had been a storage room. When we completed the basement, the extra bedroom was my scrapbook room, the "Lego" room, an office for Gray ... but it had evolved into "Middle Earth" ... a dumping spot for everything and anything. But now it was time for it to be a bedroom.

I'll admit, the thought of clearing everything out was daunting! I knew it would take me a while, so I started a few months before Landon's return date. The picture below shows some of the situation ...

The top picture is the room in question ... and that is after I'd cleared out a bunch of stuff. The bottom picture is the family room ping pong table, covered and surrounded with said stuff. Many trips to donate to DI. Postings on the neighborhood site for anyone who wanted to pick up some of our discards. 

We ended up stealing the headboard and switching desks (and the chairs that went with them) from the front bedroom into Keaton's back bedroom. I found a new headboard for the upstairs room on KSL classifieds, and it came with a bed frame which came in handy as we bought a new twin bed for the basement. I picked up a new comforter, and gave it to Keaton, moving his old one into Callahan's new room. I grabbed a new comforter set for Landon's room (as the one there was several years old). Then we moved all of Callahan's stuff downstairs, leaving the upstairs bedroom, Landon's bedroom, ready and waiting.

Cleaning out the basement room , attempting to find spots to save the things I wanted to hang onto (I'm not ready to give up all my scrapbook stuff yet) caused me to clean out the food storage room, space in the shed outside, the game closet, the storage closet ... even upstairs, I made changes, re-arranges, to the two closets (coat closet and den closet). One thing just lead to another, but finally ...

DONE.

whew ...

Happy New Year 2017

Becoming a Blackham ... New Year's Day has become completely connected to the idea of Pammy's pastry wreath. It's a tradition going back 27 years! This flaky creation is a TON of work, but oh so yummy. At times, Maga has mentioned that maybe, just maybe, this will be the last year. They are just so time and labor intensive.

This year ... Uncle Clay made sure the tradition would continue!

Clayton is known for his homemade donuts, so I guess it shouldn't be such a stretch that he'd accept such an undertaking. I think he'd done a trial run earlier in the year, and they turned out perfectly to welcome in 2017.

Grayson is more than happy to keep up HIS tradition of eating said pastry wreath!  Callahan had to work (as always) and missed out on the gathering ... but I made sure I cut off a big piece and took it home to him. He said it was heaven.  So Maga could have had the year off (other than some overseeing) but I guess she couldn't quite give it up, and made some for her work ...

Lucky co-workers!

Now earlier, on New Year's Eve, we had our usual Grandparents and Games night (our own little tradition going on several years now). We had a late start this year, as Grayson had snagged great seats to the Jazz game downtown. He, the two little boys, and a friend of Colton (as Keaton nor Cal really wanted to go, friends win out over family for them ... but for Colton, a friend was better than a brother anyway! Game started at 6:00, so they were home by about 9:00.

Second row seats!

... and the Jazz won too!

As mentioned ... Callahan and Keaton were off with friends, but the two little boys, my folks and Gray and I played some Speed Rummikub (several games ... because Grandma said we couldn't quit until she won a game, and that took a while). Then a few rounds of Scattergories and then it was time for the countdown.

We played a couple games of Progressive Rummy after midnight, but called it quits before finishing (as the game, with seven hands can take a while) ... we'll  have to get together again and play more. Colton and Cooper didn't seem to have any trouble staying awake this year (they both fell asleep last year. Cooper woke up for the photo but Colton was out cold!)  Way past bedtime for Gray and I though!

2016 Recap ...

2016 at a glance - I hit quite a few topics in the blog this year (although I didn't get to everything), did a few monthly reviews, but I still like to have an annual recap. Top pictures. Top stories. So here goes (written in retrospect in 2020 after reviewing photos, calendar pages, journal entries and letters to Landon). I'm sure I forgot something ...

• Landon: Was gone on his mission. Updates from him on the missionary blog.
• Callahan: Finished up his junior year in the spring, started his senior year! Worked a ton at KFC. Bought his first car (Dodge Charger/Black), went on the pioneer trek ... and basketball of course. Homecoming/started dating Kate (which writing in retrospect, is his future wife!)
• Keaton: Finished up 9th grade at West Hills and started his sophomore year at Copper Hills. Early morning driver's ed, learners and license ... but no car! A girlfriend?? Root canal and the year started with broken wrist.
• Cooper: Ended his elementary years with Shakespeare and the Science Fair and started 7th grade. Very into Pokemon Go and playing Junior Jazz with friends. Ran a 5k and often beating Mom in Fitbit steps.
• Colton: Finished up 4th grade, started 5th. Never stopped playing basketball all year~ two teams. Had his (and Gray's) last derby for our family. Flipping water bottles was a craze this year ... one that Colton participated in!

