July 2022

 

July 2022 ... there were some smoky skies one week, and a couple big, beautiful rainbows the next.  Basketball, getaways, food and fun. Here's a run down of what the Blackham Bunch has been up to this summer: 

• Getaways: L&S started the month in Mexico. Grayson had a Bear Lake weekend with work buddies, Colton went to Las Vegas for basketball, and the whole family made it up to Pineview.
• Beach Day: We got the whole crew up for a day at the beach/Pineview, first time the waverunners have been out in a couple years (water levels and Covid complications). We forgot the paddle for the paddleboard, so Grayson rented a paddleboard. Ironically enough, Keaton then found a paddle buried in the mud in the lake ... could it be the paddle we lost a couple years ago? It looks the same! It was hot, but we had fun. Coop didn't go in the water but there was a lot of frisbee and football throwing going on.
• Lagoon with Livi: Aunt Olivia planned a day at Lagoon and got most of the nephews out (Coop and Cal didn't make it). Another hot day, but the group had fun on the rides and taking an old fashioned photo. 
• Anniversary: Gray and Jen celebrated 30 years. A big, beautiful bouquet of long stemmed roses arrived, and then there was dinner at Market Street followed by a movie (Topgun) ... Jen's first movie in theaters in over two years. 
• Basketball: Callahan is playing in a men's league over at Gene Fullmer, so Jen went to watch a couple of those games. Colton played a team from Chile with his Wolves team, then they went and spent a weekend playing in Las Vegas. He also participated in a 3x3 tournament downtown.
• Colton's First Job: Colton put in an application at Home Depot and got hired right away. He begrudgingly took a photo in his cute orange apron. He is a "lot" employee, gathering carts, helping customers load items, etc. He's enjoyed having a little money of his own.
• Food: We had a big burger night ... Gray ate his with a lovely lettuce "bun". Cal requested corn on the cob. We had Grayson's fried green beans another night, and Jen successfully made Mongolian Beef (a recipe Gray found and made that the boys really like) so that will now be in the recipe rotation. Jen is still making sourdough, 12 loaves a week. 
• Staying Active: The pickleball Jen and Cooper were attending at a local church ended, so they have tried the group at the local rec center a few times. Coop finished up the "Ring Fit" quest, but still gets plenty of steps with his treadmill time. Jen uses the home gym a lot too, treadmill, elliptical, bike ... and while weight workouts haven't been happening, she's been doing her physical therapy for her shoulder. Still Zumba-ing three times a week - Red/White &Blue for the Fourth of July holiday. Gray has been jogging too, treadmill (home and at work) and outside.
• Family History: It was "Christmas in July" on the Westra Way blog, with 10 posts, covering Christmases from 1991-2000.  Cal and Kate also enjoyed looking through Callahan's "box" where Jen has kept many mementos from the past years. 
• Room Rearrange: Working on shifting things up again, there was a lot of time spent reorganizing, taking trips to DI and the storage unit, and lots of garbage to go. 
• Medical: Jen had another trip to the dentist for a troublesome crown (the dentist said he'll just redo it next time it falls off). Still doing physical therapy for the shoulder. Keaton got in to an orthopedic specialist for his hand (carpal tunnel) and got a shot in his wrist, which has seemed to help. 
• Cal and K8's New Car: After a couple years living with one car (Cal has a van for work) Cal and Kate added a 2022 Subaru Crosstrek to their family.

So there's a peek at some July activities from the Blackham Bunch. Cooper was on dog duty as the neighbors had a weekend away, and had fun blowing bubbles with Oreo kitty. Derek ran into Cal and Kate at a Bees game and snapped a selfie with them. The Blackham Boys (sans Cal) had breakfast out at Kneaders. The dang winds/weather have kept Keaton from jumping out of planes. Colton is all registered and ready to start school again next month. August awaits ...

June 2022

 

June 2022 ... there were a lot of quick rainstorms that weren't really adding much water, but ruining a recently washed car. Very windy too. Unlike past years where the Westra Father's Day party had to be pushed into the evening to avoid the heat, here we had to shift it earlier before it cooled down too much. The gardens are growing (flowers and veggies, see the difference in a couple of plants from the beginning of month compared to the end of the month - photos in the top left corner, Hibiscus and milkweed). Here's a quick recap of the month ...

