4th of July

I had a great 4th of July! It's one of my favorite holidays. It's hard to believe that a year ago at this time, I was in Cairo, Egypt!

This year, I started the morning with a game of softball with a big group of friends. It was HOT! We played for a couple of hours, then I had a smaller group of friends over to my house for a BBQ. We watched "The Sandlot" and then just relaxed and talked. It was great.We met up with another group of friends in the Woodlands for some fireworks. We parked across I-45 from the Woodlands Mall area where they were setting off the fireworks. We were sitting on the grass right next to the feeder (frontage) road.

Fun girls!

I'm wearing my 4th of July Cairo shirt. Sadly, I look a bit like a football player in this picture!

I tried to get some pictures of the fireworks, but they never turn out as good as the real deal! The fireworks were amazing. We were so close! They filled the sky and rattled our bones just like fireworks should!

There was a huge rush to get out of there, so we all just sad around by the freeway until things cleared out. Fun times!

Home Again

It was really nice to be home after my long road trip.

I had a good time putting up the new stuff I bought on my trip. I got a new wall hanging that is actually sitting at the top of my entertainment center to replace the cute "family" saying that was Susannah's and is now in Idaho!

Probably my favorite addition is the frame that Rich and Linda Miller made for me. It fits perfectly around the little paint and vinyl saying that was on my wall!

I also came home to a big surprise. I planted a sunflower a couple of months ago. When I left for my road trip, this baby was only up to my waist and had no flower. This is what I came home to! I am in heels, standing on the box around the garden and it's still that much taller than me!

It was also good to see my friends. I had to post these pictures from last Sunday. Kirsten is now in Guatemala, but she LOVED Scott's "summer suit." We took a whole bunch of pictures of him in it and sent them to her.

Scott and Nate saw a ball stuck in the tree just behind the church parking lot. Nate couldn't stand it and had to get it out. He and Scott are quite the funny duo. I'm glad to be home (for the next few days, anyway - off to Maui soon!) even if it is ridiculously HUMID!

Bushman Reunion

The last event of my big summer road trip was our E.E. Bushman reunion - My dad's family.

This is a picture me with my first cousins that were there that first day. There 45 total of us, I believe. They did a count and with Adam marrying into the family, there are now 199 members of my dad's family (either born into, adopted, or married into) including his parents.

Sunday, the 28th was the first day of the reunion. We met in Lehi, UT at my cousin, Desiree's house. We then all headed to a park in her subdivision. I'm not sure why my dad climbed this, but I was sure ready to document it.

This is Austin, my cousin Daylen's oldest. Austin caught a grasshopper and was showing everyone.

This is Brandt, my cousin Eric's son. He is such a cutie and he made friends with me this reunion.

This is Julie, my cousin Rodney's wife and their youngest son. I thought his eyes were awesome!

There are several random group shots. We had a great spaghetti dinner.

Chilling in the shade! It was really hot outside. I love the west, though, where shade makes a difference. It was nice and cool in the shade!

This is my Aunt Karen and her daughter Nancy - the last remaining members of the E.E. Bushman family living in Joseph City.

Here's my cousin Daylen, his wife Scarlet, and their daughter Valeska.

Valeska was a great poser. This is one of many cute shots I got of her.

Before we headed to day 2 of the reunion, we ran some errands and stopped by our old alma mater, BYU!

Day 2 was at a beautiful park in Provo Canyon. This is my cousin Valerie's youngest son.

The Clarks had the biggest representation of their family at this reunion. I loved the lighting on this picture too! Not everyone who attended both days is pictured here.

I took this family shot of my cousin Julie and her kids. Her husband wasn't able to make it.

Us 4 girls hung out a lot together at reunions growing up. We were fairly close in age.

I wanted to take a picture of my dad's siblings and their spouses. This is a great picture of everyone except my parents are making crazy faces. We took some silly pictures after this one, and I guess they were ahead of the game.

This is a slightly silly one. We got some great smiles going on!

Heather's youngest accidentally got a spinning toy stuck in her hair. My mom tried in vain to get it out. No luck!

Her husband, Mike had to use a butcher knife to cut her hair!

Todd and Alyson were the only Bushman reps (besides my immediate family) at the Boise reception. They live right outside of Boise.