Grayson: Started smoking! He bought a smoker, and then spent the rest of the year perfecting ribs, brisket, pulled pork, etc. We hosted Thanksgiving with Gray preparing all the meat. Work at Symphony always keeps him busy, but he still managed 54 derbies this year! Got nice black tables and some cones for his setup. He and his work buddies rented tuxes to attend a wedding, and then Gray "catered" a wedding with chocolate fountains. 

Jen: Still doing Zumba, subbing during the summer. Keeping track of food/fitness with the JenBsJourney blog, and always working on weight (161-180 for the year). Got "blondified" and added audiobooks to the reading repertoire. Read 137 books, 52 were audio. Added "Swig" cookies to the baking book.

More from the year ...

• Medical: Not a great year for Gray with Meniere's and Sciatica. Had an MRI, ENT visit and a biopsy on a mole. Keaton had a nasty allergy attack (cashews) and Coop reacted to Remi (the dog next door) a bit. Aunt Amy was in a freak rappelling accident.
• Travel/Trips: Gray had a few getaways ... Vegas in January with work. Bear Lake in August. He and Ana went to Seattle (Fall Food Tour #2) in November. There had been a family trip planned for the summer, but it got called off (due to Gray's Meniere's. There were conflicts with basketball too). 
• Pineview: Lots of trips to the lake (seven) ... a couple with the boys and their friends, some work buddies too. One trip the trailer got a flat, Gray had to bring the boys home, buy a tire and go back for the wave runners.
• Basketball: Cal finished up his JV year and is now a Varsity star! Keaton's wrist derailed his final 9th-grade games with West Hills and affected spring teams. Both boys went to St. George for the summer team camp. Keaton made the sophomore team in the fall. Coop is playing Junior Jazz and Colton stays super busy with two teams, Wolves (6th grade) and Grizzlies (5th grade). Gray got some great seats for NBA games this year (work perks), they hit a summer league game, and we went to see the Harlem Globetrotters as a family (sans Cal, who was working as always). 
• Ducks: Big year for the birds. Eggs in the incubator (only one hatched), five adopted babies. Backyard for much of the summer then they flew to the canal, where Jen continued to visit and feed them. We had a wild pair in the spring, resulting in momma and 13 babies in the backyard too!
• Maga's Menagerie: Two sets of kittens from Princess. Easter chickens, ending up with eggs all year. She got a little hamster ... and a dog!
• Pammy's Party: Gray set up a big surprise celebration for Pam's 70th birthday. 
• Gadgets: Got a new lock for the front door ... LOVE it. Keypad entry. New garage door with an app... can open and close it remotely and receive notifications. Hot Snaps and hose connectors. The boys got a Playstation and then WiiU.  Keaton enjoyed having the portable A/C in his bedroom this summer. The younger boys upgraded to iphones, so Mommy can stalk them with Find My Friends and Coop could play Pokemon Go. Does the smoker count as a gadget?
• Politics: Election year... oy! Vote for Pedro (Uncle Shane's Halloween costume ... timely!)

Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas from the Blackham Bunch

Maybe we should have tried a few of these family photos without the kitties ... they are less cooperative than the kiddies! Colton actually seemed to have Joy handled, it was Oreo in MY arms that was causing the most commotion!

The Blackham Christmas festivities begin right after Thanksgiving.

The annual Leg Lamp Lighting at Uncle Clay's house ...

... a lot of people, a LOT of donuts!

... about a week before Christmas, the extended Blackham bunch gets together, and for several years, Santa and Mrs. Claus have put in an appearance. We were sad that Callahan had to work and missed out on the family and fun.

Callahan also had to work Christmas Eve, and missed out on the Westra family party too. Soup and breadsticks for dinner. The annual slideshow (Westra2016) viewing, the candy bar game, and we even did the nativity this year, after skipping it for several ...

Uncle Derek was definitely the STAR of the show! A big thank you to some of the older cousins who were willing to dress up and play a part. The Blackham Boys are noticeably absent ... absolutely uncooperative. 

It was a rather lean Christmas (not a bad thing! I mean what do you do when you already have everything?). Grayson HAD put in a hot tub ... so I guess that was the "big gift" for the family. He even hit it first thing in the morning, before the boys were awake. We did have a white Christmas, so he had to shovel a bit to get there, and we had to put the boys to work clearing the driveway after our Christmas morning was completed. 

Landon had sent us a cute picture ...

...and then we got in a family one via Facetime a little later.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas ...