• Medical: Jen had weekly PT appointments and at home workouts for her shoulder ... only slight improvement. There was also an echocardiogram (doctor suggested after the fall) which came back without any serious issues. Keaton got in for an annual exam and will try to follow up (skin issues, carpal tunnel). Colton has been under the weather. We pulled out one of the Covid tests - but it was negative. In the extended family, Grayson's sister Ana was diagnosed with MS.
• Family Gatherings: Big group gatherings on both sides. The annual Westra Father's Day party (last one at Scott&Amy's house - on the market and sold!) and a Zundel Family Reunion - originally planned at a park in Hyland, but moved to a church per the windy weather. The 9-square was played at both parties.
• Treadmill Troubles & Other Exercise: Cooper is a regular on the treadmill down in J&G's gym, but it's had some sudden stops, flipping the circuit breaker and throwing an error code. It's made Coop wary of going fast (Jen has never had an issue on it, but she's just been walking). Looking into repair. Meanwhile Coop returned to RingFit (he'd gotten into it a couple years ago, but only for a couple of months - I little like WiiFit) which has given him a good set of new exercises. Jen and Coop played pickleball every Thursday, and Jen Zumba's Mon/Wed/Fri. Gray has been running again.
• Weight Loss: Gray started a weight loss program a while ago, and is down 50 pounds!
• Golf: After spending several years in storage, Gray got out the clubs and went golfing with some work colleagues. Ironically enough, the very next day, Colton went golfing with his friends ... so the clubs which haven't been used in forever got a workout two days in a row!
• Gray's Getaways: Gray took the RZR down to the dunes for a day, and then did an impromptu outing to Arizona for a couple of days (first time he's been able to fly without a mask since Covid). He's meant to get the wave runners up to the reservoir but hasn't made that happen yet, but did play some "lake poker" on a boat with buds. 
• Basketball: Colton had some travel too, going to St. George for a couple of days with the school team. They also their team camp  and have been having "conditioning" at the school almost every day. The team also hosted a car wash to raise funds and played several games up at the University of Utah. Colton's Wolves team played in a tournament at the Expo Center in Sandy - so Jen was there to watch as Colton got a new high score, 46 points in a single game! 
• Kitties: Snagged a couple cute shots of Oreo (he's conversing with a magpie out the window, and posing with the plants). The other picture looks a little like Joy, but it's the "wild" kitty who comes over every day to see if we've put food out for him ... which of course we have. He's super skittish and will run away if anyone gets close. We don't know if he has a home, but he's gotten quite comfortable hanging out here.

There's a new DEAD END sign at the entrance to the circle, a nice addition after living here for 25+ years. Gray and Jen had a date to Desert Star - Hunkules, and got a cute picture of Cal&Kate as they went to a wedding (and they celebrated their two year anniversary).  There was a  family dinner at Tepanyaki to celebrate Coop's recent graduation. Keaton has returned to jumping out of airplanes. Concrete poured in the back. It's watermelon season, but pineapple has been the big favorite recently. We go through two a week at least. Colton is a "Stranger Things" fan, and when Season Four dropped May 27 ... he'd watched it all before June even started. Coop was catching up, so he and Jen watched it this month... the last two episodes drop July 1 (and as this recap is going out a little late, I can say that we've all already watched the rest). 

Here's a look at the month ONE SECOND style ...

Cooper - Class of 2022

ConGRADulations to Cooper! There was a time or two when he was struggling with school when I wondered if he might just get his GED instead of finishing up traditional high school. We'd already gone a non-traditional route, with Mountain Heights Academy, a local, but online school. 

A few years earlier, after trying a couple days at Bingham High School, Coop decided that traditional school wasn't for him. This is something that had come up for years. He'd wanted to be home schooled (we'd had a few days of it here and there) in elementary. We'd switched from year-round at Columbia (every off track time was last starting again) to traditional at Terra Linda, and Coop had met some great friends there. He went with those buddies (on permit) to Elkridge, but the school struggles started up again, hitting hard 8th and 9th grade. We managed to get the permit to Bingham, went in and scouted out all his classes ... but it was not to be. And that was okay. I'd had some online options on the back burner, and Mountain Heights started a bit after the in-person schools, so Coop was still able to take a week off, and then start on time.

