Asked and Answered

 We've got an engagement!

Congrats Landon and Valentina!

Four Blackham Boys and a 15k

Grayson has been running many half marathons with his buddies ... this weekend, he proposed a 15k to his sons. Cal was out of town in St. George, and Colton in Oregon, but Landon, Keaton and Coop said okay.  So early Saturday (April 11) they headed out. The race started at 8:00, and they were done by 9:30.

At home, before the race, I asked, who among the four would win. Landon laughed and said "not me" and Keaton shook his head. Gray had already stated he expected the boys to beat him. Coop smiled and said "I guess it will be me then ..." and it was.

Some of the shots captured by the race camera ...

I peeked in via Life360 ...

Coop at enough of a clip that the app thought he was in a car.

Keaton and Gray had Strava tracking them ... always fun to see the route mapped out and get the stats. 

Post-race picture with their medals.

... and a little refueling after the race.

St. Patty's ~ 2026

St. Patricks Day isn't a big celebration day ... but I have aquired some green hats over the years. My Zumba class was the day before (Monday, March 16) but I sent out a group text encouraging wearing green, and we had a couple of Irish Jigs on the playlist. 

I set out the hats, telling Grayson and Cooper than they could/should wear them to work the next day ... Cooper declined, but Gray actually went ahead and did it. He took a picture for me, and then got a little help from AI to make another photo even more festive! 

Got green? No pinchies! 

BlackhamBunch ~ 2025 at a Glance

I hope to get a more in-depth write-up/review of the year ... but until then, here's the collage created for the Westra calendar/slideshow and the little blurb for the newsletter.

Jen and Gray and their five Blackham Boys live in West Jordan. Gray is still with Symphony Homes. He had an active year, with "75 Hard" and 16 half-marathons/four triathlons and a 100 mile bike ride. Jen continues baking sourdough, teaching Zumba and is all about books! Landon shifted from the West Jordan LKL location to the Spanish Fork store, and found an apartment in American Fork. He's added a girlfriend, a puppy and a kitty to these changes! Cal supervises quality control for Camson Electric and his wife Kate is working towards her Masters at UVU. They enjoyed a trip to Italy. Keaton works with Cal at Camson and received his Journeyman license. It's been a "OneWheel/Unicycle" year for him. Cooper is moving up at DLP Unlimited, added forklift training to his resume. He ran his first half-marathon and is always up for pickleball. Colton finished up his first year at Clackamas and is back on the basketball team as a sophomore.

There were multiple posts throughout the year, and four quarterly reports compiling all the events from those three month periods. Here's a compiled/annual 1secEverday2025 ...  

 https://youtu.be/rdrDiI_yrS0

Blackham Bunch Quarterly Report - Q4/2025

 2025/Q4  ~ The Blackham Bunch in October, November, December

Wrapping up 2025 with a recap of the activities in October, November and December. There are the usual holidays; Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays for Jen/Gray and Colton. The usual stuff ... pickleball, basketball. Hale Theater, Wicked, Bargatzee, Derek's Derby, Fisher House, and a few trips to Portland too ...

• Gray a Go-Go: GB was running races; Antelope half, Mission Bay Triathlon, Haunted Half, Portland Pumkin Half, Snow Canyon Half, Thankful Half. A little getaway to Wendover too. 
• Travel: Jen and Gray flew out to Washington, to catch some of Colton's preseason scrimmages, then the whole family made it out at the end of December to Portland/Clackamas (Bamboo Sushi Green Machines, Salt&Straw, three games/WINS at Clackamas, seeing Colton's apartment and visiting Kolby and Jami). Cal and Kate also had a Wyoming getaway in October. Gray flew out to San Diego for his triathlon, and to Portland (didn't connect with Colton) for a comedy show and a half, also in October. 
• Basketball: Cal continued playing in a number of men's leagues, alas, second place at both SJ and Tville this season. Colton's sophomore year at Clackamas started up, preseason scrimmages and games, some stitches. 
• Seeing Shows: Every year we try to attend at show at Hale with the folks. We saw Sister Act in October. Olivia set up a girls night out to see Wicked (part 2). GrayBlack and his buddies went to a see Rory Scovell in Portland, and then Symphony had a Bargatzee night, and GB was able to snag tickets for Keaton and Coop to attend too. 
• Keaton's Adventures: Still hitting the One-Wheel and Unicycle, Keaton also got out Canyoneering and other outdoor adventures with friends. He also wrote up some of his current interests (as a Christmas present to Mom) ... perfect for blog posts (upcoming). 
• Minecraft Mondays (and one weekend retreat): Coop and his buddies have been gathering virtually every other Monday to play Minecraft. One weekend in December, they pulled an all-nighter as well.  
• Spotify Wrapped: Coop and Keaton obsess over this every year!
• Birthdays: The boys came over on Jen's Bday for cake, and then we did the traditional Tepanyaki dinner over the weekend (between Jen and Gray's bdays), more cake after dinner (a lemon jello cake that fell just a bit). Gray had a few birthday celebrations with work/friends. Colton stayed in Oregon for his birthday, to spend it with Haley. He got two cakes, one there, and then a belated birthday cake when he got home to Utah (home for Christmas). 
• Holidays: Halloween costumes from Landon (Holy Guacamole) and Colton/Haley (firefighter and dalmation). Coop pointed out the DOTS (Colton's nickname) in our Halloween candy. Lots of pumpkins from the garden, but we didn't carve any. We hosted Thanksgiving and celebrated Christmas with the Blackham and Westra side of the family. 

