Thanksgiving 2010

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. We were not able to celebrate with much family so we decided to invite Dave's mom and a couple of families over. We could have fed a hundred people with some good food! The day started with Dave and the kids going to the park for the annual Turkey Bowl while I stayed home getting the Turkey and Ham in the ovens. I had every intention of taking lots of pics but I only ended up with a few so here you go.

Abby and two of our neighbor girls made our edible pilgrim hats that we make every year and rarely get eaten :). They had so much fun.

Grace enjoyed the Pilgrim Hats this year and she not only ate hers but several other hats as well. I finally gathered all of the uneaten hats and threw them away. Crazy Girl!

I actually remembered to take a picture of Dave getting ready to carve the turkey but that was the last picture I took of the day. Ugh! The kids actually worked on a Craft that Dave's mom brought over and then all of the girls made the CUTEST hair bows after dinner. We had a great time sitting around the table crafting, talking and laughing!

Our tradition is to make our Graham Cracker Gingerbread houses the day after Thanksgiving but this year we spent most of the day shopping for Christmas and so the houses were actually made the Monday after. The kids had a hard time this year and most of their houses did not turn out the way they were intended. I am just realizing that I have not taken a pic of their final products. I guess I will have to do that soon, before Grace eats them all. She has such a sweet tooth.

Halloween 2010

This Halloween was not very exciting since it fell on Sunday. Carlee is the only one that really had a costume in mind. Taylor did not want to dress up and the other kids found costumes in the dress up box.


Carlee and her Great Friend, Whitney, dress up as Thing 1 and Thing 2. They were perfect and oh so cute and yes, that is Carlee's real hair!


Abby decided to be a spider witch and gave up on the hat half way through trunk or treat but she looked cute.


The only costume that fit Jaren this year was the "White Ninja" and he was happy about that. He was even more happy to get home and take that make-up off.


Grace wanted to be Sleeping Beauty and she was so excited to go and get candy. Taylor accidentally stepped on her cute tiara and so we had to quickly grab one from the dollar store but it was pretty ugly. She didn't wear it to trunk or treat and I was very happy about that. She had a great Halloween even though it only lasted 1 hour and that was just fine with me.

Unpredictable!!

Last Saturday the younger kids and I were preparing to leave on our family trip to Colorado for a Bushman Family Reunion while Dave, Carlee and Taylor were at the lake with our youth group for their end of summer bash. I was so excited to be able to leave the heat and humidity of Texas and spend time with my family, some of which I only get to see once a year. Everything was ready to go, the T-shirts were made,the skit was perfect, the food was prepared and frozen, the house was clean, the laundry was done and all we needed to do was pack the car so we could leave early Sunday morning. I was feeling really good until... I received a call from Dave informing me that Taylor had been hurt while tubing and had possibly dislocated his shoulder. I started calling our friends who are doctors and was unable to reach any of them and so I called our urgent care and they instructed me to just take him to the ER. I arrived at the ER before Dave and Taylor and had him registered before they got there. I needed him to be fixed quick so that we could get things ready to go. Well, after x-rays, several hours of waiting and a 2 hour surgery this is what we ended up with! What happened to DISLOCATED???

Taylor had broken his arm in 2 just below his shoulder. His humerus broke along the growth plate and down just below the shoulder. His bone was then shoved up into his deltoid muscle and was sitting there just below the skin due to the force of his injury. The only way to fix his arm was to open up his shoulder and put in 3 titanium screws. The doctors could not believe how bad it was when they got in there and they are concerned with possible nerve damage and loss of muscle. Sooo, the reunion was now out of the question. I kept telling the Dr. that we were to leave town the next morning and he would give me a look like I was crazy and tell me that Taylor should not travel but I kept hoping until I finally flat out asked if we could leave and he said NO! What? We had been waiting for this trip all summer long and within a matter of hours we were no longer going. Ugh! We've never missed a Blaine Bushman reunion and certainly did not want to tell my kids or my family. We were so sad. What's crazy is that on the way to the hospital, Taylor was asking if he would be able to attend the dance that night and while waiting for surgery, he kept talking about going to Colorado. He was so excited to go and spend time with his cousins. I certainly didn't want to tell him the bad news.