Mountain Heights Academy was a perfect fit for Cooper. Every class had the year planned out, schedules were flexible - with weekly assignments due on Friday each week. Students could do their work when/where they wanted ... a little from each class each day, or as Cooper tended to do, he'd do everything for one class on Monday and be done with that, then do another class on Tuesday, etc. He could sleep in, he and I could get some pickleball in during the day. I'd watch some of the school lectures, take notes, then go over assignments with him. His math teacher gave him personal tutoring (as I'm NO help there) as needed. When it was time for the ACT, he went in to the main offices (here in WJ) and scored higher than his brothers to date. He graduated with a cumulative GPA of 3.93.  

Cooper started Mountain Heights Academy as a sophomore, Fall of 2019 ... BEFORE Covid hit. Mountain Heights had started back in 2009, so they had 10 years of online education under their belt already. It was interesting to see how well they were set up, much better than all the traditional schools switching to online education during the pandemic (not really a fair comparison due to the circumstances, but we felt lucky that Cooper's school had everything so organized and was so on top of things). Even before the pandemic hit, I remember a snow day giving Colton the day off, and Cooper sighed "just a regular school day for me!"

When graduation time came ... it was set for Wednesday, June 1, 2022, downtown at the Capitol Theater. There were 154 graduating seniors. Unlike the Jordan District schools, where you "rent" a gown, this was an actual purchase (and I think cost less!) ... and I went ahead and ordered one, even though Coop said he wasn't planning on attending the ceremony. Which ... was okay with me, as I really struggle with ceremony and crowds and downtown. It was livestreamed, and I tuned in for part of it. 

I loved that the school came over personally to place a "congratulations graduate" sign in the yard! Graduations were back in effect ... the year before, when Covid concerns were so prevalent, graduations were cancelled and "drive by" parades were done instead. 

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the size of the graduating classes for the other boys - Landon's was 759, Callahan's was 914, Keaton's was 895. Still waiting to see what Colton's will be (probably in the 500s). Couldn't find the actual numbers for the other schools in 2022 - but this document had some interesting stats. 

(Posted in May2024 and backdated to it's chronological spot. With Colton's graduation upon us ... I realized I never did an official post for Cooper! Blogging, and life, got away from me a bit in 2022 when I had a seizure and ended up in the ER early in the year. Can that be my excuse? Updating now, and will backdate to June 2022 ...)

May 2022

 

The month of May ... there were birthdays (Kate, UncleShane and Uncle Derek, Grandpa and Pammy), Mother's Day and Graduations. There was basketball, pickleball, Zumba. Some get-aways and group gatherings. Here's a rundown ...

• Out of Town ~ Cal and Kate were in Holland for the first week of May. I did get a blog post up about their Tulip Trip. Gray had a weekend down in St. George, and it happened to overlap a Zions trip for Landon and Sol, so while it hadn't been pre-planned, they met up for some RZR riding on the red rocks. Blog post about that HERE. Cal and Kate made it down to St. George on a different weekend.
• Basketball ~ Colton played in a "shot clock" tournament with the WJ team (a shot clock IS being added to high school play next year). He also had three tournaments with his Wolves (in Heber, Juan Diego High and the Expo Center in Sandy). I didn't travel to Heber, but was able to hit all the other games. Cal has been playing in a men's league and they needed an extra player, so Colton stepped in there and I went to watch. At home, Coop has been watching the NBA playoffs.
• Mother's Day ~ I got a lovely bouquet from Olivia, and Gray arranged for all the kids to come to the house for brunch. 
• Out to Lunch ~ Jen made it out to the folks a couple times this month, taking Mom to lunch for Mother's Day. Gathering up some family history stuff and seeing all the progress the folks are making clearing out the house.
• Jobs ~ Landon's office is moving from right by our house to a building out on Mountain View, so we may not be seeing him as often on his lunch break. Sol changed jobs recently, and Cooper is going to do summer work at the school again (it's just so close/flexible) and then hopes to find something else once he gets his driver's license (aiming for October on that, before his Learner's Permit expires). We love having an in-house electrician ... Gray had Keaton install an outlet in the island. Colton SHOULD get a job, but it is hard with all the basketball and such still going on.
• Gray the Party Planner ~ Grayson threw his second baby shower for a woman at work. He also arranged a private screening of TopGun for Symphony employees and their families (unfortunately none of our family made it). 
• Mountain Mikes Group Gathering ~ Aunt Jami was in town from Seattle, so we got the Blackham Bunch together at the local pizza place for some conversation and catching up.
• Backyard Cleanup ~ There is an area in the back that has been a play area (with a swing set, then later a trampoline) and home for our ducks ... but the last year or so it got a little out of control. Gray hired a couple guys to come clear it out, and now we're prepping it for concrete (extra storage space for vehicles, patio, maybe basketball? It will keep the weeds from coming back.)
• Graduations ~ Sol got her Associates from SLCC and Cooper finished up his senior year and graduated from Mountain Heights Academy. He wasn't interested in the ceremony (downtown, and he hadn't really met his peers in person) but we had to have a cap and gown photoshoot. 
• Medical ~ I finally did a follow-up with my PCP after my fall in January. He wants me to check in with a neurologist, but that appointment isn't until October. He also referred me to a Physical Therapist, as I've been struggling with shoulder/arm pain for a while (nothing too bad most of the time although it does interfere with some things, like sleep, and it just doesn't seem to be going away). 