I think that's pretty much what was happening during Q4/2025.

Here's a live look, one second style ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqe1LNVWLiA

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXvpv-_77j8

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN5yrdGWr4w

#JenBsBooks ~ 2025

... at the end of each month, I grab the cover images of all the books I read and create a collage. I include the total number of books and the pages read. Sometimes I include some extra details. I also try to do an annual book review post with my other stats from Goodreads and Storygraph (when/if I get that done, I'll post a link). This is my little Online Library as I look back on what I read, and how many I can actually remember!

Vera vs Stuffies

Costco carries these cute stuffed chicken doggy toys. I've bought a few for Vera, and around Halloween, there were two "pirate" versions. I bought both. While they are some of the sturdier dog toys, they still don't last that long when once introduced to Miss Vera. 

Cal and Kate had visited, and taken home one of the chickens, but it wasn't long before Cal asked if the second was available. It was time. He took some pictures, the new vs the one Vera had been playing with. One leg gone. Back and head opened, stuffing out.  How long before the new chicken is in the same shape?  Vera looks so innocent in the picture! 

Vera is "ruff" on stuffies! Another post not long after the chicken ...

Cal mentioned Vera seemed drawn to BLUE toys, 

so when I saw this little elephant, I picked it up ...

Ears ... easy come, easy go, and gone!

Thanksgiving 2025

Thanksgiving has always been more of a Blackham side holiday. Pammy would go all out with decor and delicious fixings. Clay&Courtney's crew would alternate years with Courtney's side of the family.  After Pammy's passing, we've alternated between C&C's house or hosting (and one year trying out the buffet at the Grand). This was a year C&C were with the Cullimore side, so we planned to have Thanksgiving at our house. Olivia, Ana and the boys joining. Missing Cal&Kate, in St. George with the Allens, and Colton at Haley's house. 

Grayson actually started the day with a half-marathon. Not just a 5k Turkey Trot, but the full 13.1 miles. Usually he likes to rest a bit after (understandably) but today he got straight to work, getting turkey breasts, ham and prime rib on the smoker. 

I'd made roll dough on Wednesday, and got rolls rolled out (orange and regular dinner rolls) and rising, the orange rolls baked (and iced). I'd prepped jello cubes and my CoolWhip dessert on Wednesday too (I hadn't planned properly and had to have Cooper stop at the store to pick up said Cool Whip on the way home from work), and hard boiled some eggs, which I deviled Thursday morning. I peeled potatoes and Gray finished them up (he's got a process, boiled, then through the ricer, then whipped, lots of butter, yum!) Simple Stovetop Stuffing and basil carrots.  There was even gravy (something we don't usually make just for us). 

Cleared of the kitchen table ... we so seldom actually sit down and eat there. With the numbers we had (10) we set up another table in the family room. Note to self, keep some tablecloths on hand. I found a turquoise blue one which was better than nothing, but it didn't really scream "Thanksgiving" ... some candy corn and mini-pumpkins were our decor. 

Olivia brought a cute turkey veggie tray and Ana brought drinks, a salad and some dessert. Landon brought some rolls and a pumpkin cheesecake that everyone raved over.   Grayson complained a little, about how much prep goes into the feast prep for about 15 minutes of eating!

The food was yummy. The conversation plentiful. The television was on, football game playing. A couple card games after the dinner plates were cleared. We went with nice, but disposable, dishes, which cuts down on cleanup. 

Prior to Thanksgiving, I had made the annual "Turkey Cookies" ...

... after dinner, everyone (sans Gray&Jen) went to a movie. 

Predator:Badlands

(again ... the tree makes it look like a Christmas picture!)

... got a couple pictures from the "away kids" with their alternate family/feasts, although I joked with Colton that his looked more like Christmas pictures! Cal&Kate in St. George with her folks, Matt&Maci and Ben (and the three doggos). Colton in Lebanon/Oregon with his girlfriend's family. 

 

What are you thankful for?

 

Keaton Canyoneering

One weekend at the end of November, Keaton was off the grid ... my Life360 had a "last location" but no contact. Cal confirmed that Keaton had indeed had a plan to head out with some buddies, so I didn't worry (too much). Upon his return, I got some photos, video and even a write up!

