Christmas Eve 2017

For Christmas this year, the Westra clan got a nice, updated family photo! We had the annual picture from Father's Day, but as almost everyone was in attendance (missing a couple missionaries) it was fun to get a family photo in Mom and Dad's Havenmoor home. This picture would end up enlarged and on the wall a little later on.

The photo above was the end result ... here's few photos leading up to that final shot.

(and a few candids as Grayson's phone was snapping away)

Everyone is looking a little to the right ... because Alicia's camera was the important one!

Gray's phone was a little to the left ;) 

We had our traditional Christmas Eve meal of soups (Taco soup, Chicken Noodle Soup,  Lasagna Soup) bread sticks and gluten free Brazilian cheese rolls, chips and crackers and a cheese ball and lots of yummy treats! The kids played the traditional candy bar game and we watched the annual slide show.

In addition to the usual gift exchange, Blackhams brought a bunch of pots and pans. They were switching to an induction oven and almost all of the old cookware would no longer work. So the other families got to pick and choose a few pieces if they wanted ... including the huge stockpot that Jen had brought her chicken noodle soup in. Poor Jen, she HAD to get new pots and pans in addition to the new stove.

Christmas Eve was on a Sunday, and the Westra party ran from about 3:30-6:30. 

2017 Christmas Letter

It's the annual Westra Christmas email ... check out the PDF in Dropbox for a closer look.

Merry Christmas from Shane & Alicia (2017)

 

A simple but oh so cute card featuring Shane & Alicia's family in 2017. 

Merry Christmas!

Remember Romper Room?

 

Original Article HERE

“Romper bomper stomper doo…Tell me tell me tell me do…

Magic Mirror please tell me today…Did all my friends have fun at play?”

If you grew up in the 1960s or 1970s in Utah, odds are that you know exactly where that quote comes from. Romper Room was a popular children’s television show that aired on KSL from 1953 to 1981, and preschoolers around the state gathered around the TV every afternoon to see if Miss Julie would call their names at the end of the show. 

Romper Room was a national franchise that ran shows across the country from 1953 to 1994. Each station had its own host. Utah’s KSL had three hosts over the years. Edna Anderson-Taylor, was "Miss Julie;" she hosted the show for 17 years, from 1964 to 1981. Local children appeared on the show, six at a time. Every week, three children "graduated" from the on-air classroom and three new kids joined. Romper Room encouraged kids to be "Good Do-Bees" who were polite, kind and helpful. There were segments where the kids were encouraged to move around, dance and play with musical instruments.

At the end of the show, Miss Julie would get her "Magic Mirror." She’d hold it up and say, "Romper bomper stomper doo...Tell me tell me tell me do...Magic Mirror please tell me today...Did all my friends have fun at play?" Then, she’d read off several names, saying, "I see Tommy...and Michelle...and oh, look! There’s Travis and Melissa…" Preschoolers all over Utah would wait with bated breath to see if she would read their name.

Jen remembers Romper Room ... how many of the other Westra siblings do? Derek probably doesn't, as the show ended in 1981 and he wasn't born until 1982.

What shows do you remember from childhood? Sesame Street? Mr. Rogers? What shows will the next generation (the Westra grandkids) have as their TV memories, and how different will those memories be from the oldest grandkids (Conner, Kaden, McKenna, Alyssa, Kellin, Landon, Janika) to the youngest set (Jenna, Calder, Ani, Layla, Noelle) and how do the parent's perception of these productions differ from that of the kids (Sesame Street had some pretty clever things that only adults would catch, like the "Beatles" being actual bugs, singing about the "Letter B" ... it was fun to see some of these fun additions). 

Some thoughts from Mom/Margie ~

I remember when out of high school or business college, I interviewed for a job at KSL with "Miss Julie" of Romper Room. I didn't get hired.

I remember Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, Bill Nye the Science Guy (he shows up as the father in his role also as Bill Nye the Science Guy) of the gal computer specialist on the TV show "Blind Spot." Funny connection for them to put in.

I heard a reference to the old "the Electric Company" on the news a couple of days ago. The journalist was talking about educating people about the vaccine, so they weren't afraid to take it. He said we need

some Electric Company episodes about it. The show taught kids about things, but with the flash bam effects to hold their interest.

Kaptain Kangaroo.

I used to copy a lot of educational shows on VHS tapes for Chris's kids, who couldn't get TV. Reading Rainbow shows. And there was another one teaching good morals, with little bible stories or maybe it was fables--can't remember the name.

Later past our kids was Blue's clues, Magic School Bus, Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?

