Seattle 2021 ~ Jen Joined!

 

Seattle 2021 ... normally, I have quite a few photos, as Grayson is really good at keeping me updated on family vacations. I'm usually at home. I'm not a traveler. But this time, I shocked everyone by saying that I'd go. So I don't have to depend on Hubs or the kids for a written recap, I can write it up myself.

We left mid-day, Wednesday, July 7th, 2021. We had neighbors to come care for the kitties and bring in mail/packages. Our household drove to the airport in Grayson's truck. He dropped us off then went to park. Cal and Kate had family drop them off and they were a little ahead of us. We checked bags (free with Grayson's card, nice not to have to drag them around (Cal& Kate carried on). Landon and Sol were catching a later flight. Ours was at 4:30. We had arrived around 2:30, and made it through security without any issues (Gray has TSA pre-check, but as the rest of us didn't, he stuck with us through regular security ... like peasants). 

We had added three new pieces of luggage ... and hoped we would recognize them on the other end. Baggage claim was quick and easy. We took the shuttle to the rent-a-car location, picked up our ride (a black Toyota Tacoma) that fit five, and the older kids (Cal, K8 and Keaton) ubered to the hotel. We stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Bellview. Gray and I on the first floor, the three boys in a room on the second floor, Cal & K8 next to them, and Landon and Sol on floor three. I was disappointed there was no outlet anywhere near the right side of the bed, for my fan and phone. The shower was also very low ... and we're not even that tall! I slept better than I expected though. The swimming pool was under renovation. I'm not sure if it would have been used, but it would have been nice to have the option.

That first night (and the other nights) we went over to Kolby and Jami's house to hang out, eat, drink, laugh and chat. Jami was kind enough to loan us her car so that we didn't have to rent a second one.

Thursday morning, Grayson checked out the hotel breakfast and wasn't impressed, so we went out. One of the old favorites, "Serious Pie and Biscuit" didn't survive Covid-19. Looking up other options, we ended up the "Family Pancake House". We were able to get right in and the food was yummy. Landon and Sol sat this one out. After eating, Gray wanted me to see Lake Sammamish, which was only about five minutes away. The lake had featured prominently in previous vacations (Seattle2014).

So we went and walked to the lake. It was still early (around 10:30) and quite cool, so not a ton of people around (we wondered how packed it had been during last week's heat wave, which happily had passed ... we enjoyed the cooler temperatures!)  Grayson checked out the ducks. The water was lovely. There was a cool tree branch and we suggested Cal&K8 get a picture on it ... getting up and down was a little more challenging than anticipated, but was fun to watch!

Then, the Blackham Bunch headed to Seattle. We had tickets to the Space Needle, but had arrived a little early. So, we checked out the tube sculptures nearby ... and remembered the pictures taken there seven years ago! See the comparison shots below ~

Then it was time for the Space Needle.

Group shot at the bottom - and group shot at the top!

... the elevator takes you up, up, up. There's the observation deck, and then a "glass floor" that revolves around. Our tickets would have allowed us to come back in the evening, to see the city at night, but we didn't make it back. There was a group shot of us taken before we went up ... but we never saw how to find it (the photographer didn't scan the ticket first to create a connection). 

It was time for some lunch ... and Lunchbox Laboratory was close by. Well, a mile away. It would have been more work to drive and park, so we walked it.  Classic "dogsticks" with tater tots, and vegetarian options for Cal, K8 and Sol. We were, um "serenaded" by a man on the street during most of our lunch. A mix of yelling, preaching, rapping. It made it memorable! The usual "guess the check" at the end (this one was $$) and then the walk back. Keaton jumped on one of the "rental" scooters that are all around.

We went back by the Space Needle to check out the Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibit. Kate was especially excited for this! It was cool. All sorts of interesting and beautiful glass sculptures.

Grayson got a little distracted by a big pizza oven ... we've been making pizzas at home, and he bought TWO different ovens. An attachment for his Komodo Joe, and a smaller, portable Ooni. We'd noticed that Jami had an Ooni pizza oven when we were hanging out in their backyard.  On the other side of the courtyard, there was another oven ... this one for the glass demonstration. Whereas the pizza oven was at about 800° (most kitchen ovens top out at 500°) ... the oven for glass was over 1500°!

I snapped this picture of Grayson inside the exhibit, with the Space Needle visible outside. He thought it was a good way to capture both activities. It wasn't until a bit later that I really looked at the artwork in our hotel room, and saw that it was a surprisingly similar shot!

Next up was Din Tai Fung, a world-renowned Chinese restaurant originating in Taiwan that specializes in soup dumplings and noodles. It's one that Gray and the boys always want to hit when they are in Washington (as it isn't in Utah). The original plan had been to beat the dinner rush, eating around 5:00 or so, but everyone was still pretty full from LunchBox Laboratory. We had a little down time at the hotel, and then headed out, and hit the dinner rush. There was an hour and a half wait ... but there was an arcade a few doors down.

Some air hockey, driving of cars. Keaton got crazy on the piano game! Cal and Colton had a basketball showdown. There was even a "begeda" on the line! New High Score ... went to Callahan. Then we got the text that our table was ready.

There was a LOT of food ... not enough room on the table, or in our tummies!

Here's a couple video clips K8 caught ... before and after!

That wrapped up Thursday - we did go hang out at Kolby's house for a bit afterward.

Friday, breakfast was at "Pomegranate Bistro" which was one of the locations Kolby had introduced Grayson to on a previous trip. Cal&K8 sat this one out, but the rest of the crew headed out (no photos). We didn't have a reservation, and at first were told it would be a wait of an hour and a half ... but then they said if we could be in and out in an hour (no lingering, which we really weren't planning on anyway) that they'd squeeze us onto a reserved table. So that was breakfast, Grayson was just SO sad that the "Savannah Hot Puffs" were only served Sat/Sunday. 