My buddy Cameron is super into canyoneering. He’s explored a ton of canyons. He asked me, James, and Spencer if we wanted to do a couple canyons with him and we all said yes. The plan was a short trip over the weekend, staying one night. The place we were going to was about four hours out. It was in Moab / Lake Powell / Hanksville area. I actually don’t know the name of the place, but it was in the middle of nowhere and we didn’t have service.

We rode up on Saturday morning with a very loaded truck. There wasn’t much room to spare. The tonneau cover was bulging. When we got there, we hit a canyon first thing. We got our gear and started hiking. It was about 30-45 minutes of hiking until the first rappel. Cameron was really good at informing us what to do and what to expect. We made the first rappel super slow and super careful and knew immediately that this was going to be a ton of fun. There were a few more trips down this canyon, but nothing too crazy. We didn’t have to do any wild techniques or get wet. It was a fairly beginner canyon, perfect for us. There was one rappel that was 90’ and for a bit of it, there was nothing to hold onto, so we were free hanging for a few seconds. That was my favorite part.

That night we made a fire, cooked brats, and ate a bunch of snacks. Cameron brought a laser that lit up these huge red rocks beside us. I brought my telescope and it was a perfect night to look at the stars. It was a ton of fun.

The next morning, we packed up and headed out for the next canyon. This one was quite a bit different than the last one. We hiked to the first rappel, but this time it lead us down into a narrow passageway that went on for a mile or two. The rappels were a bit trickier but not as high. We had to do a lot more stemming here. That’s where you wedge your body between two walls and shimmy forward.

After we made it out, we were headed home. There was a local burger joint in Hanksville that we stopped at before the long journey back. When we got back home, it was simply unpack, go to sleep, and go to work the next day. 10 out of 10 would do it again.

Uploaded the bit of video to YouTube for easier sharing/storage ...

https://youtu.be/NSh8po3Pj5U

Blackhams go to Bellevue

 

Grayson is quite the traveler ... me, not so much. But when I saw that Colton and the Clackamas crew were scheduled for some games at the Bellevue Jamboree (preseason scrimmages), and that they wouldn't be streamed for me to watch from home, I suggested to Gray that we make a quick weekend trip out. He said okay. 

We flew out on Friday, November 7 ... this was the day the airlines had been instructed to cut flights due to the government shutdown. Luckily, we had no issues at all. Grayson was pretty excited to try out the new Delta SkyClub, which had had just opened. It was very nice. He'd also booked us first class, and as I didn't care for the food included in-flight (picky eater me!) Grayson got double!

Gray had rented a car, and we drove from the airport to our hotel, which was very close to the college where the basketball games would be played. The Clackamas crew had a 3+ hour drive, so their games didn't start until a little later in the day (Nov8). Gray started his Saturday with a six mile run at Gas Works Park. We then grabbed some breakfast, and did a quick drive by the college so we would know where to go (which building). We saw a group of basketball boys unloading from a bus ... and it was Colton and the Clackamas Crew! Fun to bump into them as they arrived.

We still had an hour or more until the games started, so we let Colton rejoin his team while we went back to the hotel for a bit. These games were mini-match ups, just 20 minutes (no halves or changing sides). As I hadn't been able to make it out last year for the family trip, this was my first time seeing Colton play college ball in person (I had watched every game on the live stream). I had my video camera up and recording. It was fun to meet his roommate and coaches, who I felt like I already knew (just from pictures and Colton talking about them).  Gray found some pickleballs around in the bleachers.

Here's the highlights from the games ...

Clackamas vs Bellevue

Clackamas vs Yakima

Clackamas vs South Puget Sound

The first game ended in a tie (no OT in these scrimmages), and the other two were losses. Colton got some points in the second game, but had early foul trouble in the third game and didn't get as much playing time there. He was a little under the weather, fighting a cold, and his stitches would come out the next day. It was fun to be there to see him play in person though, a little better view than the live stream (although I appreciate having at least that!)  After the games, the team headed home and we went back to the hotel. 

Lovely fall foliage on the college campus ... 

GB had to stop for a photo, and I snuck a picture of him! 

We had breakfast, and then dinner, at a nearby diner. 

The breakfast was really good ... the dinner not so much. 

Early flight out (5:15 ... so we got up and on our way around 3:30). Returned the rental car. Again, no issues getting through security, and Gray had timed it perfectly so that as soon as we arrived at our gate, we were boarding the plane. 

Landon and Valentina had gone on a weekend getaway to Las Vegas ... and they were returning home at almost the same time we were! Only 10min or so apart in our arrivals, but I didn't notice until a a bit later after Gray and I had already headed home. It would have been funny to bump into each other there at the airport!

The Blackham Bunch is planning another trip to see Colton play at the end of the year. Clackamas will be hosting a tournament after Christmas, three full games. I plan on making it this year ... getting more video and seeing Colton's college, apartment and stomping grounds!