All the game playing and story telling seemed to finally get to JD!

We headed on out at about 4:00. This is Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. It's so pretty. We passed it on our way out. We drove all night! We stopped in Midland, TX to drop my dad off, stopped in San Angelo at my parents' house, and then I jumped in my car for another 6 hour drive home. I made it 6:30 pm! Long drives, but a great road trip!

Utah

After leaving Wyoming, we headed on in to Utah. I think I had a short lapse in picture taking, because I didn't take a picture of my Grandma Evans, Uncle Darl & Aunt Norma, nor of my cousin, Brad and his family who we stayed with! I took some Evans side pictures at the reception. I hope Susannah posts those! Oops! We went to see my Grandma's old house where my mom grew up. It finally sold, but no one is living there yet.

Whenever I go to UT, I HAVE TO stop at Cafe Rio! I LOVE that place. Pork burrito, enchilada style, black beans, medium sauce. Need I say more?

Here's another beautiful scenery shot of the Salt Lake valley from up in West Jordan.

We were able to go to the open house of Utah's newest temple - the Oquirrh Mountain temple. It was a great experience!

After we left the temple, my parents dropped me off at my good friend and old roommate's house, Allie. They had a reunion with my dad's siblings and first cousins. One of our first items of business was to head over to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to watch the Joseph Smith movie. It's amazing. When we came out, it was really overcast . . . ideal for picture taking! This garden is just outside the JSMB and I'm facing the Church Office Building.

Just around the corner is the Salt Lake Temple and Temple Square. I got some great shots, but none cooler than this one where I accidentally caught some lightning in the background. It was awesome!

We had to get our pictures in front of it. Here's Allie with her 5 week old baby, Megan. Such a cutie!

I had to get mine taken too. Isn't the sky amazing? Not to mention the temple!

We were blessed to make it to the condo before the storm got to us. I caught some more lightning from Allie's balcony.

After the storm passed, the lighting was great for more pictures. The rainbows were awesome! These are all taken from the balcony.

I love how bright the colors got. You can see the other rainbow just to the right.

I played with some settings on the camera and got this great one. The old houses back in the avenues in Salt Lake are just beautiful.

Smile! Allie just got a new camera as well and we had fun playing with them out there!

This is Allie's husband Brett with Megan.

The next day, we went to visit Allie's sister Jen who was also my roommate for a year. Jen has 5 kids now! Her baby on the left is a twin, but she was upstairs sleeping. The twins are just a few months older than Megan.

One of the last things we did before my parents came back was to go on a walk just up a canyon by Allie's condo. Megan slept the whole way.

It's a good thing babies are still cute when they're sleeping. We wanted to get some pictures of her with Allie.

Yay for friends!

After my parents picked me up and we said good-bye to Allie and her family, we went to my Dad's cousin, Craig's house in Highland. We actually stayed there two nights, which was a real treat! His house is amazing.

They have a grand piano that used to be in the Lion House in Salt Lake. That's Brigham Young's old house. We played on it a little bit!

Yellowstone & Grand Tetons

I had a few firsts on this trip! I believe that when we hit about 10 miles worth of Montana, that was my first time there.

It was also my first time to visit Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. It was amazing from start to finish.

Besides the restrooms, this was our first stop inside Yellowstone. There was steam coming up all over this area of the park. We didn't get a close look at any of these, but it was cool to see from far away even.

This was a cool area that had a lot of hot springs that ran down. The water and minerals mixed with the soil made this cool travertine stuff.

Dad was already ready for a break. He was the primary driver on this trip and didn't get as much sleep as the rest of us.

The scenery was breathtaking!

The first animals we really saw were some huge elk. I didn't take a picture, because I thought we'd see a lot more, but alas, we didn't! We saw tons of buffalo. We pulled over to take a picture of some of them and I heard a lady say that there was a black bear and her cub just up the hill.

I had to use some serious zoom power, but here is the little cub on that fallen tree.

Here's his mom. It was so cool to see them. The baby bear was a little rambunctious. They drew quite a crowd.

This was the first big waterfall that we saw. It was so beautiful!

We saw these little ground squirrels near the waterfall. I saw one guy touch one of them. I guess they're pretty used to tourists!

Buffalo Crossing!