Then the Blackham Bunch headed back to Seattle. First stop was GasWorks park. Grayson had taken a classic photo there on the last trip (2017) and we needed to recreate it! What a difference four years makes!

... and a few more photos

Then it was on to Pike Place Market.

It was crazy crowded. We had to stop at the "gum wall" then split up a bit, with groups going their own way. I tried to keep track a bit on Find My Friends, and was a little surprised when we did happen to run into each other again without specifically trying to. There was a little shopping, a stop to eat, then we went over by the big Ferris Wheel and bought tickets to the "Wings Over Washington" ride. Afterward, we got ice cream.

Back to the hotel for a bit, then we were meeing Kolby, Jami, Maddie and Mia for an "electric boat" ride. We'd looked over the water from Gasworks Park, and were now ON the water. Kolby drove, and Jami brought a ton of food. Cal and K8 decided to sit out the boat ride, as K8 had a bad experience on a boat before (motion sickness) ... but it worked out, as there was a limit of 12 people (and with them we were 13). We went all around the lake, saw a lot of other boaters, a small sea plane landing, and the house featured in "Sleepless in Seattle" ...

... Gray went to grab some ice cream at the grocery store after (I was waiting at the hotel) and all the kids piled into Jami's car and went there to hang out again. That wrapped up Friday.

Saturday we were planning on heading out early, so we just stuck with the hotel breakfast. I enjoyed the hot chocolate most mornings (nice that it was cool enough to make hot chocolate desirable). Then we headed out to meet Kolby, Jami and Maddie (Mia had to work) to take the ferry to Friday Harbor. Friday Harbor is the major commercial center of the San Juan Islands archipelago.

The ferry ride was a little over an hour. There was some chatting, some game play, some wandering around on the deck. Then we docked and had a few hours at Friday Harbor before we needed to catch the ferry again and head back to the hotel.

We decided to do lunch - there were yummy fried cheese curds, pretzels and cheese bread for appetizers, then everyone moved on to main dishes. After eating, it was time to wander. There were HUGE hanging baskets of flowers all over. It was so pretty. Tons of little shops. Of course we had to stop and get ice cream again. Callahan really enjoyed a salted caramel ice cream and convinced a bunch of us to go try it as well. Cooper likes to get some commemorative clothing to remember outings, so we snagged a "San Juan Islands" t-shirt for him. The whole vacation he was playing Pokemon Go, as it's much more exciting in new places than it is at home. Maddie found some little crabs ... she's the crab whisperer.

Then it was time to get back on the boat. To say goodbye to Friday Harbor, and goodbye to Seattle. One more sleep at the hotel, one more hotel breakfast. A quick drive to K&J's to say goodbye and return her car. Then to the airport, return the rental, check bags (oops, some confusion and Coop ended up having to carry his on), security, a small wait. Gray took Cooper and Colton to check out the Alaskan Lounge. No empty seats next to Grayson this time. We were all together, Landon and Sol with us too.  We arrived back in Salt Lake. Happy to be home ... but it was hot, and smoky, we were already missing the Seattle weather.  Until next time!

While this was Jen's first Seattle trip, there had been plenty of previous visits for the family!

• Seattle 2010
• Seattle 2013
• Seattle 2014
• Seattle 2016 (Grayson)
• Seattle 2017 (Gray, Landon and Keaton in March, Gray in November)
• Seattle 2017 (Family)
• Seattle 2019 (Coop and Grayson)

... and some others that didn't get blogged separately, or there weren't pictures to post. There were certainly pictures and memories made this trip!

June 2021

June 2021 ... it was HOT.  There were some records set (poor Portland/Seattle had it even worse), and news about the water worries. We had a power outage once, a couple of hours in the morning. Quite a few family fun activities, Father's Day, pickleball, basketball, Gray's getaways, Jen messing around with the #voila app, and Keaton has been jumping out of planes!

• Pickleball: We've enjoyed making family pickleball a weekly thing. We don't always get the whole crew out, but it's a lot of fun when we have the Blackham Bunch together. Some are more competitive than others ;) 
• Annual Westra Father's Day Party: We pushed it an hour, as it was so hot! Pulled pork and lots of other eats/treats. Introduced the Westra side to 9-Square. A few days later, there was a smaller group gathering for swimming at the Havenmoor pool. 
• TopGolf: As a pre-Father's Day, the Blackham side got together at TopGolf. It really is a fun place to go hit some balls, even if you're not at all in to golf. 
• Blackham Gathering: Later in the month, Jami and the girls were in town, so we had another get-together. TopGolf was actually the aim, but it was booked, so we just figured we'd have a backyard party ... except then it rained (otherwise we would have introduced the Blackham side to Keaton's 9-Square). Lots of pizza, and Keaton/Milo (the dog) provided some entertainment. Finally as the weather cleared, the kids played some hackysack.
• Moab: Go/No-Go ... Grayson was taking Landon&Co to Moab to introduce them to RZR riding, but there was a big fire impacting the area and it closed the road. They ended up having to turn around and come back home. Gray still made it to Moab this month though ... twice!
• Basketball: Colton had some open gym at the school, then the "WJ Clinic" ... the crew put on a fundraiser carwash, then went to St. George for a tournament (see Colton's write up HERE). Colton's Wolves also had several practices and then the Big Mountain Jam. 
• Skydiving: Keaton did the tandem sky-diving a couple years ago, and he's now taking it a step or two (or three!) further. He spent three Saturday's jumping out of planes this month. No longer strapped to an instructor (still with an instructor in the air near him ... at least for a bit) he's on his own! Pulling his own cord, trying to perfect staying straight in the air, landing. Crazy kid!
• Zumba: Jen has continued to teach Mondays and Wednesdays at a nearby church. She's had a helper, handling almost half the class, but Christa said goodbye (surgery will have her out for a few months) so more teaching time for Jen. She's hitting classes Thurs/Fri with another group too. 
• New Grill: Happy Father's Day to Grayson. He had a smaller Blackstone grill he'd been using a lot, so he upgraded. Got himself a new apron too, in an attempt to stem the grease spots on so many shirts!
• Router Replacement: Our Internet was AWFUL, cutting in and out. Our Xfinity service had actually offered us an upgrade a bit ago ... but, change is hard, until it's necessary. We got the new router set up, and had to reconnect EVERYTHING. The old Aria Fitbit scale would NOT connect so ... new scale (Jen had been wanting one anyway, just needed the justification). 