Here's the One Second Everyday in May video ...

https://youtu.be/uoKqAIjmYZY

We were lucky enough to get Aunt Olivia to make a HairCut Housecall ... got the boys, and Gray, trimmed up. Beyond family, there was a "blood moon" (that wasn't really very visible here due to cloud cover) and the tragic news of the shooting at Robb Elementary School. Prices have continued to escalate - eggs were very noticeable this month, with prices more than doubling. Gas prices continue to climb, almost $5 a gallon (thankful for the Tesla right now although the guys drive a lot more than me). There has been a shortage of formula - and as I've gone through items for family history, I found an old "recipe" for formula in my Dad's baby book. Similar recipes and options have been making the rounds on FB.  School is out, so moving into the summer schedule. On to June!

Impromptu Party In Hurricane Utah

 

The second weekend in May, Grayson headed down to St. George with his buddy Jon. Landon and Sol and a couple friends were heading down to Zions. As Landon updated me via text, I let him know his dad was down in that area ... and although it hadn't been planned ahead of time, they met up and hit some red rocks on the RZRs together.

Here's a little video Sol took (she said she thought they were going to tip over and die!)

https://youtu.be/EVFKljdS3nc

Cal & Kate ~ Tulip Trip

 

Grayson and I had recently gone to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point ... but Cal&Kate took it a step further, and actually went to Holland! This was a trip with Kate's parents. They flew out Wednesday,  April 27 from Salt Lake. They had a non-stop flight, which averages about 10 hours. Then there is the time difference ... the Netherlands are eight hours ahead.

Callahan sent me their basic itinerary ...

We're staying in De Pijp, going to the Anne Frank house, Van Gogh Museum, Rijkmuseum, windmills, Kuekonhoff Tulip fields and a twizzy tour tour through the fields. Hitting the Red Light District, The Hauge (beach town), Volendamm, a canal ride and a bike tour.

Callahan's AT&T plan wasn't working internationally, and Kate and her folks had spotty service. Often they would only have access where there was wifi. This did cause some stress when they needed Covid test results (which were sent to said phones). It was quite a bit cooler than expected, and they did a lot of walking around. 

Some of the scenes ...

... the windmills

... and the eats!

Blackham Home Video

 Both the Blackham and Westra family have some classic film from the 1970s/1980s ... The Westra video camera hit the scene in 1970 (shortly before Jen was born ... coincidence?) It was reel film and only captured the visual, no sound. I remember we'd watch home movies and Dad/Grandpa would set up a projector and the film would go from a reel in front, to the reel in back. Sometimes he'd reverse it and we'd laugh and laugh as our film selves would go up the slide or walk backwards.  The Blackham home movies hit a little later, and they have sound as well as video.

• Westra Home Movies (1969 -1984) https://youtu.be/IlVlhP8qoK8
• Blackham Home Movies Part 1 https://youtu.be/qVcNtN9f2F4 
• Blackham Home Movies Part 2 https://youtu.be/yIcy-4q67QM

Blackham Home Movie Playlist

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

Then there were the VHS Years ... I'm not sure when the Westra family got it's first VHS video camera. There are tapes of my high school productions, but those were "professionally" made and sold to the students. By the time we hit the 1990s, the family had a video camera (Dad/Grandpa/Lamar was the videographer for the LD Singers productions). We must have got our own (or absconded with the Westra one?) in 1995 when the first baby was set to hit the scene ...