More buffalo! We didn't see any moose, which I was a little sad about. I still enjoyed the other animals, though . . . and the scenery!

We got to the "Grand Canyon" of Yellowstone. There was an eagle next just below one of the look-outs. I couldn't quite zoom close enough to tell for sure, but it looks like it might be a bald eagle in there. The bird was definitely in the nest, we just couldn't see it super clearly!

The waterfall in that canyon was MASSIVE and so impressive. I couldn't stop staring at it.

I tried to get a nice picture in front of it, but it was pretty windy!

Here's another shot of it through the trees.

This is the same canyon, just from another look-out. I love this picture with the little tree in front!

This hot spring was the bluest I'd seen. You could feel the heat and humidity coming off of it and from all the springs in this little area. It also smelled very much like sulfur. I guess when there's sulfur in the water, it reflects every color except blue and that's why it appears to be that color.

This is a video of a hot spring called the "Paint Pot" I believe. It really does look like a big vat of bubbling paint.

This was right next to the paint pot. Steam was escaping out of this hole and it was SO loud! You can also see some boiling water coming out of this spring.
Still in the same area, we came across this spring that had some serious boiling going on. I couldn't believe how hot that water was!

Okay, last video from this little area. This was almost like a geyser, it was boiling so high. We had gotten out at tons of places and almost skipped this last one. I was glad we stopped after all.Our last real stop in Yellowstone was at the most famous attraction: Old Faithful. There was quite a crowd to witness the eruption.

I got some of it on video. It erupted for quite a while.Here's a still shot. It was pretty impressive. We left Yellowstone right after this and headed toward Grand Teton.

I was in awe at those mountains. I had never seen anything like it. I took TONS of pictures, but I am only subjecting you to 4! I love the flowers in front of this shot.

I wish the lighting was better. This doesn't even capture how huge and impressive those mountains were.

I loved how jagged they were.

We only made one stop - Jenny Lake. This is right off of the lake. We took a shuttle across the lake and back. Beautiful! I want to go back sometime and do some hiking! Any takers?

Idaho

We got up super early the morning after the Joseph City reception and headed for Idaho.

My parents drove the rental truck as far as Orem. They decided to stay in Salt Lake and head the rest of the way up to Idaho the following day. Susannah, Adam, and I decided to keep on going, but we needed to take the truck. We got Susannah's computer chair out of the back and stuck it in the middle of the seats so we could all fit. It wasn't that comfortable, but we got safely to Boise.

While we were stopped in Orem, Kirsten met up with us for a visit. She took us over to her Gram's house for some lunch. It was a lot of fun and just what we needed before going 5 more hours on the road. Kirsten left for Guatemala 2 days after this visit.

The next day in Boise, we got all the stuff transfered from the rental truck to Adam's dad's truck. Adam's brother-in-law, Chris, his sister's boyfriend, Gabe, and Adam's dad (the Vic) all helped a ton. Vic's truck had a lift so we could walk things straight across from truck to truck.

The rest of the day was reception stuff, so I'm skipping to the following day - Father's Day. We had a big breakfast in the Warr's yard.

Susannah and Adam got the Vic and Deej some Jackrabbit underwear. It was quite a hit.

After church that day, Adam's parents, my parents, Susannah, Adam, and myself went up to Placerville to the Warr's cabin. It is so beautiful and is even bigger that their real house. Vic built the garage so that it can hold his plane!

This is the cute little guy that guards their front door. I wouldn't mess with him! :)

We roasted hot dogs and had s'mores for dinner out back. This swing was really cool, but we ended up breaking it a little. I hope they can repair it!

I felt a little weird - I was the only non-couple there, but at least I really like all those people! :)

This is the updated Bushman family minus my brother Adam who was working and couldn't come on this two week road trip!

It got SO COLD! We had to get a picture of us all bundled up. The irony was that this was the first day of summer!

We went for a walk after dinner. It was so beautiful. This was on the runway Vic built for his airplane.

I went for a couple of walks the following morning. I couldn't believe how pretty it was out there. They'd had a lot of rain so it was really green.

I went on a walk with the Vic and Deej and then went on another with my camera and my parents to show them the cool stuff Vic had shown me.