We've had this little "Santa ski slope" for 20 years. Simple, but so cute ;)

A video posted by JenB (@jenblackham) on Dec 26, 2016 at 8:12am PST

Allergy Alert

Oh no! Allergic Alert!

When Keaton was a mere munchkin, we figured out he had allergy issues. He would react badly to cow's milk and cheese, egg(pasta), even to steak. The worst was when he grabbed a nut, a cashew. His little face would get spots, there would be some swelling ... not enough that it interfered with his breathing thank goodness.

Ironically, on the day I was taking Keaton in for allergy testing, I dropped off the older boys at Maga's. Little Landon ate a brownie (with nuts) and immediately said his throat was hot.  I finally put two and two together, that he had allergies as well. Through the years, after eating a bit of a cookie, he'd want a popsicle out of the blue. His throat was hot and itchy, and that was his little way of counter-acting it! He hadn't shown physical signs like Keaton had, but now noting Keaton's reactions, I finally figured it out!

As we added baby Colton to the family, he appeared to have allergies as well. We did end up at the ER with him once. Through the years, Landon and Colton have several accidental exposures to nuts. Nothing too serious. Usually, they would feel the tingle in their mouth immediately, so much so that they rarely even swallowed the offending allergy item. Benedryl and sleeping it off was the usual result.

Keaton outgrew his allergies to dairy and egg. Over the years, he added in peanut butter with no problems. Nutella (hazelnuts) has been a happy recent addition to his diet. He has eaten Maga's pastry wreath (with almond paste and slivered almonds) and had a banana nut (walnut) muffin without incident. In fact ... since that last cashew catastrophe when he was about 15-months old, I don't think we'd had ANY allergy issues. Had he outgrown them all?

He decided on a little experiment.  

He ate a cashew. 

Still allergic.

It took a couple minutes (and he ate more than one cashew) ... but then it started. First, with a tingle. Then his lips got swollen. Then the spots appeared. First on his face, then all over his body. I mean ALL over. His nose was running and would not stop. He went through an entire box of Kleenex. And oh, the itching! His head, his chest ... other manly areas. Keaton put oven mitts over his hands in an attempt to not scratch himself silly. He was red, and hot. He stalked outside, sans shirt, into the snow. I kept asking about breathing, but the swelling didn't seem to extend to his throat, but we kept constant tabs and were ready to rush to the ER if needed. I called a doctor and we were given a prescription for oral steroids and an epi-pen (we had administered Benedryl immediately as it all started). We were still on the verge of heading to the hospital when Keaton emerged from a cold shower, which had seemed to help. He'd moved out of the scary, angry itchy phase into the funny, drunk Benadryl phase. This phase was much easier to handle ... and even get a photo and video.

Ummm, allergy. We were a step away from an ER visit, but with Benedryl and time the attack faded. With our kids and their allergies, it seems mostly a topical response. Definitely showing (and feeling ... itchy!) on the skin. He had bumps all over his body, and his poor eyes got so swollen! Nose wouldn't stop running. The drunk benedryl funny phase was easier to handle than the insane angry itchy episode preceding it. Feeling a ton better this morning and is heading to school ... he even has a basketball game today.

A video posted by JenB (@jenblackham) on Dec 8, 2016 at 6:58am PST

This initial eating of the cashew had been around 9:00 at night. We didn't figure we were over the hump until almost 11:00. After the exhaustion of the attack itself, plus the Benedryl, Keaton was out cold in no time. I had a little trouble sleeping after all the "excitement" and also was still somewhat worried, so I was up and checking on him every hour in the night to make sure he was still breathing. There was some residual swelling around his eyes in the morning, but other than that, he seemed fine, and was off to school and sports as usual the next day.

A few days later, Keaton had a school assignment to write a poem for Language Arts.

Of course he turned to recent events for inspiration. First, an attempt at a limerick ...

The boy's face was swollen and red.

He was itching all over his head.

He ate a cashew

He's allergic, it's true

Some Benedryl, and then to bed!

... and then Keaton and his friend came up with this rhyme ...

I ate cashews

I nearly died

My throat swelled up

My tongue got tied

My eyes dilated

My skin was dried

"I guess I'm still allergic"

I sadly sighed

No more cashews for Keaton!

Grayson Started Smoking!

Ribs Anyone?

It was back in May (2016). Gray had his trailer hooked to his truck and inside I saw ... a BBQ? I looked at him questioningly and he sheepishly replied "Happy Father's Day to Me?" It was a Yoder Smoker, and I have to say I'm pretty pleased that my husband has started smoking!

I did buy him that HUGE wooden cutting board for Father's Day (after he sent me the link for it) and both it and the smoker have gotten used a lot this past year.

