Colton -Basketball Senior Showcase

Colton finished up his senior season here in February 2024. It's been a great year, and hopefully there is still more basketball in his future. 

Here's a little look at his Senior Showcase for for Senior night ...

...and a closer look at the collages *Ü*

A walk down the basketball memory lane.

Starting small ... lots of little jerseys and Junior Jazz 

A family photos feature ...

Elementary years ...

Originally Colton played for the Copper Hills Grizzlies (following in his brother's footsteps). 

... we still weren't sure of future playing plans in 7th grade. Colton attended Elkridge Middle while we watched school boundary discussions. When Copper Hills still looked extremely overpopulated (we'd been told we could get a permit, but ...) and Colton had a couple good friends on his Wolves team going to West Jordan, we decided we'd just stick with our boundary school. Colton switched from Elkridge to Joel P Jenson for middle school, and immediately started playing for the Jags Bantam team. 

Colton first met Coach Phil (and Gage and Collin and crew) way back in 3rd grade, playing on a 3rd/4th team at Gene Fullmer. They ended up playing up the  next year (and Colton was already a grade younger) so we parted ways for a couple years (Colton joined the Grizzlies Bantam team). We crossed paths with Phil again, who now had an AAU team, the Wolves, and they happily they accepted Colton into the pack. Colton and the Wolves played together for several years, in local tournaments and leagues, and doing some traveling. The team shifted and changed a bit over the years, but Colton, Collin and Gage remained close, and played together for West Jordan in high school. 

Colton continued to play whenever he could, with a variety of teams. Showtime was an "off season" team with Coach Sawyer ... sometimes made of WJ Jags, other times compiled of other kids Coach Sawyer was working with.  More Wolves. More West Jordan Jags in Spring or Fall. Colton joined the Salt Lake Metro the summer before his senior year and traveled to three tournaments with them. He'd also jump onto Cal's Men's League team when they needed an extra player. 

Shortly before his senior year, Colton was invited to play in the Utah Top50 league, and that was a lot of fun. Games were played at SLCC, with the final games downtown at the Delta Center, NBA court!

West Jordan was a great experience for Colton.  

Lots of fun on and off the court!

Some Senior snapshots ... and a look at his program pictures/profile over his four years.

Colton got some Varsity minutes as a freshman (he even started once) but mostly played Soph/JV his freshman year. Freshman year was impacted by Covid (from tryouts to games) but we are glad that they still got to play! You can read more about Colton's Freshman Year on the BlackhamBall blog. 

Colton's Sophomore season ... he didn't play in any of the sophomore games. He was JV and Varsity. There was a strong senior presence, but Colton got some playing time and points and started a couple times. 

Colton's Junior Year - while not a senior, he started every game (except for the final "senior night" ... and he got subbed in pretty quick) and was the leading scorer and assist leader on the team. Check out the BlackhamBall post for the schedule, video links, highlights and more. 

Senior Year ...

Senior year was great. The season started off a little rough, as it was a tough pre-region lineup. Only one win there. But as soon as 2024 rolled in, and region play began ... the Jags went on a winning run. Undefeated 13-0 until their elimination during the state playoffs. 

So many videos, #mycoltonclips and pictures! The team contracted with a professional photographer who covered multiple games. Love having so many photos and great action shots! There were a couple other photographers at other games, and we purchased a few of those pictures too.

More on the BlackhamBall Blog wrapping up Colton's senior season ... 

and other Blackham Ball. 

Cal&Kate Collages (Family Photoshoot)

Last fall, Cal and Kate adopted a little doggie, Vera. The cute couple, now a trio, had a photo shoot done. Fabulous photos! Here's some favorites ...

Callahan almost always has a cap on ... 

so they had to get some with a slight change of clothes, hat added. 

This post will be backdated to January 2024. 

2023 Annual Recap

I need to do a better, in-depth review of the year. Very belatedly, I did get around to doing monthly updates at least, as well as a few posts on specific topics/events. I really like having all the important stuff from the whole year in one post, at a glance. Hopefully I'll get around to updating this *Ü*  Here's the little Christmas write-up for the Westra newsletter ...