• 1995 Little Landon  https://youtu.be/TsvyBsJUdy0
• 1997  Little Landon (18 months and up) https://youtu.be/e8fl4InWrig
• 1999 Callahan Comes ... https://youtu.be/jWzue6HkFn8
• 2000 Keaton Came ... https://youtu.be/jkZBCHeMVqA
• 2003 Before Cooper ... https://youtu.be/qlPrHqj48BY
• 2003 Cooperman Came ... https://youtu.be/40fX5Ijt26c

 The VHS video recorder was quite large and bulky. It had to fit the standard video tape as well as all the required machinery. There were times it would get quite heavy as the videographer had to hold it up. Most families had a VCR to play the tapes on when it was time to watch the videos, but the camera could also connect to the TV via cables - although the older TVs didn't have nearly as many inputs as the ones today. 

Technology improved, and the new video camera's were 1/3 the size of the old VHS recorders. They still used tapes, miniDV. Unlike the standard VHS tapes, people didn't have a way to easily view their videos. This required hooking up the camcorder to the TV and using it to play the tapes. As DVDs hit the scene, replacing VCRs, many people had their tapes, both VHS and miniDV (and there were other types too) converted to DVD. I remember Grayson got the VHS tapes converted to DVD and the boys enjoyed watching them. We'd almost always get them out at the family birthday parties, to remember the younger years.

Because the tapes could be removed, and another put in, sometimes the end result wouldn't be perfectly chronological. I remember when Callahan was first born, I tried to have a "Callahan" tape and a "Landon" tape, although in the end I probably just went with whichever was already in the machine when it was time to record. Reviewing the smaller tapes, while it looks fairly chronological going by the labeling, there is some jumping around in time. 

The newer video camera must have come on the scene around 2002 ... the earliest recorded on a mini-tape was Christmas 2002. I'm often slow to transition, so it looks like the VHS camera was still in use most of 2003 for Cooper's birth. 2004 there was an official switch to the Cannon miniDV. 

I don't recall how we got these digitized ... it wasn't professionally done (at least not for most of them). I must have figured out how to transfer the files to the computer (it might have been directly to Muvee, it had a "videocamera" input). In 2004 I took a TON of videos and really got into Muvees (making little videos with film/pictures and music). In the later years, I stayed busy making highlight reels of the boy's sports (check out BlackhamBall for all the sports stuff, and dedicated YouTube channels for Callahan, Keaton and Colton).  I got 2004-2006 burned onto DVDs using Muvee and our home computer. When I wanted to create a YouTube backup, I did some shift, moving some sections around to TRY and get things in chorological order. Also, these YouTube versions are slightly edited, as any child nudity (even innocent bath time home movies) will get flagged and removed. So if you compare these versions to the originals (tapes, ripped DVDs) you might notice a few differences. 

• 2004 (part 1) Callahan's B-day, Easter, Landon's Derby&More https://youtu.be/6EjR1XC72E8
• 2004 (part 2) Buca, Mother's Day, Puppies, Soccer, Spring Stuff https://youtu.be/6EjR1XC72E8
• 2004 (part 3) Summer, Father'sDay, Lagoon, Rockets  https://youtu.be/jmgrBTmqK7c  
• 2004 (part 4) Gunnison Party, Birthdays, Ana's Wedding https://youtu.be/etYe7fiuRvs
• 2004 (part 5) December/Christmas https://youtu.be/etYe7fiuRvs

• 2005 (part 1) Before Colton https://youtu.be/oKSQvtd68F8
• 2005 (part 2) Colton Caboose https://youtu.be/Q5FDBN836z4
• 2006 (part 1) Easter. Tball. School stuff. Birthdays. Rockets. https://youtu.be/_EGN2muQFOA
• 2006 (part 2) Colton's birthday. Christmas. https://youtu.be/LsDBL95mv0s
• 2007 (part 1) https://youtu.be/N2EV-06y9GQ
• 2007 (part 2) https://youtu.be/nbGy_imajn8
• 2008 (mov files) https://youtu.be/-Tf8GXQX8to
• 2009 (part 1) https://youtu.be/_hkHNooYs34
• 2009 (part 2) https://youtu.be/UV5WyyzxmF4
• 2009 SPORTS https://youtu.be/-UBYAN2DWRk

I think it must have been 2005/2006 when I received a new digital camera, one that had a "video" setting in addition to several options for still shots. I would use it primarily for pictures, but started switching it up and using the video more and more, instead of using a dedicated video camera (although it was still being used some). So instead of one long video file pulled from a tape, there are lots of little files that were directly digital. Recorded onto a memory card in the camera, easily transferred to the computer. I did burn these to DVD (2008/2009) so they could be watched on the television more easily.