 Love that in three of the pictures, Gray is hugging (or being hugged)!

Here's the month - One Second Style

 

And highlights from one of Colton's basketball games ...

In the game after this one, Gordy (#4, making a LOT of shots) broke his wrist :(

9-Square in the Air (Blackham Style)

 

Have you heard of 9-Square (in the Air)? It's similar to four-square, where you bop a ball from square to square, but instead of the squares being painted on pavement, these squares are above your head, framed from PVP pipe. There is an official website and sets can be purchased (well, they are backordered as of this posting) but they are pricy! $700. Keaton decided he wanted to make his own. It really IS just PVC pipe and the correct connectors (he found those on Amazon). He went with a sturdier size (1.5 inch) too. It still added up to $250, but he said the hardest part was picking up the pipe from the store and getting it home. A few hours of cutting pipe to the correct length, and he was good to go. Did you know that with the addition of two daughters-in-law ... there are NINE Blackhams in the bunch? We even got Gray to play (grudgingly). Perfect for play.

    

On a different day ... had to stop and snap a photo.

All five Blackham boys in chronological order (the center is the #1 spot)

Next up ... Westra Father's Day party!

As Keaton got quite a bit of feedback (how did you do it, was it hard, how much did it cost, where do you find the supplies) I had him write up a little "how-to" if you wanted to do it on your own.  So here you go!

Get the PVC sticks at Lowe’s or Home Depot. They come in 10’ sticks (you will need 28 total, maybe grab an extra in case you cut something incorrectly). You’re going to trim the pipe (I used a sawzall, buy a chop saw would work too) to 7’ for the vertical legs (you need 16 of these) and 4 1/2’ for the top connectors (you need 24 of these). (Height and width are pretty standard but you can adjust how you’d like. 5’ height is preferable for children under 10.)

Home Depot and Lowe’s most likely do not carry any of the connectors because they may not be frequently used in construction or other places, so I got mine from Amazon. Make sure the fittings match the PVC Pipe size (I used 1 1/2”) and note that some of the connectors are sold in sets, while others are sold individually.

• 4 3 way PVC fittings for the corners.
• 8 4 ways for the sides.
• 4 5 ways for the middle square.

I found the ball  at Walmart for $2. 

Setting up the game is pretty straight forward but does take some time. It's good to have a ladder and hammer. I start with the middle square and 5 way fittings so we can move it to its desired location. Then you start adding on leg by leg to the middle square. I do the corners last. It’s important that you have the center square where you want it because once the whole thing is built, it isn't going anywhere.

You may want to prepare a carry bag for all of the fittings (I don’t glue any of them on to play so that it can be stored easier and it works just fine). To store and transport the pipe, I wrapped the 7’ sticks together with a bungee on both sides and did the same for the 4 1/2’ sticks.

Colton and Crew at the Crimson Classic

I still need to post about the actual basketball season. I did do some updates on the basketball blog, but am still quite behind. Here's a look at the most recent happenings.

Summer often means it's tournament time. Even with a recent coaching change, the Crimson Cliffs Classic was ON for the West Jordan Jaguars. The first weekend of June, they held a fundraiser washing cars, and earned enough to pay the tournament fees. There wasn't going to be a bus this year, so parents were in charge of chauffeuring kids (some of the kids could drive themselves, but I don't know if any did) and getting hotel rooms (everyone tried to book together so the boys could hang out easily). Anyone who knows me, knows I don't really travel. Luckily, Colton was "adopted" by another family. So I dropped him off, and off they went. 

Colton will be a sophomore next year. For this tournament, he and two other sophomores would be playing both sophomore and JV. There were some back-to-back games at different locations, and all three teams played at 1:00 on Saturday for the final games. Colton was good at keeping in touch to let me know how the games were going, and I also got a couple updates from other moms. The sophomore team went undefeated. My sister Wendy lives in St. George and I mentioned Colton was there, so she and Janelle went to cheer him on for one of his games. The boys didn't really have time for a load of laundry ... I can only imagine how stinky they all must have been!

I asked (required) Colton to do a write up of the tournament for me ...

Thursday - On the car ride up to St. George all I could really do is be on my phone. I didn’t fall asleep at all on the way there. We had about a little bit over an hour at the hotel before my first game, I just sat on the bed, explored the room and saw what channels were on the tv. Carter’s family picked me up for our 2:00 game at Pine View. They weren’t too hard and we won by a bit, we went straight from there to the 4:00 game at Crimson Cliffs. We all hung out for like half an hour at the gym before our game started because the one before us went long. We ended up losing the first JV game, next game was at 8:00. Before heading back to the hotel, I went with Colin’s family to Habit to get some food. We went back to the hotel for only an hour where Gage, Jair, and Carter came to our room for a bit. We had another JV game next where Ethan and I had to leave at halftime, the team they were playing seemed really tiny and I expected them to win, but they apparently lost in triple overtime by two points. We had a pretty tough game against Crimson with the sophomores but ended up winning by like 10. Afterwards, Ethan’s family took me, Carter, and Ethan to Wendys. Back at the hotel, I hung out with the varsity team for a little bit at the hot tub while eating my food. I went back up to my room at around 11 and took a shower. Gage and Jair were in my room as well for a bit before they left. At like 11:30, I went and hung out with Elijah, Max, Jaxon, Carter, Steven, and Alex. We went down to the lobby and found some board games that the hotel had for people to play. We played Jenga for a bit, trying to be quiet, then Steven and I went and checked out the weight room, which was pretty small. We all went back to the room that was shared by Elijah, Carter, Jaxon, and Steven and played Uno on our phones. I went back to my room at around 12:30, and went to bed.

