Thanksgiving 2008

We drove up to Seattle to spend Thanksgiving with some of my siblings and their families. Included in our gathering was Scott & Keri (their 5 kids), Kelly & Bruce (their 6 kids), Jason & I (our 3 kids) and a family friend of Scott's. It was great to spend the holiday surrounded by family!

We kicked off the day with the boys going to play mud football. Tough looking bunch, I wouldn't mess with them, would you?? All the nice white shorts came back a few shades darker!

Next up was a trip to downtown Seattle. We found a park outside a homeless shelter and handed out warm clothing, hand warmers, food & snacks and some bus passes. It was great to put a few smiles back on faces and help make their day a bit brighter.
Madison and Halli had a great time handing out the clothes and snacks.

Look how happy they look all bundled up in their new coats!

It was fun preparing the meal all together...although, Keri and Kelly get the majority of the credit! Kacie and I helped Scott carve the turkey. Scott is the oldest in my family and I am the youngest. Scott coaches the s varsity basketball team at Woodinville High School. He is awesome! Go Falcons!

Jamie, Lindsi and Kelly(my hot nieces & smokin' hot sister) making rolls. They were delicious!

Kelly made all 4 pies. Berry, apple and 2 pumpkin. My dad would have been so proud! The crust was made to Plush Pippin perfection!

Madison and Halli ready to dive into the Thanksgiving feast!

The whole gang

Little Warren is ready to bounce on all the sleeping boys! We found the boys in similar states of slumber all over the house the entire weekend!

Madison and Halli had so much fun together that she wanted to stay a few extra days to play with Halli. I love how cousins connect.

Cousin bonding over youtube.

Bath-time for the boys. They were bouncing all over the tub. Jumping off the sides and sliding down the the slanted side.

Aren't these boys the cutest?

My first Black Friday experience is one I will NEVER forget! We stayed up until midnight to hit the Nike outlet in Seattle. I have never seen so many people in my life in one store! We waited for hours in the check-out line...hours. We didn't get home until after 4 am. Was it worth it? I haven't decided yet! There were some incredible deals, but I'd say the best part was watching the crazy shoppers go at it.

Later on that day we took the kids to see Santa. Poor Santa must have had one too many visitors because he looked so tired! But, the kids were excited to see him and tell him what they they wanted for Christmas...and they loved the candy cane and cotton candy that Santa gave them. Here is a great photo of Brody's new haircut. Didn't he do a great job? HAHA!

Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks to Scott and Keri for hosting a great Thanksgiving! Dave & Suzi, John & Amelia, Lori & Derek, Mark & Emily and Mom & Dad...we missed you all! It was great to see all the Bushnells for a quick visit (we missed you Tasha & Carlos).

Does this make me a bad parent?

Is it worse that he is too close to the TV OR that he is actually sound asleep on the kitchen counter??

He looks so sweet. You would never guess that the night before he sat in this very spot and chopped his own hair off. Yep, you heard me right. He cut his bangs off. I almost buzzed it all off, but the thought of that almost made me cry. He wouldn't be Brody anymore! Hair grows fast, right?? In the meantime, I guess he has a look that only a mother can love!

Madison's 7th Birthday

Madison turned 7 on November 8th. She was so sick on her birthday, it was sad. It seems like that always happens! We opened presents and had cake, but didn't have any sort of celebration with her friends. At the end of the day, I asked her if she had a good birthday and she said, "Well, I guess so, but it only lasted like 2 minutes!" I laughed at that and reminded her that she was lucky because she got to have 2 birthdays this year. Her "real" birthday and the day of her party.

Here are 2 pictures on her "2 minute" birthday, November 8th

Today we had her party with her friends. We had a big Hawaiian Party. 9 little s + 4 little boys = LOUD CHAOS! The kids had a blast eating pizza and fruit, playing games (musical lays(sp?), pass the parcel, the limbo and going on a scavenger hunt), opening presents and eating cupcakes! Madison loved every minute of it!

Trunk -or-Treat

We had a blast at our ward Trunk-or-Treat party!

Batman, Lady Vampire, Superman

Can you guess who this lovely couple is???

Who is under this disguise??

My friend, Vicki, is an amazing artist. Check out the painting she whipped up for me last Christmas for Jason. This is one of my favorite photos of Jason's Dad holding Jason and Tasha. I LOVE this painting. Thanks Vicki!

We have had a great fall here in Oregon. The weather has been awesome. Beautiful sunny days that include crisp cold air and I have LOVED watching all the trees turn colors! Here are some photos of us enjoying fall in Oregon.

OOPS! This isn't outside enjoying the beautiful weather, but this is one of our favorite things to do since the weather has started to cool off this fall. Get a bunch of blankets and snuggle up to a movie at night. Don't Madison and Warwick look so cozy? Their bellies are happy, too, because we had just finished decorating Halloween cookies...oh, and eating them, too.

Look at the pretty fall colors! My favorite color isn't captured in this photo, though. I love the bright red/orange leaves. I gotta get a picture of some on here. So beautiful!

We LOVE all the yummy produce we get from Bobette's garden. Our favorite at the moment are these incredible apples! We had the BEST apple crisp last night with vanilla ice cream! We aren't the only ones that love these apples - rumor has it that people have been coming in the wee hours of the night to pick these delicious apples!


Brody and Warwick love to make apple stew from all the apples that have already fallen to the ground at Grandma's house. Don't these two look like trouble?

Brody and Warwick on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin to carve. These two boys are great little buddies...well, most of the time!

Oops, we lost one!

They found the last pumpkin.

I love this picture! Cute kids.

I saved the best picture for last. This is the new favorite fall activity for Brody and Warwick. Doesn't this look fun? They strip down, fill up the sandbox with water and have a party! The neighbors must really think we are a strange bunch!

Football Weekend

This post is way past due and doesn't have many photos, but it was definitely a highlight of our fall so far. We planned a weekend getaway to Utah to watch 2 football games (OSU vs. Utah and BYU vs. Utah State) and to see family. In true Bushnell style, the trip was totally put together at the last second, but trips like that always end up being the most fun, right? We loaded up the car with luggage, food and kids and headed for Utah at 10pm at night. I know, we were totally nuts to leave so late, but we were so excited for the weekend planned and it was the earliest we could sneak away and still get to the first game on time! OSU played an exciting game against Utah, but left us disappointed as they lost within the last few seconds of the game. BYU killed Utah State, though! Go BYU! We had a great time seeing Mark, Emily, Tasha, Carlos, Lori and Tanner. The kids LOVED seeing all their cousins...Rivers, Kelly, Tanner, Ryan, Connor, Dwight, Owen, Natalie and Emily. It was great to see everyone, next time we'll have to come for more than 2 1/2 days! I know, pretty lame that I don't have any photos of all the cousin fun, but I do have 2 photos from the weekend.

Here is the mass of people that we had to walk through to get to the OSU game. Look at all that red!

Here we are proudly wearing our Beaver attire.

Tasha (another of my smokin' hot sister-in-laws), Jason and Me