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?

Lego Derby

I mentioned in a previous post, that Grayson had purchased some Lego/Derby wheels. They are basically just a lego block base, with holes drilled into the sides to attach regular pinewood derby wheels with small axles. GREAT idea! Although we have a TON of Legos, I didn't want to totally raid the kids stash (Gray had no trouble raiding the kids stash) so I hopped online and picked up some used bricks on Ebay. Gray picked up some small adhesive weights (to make the cars heavier, thus faster, or at least able to finish) and set up our first (but I'm sure not last) Lego Derby with the youth of our ward. 

We didn't use a couple sections of the track, making it just a bit shorter than for a traditional derby. The kids were given the go ahead, and they made their cars using the Lego bricks. Then it was time to race. With Grayson's setup, the cars all have names. As family history is the subject of focus for the youth this year, the kids were encouraged to give the cars names of an ancestor. So instead of the usual derby car names (the rocketeer, silver speedster, flash, turbo master) we had names like Aunt Ruby, OldGranny, Helga and even ThomasJefferson. 

During Pinewood Derby races, Grayson is always telling the boys to be really careful with their cars. A drop can put a car completely out of commission. Lego cars are even MORE fragile. Many of them would break as they went down the track, or flip as they hit the finish. At least they are more easily put back together than traditional wood derby cars.

Cooper wasn't interested in the derby (what?) but Colton and I headed over to the church to check it out, and of course Colton participated with the rest of the youth. I grabbed some video and made a muvee~

The Lego Derby is a great alternative to a regular derby. There is less cost (well, OUR initial cost wasn't less, but now each derby can be run for no additional output, no purchasing of car kits) and no real prep time or tools needed. It's fast and easy and fun. It would be great for a birthday party or school class activity. We'd been to a similar function (Lego Racers) at the local library and a small, simple track may be something we'll look into too.

Lego Derby ... a success.

Off to the Jungle

A few years ago, the two little boys had been invited to a birthday party at Jungle Jim's in Midvale. It was a fun little place and I thought we'd go back, but we never did. Then, one of the "deal" sites offered a coupon, so I bought one (five passes) and invited the cousins to join us ... Addie was off for Spring Break, and the Blackham Boys were off-track. Keaton was a bit big (he could barely squish into a couple of the rides) but he was a really good sport and helped out with the little ones.

There were several rides ... swings, merry-go-round, jeeps, rockets that would go up and down. But the favorite was the bumper cars. The boys went on them several times. After we left (I had to drop the boys home and head out to the high school to pick up Landon) Will tried his hand at the bumper cars and simply went round and round and round (and round!). Courtney got a video, it was so funny. She said he could barely walk afterward. I made my own muvee, with the pictures and video I took ...

... and just in case you missed it (in the video) ... 

Courtney and I were laughing SO hard at Will's face during this ride!

Junior Jazz Fun Shot & Tournament

Junior Jazz is more than just Jazz games on Saturday. There is a Jazz player appearance (this year it was Devin Harris, I took the three little boys to that), tickets to a Jazz game, and the FUNSHOT competition.  This is an individual skills competition, where each participant has one minute to score as many points as possible. There are five set positions on the floor, each worth a different amount of points. You get bonus points for making attempts from each different spot. (If you want to read a little more in depth about it, I included a copy of the score sheet and all the rules on the HoopDreams blog). There are three rounds (two if they run out of time). Both Keaton and Callahan participated in it this year and last, and this year Callahan qualified to move onto Region (against the top kids from all the local rec centers).

Callahan (and his buddy Mason, who has taken first place at Gene Fullmer the past few years) went onto region, and only ONE kid beat them ... and it wasn't by much! 1st place was 79 points (two rounds), Mason scored 78, Callahan scored 75. Only first place gets to move onto the finals though, so that's it for Funshot ... until next year ... (and yes ... I made a video, see it HERE).

Callahan's team also entered the end of season tournament, where the top teams from each rec center can play against each other. The boys sailed through the tournament undefeated and took home a championship t-shirt.

I posted links to all five games on the Hoop Dreams blog

 at the bottom of the regular Junior Jazz season (here).

More Snow, More Sledding

A couple posts ago, I wrote that we hadn't had a lot of snow... that post was premature. March came in like a lion with a pretty good blizzard. The boys went and stood in the snow and got completely covered in just moments. 

 Callahan was so cold
The hairs on his arms were standing straight up.