Summer 2017

There were some fun family times as Shane and Alicia's family came in from California, and Wendy brought some of the kids to see their cousins. After those two traveled so far, Blackhams even came all the way out from West Jordan!

First, there was a family party on Sunday, July 16. Grayson made pulled pork and it was tacos and sliders for dinner. Chris had been in the hospital for surgery on his colon/complications and barely got out (and felt well enough) to come. There don't seem to be any pictures from the party, but there's a little video of the crazy Blackham boys below.

On Tuesday, Wendy and Alicia went out to West Jordan to join Jen for Zumba.

Then the cousins met at the pool ...

 Not all, but quite a few cousins!

Josh didn't want to go swimming,
but stayed and played with some classic Westra toys.

The "Days of 47" Float Preview Party was going on at the Expo Center in Sandy. It's a great way to see all the floats up close and in air-conditioned comfort. Three of the families went to that. Jen even got the older boys (Landon and Callahan) to come and join the fun.  Cooper really wasn't as miserable as he looks in every photo, he was just NOT in a picture-taking mood ... and now that fact is preserved forever!

A couple of the families and Grandpa went to hike Timpanogos ... 

The Westra Women who were available had a lunch date ... Red Robin, YUM!

Wendy's kids had some s'mores in the Westra backyard, 

while Alicia practiced her photography skills.

As promised ... pictures and video of the crazy Blackham Boys! The left photos are from the July Sunday gathering (the cave and the jumping over the flowerbed). The jumpROPE was actually a little later, a September birthday gathering with extended family ... but again, NO photos! Only some video of five little Blackham Boys jumping rope (I snagged a couple still shots from the video). I guess everyone was having too good of a time to take out their phones/cameras for pictures.

The Blackham Boys were a little JUMPY when going to the Westra's house this summer!

The Westra kids have memories of running down the side hill at Grandma and Grandpa Norman's house, swinging around the pole at the bottom of the stairs and daring each other to go down the laundry chute ... the Westra grandkids will have memories of Grandpa's cave, jump rope, the pond , the pool and more!

Here's a little bit from Mom ...

We had an enjoyable week with Shane's family here--they arrived Fri. afternoon, July 14. Wendy and her 3 youngest came straight from their annual "Father's Day Flee" which was at Bryce Canyon this year. The cousins had so much fun together and went swimming every day but Sunday. We played games and watched shows . We had a nice family dinner here last Sunday so everyone could see each other and visit.

Shane's family left Friday about 4 and were invited to a barbecue at a friend's home, then went on to Elko to sleep over and then arrived to their place in Calif. Sat. evening.

Wendy and kids headed to Ogden Fri. afternoon to stay over a night at Grandma Jensen's, meeting Rick and Janelle & her friend there. Then Rick and Wendy and Janelle & friend were heading up to BYU-I where Rick is an EFY Session Director and the girls are attending EFY.

Janika finished 2 weeks as EFY Counselor at the Y and headed up to Ogden Sat. morning to take the 3 youngest kids back to St. George where she and Jared will tend them for the week. Janika was so tired that Wendy had her stop at our place and nap for an hour before the long drive. Janika said being an EFY Counselor is so fun. She works two weeks on and then one week off. During her off week she works a 40-hour work week doing housekeeping at a Veteran's home for Seniors. Busy girl! She has done EFY 3 weeks at BYU, Wyoming, and Atlanta, Georgia so far.  A lady in our ward said she had 2 granddaughters attending EFY this past week at BYU-----I wonder if they might have been in Janika's group.

Shane is flying back here Wed. evening for business meetings at his old work place Work Front at Thanksgiving Point. He will sleep at our place 2 nights and use our truck. Then fly home Fri. for Alicia's birthday.

We are going to visit Chris tomorrow night.

Father's Day 2017

... I wrote in my journal that we got Dad a cordless vacuum this year ;) 

Ummmm, not having a lot of other memories, writing in retrospect.

Wendy had done a post on her blog, so a little more information from her ... 

We really enjoyed the party at Scott and Amy's. It is always fun to see and visit with everyone! The girls really missed Adria and Rella since their family couldn't come from California (because Adria had Girls' Camp) but they had fun playing with their other cousins. The food was awesome!! Grayson has really gotten into smoking meat lately and cooked a delicious, tender brisket! The marinated chicken was extra good too. Loved all of the extras too -- Mexican corn on the cob, Brazilian Cheese Rolls and so forth. Janika teases me that I always describe my meals in my journal, so I will stop gushing about the food, ha ha!  We had to do the family picture with my camera since Alicia wasn't there, so the quality and resolution isn't as good, but it still turned out cute!