Friday - I woke up at 7:00 and got dressed. Colin was still asleep so I went to breakfast and met up with Elijah, Carter, Steven, Jaxon, Alex, Jair, and Max. Some of the breakfast choices were cereal, waffles, small omelets, and fruit. I got a bowl of cereal and a couple of the omelets, which were not that good. We hung out down there for a bit before I went and put my jersey on. Carter and I got a ride with Ethan to our first game at 9:00. We won by two points off of a last second shot by Jaxon. We went straight from there to our next game at 11:00. We also won the JV game, although it was still tough. Since our next game was at 1:00, Ethan’s parents went to get the both of us some sandwiches from Subway. It took a lot longer than they thought it would and our next game started before they got back. Ethan and Carter left at halftime of this game to go to the sophomore game. Which was probably for the best since Ethan got into a little bit of a fight with a kid from the other team since he threw the ball on Ethan’s head intentionally when inbounding the ball with about two seconds left in the half. It felt pretty good when I hit an and-1 three in the guys face quickly in the second half. We won that game and Colin’s parents hurried and dropped me off at my sophomore game with about two minutes left in the first half. The game was pretty close for most of it but we pulled away at the end, going on a 10 point run. We headed back to the hotel for a little over an hour. Gage, Max, Elijah, and Jair came to our room during that time. We just chilled in the room watching tv. Gage and I both got a text that we would be playing in the varsity game at 6:00 because a couple of the players were injured. We won the 5:00 game by a fair amount, then we won at 6:00 too in the varsity game. I did pretty decent and scored five points. I played a bit more than I thought I would. Coach told me I would also play varsity on Saturday at 8:00 in the morning. I got a ride back to the hotel with Colin, where we quickly changed and left to go to Fiesta Fun for laser tag. We all ate pizza and had drinks first at the park across the street, and also played on the playground because it was pretty fun. Even an ice cream truck drove by and I got this Sonic ice cream popsicle thing. We waited for 20 min before playing laser tag then we went in. There were three teams, I was with Carter and the entire varsity team. It was really fun, even though one of the other teams won. I stuck around for another half hour and played some mini golf and just a little bit of the arcade games. Gage, Colin, Jair, Max, and I left and went back to the hotel. We decided to walk to the gas station nearby to get some snacks. All I got was a soda for two bucks. We hung out in our room for a while doing nothing until everyone else came back too, most of them coming to our room. At one point, I think there was the entire sophomore team and nearly the entire JV team in mine and Colin’s room. We went down to the lobby and played more board games, and even did a race on a word search because there were plenty of these little packets provided by the hotel and crayons. We all hung out in our room for about another hour before everyone left at around 12:30. I then took a shower and went to bed around 1:00 in the morning.

Saturday - I woke up at 6:30 today because I had a game at 8:00. Colin and I went to breakfast and met up with the same people as before. Sophomores had a game at 8:00 also so I had to miss that. I got a ride with Colin to the varsity game because they came to watch. It was a pretty close game throughout the entire thing, and I was playing in the final minutes. I ended up hitting a free throw with about 10 seconds to go to put us up by 3 (free throws were 1 shot for 2 points) and we won the game. I had another game with JV directly after in the same place. This was probably the easiest game of the tournament and we won by 30. We had an hour and a half between this game and our next game so we headed back to the hotel to pack our things and check out. Jair came to our room for a bit, same with Max, but they both left early to go pack. I got a ride with Colin to the last game against Farmington. That was a rough game. We went down about 18-0 to start then we brought back within eight points, but they stayed well ahead the entire game. I still scored around 20 points and then talked to Wendy and Janelle for a few minutes afterwards. Colin and I had to change quickly in the parking lot after the game and then we went to this restaurant “Viva Chicken”. I had been there twice before when we went to St. George a couple months ago. We made the long trip back to West Jordan after that, only stopping once to go to the bathroom and get a milkshake at Dairy Queen.

May 2021

 

May was full of family and fun and FOOD. Mother's Day, Memorial Day, birthdays and graduations. There has still been basketball, card games, and 9-Square in the Air. As for school, many of the cousins are already done. Our boys still have a couple days in June ... technically. Kate graduated from the U and had her 22nd birthday. Lots of family and fun ... and have I mentioned FOOD?

• Family dinner out at Tepanyaki - which we still like, event though Gray makes great steak and fried rice himself. He was trying to pick up tips from our chef, who was the most entertaining chef we'd ever had. Missing Cal & Kate who were in Moab.
• SO much sourdough! Lots and lots of loaves, which I've been eating, giving away to friends. Tried sourdough pancakes and waffles, pizza crust, and even donuts. Mmmmm, dough-nuts!
• Peculiar Popcorn ... called "mushroom" popcorn. Gray found it at Orson Gygis. It pops up textured, and big, and super light-weight (although the scale the next morning begs to differ). 
• Cookies and Cool Whip ... I made "Swig" cookies, and too many batches of "Cool Whip Dessert" to count!
• Big Breakfasts on Saturday and/or Sunday are a Blackham thing. Pictured above was Mother's Day breakfast, but bacon, eggs, hashbrowns, waffles, pancakes, french toast ... they make regular appearances in the Blackham kitchen (and Blackham stomachs).
• Belated Christmas Crepes ... we'd planned on crepes for Christmas Day, but then Gray was under the weather and with Covid concerns, our married kids didn't dare come over. So we finally had our crepes, in May ;)
• Personal Pizzas ... my sourdough recipe can be converted into a pizza crust. I'd tried it a couple of times in the oven. Then Gray got on board and bought a "pizza oven" attachment for his Komodo Joe, and we had a big "build your own buffet" with a variety of sauces, cheeses, toppings. Gray is now looking at ANOTHER pizza oven (this one would be smaller, portable even) and so I see that being an option for a family gathering. It works really well for our vegetarians, I just need to perfect some gluten-free options ;)  
• Deluxe Dinners: Brisket, steak, bacon-wrapped chicken, crab legs ... just a few of the other dinners. We had the folks out for brisket. Keaton has been requesting fajitas, so I attempted making that for him. Gray has been making homemade beef jerky on the smoker, and the boys love it. Gray tried some rotisserie chicken (pictured above).
• Burger BBQ ... Landon made homemade buns, meat burgers, veggie burgers, tons of toppings. Clever-cut hot dogs and some marinated chicken too. 

