Summer O' Fun

At the beginning of the summer, Troy and I sat down and made a list of things we wanted to do together before school started again. The list of "Summer O' Fun" we called it. We were able to do a lot of the things on that list. And regardless of the list, we had the best summer to date. It really was amazing. Here is a random assortment of our Summer O' Fun activities which haven't been featured on the blog already:

{Phoenix Zoo}

Troy had never been with us to the zoo, so we checked out some free tickets from the library again (love those!!) and set out. Mind you, we went in the middle of July it was about 400 degrees and we melted to death. But Jackson didn't seem too phased by that fact and we had fun watching him get excited.

We saw the giraffes...

The lion... (look closely at the bottom on the left.)

The tiger...

...and the Rhinos.

We also rode and 'drove' a John Deere.

And learned how to milk a cow. ;)

The favorite venue was the petting zoo where Jackson met a goat.

And he nearly greeted that goat with a kick.

And so Jackson needed to be restrained by his dad for the rest of time.

Besides the melting part, we loved the zoo!

{Keeping Cool and Entertained}

The biggest challenge of Summer O' Fun was keeping all members of our family both entertained and cool at the same time. We had to get creative with the entertainment part because the keeping cool part mostly meant staying indoors. Here are some of our indoor adventures:

Watching wheel of fortune, (in Jackson's case, without pants ;)

Playing with all sorts of toys and making things that aren't normally toys work as toys. (My family gave Jackson this Woody doll while we were in San Fran. My little brother Jer wrote Jackson's initials on Woody's foot so it would be like Andy's from Toy Story. Cute huh?!)

Learning to climb into the dryer created entertainment for a few minutes...

Good thing he doesn't know how to turn it on. ;)

We celebrated our friend Heather Ashby's birthday inside (this was back on July 20th) with delicious Cold Stone ice cream cake. Yum! That was really fun.

We ate a lot. Because when you're inside and you don't have much to do, eating is the default.

And we played with hats.

Staying cool and entertained at the same time was hard work. But it was worth it! 

{New Shoes}

Because Kohl's had an awesome 30% off coupon again we bought some new shoes. Troy got some sweet Nikes with his b-day money and Jackson got some cute shoes for fall on clearance for $5. Yay! Jackson has recently decided shoes are really fun. He likes to wear his all the time and he also likes to steal Mom's and Dad's from the closet whenever possible. These new shoes make Jackson so happy that he ran around the living room for 30 minutes.

Troy and Jackson modeling their new shoes.

See Jackson's delight? I never knew a boy could love shoes so much!

{3rd Anniversary}

August 17th marked 3 years of me being a Bushman and being married to the coolest guy in the world. 

Because it was our anniversary, 

Troy bought me these... 

and we ate here (Thanks for babysitting Stacy!)...

And all day we remembered and reminisced about this...

This, and...

This. Definitely the best three years ever. Love you Troy.

Well, there you have it that was Summer O' Fun. We were able to spend so much time together. It really was the best summer of our lives. And you know what? It's over. Troy started back to school today. He is officially a second year med student. As hard as it's going to be to adjust back to normal and realistic life, I'm so glad we had our Summer O' Fun. It was a once in a lifetime kind of thing that you just have to treasure. Here's to starting another year and getting that much closer to the end goal: Dr. Troy J. Bushman. Someday it's going to happen for reals. :)

Payson Happenings

Here are the highlights of the rest of the fun things we did while in Payson which haven't been featured already...

{Popsicles}

Jackson fell in love with these cold treats while we in Utah. Here we are enjoying a Popsicle on the lawn in the shade.

{Batting Practice}

Troy helped Mckay with a little batting practice while we were in town. The batting cages are fun! I even hit a few balls while we were there.

{Animal Attack...}

Jackson is still in love with all forms of animal life. Here he is with Ashley's dog Sadie.

Unfortunately, he sometimes shows his adoration of animals by doing this. Jackson was bit multiple times by both the dog and the cat, but he was relentless. Good thing everyone else was nice about his animal enthusiasm.

Jackson with Ellie, the Bushman's cat.

{Baseball 101 in the Kitchen}

Grandma and Grandpa Bushman gave Jackson a quick lesson in baseball. The lesson was given in the kitchen using a ping pong ball and a bubble wand for a bat.

Jackson loved it. After hitting the ball Grandma would help him run around the kitchen. Jackson laughed and laughed and was instantly ready for more. Later on he would walk around with the ball in one hand and the "bat" in the other trying to do it himself. His timing and coordination were off, but it was fun to watch him try.

{Jackson and Grace}

I am convinced our niece Grace is the most smiley baby I've ever seen. She has a perma-grin, even when Jackson whacks her on the head. (Jackson hasn't learned to be gentle with his female cousins yet... actually he hasn't learned to be gentle with anyone.) It was so fun to watch Jackson and Grace interact. They were super cute together. Here they are having a pizza party one evening for dinner.

They stopped eating their Papa Murphy's to do a little hand holding ;)

{Bryan and the Broom Cupboard}

Jackson played this game with Bryan for a good while. He thought it was so funny to hide in the broom cupboard. Bry was nice and played along.

{The Fruits of the Mechams' Labors}

Bryan and Ashley have the cutest vegetable garden. We got to visit their house several times while we were in Payson. They shared some of the fruits of their labors with us! Those peas were sooo good.

Ashley posing in her garden with the fruits of her labors :)

{Dancing with Aunt Ashley}

One evening we were sitting around visiting. Ashley started clapping and singing and Jackson started dancing. He was really getting his groove on. We got the funniest video of it...

Ashley and Jackson on Uncle Landon's motorcycle.

{The Jeep}

Uncle Mckay found this little red jeep abandoned in a field near the Bushmans' house. He fixed it up, painted it, added a license plate a "Y" and a BYU flag! It looked great. Jackson thought it was the greatest. Every time he was outside he wanted to get into the Jeep for a ride.

So we pushed him...

And Mckay attached a rope and tried to pull him with a bike. That didn't work as great, but the rope stayed and made for faster more exciting Jeep rides, which Jackson loved ;)

{Golfing}

Mckay was working on his golfing merit badge which meant Troy got the chance to go golfing while we were in Payson. I didn't go, but Ashley and Bry got these funny pictures.

Regan looking for his ball?? I'm not sure.

Ashley bugging Troy.

{BYU Football Practice}

Open BYU football practice happened while we were staying in Payson. We were flying out that afternoon, but arranged so we could attend. I took Jackson to the mall with Suz and Ashley. Ash and I were planning on making it to the end of practice, but we missed it. I was a little sad I wanted to see what it was like. Troy enjoyed himself though and Jackson liked running on the open field. (see below.)

Here we are buying this year's football shirts. The Bushmans bought me one! Aren't they the nicest?

Our little cougar. :)

Well that about wraps up our three week trip to Utah. Told you I took hundreds of pictures! There were even a few things I missed taking pictures of, like visiting my old roommate Teri Matsumura (love her!), visiting my Grandma & Grandpa Barneck, seeing our friends Kevin, Robyn, Chelsey and Ryan & Chelsea Martin  (yes there are two Chelsey/ea Martins ;) for Pioneer Day fireworks, and running into my friend Catherine Pututau at the mall. There were so many more people we wanted to see and visit. If only time stood still and we could be everywhere we wanted to at once. Someday I'm going to learn how to do that.

{Back Home Again}

This is Jackson playing at the Phoenix airport while we waited for our ride. (Thanks again Sam!) We are officially Arizonans again. It was such a great trip, but it's good to be back in our own beds.