Derby Deja Vu

 

Ah ... the Pinewood Derby. For the Blackham family, there was a little more than the usual Derby Daze. It started shortly after Landon's first derby. It wasn't great ... an old wood track, a yardstick for the starting gate, four judges attempting to eyeball the finish line. Grayson looked at his boys and realized he had MANY more years of derbies ahead of him, and he wanted a better experience. That lead to his investment in a Pinewood Derby track (and tables, and timer, and computer/software, projector/screen).

There are quite a few posts on the Blackham Blog about derby days, although it doesn't go back to the beginning (2006). Gray started doing the derby just for our ward, but with such a nice set-up, he began doing derbies for others as well. We even took a family trip to St. George to run one for Wendy's ward (2008 ... and Wendy has many DERBY posts on the Jenson Journal blog). I don't have the records for every year, but my records show 2010/26, 2011/32, 2012/36, 2016/54, 2017/43, 2018/45, 2019/52. Not sure why I didn't have the numbers recorded for 2013/2014/2015, but I had noted that Grayson bought a covered trailer in 2014 to replace the flatbed (kept things cleaner/organized). Gray would have one of the boys come along and help, moving in the equipment, setting up the computer/projector, and running the starting gate. He wondered if maybe the boys would like to run it themselves as a little side-business when they were older.

When the LDS church announced it was cutting ties with the Boy Scouts program, Gray wondered if that would impact/eliminate pinewood derbies, or if the church's replacement program would still utilize them. Gray had invested in a lot of legos, and had done some parties/youth activities featuring a Lego Derby as an option, he'd done some family/work ones, so it wasn't just boy scouts requesting his services. Alas, it was Covid that really cancelled things. There had been a few derbies in Jan/Feb of 2020, and then...  the tracks went into storage and Gray wasn't sure if he'd be getting them out again.

Gray got a request for a derby in April of 2025 ... a favor for a friend. He did it, Landon was his helper (video short here). He has a BIG trailer for his toys/RZR, which was a bit of overkill for the derby stuff, but it looked nice with his truck (first towing test for it). When Derek texted asking about derby status/possibilities, Grayson got him scheduled for November 12 and it was quite the night. Keaton was the helper here, and Gray borrowed a friend's trailer for transport. Derek took some video and made  his own YouTube video (DIY Pinewood Derby Tribute to a 600,000-Mile Acura Legend) showcasing the derby, and the car he created for it. 

Grayson isn't really sure what the future holds for his derby days ... it really is a huge time investment. He has accepted one request for next year, so we'll see what happens.  Taking off several years, and then coming back to it ... a bit of Derby Deja Vu. 

Colton Hits the Hardwood (Literally)

On Sunday, November 2 - Clackamas Community College was hosting a basketball jamboree. These were mini match-ups, just 20 minutes/running clock. Colton and the Clackamas crew had five games, and as the third one started up, Colton went down, hitting his face on the hardwood floor. He was a little slow to get up and shake it off, and a minute later the ref stopped the game, noting Colton was bleeding. So off Colton went for some medical attention (and his team still won the game). Cleaned up the blood, and some steri-strips to keep the cut closed, and Colton played the remaining two games. 

Afterward ... looking at the gash, it was decided that he probably needed stitches. Luckily, last year I'd done a little reconnaissance, contacting our medical insurance to find out what Colton should do if he needed to visit a doctor or urgent care out of state (it wasn't something I was able to easily search on the insurance website). I had the name/address of a couple local urgent care centers, and he had a copy of the insurance card, so Colton went and got five stitches.

Keaton bopped that same area when he was just a little guy, and Grayson managed a HUGE gash (the final pictures in the Interesting Injuries blog post from several years ago) ... but the eyebrow area, while apparently prone to injury, is also good at camouflaging any scarring. 

Here's the game ... it happens right about the 1:00 mark

https://youtu.be/3CugyLRVxvc

You can see all of Colton's games from his Sophomore year (post in progress).

Hopefully no additional injuries!

He got the stitches out a week later. Everything seems to be healing well. 

Run Gray Run (even in the Rain)

 

Gray Black is a runner. He has a loop in Centerville from his Symphony Homes office and that's one of his routine runs. With his AppleWatch and Strava, he gets some fun feedback.  He started tracking this run November 2022 ... almost to 150 repeated runs!

Saturday, October 4, was one of the few "open" weekends for my half-marathon man. It was raining a lot, and I texted him (he'd headed North catching up on some work) that I was glad this rain hadn't happened last weekend (the half marathon he and Coop ran). But then I remembered Gray LIKES to run in the rain! And sure enough, he'd done a bigger run and did a little write up to me. It was eloquent enough, and with the Strava shares, felt like a built in blog post!

I had charted a big run up north and with the rain in the forecast was looking forward to giving it a go. After last week's disappointing half (for me) it was a chance to redeem myself, as if that is even a thing. I could see storm clouds in the west as I got to the office - some lightning. Up north I got prepped and on the run right around 6:00. Conditions were great - cool, not cold, no wind - few cars and pretty peaceful. As I reached mile 4 or so I could tell the storm had moved toward the east, where I was running. Some light rain began to build.