I did NOT lose weight in May. Mayday, Mayday ... food and fasting were under attack! Other May moments included ...

• Microwave: Our microwave (only three years old) gave out. Repair would take a while, as the needed part was backordered. Gray just grabbed an inexpensive replacement and Keaton put it in. We use our microwave a lot ... it's inconvenient to be without it! First world problems!
• Pantry Planning: Gray built a nice divider for pans and cutting boards and such for the pantry. It looks good and led to additional organization.
• Basketball: Colton finished up his Spring season with Wolves and Showtime. He will be continuing on with his Wolves during the Summer and Fall, they have several tournaments planned, but most are out of Jen's driving zone (Utah County, downtown, Vegas) so I won't be watching many (if any). West Jordan High promoted the previous assistant coach to head coach rather than bringing in someone new (as our head coach took a new job in St. George). I've been working on my video backlog, and hit highlights from Colton's Sophomore games, JV games, and some of the recent Spring set (here's one game from May 8th, where Colton got the winning shot). I was pretty happy when the mask mandate was lifted and we could watch without wearing masks!
• Tax Day: We were glad that the government pushed the tax date again this year. We hadn't thought ahead enough on getting taxes done for Pammy's estate, and that had to be done before any of the siblings could do their own taxes. We did NOT get a refund (but Keaton got a nice chunk of change, and Coop hadn't earned enough to have to do his). 
• Haircut Housecall: We were lucky enough to get Aunt Olivia over to give everyone haircuts ... Landon makes sure he comes over on the nights she is here too. Keaton has been letting his hair grown out a bit though ... his front is floppy!
• QUIET! The kid crew (Landon&Sol, Cal&Kate, Keaton, Coop) went to see "A Quiet Place 2" (Colton was gone to a basketball game). Coop hadn't seen the first one fully, so when he had to pick a movie for his final Film Studies assignment, he watched the first installment so he was ready for the sequel. 
• Nine-Square: We've seen ads for the "9-Square in the Air" game and it looked SO fun. The sets cost $750 and up if you purchase them. Keaton took the challenge of building his own. It is really just PVC pipe and connectors. Those connectors still add up quickly, so the cost was still $250. We've played it as a family a couple of times and it's a great group game. I took some video and posted it (just basic play ... Blackham 9-Square). 

Landon and Sol got a new kitten, Miko. Cal and Kate have spent a ton of time and money on their yard, and it looks great (added a fence, sod, pavers, gravel). Keaton went to "sky school" (a one day training class) and is looking into more sky diving. 

Well ... I think that's about it for Blackham activities. In addition to food and fasting, my fitness has taken a slight hit, even with adding in Friday Zumba classes again (so now Mon/Wed/Fri). Coop and I still play ping pong most days, and Coop has been staying super active! 30k days fairly often. Grayson got an Apple Watch (and I made him sync up with my StrideKick app, which lets me be "friends" with different fitness devices). We'll see how things go with the summer schedule!

Kate Graduates!

 

After high school, Kate got a couple of years at SLCC and then moved to the University of Utah. She got a year of "normal" school in, before Covid hit and complicated things. Although ... taking classes from home in pajamas wasn't all bad ;) 

Kate graduated Summa Cum Laude in Psychology and Positive Psychology from the University of Utah! She spent her senior year studying Post-Traumatic Growth while being a TA for her favorite professor and proposed a Sustainable Campus Grant proposal that addressed plastic waste and period poverty on campus. She and her team worked to provide free menstrual cups to U of U students and women’s shelters in the Salt Lake area.

To celebrate graduation, Kate and Cal threw a little graduation party at their house for a few friends and family. Grayson was happy to break out the chocolate fountain, which is always fun. 

Cal and Kate put a ton of work into their yard as part of the prep. They added a fence, some sod, pavers and gravel, a firepit ... it looks really nice! Here's Coop and Colton getting in a little cornhole during the grad gathering.

ConGRADulations K8!

April 2021

 

This last month felt pretty full! Colton finished up his Spring Break, then Cooper got his. There was Easter, and the second dose of Pfizer for G&J. There was a BUNCH of basketball, and a couple of getaways for Gray. Here's a recap of all our activities for April ...

