Sitting on the Red Pig

This little piggy ... the first photo is of baby Scottie, first of the Westra siblings, sitting on the red pig. You can't even tell it's red in the black and white picture. In the second picture, the last of the Westra siblings, little Derek. I don't think the parents (or who knows, maybe this was Jen taking the picture) were trying to capture the EXACT pose ... but it is almost identical, even to the arm placement of Scott and Derek! Except for the EYES. What happened to the piggy's eyes? They were just stickers, and it had been 19+ years ...

But that wasn't the end of sitting on the red pig ...

Chris's four boys (Cayson wasn't here yet) in 2005 (top row)

Then another "piggie" photo shoot in 2011 with multiple cousins. So Camden has TWO pictures on the pig. Conner was the biggest grandkid, Ani closest to the age of Scott and Derek in the original pictures. I think Corin wins for the best pose, followed closely by Adria.

Found Photos!  A couple more grandkid sits 

... now it's a three-way tie with Camden's two-time sit with both Adria and Rella too! 

... and then as slides have been converted ... 

some color photos emerged of baby Scott.

Read a little more about the slides/negatives.

  Old-Fashioned Film and Photo

What happened to the red pig? Well in 2011, it would have been 48 years old! Beyond losing paper eyeballs, thin plastic (it was a bank if I remember correctly ... hollow) gets brittle over time. It finally broke. Hopefully NOT while being sat on, although I guess that is a very good possibility! Poor piggy. You will always be remembered. 

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.

Early Easter ~ Four GrandGirls Sleepover

Wendy's kids were off for Spring Break, and Jaiden and Janelle came up to Salt Lake with Rick - he had some plans, and they got to play with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. It was a couple weeks before Easter, but as the Jensen crew wouldn't be able to come up to the family party in a few weeks, Grandpa did an early Easter, and a photoshoot! Here are some exerpts from the March 11 email Mom sent out, telling about their time together...

Rick came Sat. and dropped his girls off at Alicia's to sleepover and go to Primary. Then Shane and Alicia brought the 4 girls here Sun. at 5:30. We fixed a salmon dinner. Rella decided to stay over after all.  Alicia let both her girls miss school today in order to play with their cousins they don't get to see often. They've had a great time. Rick slept here both nights and had some enjoyable visits with old friends Sat. night and Sunday afternoon and evening. He attended Sacrament meeting with us. Taylee's family had too busy of a schedule this weekend for her to join the cousins this time around.

LaMar got the good idea to have an early Easter egg hunt for them, while J and J were here. So they loaded their own eggs and LaMar hid them in the front yard--the back yard is still wet and some snow. They hung a few eggs from the trees for decoration. Adria and Rella didn't have coats and Rella had on a dress, so it is good it was sunny and fairly warm. They were delighted to watch the squirrel and each wanted to name him (a different name, of course). So he now has 3 names. Janelle didn't come out to see him.

Funny Janelle! She was telling me yesterday about the maturation program she attended at school on Friday. Today she was sitting on the couch and said, "I feel moody. They told us at the maturation program that we might feel moody!" I told Wendy and Wendy said, "She didn't even know that word until Friday." Funny kids!

Today Janelle said her arms hurt until she could hardly lift them. Rella took her upstairs and tucked her in bed. Rella told me that she told Janelle to call her when Janelle wanted to get up and she would come uncover her because Janelle couldn't lift the covers! Little mother! It finally dawned on me what the problem was and I told Janelle I thought it was because she played so much boxing yesterday on the Wii that her arm and back muscles were sore! She loves the Wii!

Well, I got the girls all fed lunch, now I'll go fix for LaMar. They are out feeding the fish. Rick just left awhile ago with Janelle and Jaiden. Today we will take Adria and Rella with us to visit Grandma and Alicia will pick them up there, then she won't have to drive clear to our place. 

The Great-Grandma Zada visits happened a few times after grand-girl sleepovers!
And a little later in the month, Mom&Dad hosted Chris's Boys and also did a GG visit!

Second Sleepover for Cousins Trio

 This cute little trio had a sleepover last year in 2012, and they had a repeat performance this year. Again, from Sunday to Monday, with the kids out of school for President's Day. This year, there was a little snow play. Not sure of the story of the matching jammies. They were from Target, and a coincidence that they all had the same ones? Maybe knowing beforehand that they had the same ones, they arranged to wear them for the sleepover ...

Mom's Email Recap ~ Sunday we had Scott's family (Alyssa was in St. George and Kemery in Sun Valley) and Shane and Alicia's family for dinner, so they could drop of Taylee, Adria and Rella for a girl cousins sleepover. Wish Jaiden and Janelle could have been here for it too. We'll have to try a little boy cousins sleepover sometime if they want and we get get some together. Though it might be harder to entertain them since they don't do "dressup" and glitter crafts! They had a fun time. We were tired last night (smile)! We took them to visit Grandma with us Mon. afternoon and Scott picked them up there and drove Alicia's girls home to Lindon.

Like last year ... the sleepover was followed by a visit to Great-Grandma Zada at the care center... and a bit more beauty school fun.

Who is winning at Scrabble this year?

There would be another girl cousin sleep over this year ... right before Easter!

GrandGirls Sleepover/Dressup and Visit to Great-Grandma

Shane's girls got together with cousin Taylee for some fun. After the grownups played games, the girls ended up having a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Cooper and Colton were invited too ... see what fun they missed! Dress-up and beauty shop! Here's an excerpt from Mom's email ...

Shane and Alicia came for dinner about 4:30, picking up Taylee on the way. We had salmon, rice-a-roni, jello with fresh strawberries, and rolls. Amy sent brownies and we had ice cream. We played a few hands of progressive rummy and then they left and the 3 girls stayed for a sleepover since there was no school today.

I just had my morning water aerobics and the girls are playing dress-up and doing art and craft projects. They didn't bring their snow gear or they would probably go out and play in the snow---but it is quite chilly. Rella is dressed up in a 50's "poodle skirt" and tells me her name is "Princess Watermelon." Taylee and Grandpa are making a car out of a cardboard box and drilling holes for the wheels to attach. We are going to play "beauty shop" doing the girls' hair. They asked if they got to do makeup too!

 Merrill and Lorrie are in St. George this weekend, so can't visit Mother, wanting us to pick up the slack. They go on Sundays. They left a message on our answering machine. We couldn't go yesterday, but will probably go tomorrow instead of Thurs. Or I got the idea during swimming that we could go today and take the girls for a visit and then Amy or whoever is picking them up wouldn't have to come as far---just a thought--I haven't run it by LaMar yet.

Well, you can see by the photos below that Mom's idea worked out ...

Too bad there aren't more pictures from the "beauty shop" playtime ... 

especially if makeup was involved!

What is the high score in that Scrabble game? Who won?

Cousins, Costumes and Cookies

 

After Landon was born and Jen was a stay-at-home mom, she started sewing. A lot. So when Halloween rolled around, she made a little Pooh costume for Landon. Then she made another. And a Piglet costume too. Cute cousins dressed up. Lyssa and Landon as the Pooh Bears. Both Kellen and Janika tried on the Piglet costume. Landon wore his Pooh for Halloween, not sure if the cousins did, or if it was just dressing up at the time. The cousins looked "beary" cute though! It was Pooh x 2!

Scott and Amy's family also went out to Jen and Gray's house for some cookie decorating. 

SO MUCH candy ended up on those cookies!

Cousins, costumes and cookies ... Happy Halloween!