Within about 10 minutes the rain was in full swing - not torrential but very steady and pretty heavy. Soon a wind from the south was blowing. This would be a headwind for around mile 5 when my route turned to head back toward the office. I wish I had a camera that could show the conditions. It was something to see. None of this bothers me. The only thing that concerns me in a rainstorm is lightning. The odds are generally VERY slim at getting hit by lightning but it's still intimidating. I had one lightning strike seemingly directly above me at mile 5. There would be 3 or 4 other strikes that didn't seem particularly close like the first one. That was about it for lightning.

The rain began to ease around mile 7 or so though the wind kept steady, pushing against me. But I felt good. I wasn't gassing out. My legs kept their strength and didn't feel heavy. It was starting to lighten up around mile 7 or 8 and by mile 9 I turned back toward the north and the headwind was now a tailwind. Nice. Rolled back into the office feeling very content. 10.28 miles in all. Not a half but still a major run by my measurements. This might have been my favorite run of the year - it cycled from dark to light, from dry to rainy, from calm to windy - all in the same run. My body felt great. What a morning :)

 

It had stormed quite a bit the night before too ... lots of lightening. I know that is something that Keaton likes to catch on camera (A Little Look at Lightning) so I checked in with him to see if he'd taken any pictures during this storm. He had ...

Blackham Bunch Quarterly Recap ~ Q3

 July, August, September ~ 2025

The third quarter of 2025 was full of activities ... basketball, pickleball, Zumba, races. We had the 4th of July (and 24th), an anniversary, some birthdays. A few getaways. Colton home for the summer then back to Oregon for his sophomore year. A move for Landon, and the addition of furry friends. Milkweed and monarchs.

• Races: Gray has been a little step crazy (Symphony competition) and he had one 62k day! He did multiple half-marathons, two triathlons, the "Rooster Ride" (100mile bike) and a 10k with Colton and Cooper. Coop also did his first half marathon.  
• Basketball: Cal had several men's leagues and tournaments going, and pulled Colton in to join while he was home for the summer. Colton did a few tournaments with his buddies too. In July we got the sad news that Colton's coach has passed away (he had been having some health issues, but still unexpected). 
• Landon's New Position/Location/Companions: LKL asked Landon if he'd consider a new position at the Spanish Fork location. To reduce the commute, he moved from his Midvale apartment to one in American Fork. With BlackhamBoy muscle and Gray's trailer, they got everything shifted. And if that wasn't enough change, add in a new roommate (Valentina) and two furry friends (kitty Sabrina and puppy Pedro). Valentina changed jobs too, so newness all around! Landon promised he's still commute to family gatherings and pickle ... and he has! 
• Work/School: All the guys have stayed busy at their respective jobs. There was a bit of a shake-up at Coop's work, which has increased his responsibility (and pay). He's also trained to drive a forklift in the warehouse. Coop's work/DLP also happily welcomed Colton back, instant full-time employment for him for the summer. Nice that the boys could carpool (which came in handy when we needed to get cars into the shop).  Colton got settled back in his apartment in Oregon and classes started at the end of September. Kate left her job and is pursuing a Masters at UVU.
• Getaways: Cal&Kate had a St. George getaway. Colton joined his girlfriend/her family in Vegas. Cal&Keaton had a Moab retreat with work/Camson, and Grayson had his own Moab retreat. Many of his races ended up being overnighters as well. 
• Holidays etc: For the 4th of July, several of us went to watch the West Jordan drone show. Landon and Valentina had been to one in Park City as well. Jen went to see the "Parade Preview" at the expo center. G&J had their 33rd anniversary, and we celebrated birthdays for Coop, Keaton and Landon. The five brothers raced go-karts, and we went out to Rodizio for dinner. Lots of birthday cake!
• Coop's Crew: A couple of Coop's friends got married, and Cooper had some luncheons and receptions. He and his buddies also gather virtually online for "Minecraft Monday" every other week. One of Coop's buddies came over to check out some of our old Gameboy supplies.
• Extended Family: Gray and Jen got out for a Westra dinner date with Mom&Dad and Scott&Amy. Grayson and Scott got out biking a time or two. Landon and Valentina joined Olivia for a dinner, and Olivia gathered all the nephews for a "Top Golf" night out. She also insisted on taking Colton out (with Haley and Coop) before he returned to Oregon. I'm thinking there was a haircut house call sometime this quarter too.
• Injuries/Illness & Repairs: Colton fell on his foot badly during one of his basketball games. He went into the Instacare just to make sure nothing was broken. That sidelined his activity for a couple of weeks.  Landon was sick enough that he went to the Instacare as well, and it was good he went as he needed an antibiotic to treat an infection. The stove in the kitchen has been having issues off and on ... the repair cost is $$$, but the stove has actually been working since the diagnosis, so fingers crossed that it continues. Colton's Charger failed emissions and we had to have it into the shop several times for fixes before it finally passed. New tires and a new windshield as well, and we hope it gets him through at least another year. 
• Iphone Upgrade: It was past due ... Jen finally upgraded her iphone. She no longer has a home button! It's nice that the process is so painless. Easy transfer!
• One Wheel/Unicycle: Fully joining in the "one wheel" community, Keaton added another vehicle to his stash ... a unicycle (not the bicycle type!)  He joins community rides with other enthusiasts and does a lot of solo rides and rides with friends. 
• Disk Golf: Colton got into disk golf while he was home this summer. There are several local courses and he and his friends hit several of them. He introduced it to Haley (she flew in at the end of the summer for a few days, then kept Colton company on the drive back to Oregon). 
• Super Saturday Sourdough: Jen was asked to teach a little class on sourdough for the stake "Super Saturday" ... it took some prep and energy, but was a good experience. A good trial a couple weeks before with niece Addie who came over for a lesson (and shared a picture of her first successful loaf shortly after). 
• Monarch! A flash of orange, an egg ... a little caterpillar, a chrysalis, and a beautiful butterfly. It was a monarch summer (the experience got its own blog post/write up).  