• Easter: Pretty low-key Easter. We got "ears" pictures. Just a few treats in the Easter baskets (buckets) and Corn Hole for the family. I made many meringue "nests" and ate many also. I tried making Aunt Lorrie's scones, but they didn't turn out like my memory of hers. We also had cinnamon pull-aparts for our Easter breakfast. 
• Vaccinated: Gray and I got our second dose of vaccine, and neither of us had any side-effects at all. 
• Learner's Permits: As Colton is 15 years old, and looking toward taking Driver's Ed and getting his license as soon as possible after his 16th birthday, we needed to get him in for his permit. As I made an appointment (available pre-Covid, but required now) ... I actually made TWO appointments, one for Cooper too. We did some studying, and they both passed on their first try! We've done some driving practice with Colton.
• Basketball: SO many games! I guess that happens when you're on three teams, and each team is playing in two different tournaments. There was also the end of season award banquet for the boys. Some sad news ... Coach Sawyer has accepted a coaching job in St. George, so we don't know who will be coaching Colton the next few years. I'm sure Colton will be fine with whomever comes, but he was a favorite with Coach Sawyer and got some extra attention.
• Baking: We had a few yummy desserts this month ... Skookie, chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles. I also got some sourdough starter from a neighbor and have been experimenting with that and made my first loaf.
• Spring: With the warmer weather, it's time to mow the lawn and prep the flower beds. No lilacs blooming yet, but the tulips and daffodils have come and gone. Cal and Kate have a little birdy building a next on the wreath on their front door. We have the usual starlings building a nest in the broken brick on our garage (and in our back fence, and in the big birdhouse ... which is actually meant for a nest!)
• School: Colton's Spring Break was the end of March and first days of April. That school break impacted Cooper too, giving him the week off work (as he works at the elementary school). The next week, Colton was back to school and Coop was back to work, but Cooper had his Spring Break for school. Colton had end-of-year testing, which shifted up his half-day schedule a bit. Keaton wrapped up his semester at SLCC too. 
• Gray's Getaways: Grayson went to Moab with some work friends for some rock-crawling with the RZR. Then he and Keaton joined Kolby and Jami's family going to Hawaii (I'll do a post with more pictures and a write up from Keaton ... it's coming!)

I think that's pretty much what went on in and around the Blackham house. I am still teaching Zumba Mondays and Wednesdays, and I hit a Thurs/Fri with another class at the end of the month. Coop and I are scheduling and sharing the gym (Gray has been working out at work), and Coop and I have been getting ping pong in almost every day. 

A funny ... with the six different basketball schedules, I got mixed up and didn't have a game on my radar for the evening when Colton brought it up. Luckily, I didn't have anything going on for that night and could get him to his game and I said as much. Coop looked playfully offended and said "NO plans? What about our ping pong?" and admittedly, we didn't get our ping pong in that day. 

Hawaii 2021

 

In April, Grayson and Keaton joined Kolby's family in Hawaii for a week. This was Gray's second trip (see Hawaii 5-0). Because of Covid, they both had to have a specific Covid test (only certain providers were accepted by Hawaii). Luckily, Clay and Courtney had just gone on a family trip to Hawaii, so they were able to give us some pointers. I was able to get both guys scheduled for a drive-through test at the local Walgreens on April 17, Saturday morning before they flew out to Seattle. They got their results quickly, and were both negative, so the vacation was on. They spent Saturday evening, Sunday, and Monday morning in Seattle, and flew out to Hawaii Monday, April 19, on a 6:00 flight. Tuesday-Saturday the guys got some sightseeing, snorkeling and eating exotic foods. They flew home LATE Saturday night and arrived back in SLC Sunday, April 25. They hadn't really been able to sleep on the flight, and were dealing with jet-lag and time changes. Keaton still had Monday off, but Gray was back to the grind and a full inbox at work. I asked Keaton to write up his memories from the week, and here they are ...

Me and pops went on a 9 day vacation to Hawaii. Here’s how it went...

We first had to get a COVID test within 3 days of the flight to Hawaii. This was a little tense because if we were positive then the trip probably would’ve been outright cancelled for that person. Luckily, we were both negative so we headed to the airport to leave for Seattle and meet up with the fam there. We got there around 7:00 pm on Saturday and hung out and ate Indian food while Bogdan said his goodbyes.

On Sunday, Dad, Kolby, and I went to breakfast at Pomegranate. I had a massive sandwich and those two had avocado toast. We went home to chill while Mia and Jamie were working. A big part of this trip for me was Kolby introducing me to a ton of great movies that I’d never seen before. We watched Kung Fu Hustle, Pulp Fiction, Django, and Fargo. They were really fun and Kolby would geek out at little bits during the movies that only a movie nerd like him would know, but it was also for clarifying purposes to understand the story even more so. We also watched a few Simpsons episodes and I can’t believe I’ve never watched those before haha. All of us went to dinner that night at Din Thai Fung at my request. This place is one of my favorite restaurants and there’s not even one in Utah. They have green beans, dumplings, pot stickers, rice and noodles and there’s nothing that I don’t like.

Monday we watched some more shows and movies. Kolby and I took Hazel and Otis to the park so they can run around. I definitely fell in love with these pups there. We left for the flight at 6:00 pm and it was a 6 hour flight. I listened to music and watched Invincible on Amazon Prime. The flight wasn’t so bad. We get to Kauai and the humidity punched me in the face. It’s 9:30 pm there (4 hour difference from Utah and 1 from Seattle). We check into the hotel suite at the Koloa Resort after getting our rental cars; a red Jeep for me and pops, and then a Buick for the Seattle crew. There’s a master for Kolby and Jamie, bedroom with a queen for Dad, bedroom with two twins for me and Maddie, and then a fold over couch-bed for Mia and her boyfriend Jack. There was an outdoor balcony and that’s where we all hung out most of the time at the hotel. We were 3 stories up overlooking a pool with palm trees all around and music playing on a speaker at all times while birds came to hangout with us.

 

Tuesday morning, Maddie had class at 6:00 am Hawaii time. Mia and Jack get up early to work on school too. Dad and I went down to the resorts restaurant Holoholo Grill for breakfast. They served POG juice, banana nut pancakes, taro bread French toast, loco moco, surfer burrito, and pork hash. Everything there was delicious, especially the side of Portuguese sausage. Then, Dad and I explored around a bit visiting the other resorts, finding the beaches, places we’ll hit later and such. I had no idea there were roosters everywhere around the island. Holy crap. We found a bunch of sea turtles swimming near a shore and no one was around! There was probably 8 or so. Dad, Kolby, and Jamie went to Costco later to get groceries while Maddie, Mia and I got in the pool. When they got back, we visited the beach to see 5 or so sea turtles sleeping on the shore, and a seal too if you walk down a ways. We had Puka Dog and if it’s not the best hot dog you’ll eat, I don’t know what is. When we got back Kolby, Dad and I watch stand ups of Nate Bargatze and Daniel Sloss. This turned into a nightly thing of the trip, and one that I looked forward to throughout the day.