We spent Sunday morning up at the hospital visiting Taylor instead of traveling. The kids were very emotional and very concerned about their brother. For a few days they only cared about Taylor and wanted him to get better and understood that we were not going to make the trip. Notice I said for a few days. That did wear off and when it did, they were sad all over again. Grace tried to help Taylor by rubbing his feet and that made him smile.

Here is Taylor with his nurse just before coming home. The nurse was shocked when Taylor stood up, she hadn't realized how tall he was. He thought that was pretty cool. He always likes when people think he is tall. He only has about 5 more inches until he catches his Dad.

Once home, he was greeted by a couple of his friends who had come over to decorate his room with streamers, balloons and posters. It was really cute and it made Taylor smile. Most of it is still up and I am sure it will stay that way for awhile.

Well, it is now almost a week since the accident and he is doing much better. He did not take any pain meds today and that is great. He has feeling in his hand and shoulder which is good and we go to the ortho on Monday to see what they think. Taylor is hoping they will take the bandages off so that he can see what it looks like. It itches pretty bad and he wants it off. He is already tired of the sling and hopes that he will heal extra fast, not only to get the sling off but so he can start swimming at school. Just one more thing that has to be postponed. We are however very grateful that he is ok and has some feeling in his hand and shoulder. Therapy will determine how much muscle he will regain. He has been a trooper throughout all of this and has had a few good experiences as well. He has decided that he will probably stay off the tubes for awhile but that he would like to hurry up and heal so that he can knee board again. He just learned how and did a 360 on his first try. Go Taylor!

Jaren's Birthday

It seems that I always leave Jaren out when it comes to posting birthdays. Jaren turned 9 this year and he had a great birthday with 3 of his friends. I wanted to follow him around with the camera like I did with Carlee but I left it at home several times and so I only have a few pics to share. The day started out with his friends arriving at 9:30 and we immediately left to go and see Despicable Me. The kids loved the movie and had a great time. I not only forgot the camera when we left but I also forgot my cell phone. I had intended to order pizza during the movie and pick it up on our way home. Oh well, they played and opened presents while we waited for the pizza.


After eating we left for the swimming pool where I once again forgot to bring the camera. We gave all of the kids a swimming ring and they had a blast playing with them. Afterwards we came back to the house and they made their own Volcanoes. (Jaren's request this year and I was happy that I didn't have to make a cake.) They were all very happy even though Sam was not smiling. He doesn't like pics.


I can't belive he is 9 and starting in the fourth grade, where does the time go. So happy he is apart of my family! Love Him!!

Happy Birthday Carlee!

My Carlee is 13, a teenager! She has been waiting for this moment since I can remember. I thought It would be fun to capture her birthday with photos and so I did. Enjoy.


This year Carlee wanted a cake that was a little more grown up. She showed me a picture of the cake and I asked her if she was serious!! It doesn't have any candy on it to decorate with. Yikes! I decided to give it a try and this is the finished product. I have so much to learn still and it would really help if i purchased some decorating tips. I have always used a plastic sandwich bag with a little hole cut in the corner. It worked fine but I am sure that if I had the proper equipment, it would look a little more polished. Regardless, it was fun to make and it tasted good too. Carlee chose chocolate cake with peanut butter cream filling and butter cream frosting. MY Dad would have loved this cake as the filling tasted much like his favorite peanut butter balls.

carlee's day began with a present from Abby. Abby couldn't wait to give it to her and so Carlee had to open it before breakfast. Abby purchased a pair of earrings for Carlee while at enterprise city, look at her face. She is so happy to be giving them to her sister.