Ribs are a family favorite! 

They are so tender, they literally fall off the bones!

... and Sunday morning smoked bacon. Yummy!

I guess I haven't grabbed a picture of the pulled pork. It's delicious! 

Grayson smoked a turkey (well, multiple turkeys) for Thanksgiving.

He's smoked a prime rib and tri-tip.

... and then there's brisket

 Inject that baby!

... and the finished product!

It's ALL Grayson ... but as brisket takes hours and hours, one Monday he put it on before he left in the morning, and then had me help wrap it mid-day (as I am home and he's hard at work). There was a bit of a learning curve at the beginning, figuring out how long things take. There were a couple of times we were planning on dinner, only to have a stall, and the meat coming in hours late. There was a time or two it wasn't done until after 11:00 at night! But practice makes perfect, and Grayson's perfected things at this point ... and we've enjoyed his practice! He still likes to experiment with different spices and sauces and recipes. He'll browse youtube channels for smoking tips and tricks and sometimes he just goes out to the garage and sticks his head inside and sniffs. 

Mmmmm .... smells delicious!

Tastes that way too!

Car Catch-Up 2016

In previous "car" posts I'd mentioned Gray's (then Landon's, then Callahan's) truck, the Avalanche, and the issues it had. It wouldn't pass emissions testing. In 2014, we managed to get the registration renewed on an exemption for a year ... and before we knew it, registration rolled around again and we were in the same boat. Pay for repairs? Buy a different car for Cal to use? What Grayson ended up doing was buying a nice new family car, and having Callahan drive the Suburban, which had been "my" car for several years.

Introducing ... the Dodge Durango. 

August of 2015.

Now, if you'd have asked me (Gray doesn't really ask me) I would have said I didn't need all the bells and whistles. I don't care. I just want a car that goes when I need it to go. Reliability. But this baby HAS all the bells and whistles ... and I like them. The rearview camera? LOVE it. The keyless ignition? LOVE IT.  The heated steering wheel makes winter so much more bearable. Stereo inputs with iphone attachments make music and audiobooks easily enjoyable. Auto start and the easy open back gate ... it's all great. So now I'm spoiled.  If I ever had to go back to driving the big ol burb (the Durango was also a bit more compact, while still seating six) it felt so old and clunky!

Callahan was the one driving the suburban now. That was his car for his Junior year. He'd often pack it full of friends and drive them around. As school ended, Gray brought up the idea of a new car for Callahan. One that he'd be at least partially paying for himself. Cal wasn't that picky, I think it was more a Grayson idea to look at Mustangs and Chargers. 

 Cal's new car ...

 Meanwhile ... Keaton got his learners permit.

... and then his license. 

Keaton didn't really drive much his sophomore year. Callahan was a senior and was driving him to school. I'd have to pick him up occasionally when Cal's schedule had a conflict. Unfortunately, Keaton was carless for quite a while, as Grayson had said "bye bye burb" and sold it. But with 2017, Landon would be coming home and needing a car, and Callahan would be graduating, so Keaton would need something when school started (if not before, he got a job, at KFC, which is close, but still a struggle if he needed to borrow a car or get dropped off and picked up)... so more car changes would be coming in 2017!

Cooper driving is closer than we'd like to think.
... and Colton already has an eye on the goods. :)

It's been a while since Cooper and I have "collected" license plates, 

but I find myself still looking ...for out of state plates or punny personalizations.

... I don't know whose car this was, but it made me laugh!

Muhahahahahah!

Thanksgiving 2016

Thanksgiving! In the past, it's been a relatively relaxing holiday. We'd just pack up and go to Grandma's and eat. At times I'd bring rolls and a dessert, but it wasn't much work. This year though, we were hosting. I made my annual turkey cookies a couple of days before ... they aren't for the actual Thanksgiving gathering, but more just for us. Silly children prefer them without all the candy corn, so I left several plain. But me? I love the full bird. Especially the day after making them, when the cookie and candy corn have softened overnight.

Clay's clan was going to hit the buffet at Grand America as we all did last year, so with our family, Maga, Olivia and Ana's family, it was an even dozen. We moved the couches and set up an extra table, and pulled out our serving stuff. Grayson was smoking the turkey ... turkeyS, plural. It was more because he wanted to try different presentations than to make sure we had enough food. There was a regular basted/seasoned turkey, one "spatchcocked" ... basically butterflied, one breast wrapped in bacon, and some ham.  I'd bought him a new huge ricer for his birthday, which is what he uses to make his mashed potatoes. Pam brought Lion House Rolls and pies and Ana brought a salad. I made jello cubes and my chocolate pie in a pan dessert. We were set ...