Thanks to gmail saving old emails ... I was able to locate Scott's emailed invitation and a few responses.

From Scott:

Family:

We will be hosting our annual Father’s Day Barbeque on Sunday, June 18th at 6:00 pm. Amy and I will actually be attending this year which will really ramp up the fun! I will be grilling some hot dogs, hamburgers and maybe chicken but the Blackham’s may want to show off Grayson’s smoking skills, which would not offend us. We will also have some beans and can fire up the cotton candy machine after dinner.

 Be thinking about what you would each like to contribute in terms of food, games, entertainment and/or sparkling conversation. Please let the group know what you are bringing so we don’t miss anything important or double up on side dishes or entrees. Anyone bringing Mexican street corn or Brazilian cheese rolls will receive priority parking and first choice in patio seating.

The time between 7:09:00 pm and 7:09:20 pm has been reserved for family photos, however, we plan to digitally record the entire event for posterity into Mom’s Dropbox account as well as live stream it over Youtube. Full size cut-outs of those on missions or otherwise absent will be welcome.

We will grandfather Roxy’s attendance as she joined the family prior to our pet prohibition but regrettably, any and all ducks, chickens, cats, geese, bees, goldfish, mosquito fish or other animals, insects, fowl or fish should remain at home.

Please let us know who will be or won’t be attending so that we can be sure to have enough food, plates, security, etc.

From Grayson:

While disappointed with attendance ban, particularly as it relates to waterfowl, the Blackhams would love to offer my meager smoking skills with the one request as to which item would be most enjoyed: Ribs, Brisket,  Pulled pork (sammies). I'm certain someone will inquire as to why we can't have all three but for the sake my rising cholesterol levels I need to stop somewhere. I think Amazon carries a new multi-color version of Lipitor that looks like Skittles.  We'll put a bowl amongst the buffet.

Easter 2017

Easter 2017 was on April 16. No family party this year. Why? Mom and Dad (Margie and Lamar) had been on a trip to California to visit Shane&Alicia's family (blog post coming at some point) and just barely got back for the holiday. I suppose we still COULD have had it, but the family had just recently had an impromptu get-together (Red Robin, Yum) April 8th, 2017 and there would be group gatherings in June and July, so no official Westra Easter, backyard egg hunt or funny photos with fluffy bunny ears.

Mom wrote: March 15, 2017.  Normally we would be hosting our Easter brunch and egg hunt right now. Our yard looks beautiful for Easter. We had a wonderful time with Shane and Alicia and the kids. They took us many places to see the sights. We are going to Easter dinner tomorrow at Chris and Kim's.

To include some pictures on this post ... here's what the siblings shared (emails, end of year calendar contributions, etc).

I glanced through social media (Instagram) but didn't find any other Easter pictures from this year. 

From Jen:

Our Easter was quite low-key ... some years it's almost been like Christmas, but there wasn't much this year. Without the Westra party (prepping the eggs usually has me shopping and getting everything out at least a week in advance). I meant to pull the plush ears out ... but they are up in the shed now, and it felt like too much work for just our boys. So just some candy and a couple small toys for the little boys. A new "rubic" type cube that's been driving Keaton and Landon crazy (it's got no colors, it's mirrored, and the "squares" aren't all the same size either). We missed Callahan Easter morning, as he was in Idaho for a basketball tournament (they won it). The Reeses eggs are a favorite with the older boys (and me) ... I actually prefer the ratio of chocolate to PB filling over the regular cups. Cal and Keaton really like the Cadbury mini eggs ... those are ones so many people rave about, but they just don't tempt me. Just plain chocolate with a candy coating ... we love the FavorREDs jelly beans ... all shades of red. Red IS the best. I made our annual meringue nests once, and made some sugar cookie eggs that we decorated (we didn't get around to hard boiling and dying actual eggs).

