It Finally HIT Me....

I was feeling very nostalgic today for some reason. I couldn't quite figure it out why. I found myself looking at blogs from friends in Yuma. I texted a couple of my friends from Yuma to catch up. Looked through some old photo's from living in Yuma....and then it finally hit me....

This was the weekend a LOT of my Yuma friends were getting together for a San Diego trip to see WICKED. And I was suppose to be there with them.

Why didn't I go you might ask??? Well it definitely wasn't because Brent wasn't on board because he was, at one point, looking up the flights for me. It was because of this....

Once upon a time there was a girl who decided to mow the lawn; something she does often. This particular time she needed to back the JAG out of the garage to get the lawn mower out. As she backed the JAG out she looked RIGHT because Brent ALWAYS parks his Mazda to the right. Unfortunately for this girl, Brent had NOT been the last one to drive the Mazda! THE GIRL HAD...and the girl parked it LEFT. 

Screeched, skid, dent, and blahhhhhhh!!!! Only about $1500 worth of damage(that's what the insurance adjustor estimated).

Yeah....my weekend away was cancelled BY THE GIRL!!! 

It turns out I have a very forgiving husband.

And it turns out everyone had a great time today at Wicked.

LET FREEDOM RING IN 2012!!!

LET THE CELEBRATIONS BEGIN!!! What a great tradition our country has to celebrate the freedom we enjoy, the home of the brave, land of the FREE!! I love my country...this sweet land of liberty. And I hope to see it stay that way.

I'm so proud to be the daughter of a purple heart Vet, the granddaughter of Vet, a niece of a Navyman, and the Aunt of Navyman.

And to celebrate our country's freedom we spent the day with friends at a local parade, a local dawg house, and local mansion...can't ask for more diversity - much like our country.


Comfort, TX puts on a great parade. Lots and lots of great floats. Lots and lots of royalty. And they throw lots and lots of candy. They kids had a blast and I think us adults did too. We met up with about four other family's at the parade and had lunch with them too.

 Here's a pretty good look at who was there...me, Angie, Kristin, Kristin's mom, Andrea, and Danielle... Good times!

 And really...have you seen a better looking group of kids! They all had a great time taking candy from strangers!!! Literally...there was one "float" that the guy was lulling them over to him and feeding them out of his hand. hmmmm maybe not....eek!

After Boodawgs...which seriously has the BEST brisket tacos EVER, we relaxed at home...got in a little swimming time down at the pool, a little nappy nap, and a few chores done. Then it was off to the firework stand and out to our celebration party.

 What a stud...

We got together with multiple families to enjoy dinner, swimming, visiting, and fireworks. It was a lot of fun! Got to know lots of people a lot better. To be honest it drove me out of my comfort zone and had great results. I really enjoyed spending time with all the family's out there. Very happy for the invite.

 I'm always the photographer so I took this HORRIBLE picture of myself...but you can see the home in the background. The family, the Hill's have a great home for entertaining; very comfortable, very open, very beautiful.

The lounge chairs served me and Andrea very well for a good 30 minutes. lol!!!

 And after we devoured the yummy salads, desserts, hamburgers, hot dogs, and pulled bbq, we got ready for the firework show. This wasn't just ANY firework show. We're talking full on light up the sky! So fun! And we contributed our $30 pack(that was full of sparklers, fountains, and smoke bombs...haha). But I'll tell you what, I think every person was entertained in one way or another.

Yes, we had a great time with the festivities, and yes we are so very thankful for the friends we have that we were able to celebrate with. And their were others that we would have liked to add to the mix. But the most important thing to know is that I am so grateful for our free country. And the men and women that fight to keep us free. We truly live in "one nation under God". Thank you thank you.

MADELYN TURNS "9"

My little girl turned NINE on Sunday!!! It's amazing how quickly our kiddos grow up. It seems like just yesterday that she was no cooperating and taking WAYYY longer than I ever expected to see the light of this world. And now she's NINE. wow!

And it wouldn't be a Bushman holiday if we didn't over-do it a tad bit. We celebrated her birthday Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Hey...how many times do you turn nine??

She started her celebration with a small party. She wanted to invite so many friends but since she wanted a pool party and our amenities center is finished yet(don't even get me started), I didn't want to have 25 kids here and no bathrooms. It was a lot easier to take care of 14 kids' bathroom needs.

The kids swam and had a great time, we took pictures, played with homemade spunges, and ate goodies, including the request of a cookie cake for her. All around(besides the sudden wind storm at the end of the party that had us all running to the house....yes, RUNNING) it was a fun afternoon.

We made cute sponges for them to play with in the pool and to take home.

 Yummy finger treats as requested by the birthday girl...frozen gogurts, cheeseballs, rice krispy treats assortments, purple grapes, and fresca

 Monster High, of course, was the theme, since she loves it so much right now. Her favorite is Frankiestein...

 Super cute group of kiddos. Like I said, we couldn't invite everyone she wanted to be there, but we had a great time. 

 Happy Birthday to Madelyn!! She loved being the "center of attention"

On Saturday we celebrated her birthday as a family. Of course with the extra HOT weather they kids went swimming, then we got ready and went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. YUM!!! After dinner we went to

 We went to the new Disney movie BRAVE. It was cute. A mix of Brother Bear and Freaky Friday.

Birthday!!! Breakfast was turquoise pancakes(her favorite color right now). And she wore her new favorite shirt that she got from the little Clark kiddos to church.

 A phone call from grandma and grandpa Rigby was a good way to start the day. 

 She had a great birthday. Got a few different pieces of clothes, some new books, some barbie stuff, Frankiestein(who was impossible to find in the stores), some new swimsuits since she wears them everyday of her life....

 But my favorite gift, and I think she really loved it, was a book of remembrance from her baptism. On her baptism day I had every attendee write their testimony or letter of encouragement to Madelyn. With those and all the pictures we took from the day, I compiled it into an album and gave it to her so she could always remember how wonderful that day was. She loved it!!!

 Dinner was her choice her favorites in one meal so it was a major carb overload but....Chicken Adobo and Party Potatoes it was. Added a fruit salad and a green salad and it was almost perfect.

It rained like crazy Sunday night so we all took advantage and jumped in the puddles. Yes, we were soaking wet and probably looked like 5 year olds but it was fun fun fun!!!! The power went out and so we and the Capener kiddos passed them time playing in the street.

 Then we ended the night with some Birthday Icecream Cake. It was great...really hard to cut...but yummy.

 I had Madelyn write a little something about herself at nine years old....
Madelyn Bushman, nine years old; two brothers - Marcus and Brian; favorite thing is my family, especially my mother; favorite food is pizza; I'll drink anything but sometimes I'll spit it out; favorite color is blue and purple; favorite state and city is Idaho - Soda Springs; In the summer I love to go to my grandparents house all the time; I'll eat any dessert; favorite movie is Brave; favorite TV show is Good Luck Charlie; favorite teacher is Mrs. Spicer; I'll play any games - sports, dancing and swim team; I don't really have a favorite book; my favorite store is anywhere that included girly girl stuff. THANKS FOR LISTENING!!!

And I love my little Madelyn! She is sweet, kind, and such a great helper. She is very dependable; only the occasional mishap. I count on her a lot and I know I have very high expectations. She meets and exceeds them. I feel like the most blessed mother to have her as my daughter and am so grateful I have gotten to know her over these past 9 years. Here is to eternity!!!!