The West Jordan Blackhams have stayed busy and active this year. Grayson is working hard at Symphony Homes, but found time to do a lot of hiking. He got on his machines (RZR, waverunners) and took a few trips (California and Europe/England/Paris). Jen has continued baking sourdough, teaching Zumba and listening to endless audiobooks. Landon is busy with work at LKL Associates. He got a new car, and also did quite a bit of hiking. Cal and Kate have a new addition – an adopted doggy named Vera who keeps them on their toes. Cal is working with Camsen Electric and Kate works at SLCC. Keaton is living on his own in a cute basement apartment. He left Camsen to try his hand at commercial work but decided to return to Camsen with his residential journeyman's license. Cooper is working full-time for DLP Unlimited. He plays pickleball and ping-pong and does lots of jogging in the home gym. It's football season, and his fantasy team is currently doing well. Colton ... plays basketball. He started varsity his junior year and now again for his senior season. He traveled with Metro in the Summer, played in the UtahTop50 league in the Fall, and is hoping to play college ball. Landon and Callahan have had some knee issues and Jen had another 'episode' in April (ambulance/ER & more medical tests). We're hoping everyone stays happy and healthy for the New Year! 

Here's all twelve of the 1 Second Every Day videos compiled into one ...

https://youtu.be/EWAE4C8ny6Y

December 2023

 

December is done ... of course there was Christmas. The final month of the year is always filled with family and fun, and this year was no exception. There was the Blackham Family gathering on Sunday,  December 17, complete with the cash cube again. The Westra family party was Christmas Eve (also a Sunday) hosted at Shane and Alicia's place again. Soups and breads and desserts. There was the annual dice game (should it be called the "candy bar game" when so many things other than candy bars are included?). The annual calendars were passed out, and the slide show was shown.  Grayson had a Casino Christmas party with Symphony homes (earlier in the month on Dec7) and donned antlers to pass out gifts.

Jen got out the santa and elf hats, and the reindeer antlers and brought them to Zumba and Pickleball too. Add in a little festivity. At home, the tree was put up with a few ornaments (including a cute new one from bookclub). The stockings were hung, as well as a few of the usual decor items (the Santa head full of M&Ms, a few signs, the little elves that rock walk down the slope, a couple nutcrackers). Keaton was our "elf"  getting things out and up. 

Basketball was in full swing with nine games and the start of team dinners. It was also Colton's birthday! I bought two cakes, so he could have one with his team (on his birthday, team dinner) and one with family the day after. 

Not really a birthday or Christmas gift ... but Colton got a new phone. His first NEW phone (he's always had hand-me-downs before). His had died suddenly, and luckily there was a sale on. Gray upgraded Cooper's phone too (his battery wasn't holding a charge). 

Gray had a get-away to St. George at the start of the month. Had some trouble and needed a tow with Jon's RZR (ended up being rescued by a viral YouTuber, see it HERE). Symphony Casino Christmas, and he apparently didn't have enough basketball watching Colton, as he had a night with his work buddies in a suite watching the Jazz. Landon spent a few days in Vernal running the LKL store there (so the manager could take a vacation) and then went with a friend to an NFL game on Christmas Day.  Quick trip. 

Here's a look at December ... One Second Style

https://youtu.be/6OXEk68451E?si=1q__JdQ-kYfxvN9j

JenBsBooks in 2023

If you know me, you know I love books. While I've gotten behind on the blogging, I have kept up on my books, making my monthly collages, rating and reviewing everything on GoodReads and Storygraph. I did a 2023~JenBsBooks on my JenBsJourney Blog, with a look at the year. On this blog post, I'll keep the collages created each month, all in a single spot...

I love looking back and seeing which books stick out in my memory, and which I can't even remember reading!

I joined Storygraph in January of 2023,

and love all the graphs and data it provides ...

The Storygraph pie charts have encouraged me to try harder in some areas ... to make sure I get in some non-fiction, not just fiction. I even did a NonfictionNovember challenge, where my goal was to make sure the non-fiction section was larger than the fiction for that month. In October, I manipulated the "moods" chart in honor of Halloween, seeing if I could shift the dark/tense/mysterious to the top. I've enjoyed adding in a few physical books, and making sure I get some BIG books (500+ pages) in too. Honestly ... the "pace" chart doesn't mean much to me, and I don't think I'll include it in my collages for 2024. 

All books are rated and reviewed on both Goodreads and Storygraph.

I'm JenBsBooks on both. 

November 2023

The printed calendar (featured in the center of the 1 Second Everyday Monthly Video) didn't look that busy for November. Writing in retrospect ... I'm sure it still felt busy (and I looked over my personal journal and added a few things that hadn't made it onto the calendar. I didn't rescan it though). 

There were a couple of birthdays ... I was given a cake at Zumba, I'd grabbed the family favorite oreo ice cream cake, and Gray grabbed an ice cream cake too, as well as flowers and a big balloon. We got all the boys over. We did a family Tepanyaki dinner to celebrate the birthdays over the weekend, then it was Gray's birthday with wacky cake and family blackjack (Cal was late for cake but there for cards).  