Ah summer ... pickleball every weekend, a growing garden, high A/C bills. Now comes the cooler weather, and Coop's fantasy football has started up, Colton's college basketball season will be starting up soon. What else will the final quarter of 2025 bring?

Here's one more "live" look at July, August and September ... One Second Style.

 

 July ~ https://youtu.be/kGOfhpZrSaU  

August ~ https://youtu.be/HeCgtAr0ef0  

September ~ https://youtu.be/Ty14kg3Iy34

Back to Clackamas ...

 

Colton's summer extended into September this year, but it was time to head back to Clackamas. To school, and basketball, and a little closer to his girlfriend (at least in the same state!) Haley had flown in to spend a few days in Utah, and then keep Colton company on the long drive back. They left early Wednesday morning on September 3 and arrived safely that night. 

Keeping in touch with a few texts, an email update (below, Sept20) and fun photos ...

Adjusting to life back in Oregon has been pretty easy, it was really nice not having to set up the room again and just being able to come back to the apartment right as we left it.

Haley met her mom and made it home, but hasn't been able to get back up to Oregon City since then as she's been pretty busy with working and getting ready to move herself to her house in Corvallis. I've still gone down to Lebanon a couple times, one time we went and watched her brother's football game, he's the head football coach at a high school called Scio. I'm heading back down to her house later today because we made little "boo" baskets for each other filled with little gifts. But I'll have to head back home early tomorrow morning because we have a workout with Coach Scott at 11:00, he's bringing up another group with lots of class of 26 kids and some returned missionaries.

Basketball's been going well, practices look a little different with Stamme running them. We have been going pretty hard everyday, and we have some new faces. Starting with the returners, there's Connor, Sam, Lincoln, Reggie, Jkari, Kobe, and Brooklynd. So no Nick, JB, or Miles. The new guys' names are, Jayden, Tremayne, Luke, Shea, Brody, Bailey, Jace, Warren, and Omar. Jayden and Tremayne are both from Vegas, they came and visited last spring. Luke is from Utah, came up with Coach Scott in the spring, although I never played against him in high school or anything. Shea and Brody are from local schools, Brody actually being from the same high school as Connor and redshirted last year at Portland CC. I'm thinking Jace, Bailey, Omar, and Warren are probably going to be redshirts this year. But I am liking how the team looks, Jayden and Tremayne are both really good and Tre especially since he is a good big man, about 6'6 and is actually pretty good in the post. Right now I would think the starting lineup would probably look like me, Jayden, Connor, Luke or Lincoln, then Tremayne at the center.

We went to Coach Weg's celebration of life last Saturday just at the college. There were lots of former players there so it was fun to see everyone. Gray even flew in from South Dakota. Vitaliy, Mason, Nick, JB, Miles all came as well. A bunch of us went and got tacos after, although I forgot to grab a picture.

Still a little over a week out from school starting, not looking forward to that. My only in-person class this term is going to be a lab on Thursday nights, similar to what I had last spring. That will be a fun class though since a bunch of us all got it together. I'm pretty sure it's me, Connor, Brody, Lincoln, Sam, and Brooklynd.

Men's Basketball (1 Credit)

General Accounting (3 Credits)

Principles of Microeconomics (4 credits)

Intro to Environmental Science + Lab (4 credits)

Elementary Statistics (4 credits)

 

It's been nice having extra time to get shots up outside of practice these few weeks.

I did apply to a few places to work but haven't heard back quite yet.