We started eating as Gray carved the first bird, and everyone was pretty much done before he even started on the second! Oodles of meat. Gray even set up one of the fountains with caramel flowing as another dessert option. As if anyone had any room ...

We joke that Pammy never gets a warm meal, as she's always still in the kitchen working as everyone eats. Today ... she sat, and Gray was the last man standing. I think he got to enjoy some of the fruits of his labor though. There are plenty of leftovers. We sent some home with everyone and still have a fridge full. It was a good day. I enjoyed having it at our house ... I was able to sneak away and lay down on my bed for a bit after eating!

Pokemon GO

We've always been a Pokemon family. We have all the Gameboy games, seen all the videos, have a ton of the action figures and trading cards. The interest in it comes and goes over the years, as the boys age in and out of the obsession. But in summer of 2016, a NEW app game was released. 

PokemonGo! 

Callahan was the first Blackham boy to get interested. He downloaded it and spent a couple crazy days catching Pokemon and then ... his game crashed, and reset, and he lost all interest. Cooper was a week or so behind the initial opening. He doesn't have a phone, and the game does require service, GPS and data usage. Landon's old iphone is now the "Family Phone" and I told Cooper he could use that. Cooper has LOVED Pokemon Go!

... and it really got him GOing!

He's been uber active for a while now. Playing basketball, running on the treadmill, other activities ... but with Pokemon Go, he'd go out for long walks. He'd walk to the church and the neighborhood park, as they were Pokestops. He'd circle the neighborhood catching Pokemon and adding distance to help hatch his eggs.  When I'd run errands, he'd come in the car with me, just to see if we'd pass Pokestops or find creatures along the way. 

Once after dropping Colton off at basketball practice, a Raichu appeared on the "nearby". I'll admit, we drove around aimlessly (but anxiously) attempting to locate it, and then it appeared! I thought Cooper was going to hyperventilate! Another fun catch was a Snoralax and a Lickitung.  

Of course, I'm still not as cool as Uncle Clay, 

who caught a Charizard downtown for Cousin Will (who is also very into the game). 

As most churches (LDS or otherwise) are either a Pokestop or a gym, I started taking the phone with me to my Zumba classes (held at local churches) when Cooper was at school. All my locations were Pokestops, so in-between songs (Pokestops "reset" after about five minutes) I'd spin and collect pokeballs, potions, eggs, etc. There were some Pokemon too, and I tried a couple times but hadn't been able to catch them (and hesitated to waste Pokeballs). I finally had success! I caught a Pickchu! Since then, I've improved my throw and caught a multitude more ... for Cooper of course. Unfortunately, the churches, while having wifi, disallow such games as PokemonGo. They are blocked. So still using data, there was one month where we went over on our plan. We've tried to cut back.

Pokemon Go itself is free ... but there are in-app purchases. For Cooper's birthday, we gifted him some credits and he bought a bigger bag (so he could hold more items), some incense and lures (which draw Pokemon to you), some egg incubators ... while I'm not a fan of throwing money away on video games, Cooper has been enjoying this, and getting out so much more, I've felt it was worth it! While his weather phobia has ebbed, he's still been a homebody. With this game, he'll still go walking even in bad weather and looks forward to trips out of the house.

After some uproar about safety (people who couldn't stop playing while they drove) the company changed things up, making you unable to catch critters or collect Pokestops if you are over a certain speed (15 mph? 20?) ... even as a passenger (the "I've a passenger" option had been available before). This did impact Cooper's enjoyment of the game a LOT ... and with winter coming, and not being able to walk around (treadmill miles don't count toward the steps needed to hatch eggs), at this point, he's losing interest. I'm a little sad about it ...

It was a Pokemon Go summer and fall. 

I'll never forget it!

The Dog Next Door

The neighbor's next door got a dog! The Blackham Boys love dogs but don't have one, so next-door will have to do for now. When the neighbors would have a weekend getaway (sans puppy) or just a long work day, they would hire the Blackham boys to come over and give Remi potty/play breaks. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Remi, or Colton and Cooper. Keaton and Callahan would often participate as well. 

While nothing compared to Keaton's allergic reaction (to cashews) ... Cooper would sometimes get a little speckled after playing with Remi. It would not happen every time though, so we're not exactly sure. Maybe not the fur, but the salvia (if she jumps and licks his face?) although that seemed to happen almost every time, and some interactions he was fine. A little Benedryl and rest and Coop would be back to normal ... and back to Remi.  The boys would continue to help out over the years.

Here's a little video ...

The first tiny clip is September 2016. The second is November.
You can see how quickly Remi got bigger!