For breakfast this year, Carlee chose to have fruit smoothies and egg burritos. Excellent choice! This is one of our family favorites.

Immediately after breakfast we jumped in the car and headed to the church. Dave had signed our family up to help clean the church that morning. Fortunately for us, several families showed up and we were done in only 1 hour.

Once we got home and cleaned up, Carlee opened some more of her presents.


After opening presents Dave decided to take the kids out for pizza and this is what they looked like when they got home. I never like when Dave walks into the arcade with the kids but this time it was well worth it. All of the kids walked out with a mustache and they had a blast messing around with them and now this picture will be hanging up in my game room. Love it!

After having some fun with the family, Carlee had scheduled to go and spend some time with a friend from church. They ended up riding bikes around for 2 hours. Carlee came home pretty tired but not so tired that she didn't want to go shopping. I quickly took her shopping for some much needed clothes and I think she was pretty happy with our little trip.

For dinner, Carlee chose to go to Fuddruckers. I'm not one to get real excited about eating hamburgers but I must say that I do love to go and get their jalapeno cheese sauce. Mmmm Mmmm good. Dave's Mom,Connie, was spending the day with us so she came to dinner and we were glad she did.


Finally around 8:30 in the evening we had cake and ice cream. Wow, what a day!! I had a lot of fun and I think that Carlee did as well. What a Beautiful girl she is becoming and I just love spending time with her. She makes me laugh A LOT!! LOVE HER!

Easter 2010

We had a great Easter weekend this year. I really enjoyed having it on Conference Weekend. Our Easter celebrations began the Saturday before. Abby and I made our usual bunny cupcakes for the BBQ. We had fun putting them together and I have decided that they are much cuter with the coconut but I have learned that the kids won't eat them with coconut so we left it off this year. I think they still turned out cute.


We went to our good friends house for a BBQ and Easter Egg Hunt. We always love going to the Hydes and the kids had a lot of fun eating and hanging out with their friends.



This is Jake, Grace's very favorite friend. They are only one week apart in age and they play so well together. I just love to watch and listen to them.

Grace had so much fun searching for eggs. The kids had to work hard to find them. As soon as we were done, we all jumped in our cars and took the kids to see the movie, How To Train A Dragon. We loved that movie and will probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. It was that good!

Before Taylor and Dave left for the priesthood session that evening, we quickly got the eggs ready for coloring. All of the kids put on their aprons from Nana and Papa and got to work. Grace had a blast and I would say that Carlee worked the hardest and was the most patient. She ended up with the brightest eggs. We had such a fun, fast and furious day. The kids were in Heaven and worn out by the end of the day. Perfect!




Easter morning was filled with the kids searching for their baskets, a great breakfast and Grace playing with her favorite gift, Bubbles! All before conference began which was the perfect way to spend easter, with our family and listening to our prophet.

Abby is 11

This year for Abby's birthday she decided that she wanted a Purse Cake. She being the good girl that she is, got on line and found the cake she wanted which again came with great instructions. We had a lot of fun putting it together and I think she really liked it.


Abby decided that instead of a big party this year she wanted to invite a couple of friends over to make homemade personal pizzas and play games. I thought that sounded GREAT! Abby helped get everything ready and they all had a great time!




It is hard for me to believe that she is already 11 and will be entering Young Womans in only one year. I have been informed that I must now teach her how to shave her legs and so I guess we will be working on that this week. Why?! Why do they have to get older? I just love my kids the way they are right now.

The day after Abby's birthday Dave and I took her out for lunch to the restaurant of her choice. This year Abby chose BJs. My kids love it when it is their birthday and know that they can order what ever they want. Abby chose the Shrimp Scampi and loved it. She saved a little to take home and is still enjoying that shrimp.


While eating we told our waiter that we were celebrating Abby's birthday and when we finished he brought her a personal Pazookie! As you can see, she loved every last bit of it. We had a great time and I just love spending time with her.