From Wendy:

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter. The girls had fun at their Young Women's activity dyeing eggs with plants, flowers, and roots. It was Josh's birthday Sunday, and since it is Easter weekend, we had an Easter-themed party. The kids dyed eggs and had an egg bash, went on an Easter egg hunt, ate lunch (hot-dogs and chips), opened presents, and ate cake and ice-cream. Jaiden made the cake and Janelle and Josh filled over one hundred eggs with candy for the easter egg hunt. To make the hunt more challenging Jared used the Westra trick and wrapped duct tape around some of the eggs and threw them up on high windows or other hard to reach areas. Happy Birthday to Josh and Happy Easter!! Josh was born on Easter Sunday 11 years ago! This is the first time his birthday has fallen on Easter Sunday again! Our kids hit the jackpot at an "invitation only" Easter Egg hunt Saturday morning sponsored by one of our realtors. They excitedly gathered up eggs, candy, toys, and prizes! They even agreed to take a picture with the Easter Bunny, even though these bunny costumes are always a bit creepy. Sunday we had an Easter egg hunt and Jared and Janika decided to put two snails in one of the eggs for a trick. Janelle was the lucky person who got the magic egg and we got a pretty funny video! Click here to see it: https://youtu.be/qE5lMtPuv-w

Red Robin ... YUM

Shane and Adria were in town from California ... doing a little visiting, then flying out and taking the folks with them back for a California visit. But while they were here, we had a group get-together. We were able to get seated in the back room and had it almost all to ourselves. Landon had just returned from his mission in February, so it was the first time he'd been able to see many in the extended family. Keaton was so cute entertaining D&D's girls with snapchat filters ...

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by JenB (@jenblackham) on Apr 9, 2017 at 2:50pm PDT

... and the classic picture of Dad in Mom's glasses! He had to see to pay the bill!

Marching Up Mt. Olympus (Chris/Kaden & Dad)

 On Wednesday, March 15, 2017, Chris sent out an invitation for a hike ...

Kadan and Dad (Grandpa) and I are hiking up the Mt. Olympus trail tomorrow. We will meet at Dad's house at 2:15 or at the trailhead on Wasatch Blvd. at 2:30. On the chance that any of you can come, you are all invited. Kadan and I will be hiking until about 5:00. Dad may turn back earlier if he needs to. The first part of the hike will be hot and exposed, and we will get up into the snow eventually. We probably won't make the summit in that time frame, but we will have a good time. There are usually rock climbers at Pete's rock near the trailhead, if Amy wants to come practice her rappelling skills. No catching allowed.

We will have awards for the fastest hiker, the best looking hiker, the oldest hiker, and the skinniest hiker. All winners will be able to attend Camden's percussion concert that evening at Riverview Junior High.

No one else was able to make it, so it was just the three guys going up (and down). There was a follow-up email with the pictures attached, but no other details of the day. Didn't the guys know there would be a blog post about it some day? A future hike to Timp in the summer would get a few more people involved.

Here's the recap Chris sent in his next email update ...

Kadan was off school for Spring Break and came up Wednesday. Thursday he and I drove to Salt Lake to go on a hike with Grandpa. We picked him up and then drove up to the Mt. Olympus trail, starting about 2:20. We planned to hike until about 5:00, so we would have time to get ready for Camden’s Percussion Concert that evening. It was a super nice day, and there were lots of other hikers. I left them after a while, and started running. I got about 3/4 of the way to the top, maybe 4/5 of the way. I was up pretty high and getting into the snow. I met one group coming down and they made it to the top, and said it was pretty slick. Their shoes and the lower part of their pants were wet, and I really didn’t want to run down with wet shoes. So I turned around and headed down, and met Kadan and Grandpa a short ways after the stream. I hiked with them for a while, and then explored the Bonneville Shore Line trail and took a loop on that to the bottom. 18,000 steps by the end of the day. 243 floors.

Before I found the emails memory**, I asked Chris about the photo and this was his present day (2020) recollection ... "I remember it was a fun hike, and very warm for March. It was one of my last strong Mountain runs before I got so weak in April and then diagnosed with cancer, with three surgeries over the summer. "

 ... and here's a picture of after the percussion concert (with a few more attendees). 

... not quite as physically demanding as hiking Mt. Olympus!

** The WestraWriteOn blog is a collection of correspondence between the Westra family from years past. Be sure to check it out too. Chris's entire letter from this week in 2017  is included here. 

It's a New Year - 2017

 This will be backdated to January 1, 2017

It was a late start to the Grandparents and Games New Years at the Blackham home. Gray had snagged tickets to the Jazz game, and he and the boys didn't get home until 9:00. Normally, that seems super late,  but on New Years, when the plan is to stay up until midnight, it isn't so bad. 

Callahan and Keaton were off with friends, but the two little boys, the folks and Gray and Jen played some Speed Rummikub (several games ... because Grandma said we couldn't quit until she won a game, and that took a while), then a few rounds of Scattergories and then it was time for the countdown. There were a couple games of Progressive Rummy after midnight, but everyone called it quits before finishing (as the game, with seven hands can take a while). Colton and Cooper didn't seem to have any trouble staying awake this year.