They used to do a lot of gold mining up in Placerville. This old shack is on or just next to the Warr's property. They do own the mineral rights, so if they ever find gold, it's all good!

The best part of the day was 4-wheeling. We went 5 or 6 miles on some awesome mountain trails. It was so cold, but so beautiful!

We stopped in at the general store in Placerville. They have several hummingbird feeders out on the porch. You can go right up to the hummingbirds. It's pretty cool.Here's my dad giving it a try. Most of us just stuck our hands up there, but he was hoping to have one land on his head.We took the 4-wheelers up to the Placerville cemetery. It was so cool and had some really old graves.Vic found some HUGE mushrooms! They reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.I took this shot from the edge of the cemetery into Placerville. We rode for another 7-8 miles along some small roads and trails before coming back to the cabin. Adam taught us how to ride a motorcycle. They have this little Honda 100 that is perfect for teaching . After Susannah had some practice, Adam got on a bigger bike to ride with her a little.

Here's some video of one of her first solo rides.I was next and LOVED riding the bike. They even sent me on an errand into town so I could ride more. We had just been practicing on the runway.

Here I am doing some riding. Too fun!

My dad even decided to brush up on his skills. It had been awhile since he'd ridden. He was braver than us, though. He took the bigger bike out for a spin after this one. Susannah and I were content with the little guy. That made me want a motorcycle a little bit.After all that motorized fun, we settled in for some ping pong and naps. We went out to a play at the Starlight Mountain Theater to watch a musical called "The Boyfriend." It was cute. The Warrs took us to that same outdoor theater two summers ago and that is where Adam and Susannah first held hands.
When my parents and I left Placerville the next morning, we left Susannah in Idaho. It was a sad farewell!

Joseph City

Well, I've been back from my road trip for almost a week now and am FINALLY getting around to doing some posts. Just be warned that over 800 pictures were taken on this road trip. Susannah and I are splitting them up, though. She's doing all the wedding reception stuff and I'm doing the "other" stuff. Don't worry - it's still good!

I'm starting with our first stop on the reception tour - JOSEPH CITY, AZ (only my favorite town in the whole world). It is definitely not the most beautiful, but it is awesome nonetheless!

This is a shot near one of the exits off of I-40 looking toward the town (headed eastbound). Our main street is part of old Route 66.

This house was built by my great, great grandfather - John Bushman. He was one of the settlers of Joseph City. This home was the first 2 story brick home in Northern Arizona.

One of my favorite places just outside of Joseph City is the Jackrabbit trading post. This sign is seen on the movie "Cars" only it has a tractor instead of a rabbit.

Here is THE jackrabbit. We always make a stop by this guy when we go back to JC. I didn't have time to get a picture of myself on his back, so I settled for this snapshot!

Another recent favorite is getting adjusted by our good friend Jason Mulder who is a chiropractor in Joseph City. He's such a good sport to work on us all at the last minute.

This is my favorite place in Joseph City - my old house. My parents sold it when we moved to Texas, but it was built by my Grandpa Bushman. Great memories!

Okay, these next few are not in Joseph City, but in Holbrook, which is 10 miles to the east of JC. This is another famous landmark along Route 66 - the Wigwam motels which also show up in the movie "Cars."

Here's another shot of some of the tepees. They're not the most fabulous accommodations, but where else can you sleep in a tepee?

Also in Holbrook is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants - El Rancho. We took some time to eat lunch there on the day of the Joseph City reception. It was delicious, of course!

Susannah is demonstrating the little known deliciousness of putting honey on those home-made tortilla chips! Not much better . . . except the sopapillas!

I had to take a few shots around town. Here's my old High School - part of it anyway.

This is the seminary building just behind the HS that my dad taught at for MANY years. He taught in Joseph City for 24 years, but I don't know if this building is that old.

The best thing about Joseph City is definitely the people. These are at the reception, but since they don't have the bride and groom, I think I'm safe! :) These girls all graduated with me.

We had one more classmate arrive. Trina had already left or we could have gotten the 5 of us in a picture. Oh well!
I had to snap this one of the Mulders as well. Kristal took a lot of great shots of the bride and groom at the reception! Look for Susannah's reception posts coming up soon on her blog. She's working on getting her computer connected to the Internet, then we should all be in for a treat!