Mother's Day in 2011, I was given a new video camera (the small Samsung in the photo above), and it was an improvement in quality and ease, especially for sports. With all the boy's basketball, it was in constant use over the weekends. I'd sometimes have to record with it plugged into a charger if it hadn't had time to recharge between games. After a few years with this camera, Gray got me a new one (the Sony) which had an external battery pack, so I could have backup power. It also connected directly to the computer via USB, which was just a little easier than moving data with a memory card.

Through the years, phones kept improving as well. Soon, the iphone (we are an Apple family) was as good as a digital camera, and was always with us, not an extra item to carry and keep charged. It worked for videos too, although I kept to a separate video camera for sports still.  All the family videos in later years would come from the iphone. Even still pictures had a "live" setting, which I loved for my One Second Every Day videos (started in 2017).

So hopefully with this post, we'll have a bit of a "table of contents" of the video we have, and where it can be located (in the YouTube links, and on Dropbox in Video Backup). The Dropbox Video Backup has family files from 1995-2011. Then videos filmed with phones are mixed in with the photos for the more recent years (maybe I'll try to get them all organized and together). Plans for the future!

April 2022

 

April ... was Easter, and we broke out the EARS! Jen's Zumba class did the bunny hop, the older three boys recreated a classic photo, and we got pictures with ears on everyone.  There is a dedicated blog post about all the Easter Events (Easter 2022). Here's a little breakdown of the month ...

• Colton had a busy month ... it was PROM, and he was on driving duty, downtown! Totally stresses this mommy out! He said it was great. He got his braces off ... finally! The official high school basketball season wrapped up with the end of season banquet. There have been some basketball tournaments too. His Wolves, and he was invited to step onto a team that was up from St. George (his old coach called him in). He had a tournament (3 games) mid-month, and nine games in three days at the end of the month.
• Cooper and I have not been getting our ping pong in, but he and Grandpa got a game in when they came out to the house (we'd invited them for Easter but then Dad got sick, so we had them out the following week). Cooper and I have been playing pickleball, but had to take a little break as the roof of the church was being worked on, and some of the ceiling was falling down onto the gym floor. I told Cooper and he said "let's risk it". We played outdoors once. His learner's permit expired, so we got it renewed. He needs to get his license by mid-October or he'll have to retake the learner's test, which he doesn't want to do! His hair is getting a little long again! I stuck it up in a pigtail (and he let me take a picture!) and now he has a couple headbands to hold it back while he jogs. 
• Keaton has been cooking up a storm! It's actually been going on for a little while. He gets unsatisfied with the same foods and went searching recipes for some new meals. He has a spicy noodles that has been a hit, and after a few failed attempts, he's perfected chicken wings. Did you know that chicken wings (with bone/skin) cost as much as boneless/chicken tenders? I thought they'd be cheap! Keaton is also back in a van at Camsen, our driveway is very crowded!
• The marrieds made it out for Easter, and Landon still stops by most days for a quick lunch.  Landon has been playing Wordle (I know many of the Westras are into it) and Sol is quite the plant momma. Cal & Kate prepped for a trip to the Netherlands, they headed out at the end of the month.
• Jen pulled out the old video camera for Jensen's to borrow, and ended up spending several days looking through tapes (Blackham Home Video) and making sure all the family video is backed up and easy to find. Still baking sourdough (four loaves, three times a week) and added crackers to the rotation. Lots of other baking too; nests, cinnamon rolls, breadsticks, swig cookies (brought those to the baby shower for Janika - lots of Westra Women!)
• Gray and I got a couple dates in this month, to Red Robin and then to see the tulips at Thanksgiving Point. He had a weekend away in St. George riding rocks in the RZR, and has been working on his weight, shifting up eating (those are his avocado eggs and broccoli in the photo collage above). and getting some exercise in. Go Gray! Sales at Symphony have slowed, although he doesn't seem to be working any less!