Wednesday, Jamie, Mia, Jack, and I went to get Açaí for breakfast. We brought Maddie back her bowl and I went down to the pool to hangout with Dad and Kolby. Kolby and I went down the slide a few times while the lifeguard made fun of us, but whatever. It started to rain pretty hard and Pops was all too happy about it. I had no idea warm rain was his favorite thing ever. People were getting out of the pool and under umbrellas or heading back to their crib while he was, just now, cannonballing into the pool, the only one in there, and he’s just gliding around wishing that he can be in that moment forever. Kolby and I were making fun of him during all this. I went back and got lunch with the same crew from this morning and right next to the açaí place. We went to Da Crack which is similar to Cafe Rio but to no ones surprise was really, really good. Then all of us, except Dad, went snorkeling for only an hour because it was a bit windy. That night we watched John Mulaney, a personal favorite of mine.

Thursday, all of us went to Holoholo for breakfast. It was a lot nicer that day so we immediately went to the beach to hangout and snorkel. We were there for a few hours. We got some Puka, Maddie got some cool shells, Jack flew his Kite, it was solid. Most everyone took a nap after that and then we went to a fancy restaurant called Beach House. When we came home from dinner, we watched Mulaney’s other two stand ups.

Friday was the highlight of the trip for me. Holoholo for breakfast and then we were splitting into two groups. Those that were going on the catamaran to the Na Pali coast and those that were doing a bike ride because they’d get motion sickness from the boat. Dad, Kolby, Maddie, and I went on the catamaran. It started at noon and lasted for about 6 hours. Setting sail was so much fun! This boat was a party boat and everyone was feeling it. There was about 25 other people on there with us, drinks, food, music, and the best crew mates ever. I cannot describe how awesome they were. 30 minutes out and we stopped at a snorkeling spot. We’re there for about another 30 minutes and got a couple sea turtles swimming by. Everyone hopped back on and right before we set sail again, Maddie got sick. It didn’t affect her much, she was just bummed she got motion sickness and was probably going to be like that the rest of the ride. We make it to the coastline and the cliffs there are so cool to see. When we turned around to go back, there was a double rainbow, clear skies, and we saw a whale breach out of the water! Some of these waves were rocking us back and forth. On the way back, more people got sick and you can see all the crew mates just running with buckets, cleaning up peoples messes, back and forth and back forth. It was pretty funny (sorry Maddie haha). That night we watched Ryan Hamilton.

The last day of the trip, I wondered around a bit for souvenirs. Then all of us except Maddie and Jack went on the bike ride the others did the day before. It was really fun and the view of the ocean was great. After that, all of us hiked to Secret Beach. I really liked it there because the sand felt great, the waves were fun to get pushed around in, Maddie and I found thousands of tadpoles and frogs the size of flies, Jack flew his kite, and then we went home for homemade steak dinner. It was really good, but then we had to say goodbye because the Seattle crew was staying another day while me and Pops left at 10:00 that night. Some real sad goodbyes looking back at a truly epic week. It was a solid group and a solid trip.

Gray and Keaton didn't take a ton of photos, but I was glad for the few I got. In addition to what they took (the first photo collage at top) Maddie took some spectacular scenic shots (middle and below).

March 2021

 

We made it through March. There was a LOT of basketball. I know the term March Madness refers to college ball, but I think it also applies to Colton. That's what happens when you play on two teams and in multiple tournaments. One Saturday he had SIX games ... but he could "only" play five as two were at the same time. Both his Wolves (10th grade) and his Showtime (9th grade) took first place in tournaments they were in. Colton went to St. George for a weekend for a tournament there.  Beyond basketball ...

• Vaccinated: Gray and I got our first Pfizer. We had to drive to American Fork for it. A little funny about that, Grayson had me put the address of the CVS store in my phone so we could get directions and he got so confused "WHY is it telling me to take all these little side streets, it's like ... wait, do you have your phone maps set to avoid freeways?" Why yes, yes I do *Ü* When we go back for our second shot, we'll be going a regular (freeway) route. Cal and Kate also got in for their vaccinations, and they got the J&J, so they are done! Landon hasn't been able to find an appointment yet (Sol, being in healthcare, got hers a while back), and Keaton will have to wait, as he stepped on a nail and had to get a Tetanus shot, and you need to have at least two weeks between the Covid vaccine and any others. 
• Games: Ping pong has still been very popular. Landon and Sol came over a few times, and there's always games going when they are here. The Occulus (virtual reality headset) has continued to used a lot, especially by Cooper. We moved the WiiU into the family room, and got out the Wii Fit board and some of the old games and got playing that again. 
• Food: Gray got a new gadget, that big red thing is another smoker, one that uses charcoal, and can also be a regular BBQ. He's still figuring things out with that, but we are happy to try his experiments. He made some steak, using smoke on it wasn't great. Coop said "It tasted like jerky" to which I replied "but you like jerky" and he answered "but not when it's supposed to be steak!" The "Kamodo Joe" also has a rotisserie attachment, and it looks a little like Rodizio. Grayson and I got out on a date to Archibalds (Gardner Village) and I did a little baking ... cookies and banana bread. It had been a while since I'd made either. The chocolate chip cookie dough worked for Skookie too.
• School: Colton had Spring Break at the end of March. With the district out, that meant Coop didn't have work either. I've enjoyed not having to run the boys everywhere this week, it's been a nice break for me too. Cooper still had school though, as his Spring Break is the week after Easter. Cooper took the ACT this month - his was still done with a pencil and paper.
• Misc March Memories: We've got a few daffodils popping up. It might be time to pull out the lawn mower (not that the lawn really needs it yet, just to trim things up). I wore green to Zumba on St. Patrick's Day ... I always wear gray/black, so that's pretty big!  I reorganized the "pencil drawer" in the kitchen and have high hopes that it might actually stay fairly straight (it also opened up another kitchen drawer for Grayson and all his gadgets, of which he has many!) Landon, Sol and Cooper went to a movie (Gray did too, but not with them, although they did see the same new release). 