I had been trying to eat healthier this year, even counting all my calories and macros using this app that Steven showed me. I have kind of given up on the app already as it is kind of a hassle to always be inputting everything, but I am still making sure I'm eating better than I was last year. Not using my food stamps to just fill up my snack shelf again haha. Been eating lots of ground beef, but trying to make tastier meals with it. I've been commonly doing taco bowls and burger bowls. Usually at the beginning of the week I've been cooking up a batch of either chicken alfredo or stroganoff. I use a whole box of protein pasta when making them so they have a bit more protein in it. Although I couldn't find any protein egg noodles, so I just used rotini instead.

That's about all I have for now. I'll try and take some more selfies to send back haha. I love you!

 The basketball schedule is out ...

 I'm hoping I make it out to see some games this year ...

Last year, I kept a running record of Colton's Correspondence 2024-2025. I created a new page for this second year, and I'll and add any updates as they come along, attempting to include/copy some text conversations too ...  Colton's Clackamas Correspondence 2025-2026

Keaton and the Crew Leads/Moab Getaway

Keaton (and Cal's) work, Camson Electric, initiates some employee getaways. A "Crew Lead" retreat. Keaton took some pictures on one last year, and this year, took some photos (although he didn't catch Cal in any) AND did a write up!

This was the fourth or fifth crew lead trip I’ve been on. I’m starting to lose track at this point. The start of the trip is always fairly similar: work a half day on Wednesday, meet up at the shop in Riverton, load up and head out. I rode with Cal, while Marko and James were in the back seats. We went to Moab this year, so it was about a three hour ride with one pit stop on the way. Nothing too exciting on the way there, but I was pumped to hang out with the boys, go on some rides, and eat a ton of food.

When we got to the air bnb, we all picked our beds and decided to chill for the night. Sometimes we’ll go on a night ride the first night, but work was pretty busy that day so we were all slammed. Marko and I went outside to look for rocks and scorpions with a black light. We didn’t find much, but we took a bunch of funny pics. For food that night, we had Beto’s. Always a classic for the first night.

The plan for the next day was to hit a couple trails on the razors, with an optional night ride. In the morning, Brock had breakfast covered. Brock is the breakfast king. I always look forward to what he offers. Bacon, sausage, hashbrown, eggs, toasted tortillas, sliced fruit, juice, etc… I was looking forward to breakfast, but I had a rough morning... 

Sometimes I wake up in the middle night. It’s fairly random and I’m not bothered when it happens. On that first night, I woke up, sat up, and slammed my head on the bunk bed on top of me, where Marko was sleeping. I remember laying there in agony wondering if I had a concussion. I was looking around for a second to see if I woke anyone up, but it didn’t seem like it. I’m not sure how no one woke up because it was so loud. I just went back to sleep, and when I woke up, I had a major headache. I stood up to go to the bathroom and look in the mirror. Basically, to make sure I wasn’t bleeding. All clear, no blood. Then I headed to breakfast. I found Marko and told him about it. 

I said “dude did I wake you up last light?”

He said “no why?”

I said “I slammed my head against your bed in the middle of the night.”

He laughed and said “again??”

I said “what do you mean again?”

He said “dude you did that last year.”

I completely forgot about that. Marko started telling me about it and then I remembered. I did hit my head in the middle of the night last year. Only that time, Marko said I did wake him up. He checked on me a minute later asking if I was alright, but apparently I was already out cold. I guess that time I literally knocked myself unconscious. So the lesson I learned was that when I wake up in the middle of the night, apparently I also sit up. So when I go to bed, I need to make sure I’ve got a few feet of head clearance.

After breakfast, we started to load up for the two rides ahead of us. We had plenty of razors so no one had to squish in any of the vehicles. Marko and I started to head out in one of the razors but within a few seconds we heard a rough clicking noise. We stopped and asked Brock if he knew about it, to which he replied “shoot. Thought we fixed that.” Five minutes in and we already bagged a razor. It was alright though, there were still enough seats for everybody. On one of the trails, one of the razors tipped on its side. Everyone in it was alright and we tipped it back over pretty quickly. After some funny pics of course. That night we had a team meeting, followed by pizza and ice cream. The air bnb had a pool and a hot tub and I was all for it. I was first one in and trying my very hardest to convince everyone else to do the same. Eventually some of the guys started jumping in, and at one point there were six of us in the hot tub. If that’s not team bonding then I don’t know what is.

The next day, after waking up in a different bed, one with much higher head clearance, we had breakfast and loaded up for two more rides. Little did we know, what lied ahead. The first trail was nice and easy, then we had lunch and headed for the second trail. It was a long one. About halfway in, we tried clearing an obstacle with one of the Jeeps, but something broke and it would no longer drive in 4 wheel. Luckily it still drove, but there were a ton of obstacles ahead that required 4 wheel. Without it, we had to tow the Jeep through, which was a lot harder and longer. We cleared one or two more obstacles, at which point the razor that tipped, broke down. It wouldn’t start. We jump started it and were able to get it going for a couple minutes, but then the same thing happened. Now we had two vehicles that needed towing out. One Jeep was towing the other Jeep, and one razor was towing the other razor. We quickly learned that towing with another razor wasn’t the best solution. Mitchell was able to get us pretty far, but after a few hours, Spencer came to tow us through the next few obstacles. Spencer was driving the Jeep that was towing the other Jeep. He went ahead a few miles, dropped them off, then came back to tow us. In the hours while we waited, there was a lot of hacky sackin. I probably wouldn’t have survived without the sack. We were in the sun, in the open desert for hours. I was losing my mind. Eventually we did get out. By then it was dark, and everyone was exhausted. We found some more rocks with the black light and did manage to find a couple scorpions. On the way back, we grabbed Wendys, everyone crashed on the couch, then a bunch of us got in the pool again.