We had snow in April ... it wasn't on my radar and I was super surprised as we walked out of the basketball banquet into a blizzard. I was wearing sandals! It was Spring Break this month for both Cooper and Colton, although they were different weeks. Colton's prom date had answered him with a bitty beta ... so we have the fish bowl out again. The cats really like to drink from the fish bowl. There has been a stray cat around, and we've been feeding it, much to the chagrin of Joy and Oreo, who watch it from the window. NBA playoffs have been going on, and while Cooper wasn't very interested in the main season, he's been tuning into games now.

Here's the video recap ~ one second style

(https://youtu.be/5mrYfYxvPqQ)

I think that wraps up April ...moving on to May!

Braces Beginning ~ Ortho END

 

It's the end of orthodontia for the Blackham family, as Colton wrapped up his braces saga. It started in September of 2019, soon after he switched schools to Joel P for his 8th grade year.  The monthly appointments are always a bit of a struggle during the school year, as getting after-school visits aren't always possible. Then came Covid ... which shut down schools AND dental/ortho offices for several weeks (postponing appointments). 

When the office started accepting appointments again, they would only allow one other individual with the patient, and masks were required. Our ortho office is very close by (walkable even, under a mile) but has no right turn (off 7800) which makes it a bit of a pain to get out of and turned around for home. I got in the habit of just dropping off Colton at the end of the neighborhood (by the Maverick Church) and having him walk the short distance. This had been common practice with the older boys too. Then afterward he'd start walking home, I'd often go grab him so he didn't have to walk the full distance home, meeting up in the neighborhood. With Covid, as Colton started his 9th grade year, he was only at school in person for three classes in the morning, and leaving before lunch. The rest of his classes were online (although he was going to the high school for basketball class on A days in the afternoons) and so his schedule was much more flexible for ortho appointments. At the very end of his ortho journey, he was able to drive himself to appointments!

I remember a funny exchange in May of 2021 ... 

• Jen: The orthodontist said your son should be getting his braces off soon.
• Grayson: That's good. Which son?
• Jen: Ummm, the ONE who has braces?

"Soon" apparently has different meanings, as the removal ended up months away. Finally, in March of 2022, Colton got his braces off. He has a permanent retainer on the bottom, and a clear retainer for the top. Hopefully his teeth will remain pretty and straight. I wonder if he'll show teeth in his smiles for photos now :)

I was glancing back on the blog about the other boys ortho (I had a "teeth" label, which hits baby teeth and wisdom teeth too). I have Landon's "done" picture, and a small post as Callahan started up and finished up. I didn't have anything for Keaton. I looked and found an "after" picture, but no before ... really none with a smile showing braces! His ortho experience mirrored Colton's. Getting them on in 8th grade, and getting them off halfway through sophomore year. I remember the orthodontist saying that Keaton had small/few teeth (unlike so many who have to get teeth pulled because of overcrowding). The opposite end can be an issue too, as they can only pull them together to a certain extent. The end result looked fine to me. Cooper ... didn't get braces! I'm sure an orthodontist would say there were issues, but doctor/dentist appointments are such a struggle, and his teeth are really pretty straight, so ... Grayson never had braces either.

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

 

Every year at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah, there is a Tulip Festival. Tons of flowers, lots of greenspace and multiple walkways. Gray got off work a little early, and we did hit rush hour traffic on our way down. It was pretty crowded, lots of families with kids enjoying the gorgeous weather along with the floral views. There is progressive planting, so that there will be tulips and other flowers for the full month. We went on Wednesday, April 20. It was a fun date.

Of course Holland is known for their tulips. The Netherlands were a definite theme along with the flowers. There were wooden shoes hanging here and there (not sure if that was part of a scavenger hunt or something), some BIG shoes to fill, cute characters and a windmill. 

With the last name Westra ... Holland is in our history! My (Jen's) ancestors on her father's side (great-grandparents) were born in the Netherlands, and immigrated in April in 1907 (Ate & Geeske Westra). My dad went to Holland on his mission (Netherlands posts on The Westra Way).

We'd gone to the Tulip Festival back in 2011 as a family.