Grandma Gets Married

On February 12, 2011 Connie, Dave's Mom, got married to Bill Franz.

Taylor was the Best Man.

Carlee was a Brides maid.





Dave had two brothers and his sister, Kris, come to the wedding. We had a lot of fun seeing them and wish they lived a little closer.

We decided to take a couple pics of our family in the hopes that they would turn out cute but Grace wasn't in the mood.

Book of Mormon Challenge

At our August Stake Conference, our Stake President issued a challenge to everyone in our Stake to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover before the next Stake Conference. My family took the challenge and everyone began reading 5 pages a night. Dave decided to offer up a reward to all those that successfully completed the challenge before the Feb. conference. He told the kids that he would take them to Texas Roadhouse and they could order what ever they wanted from the menu but only if they finished in time and not a day late. I have to say that this was a wonderful time for our family. We were all working so hard to finish that I would find my kids upstairs reading in the middle of the day or I would find a couple of them reading together at night so they could help each other. There was a great unity in our house during that time and I liked it, A LOT!!! My kids not only completed the challenge but EVERYONE was finished before the dead line and so the very next Monday, we were at Texas Roadhouse having a blast.
Our dinner started by eating peanuts while we waited for our table. Grace and Jaren especially liked the peanuts.






For starters, Dave ordered a bloomin onion and fried pickles. Yuck you say, well we thought the same thing until we tried them and they were actually really good. The kids dipped them into the onion sauce and ranch, they were all gone in no time.

After our appetizers and salads, we all sat very content waiting for our food to arrive. I think we could have left the resturant right then feeling statisfied, what were we thinking? We rarely order appetizers just for that reason.



Our food arrived and it was soooo yummy. We each ate a few bites off our plates and realized that we couldn't eat anymore and so this is what our table looked like. Our waitress just laughed at us and we laughed too. I was wondering how we were going to fit all of those boxes in the fridge.

As we were leaving the restaurant, Dave was carrying my to go box along with his and Grace's. Each of the kids decided they wanted a couple more peanuts and so they each quickly walked by Dave and dumped their box on top of his and took off to get some peanuts. He was left standing there wondering what just happened to him. It was so funny and he ended up carrying all of the to go boxes to the car. We had a wonderful time and lots of good food to eat for the next couple of days. :)

Remember Remember Remember

For the past couple of years I have come up with a Family theme or motto for the year. This year I decided to introduce our theme with a nice family dinner. Our theme is-

REMEMBER (who you are)
REMEMBER (where you are going)
REMEMBER (you must choose)

This is our before pic.

Abby and Jaren loved helping me set the table and asked lots of questions about the china my parents gave me when I was 16. I put a copy of our theme on the table. I hope to have it put on a board and hang it on our wall close to the front door so they can be reminded of it each time they leave the house. I will probably have it hanging in each bathroom as well.

Can you say YUMM! This was an awesome appetizer and I don't even have a name for it but it was soooo good.

For dinner I made italian chicken, frech cut green beans and garlic buns. We also had ceasar salad, you can see it in the next pic. It was a big hit and everyone loved it.

My family is sitting here patiently waiting for me to take a quick pic before digging in and talking about our theme.

For dessert I made this mixed berry trifle and it is soooo rich and yummy. I guess I need to buy a real trifle dish now that I have exposed my children to it. Taylor had two bowls and I caught the other kids sneaking into the fridge later that night trying to steal another taste. Mmmm Mmmm good!
As of this morning we only have a small container left over and I am sure it will be gone before the day is over.

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!!