With even more snow on the ground, Randon's Razor was again put to good use, pulling the boys all around the park. They went Thursday AND Friday. The bigger boys were invited along too, and they had a blast. I stopped by the park and got some pictures and video. Randon's mom also took a lot of great shots. I made a little muvee  ... it was SNOW much fun!

Of course there was some throwing of snow too ...

Don't throw a snowball at ME!

Classic Water Fun

You can see the bright blue waterslides from the freeway ... Classic Fun Center ... the kids had gone with friends a time or two, but I had never been there. When Groupon offered a waterslide fun pack for four, I decided to give it a try. Landon was gone to youth conference, so it was just the four boys. At first I wasn't sure it was going to take, they seemed a bit bored ... but then they took off! Up and down the four tube slides, sometimes with a mat, sometimes without. The bigger boys took the little ones the first time, then Colton and Cooper tried it on their own and did just fine. The big inflatable slides were fun too, and Colton and Cooper liked the kiddie pool as well. We did have a couple issues, Cooper was anxious about some dark clouds looming, and Colton took a tumble getting off one of the inflatables and got quite a bump on the head, but overall, the kids had a blast and are anxious to go again!

We just did the swimming today ... I tried to glance around at all the other things Classic has to offer (skating, bouncing, arcade, climbing, ball blasting and laser tag) and I hope we make it back. Callahan and Keaton were big helps to me keeping an eye on the little guys. Here's a muvee capturing the day's fun ...

Inflatable Fun

Being a holiday weekend, we didn't have any basketball games on Saturday ... but we kept busy! Cooper had a birthday party in the morning, and in the evening, we were invited over to our friends, the DiFrancesco's. They had also had a birthday party (for a cousin) in their backyard, and still had a big inflatable obstacle course. The boys had a lot of fun jumping and bouncing and just being crazy!

Look at that perfect flying form!

Relaxing as he falls ...

I took a lot of pictures and video and put together a muvee ...

With all that crazy jumping, we only had a couple minor body burns, and two bloody noses ... not too bad for bouncy Blackham boys and our DiFrancesco friends! Thanks again for having us over!

Saturday Sports

GOAL!

Spring sports mean busy Saturdays. Soccer started for Cooper today. He's playing with the same team he did in fall. It was a little cooler than the past couple days (which were SO nice) but the kids kept warm running about. Cooper had a good game, he scored three goals, leading their team to victory. He struggles a little with taking a turn sitting out, he'd be happy playing the entire game. I took the camera to capture some pictures and video and of course ... made a muvee!

After Cooper's game, both Callahan and Keaton had basketball games at 12:00. Mom took Callahan to his (they won, the video is here). Keaton's team won also, and Keaton had a great game. Gray even took some video (so you can see his game here). All the basketball business is on the Hoop Dreams blog, feel free to follow the games there if you like, although I'll probably be putting basic updates here as well.

Spring sports ... I love it! I'm not sure how many more of Cooper's soccer games I'll get video of (or even get to see, as his games conflict with the basketball games. I'm probably going to be sending Cooper with his buddy Ridley most of the time, THANKS Shaw family!). I did just get Colton's schedule and YEA, this games are in the afternoon, NOT the morning. They start next Saturday!

Summer Soccer (PreK)

For the past several seasons, Colton has attended many soccer games. He is such a good boy, sitting on the sidelines cheering his brothers on. This summer, it was finally his turn. Uncle Clay was coaching a team with Cousin Addie and asked if Colton would like to join them. Pre-K at Marv Jensen, early in the summer mornings, the Green Monkeys came to conquer. Colton missed the first game, as he was in Seattle, but the second game ... Colton was ready to play! He scored several goals. The next couple games were a little tougher, but then the Blackham Cousins came back in full force for the final game (although the other team managed to get several goals too ... the way kid soccer should be. Fun for all!) I took all the photos and videos from the season and condensed them into a three minute Muvee ... take a look *Ü*

Derby Dude

Grayson is a derby dude. Of course he runs the pinewood derby each year for our own pack (in addition to offering workshops and any car help as needed), but he also is available upon request to run other derbies as well. Here's a great video forwarded to us from one of his recent runs ...