We hosted Thanksgiving ... that will get it's own post (better for blog searches on the subject). 

Basketball ... Cal's Men's League finished up their Fall season. Once high school ball is started, Colton can't play outside of that league, so we were glad he could squeeze in these final games and help the team to another set of championship t-shirts (Cal's Men's League/2023). Then it was basketball tryouts and the start of Colton's Senior Season.  They had an "intro to the team" game and then started play.

... Jen had her bookclubs and Zumba (in charge of the key at Mon/Wed class, some MZL drama for the Friday class), still making sourdough. Pickleball with the relief society ladies on Thursdays, and got in a couple sessions with Cooper at the park while the weather was still cooperating.  There were a few movies. Leg Lighting at Uncle Clay's. Grayson had a few game nights (one ending it stitches), Fisher House, a work birthday dinner, then a weekend trip to Moab. Kept up with his running and rucking.

I think that's a wrap for November.

Here's a live look - One Second Every Day.

https://youtu.be/oBzrK-baIlI?si=O8yaOiLV5zpipryE

A Pinched Pumpkin

I've always liked growing pumpkins. When I was young, I'd plant them several places in the yard, then set up a little stand by the side of the road to sell them in October. Now I just grow for fun, and to give a few away. I had regular pumpkins and the "Jack be Little" ones growing this year.

For the past few years, I've planted a pumpkin right in the front flower bed in front of the house. Often it gets a little out of control and spreads around the side of the house. This year especially, it went crazy! In the pictures above, that was ONE plant! It produced several decent sized pumpkins, and probably would have grown a super large one had I trimmed off the others. As it was, I noticed when the first pumpkin was hanging into the window well. I lifted it out ... but another one ended up there again. Behind all the bushiness, I finally noticed another pumpkin wedged between the house and the gas meter. It was STUCK in there! I cut the stem to prevent any further growth (didn't want it to possibly dislodge anything on the meter) ... and the pumpkin still turned orange in October a couple of months later. Finally, after Thanksgiving, Landon cut it apart to finally get it out of there.

We had quite a few pumpkins ... gave away a few regular size ones, and lots of littles. Others were decor for Halloween, Fall and Thanksgiving. I'd planted a plethora of the mini-pumpkins on the side of the garage and a few other places in the yard and had a big yield. I saved seeds to try planting again next year. 

2023 will be most memorable because of the stuck and squashed pumpkin. I remember back in 2018, the vines had snuck around the house and got squashed by the garbage can. I had gone out to shift the garbage can to the street for pickup, when I looked down and saw what I thought was a smooshed frog. I didn't know how a frog had gotten under there ... when I realized it wasn't actually a frog. 

Who knew pumpkins could cause such chaos?

Thanksgiving at the Blackhams (2023)

 

I think one of the times I miss Maga the most is at Thanksgiving. While Grayson is more than capable to take over the cooking ... Maga always had such cute decor, and pulled the family together. Clay and Courtney do every other year with Courtney's side of the family, so we've been doing Thanksgiving here for several years since Pammy passed away. Gray had invited Olivia, Ana and the boys, and then we invited my folks to join us too. 

Grayson had two turkey breasts ... one in the smoker, one in the oven. He made his yummy mashed potatoes too, we even made gravy, as we had guests (it's not normally part of a Blackham family meal).  I had prepped the day before, making roll dough, jello cubes, cookies and "pie in a pan" dessert. I finalized the rolls in the morning and got them raising ... orange rolls and dinner rolls. We also had Brazilian Cheese Rolls, gluten-free for my dad, although they are enjoyed by many. Basil carrots (another Pammy memory). Cooper had made a cheese ball. Stove top stuffing. Whipped butter. Olivia brought some little pies to add to the desserts.  Did we have a Honey Baked Ham? I think so ... writing in retrospect, I can't remember for sure. 

We got the kitchen table cleared off, and brought a long table and square card table in for extra seating. There was another table set-up in the front room, but it wasn't needed.  Gray pulled out some tablecloths, and there was some minor decor, attempt at festivity.  There was a near miss as we pulled the heavy water dispenser down from it's place on the high kitchen shelf (lucky there wasn't anything broken). We used some nice, but disposable, plates and glasses. That saved on cleanup! Kate ended up staying home with Vera (the doggie). 

It was a laid back Thanksgiving. 

A little before ... and after. 

There were leftovers to send home with the guests, and still have some here too. 

That's pretty integral to Thanksgiving, right?

Time for a nap.