... and the reason Colton looks so sad, is because his brothers ate all the best flavors of the Hi-Chew candy (he really wanted the green) and all they left was the Mango ...

March Moments ~ One Second Every Day

https://youtu.be/YrjJBi6xb6Q

Cooper's Personal Narrative - First Job

This will be backdated to 2021

An English assignment Cooper's junior year was to write a Personal Narrative - telling a story with a message, using dialogue, sensory details, etc.  At least with a PERSONAL narrative, you are telling your own story, so it should be easier to write ... right? I thought his completed assignment was very blogworthy, as it tells about the time, his first job, etc.  Link to the GoogleDoc (here) and included below. 

Employment Experiences During Covid

I hear the jingle of my phone, alerting me that I have gotten a text message.

“I won’t be able to come in today, can someone cover my route?” This was sent in our work group chat, where we sweepers are able to notify the supervisor if we are unable to come in to work, and allows subs to cover a route if necessary.

“Yeah, I’ll be able to split your route with someone,” I reply. Even though I am no longer a sub and have my own designated route I do everyday, it hasn’t been that uncommon for me to do someone else's route in addition to mine if needed. So now I get ready for my work day: I take a shower, get dressed and prepared, get a ride to the school, and then I punch my code in to get my shift started. I get to the custodian closet and pull out my cart and start up another day of disinfecting touch-surfaces and throwing garbage out. I don’t really have much on my mind while I’m working, aside from the music blasting through my earbuds, so I think back to when I first got my job back in 2020; a time where many people were getting laid off, not hired.

When I say that people were getting laid off, this was the time when Covid-19 had finally made its dreadful impact. In the months prior, I was aware of this “Coronavirus” spread, but I didn’t think too much of it. I remember seeing things like the U.S. potentially opting out of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo if it spread more, as well as graphs predicting how many cases there could be in the next few months. All of what I was seeing made it seem like Covid was going to be so drastic, but I thought to myself “There’s no way it’s going to be that bad, is it?” Well…

I could pinpoint the last semi-ordinary day before everything changed, and that’s because it was connected to an interest of mine. On March 11, 2020, tip-off for the Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder game had been delayed for unknown reasons. This happened a few days after Rudy Gobert mockingly touched the mics at a press conference, and he was listed as sick on the injury report. Then, an announcer in the arena stated that the game had been cancelled, as Rudy Gobert had tested positive for Covid. Shortly after, NBA commissioner Adam Silver made the decision to suspend the NBA season for at least a month.

While the NBA may be unrelated to the functioning parts of a society in most ways, the impact that was made after the season was suspended was drastic. In the next couple days, there were shortages of supplies in the stores, schools moved online, and non-essential businesses were shut down. But in a time where millions of people were unemployed for the first time, this was the time period in which I got my first job.

I was hanging out with my friends one day, and we felt our stomachs rumbling. So we hopped into Parker’s car and drove to the nearest McDonalds to order 24 cookies, just ordinary friend things. While we were in the drive thru, Parker and McKay were talking about their job. This was new information to me, so I was curious where they were working.

“You guys have a job? Where are you working?” I inquired.

“McKay and I work as sweepers at Terra Linda.”

“How long have the two of you been working there?”

“McKay has been working for a few months, and I’ve been working there since the 8th grade.”

It seemed to be as simple as a job could possibly be. Judging by the fact that Parker had worked  there since he was 14 seemed to indicate that this job wouldn’t need any experience. And the shifts were only 1-2 hours a day, so it would be a perfect job to have while in school.  It was August at the time, and I was going to be turning 17 by the end of the month without getting my drivers license or my first job, so this was as good an opportunity as I could get to cross one of those off my list.

“Would it be easy to get a job there?”

“Yeah, all you need to do is go to the Jordan School District website and fill out an application there.”

After a fun day with them, I got dropped off at my house, went through the door and immediately sat down in front of my computer and typed in the address to the Jordan School District's website. I filled out the application and had it submitted. All that was left was the waiting game. Parker couldn’t remember how long it took for him, but McKay said it took a few months before he was notified about his application. I wanted to get working right away, so this was the most stressful part of this whole experience. I wasn’t sure how the whole Covid situation would affect things … if they would need more workers as cleaning was more of an issue now, or if schools would move online again, and there wouldn’t be a need for junior custodians.

On September 4, just a few weeks after I sent in my application, I got a message from John, the supervisor, saying that he wanted to meet with me. It wasn’t necessarily an “interview,” it was more a quick rundown of what to expect from the job. After that, the only thing left before starting my first job was sweeper training.

My sweeper training happened on September 22, and the purpose of this was to show the basics of all of the routes we may be doing; light duty, vacuums; and bathrooms. After all of that, I was finally able to start working. I started as a sub, just filling in when needed, but it wasn’t long before I got my own route and was working every day.

I take off the straps off of my vacuum, then empty the contents from an hour worth of vacuuming into the trash. I get to the main office and punch in my code a second time so I could end my shift. It is very strange how an experience shared by millions of others could have wildly different outcomes and impacts. What so many people will remember about this time period is how unemployment was high, but what I will remember from 2020 is that it’s when I got my first job.

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Cooper ended up showcasing his work as part of a project for history as well ...

You can see the full project on the Westra Way blog.