The WJ Pool

Up until a couple of years ago, none of my kids had ever had a swimming lesson. I think part of the problem was ME, remembering my fear of swimming lessons when I was a child. And currently, with young children still at home, I didn't want to have to drag babies to lessons and entertain them while waiting. A neighbor signed her kids up for swimming lessons and offered to take Keaton too. As the lessons came to an end, my neighbor encouraged me to come see how much Keaton had progressed, so I packed up the brothers, and we went. The lessons were being held at the West Jordan Middle School pool, and all ages were being taught at the same time (I don't know if I realized that's how it was done). I was really impressed with it all, and I signed up ALL five boys for the next session. Initially, Colton and Cooper had a tough time, but soon blossomed. Landon had managed to teach himself to swim over the years, so he didn't really need additional lessons. Callahan and Keaton were able to progress, and I was thrilled that everyone was learning this important skill. We continued with lessons the next year, and are signed up for this year as well. In addition to the lessons, we also like to go to the pool to swim as a family. I put together a little muvee, containing video and photos from both lessons and open plunge time.

We've been so sad to hear that the swimming pool is going to be one of the cuts the Jordan School District is making. After this summer ... the pool will be closing :(

Bottle Blast

Grayson constructed this awesome bottle rocket launcher (actually, he made a set of FIVE of them). He used them for the school's field day for a couple of years, and they are a blast to just pull out for some front yard fun as well. You place a 2-liter bottle with some water in it upside-down on the pole, then pump air into it using a compressor. Pull the trigger and ... it's off! Water sprays everywhere and the kids try to catch the bottle as it returns back to earth. I made a muvee of some bottle rocket fun from a few days ago ...

Spring Basketball

Gene Fullmer has a jogging track above their basketball gym, and usually I'm there, jogging while cheering our team on. This last week however I came with the camera instead. I grabbed some photos and videos and then put together this little "muvee".

We were missing three boys from our team (although I had taken a group shot and some practice pictures earlier), so the video feels a little incomplete without them in it. So ... I made ANOTHER "muvee" of the last game *Ü*

I had some captions on it ... not sure where they went!

Derby Daze

It's that time of year ... Derby Time! For the past several years, Grayson has run the derby for our scout pack. It's usually in May, but as May has generally been pretty busy, Gray asked if it could be moved to April this year. Of course, turns out April is pretty crazy. In addition to our derby, he has FOUR more before the month is out. Gray also hosted a workshop, giving the boys and their dads access to tools and expertise. Our scouting troop has thinned out considerably though, only six boys in cubs, and only five participating in this year's derby. But it went well and was a lot of fun ... here's video proof...

Kicking It with the Kindergarten Crew

There are two main recreational soccer leagues here in West Jordan. One signs the kids up in the spring, for the following fall/spring season (I can never plan that far in advance), the other has registration shortly before each season starts. Several of the kids in the neighborhood had signed up with the former league, and had already played fall together when spring rolled around. A couple of the kids had dropped off the team however, and as a spot opened up, I was able to add Cooper to the team. All the kids were already in kindergarten (Coop was still in preschool) but they were friends from the neighborhood and church. Cooper LOVED playing soccer and it really helped with his independence and socialization skills too.

Doing the Derby

We had two boys in the derby this year. It was Keaton's first year, and Callahan's last year. Neither placed in the top four, but I think they still had fun.

Muvees ...

A little Muvee magic ... our home videos/photos set to music ...

Check out my YouTube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/ScrapJenB

For all the Basketball Muvees, go to

Hoop Dreams

Halloween Party. Keaton'sClass. Oct2010

Soccer - Cooper (Fall2010)

Summer Swimming (Summer2010)

Soccer - Colton (Summer 2010)

BottleRockets (Summer 2010)

Derby Days (May2010)

StreetBall (Spring2010)

Derby Days (May 2009)

Soccer - Cooper (Spring 2009)

Aiden's Birthday Bash (June2008)

Rockets (Summer2004)

Ana's Wedding (2004)

Westra Waterballoons (Aug2004)

Park Play (June2004)

Landon's First Derby (May2004)

Playing with Puppies (Summer 2004)

MiscMayMemories (2004)

Buca Birthday (May2004)

Soccer - Callahan (Spring2004)

Landon Allstar (2004)

MiscMemories (Spring2004)

Halloween (Oct2003)

Keaton's Birthday (Aug2003)

Welcome Cooper (Aug2003)

MiscSummer (2003)

Christmas (2002)

Basketball Keaton Jr. Jazz 12112010

Basketball Cooper Jr. Jazz 12112010

Basketball.Callahan.GF.11062010

Basketball.Callahan.GF.09252010

Basketball.Callahan.GF.05222010

Basketball.Callahan.GF.04172010

Birthday Bash

Birthday Bash in the Blackham Backyard

It was my nephew Aiden's 1st birthday. There was a big slide, water squirters, and of course, a water fight. I think I was probably the only person to stay dry ... but I had the camera!