The next day was Saturday, and we were headed home. We didn’t want to do anymore trails after that last one. Within that one trip to Moab we had four vehicles break down (Spencer’s truck went in limp mode as soon as we got there). That’s got to be a new record. But it’s all part of the fun and I can’t wait for the next one.

Monarch Summer

I've posted about monarchs a couple of times before on the blog ...  Monarch Memories 2021 and Monarch Release 2019 .  We've kept milkweed and flowers in the yard in hopes of attracting the elusive orange winged beauties ... and it paid off again this year. 

The milkweed in the front yard (featured in the 2021 experience) would grow so large and ungainly, I wanted to eventually eliminate it. I'd shifted some seeds/starts to the backyard, as milkweed will also grow in shady, low-water conditions, where I don't have a lot of other plants. While we still had some of the milkweed in the front, we now had three patches in the backyard as well. 

I was sitting at my computer, positioned behind a window, looking into the backyard, when I saw a flash of orange ... I dropped what I was doing and grabbed my phone to double check (I had thought I'd seen a monarch earlier in the season, but it was so quick I hadn't been sure). But this time, I got photo proof, and happened to snap the shot right as Mrs. Monarch was laying an egg ...

There is some debate about "raising monarchs" in captivity ... but it's a wonderful experience, being able to see the amazing process close up, and 90% of eggs/caterpillars in the wild don't survive. We still had our enclosure from our experience a few years ago, so I pulled it from storage and brought the little egg into the house. Like the 2021 egg, if I hadn't SEEN it laid, I never would have found it on my own. So tiny!

We got to experience it all ... the emergence of the tiny caterpillar, the transformation into the chrysalis, the beautiful butterfly ...

It wasn't all without drama. I was a little worried the cooler temps in the house (I like my air conditioning) and thought Pilly might benefit from some natural exposure. I moved the enclosure out to the patio. I was sure to tell those who lived at home (Hubs, #4, #5) so that they wouldn't think something bad had happened, but #3 walked in without that info and exclaimed "oh no, Pilly! Where's Pilly?" I assured him Pilly was alright, just outside instead of on the kitchen table. But then ... Pilly was NOT in the enclosure. Really? There were a couple holes, but they were small. Of course Pilly was tiny, but still. There was a batch of milkweed three or four feet away, on the other side of the porch stairs, but that seemed like 1000 miles to a tiny caterpillar. No milkweed in any other direction. While I hoped maybe he'd somehow make it to the milkweed, I didn't hold out much hope. 

There was a family text thread following all things caterpillar ...

A few days later, I glanced at the milkweed by the back porch and ... there was Pilly! He'd grown, had eaten a few leaves, left behind little poop pellets (that's actually the first thing I noticed). It was close to chrysalis time, so I moved him back into the enclosure in the kitchen, so we could keep an eye on him. 

The whole family was over on August 31 (Keaton's birthday) when Pilly climbed to the side of the enclosure, right on the zipper (was he trying to get out again?) and formed the "J" ... I was trying to watch, as the transformation is pretty amazing, but I missed it. One look he was still a caterpillar, then next, he was a green blob. Still squirming, missed it by a minute! Over the next couple weeks the chrysalis continued it's transformation ... due to the placement in the enclosure, I wasn't able to get good pictures (and couldn't open it up either, good thing we only had one caterpillar in there, as I wasn't able to replace the milkweed). 

Friday, September 12, Keaton stopped by again and noticed that the chrysalis had darkened. He came over again Saturday morning, hoping to witness the emergence. He and Coop went to a movie and while they were gone ... it happened. I was home, peeking at the enclosure every time I walked into the kitchen. One time I glanced over, I saw a larger shape, newly emerged, wings still wet. Once he (I do think it was a male, dots on the wings) moved, I was able to put a couple flowers in just in case he wanted to feed, but mostly he was just recovering, getting fully filled out. Keaton came over the next morning again and we let him handle the release. 

While Pilly was in the chrysalis stage,  I was in the kitchen and again, I saw a flash of orange out the window! I ran outside, and we had a monarch visiting, and again, we got a single egg ...

... as our enclosure was  occupied, and we'd already been lucky enough to experience the monarch cycle, I decided we'd leave this egg in the wild, watching where we could. Unfortunately, the egg never hatched (non-fertilized?)

Will we see monarchs next summer?