Bushman Family Feature #12: Dad and/or Grandpa Barneck

 Dad driving the boat on his real birthday: July 22, 2011.

My Dad's birthday was back on July 22nd. I am a lame daughter for being so late with his birthday post. Our surprise trip to Utah (which I'll highlight in later posts) completely threw me off schedule. We were able to be with my dad on his birthday though, so that was a nice alternative. There are so many reasons why I love my dad. Here are a few of them.

Dad and I, Indian Springs, Idaho. 1988.

1. He is very generous. For as long as I can remember my dad has been very generous with his time and resources. Whenever he sees someone on the street asking for money he gives them some cash. I remember asking him once, "But dad what if they are just pretending? What if they aren't really homeless?" His response has always stuck with me. He said, "Brooke, we should always give people the benefit of the doubt. It's not our place to judge." My parents have made it a point to save their money so they can give to others. They have been able to help many family members, friends and ward members because of this. It has been such an example to me of how you can bless the lives of those around you. My Dad is also very generous with his time. He is exceedingly busy these days with work and church responsibilities, yet he makes time for a quick trip to Arizona to help his pregnant daughter move. I have seen him take time out of work to offer legal advice to friends. He always takes my phone calls when I have a random question about insurance or something like that. It has always impressed me that he is very willing to serve even though he has a lot on his own plate.

Halloween 1991. I'm on the left, Lindsay is on the right. (Aren't our fuchsia parkas the best thing ever?)

2. He is very honest. My Dad has always made a point at being honest. He is upfront with everyone. There is no pretense with him. Because of this, he is very comfortable to be around. My maiden name (Barneck) is pretty unique. Anyone with that name is fairly closely related. While I was in Utah and single, every where I went people would ask me if I was related to "Matt Barneck." "Why yes, he's my dad," I'd reply. Immediately I benefited from my Dad's reputation. I would be showered with explanations of how they knew him, when they had worked with him, and their respect for him. These encounters, although flattering to me also came with a certain amount of pressure. Because the people I met had such a high opinion of my dad, they expected the same from me. The way my Dad has dealt with his fellow man has blessed our entire family. He earns respect from other simply by being a good guy. He's an excellent example to me of being honest.

3. He makes family a priority. No matter how busy he has been throughout my life, my dad has always made his family his priority. When he wasn't working or involved in church callings, he was home spending time with us. It's funny, I never remember my dad watching sports growing up. He and I watched some Jazz games back when Stockton and Malone had their hay day, but other than that, I can't remember him turning a game on. He was completely content to watch whatever girly show me and my sisters had picked. Rainbow Brite, Fairytale Theater, Little Mermaid, he was very accommodating. Now that my brother is older and enjoys watching sporting events, my dad will watch games with him. This is a simple example, but to me it shows his desire to put his family before his own interests. Growing up we would have regular family nights. On the weekends, we had regular family activities. We made a point to never answer the phone during dinner. My dad always put his family first and because of this I never questioned his love for any of us. We enjoyed spending time together and I have no doubt this was largely because of his effort to make family a priority.

I love my dad so much. He has done such great things for me throughout my life. Now that I am married he does the same for Troy and of course Jackson. I can't imagine life without him. He is a very special guy and I'm glad I can call him mine. Love you Dad. Happy late Birthday!

Bushman Family Feature #11: Troy Jay Bushman

Well, we've had quite the few weeks at our house and so I am behind on a lot of blogging. In fact, I missed my dear dad's birthday post last week :( I am planning on repenting, asap. But first we have to talk about today. For today is a very special person's birthday... Who? This guy:

Yep. My main man Troy turns 31 today. Can you believe it? Troy's friend Matt Serafine always teases him about his "old man strength." Now that Troy is most definitely into his 30s, I think it's true, he has old man strength ;) Ha! Just kidding babe.

Now I could very literally list 31 reasons why I love Troy. I could actually come up with 100 without too much effort, but today I'll be focusing on three of my favorite reasons why I love Troy. It's going to be tough narrowing it down, but hopefully I'll manage.

1. Troy makes me laugh. He does. Sometimes I laugh so hard my abs hurt. (Even more so now, when I'm pregnant and the abs are not at their best.) This is a very important trait. I always wanted this attribute in a husband. I dated a few guys that weren't very funny. No offense to them, our senses of humor just didn't jive. I can't imagine going through life and eternity being bored like that. Because, as you well know, life is hard enough, you might as well be laughing your way through it. Writing this reminds me of the talk by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin entitled Come What May and Love It. He talks about 'learning to laugh' in this quote: "The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead. It will extend your life and make the lives of all those around you more enjoyable."

Such good advice, and Troy helps me do this. When I was in school, he always reminded me to calm down and enjoy the experience. Troy has a gift for making me laugh when I'm being too serious. In fact, when we first started dating, it was one of the first things my Mom noticed. He teased me and I laughed. Apparently this hadn't happened with me before. It's probably mostly because Troy is a tactful teaser.

Troy Little League picture, about 1986

Speaking of laughing. How cute is this picture? Troy's squinty eyes and cheesy smile kill me.

2. Troy works hard. This was also a requirement on my husband-to-be list as I'd had experience watching what happens in the opposite category. Troy works so hard. I thought I worked hard in nursing school, and it's true, I did, but there's no way I could do medical school the way Troy has. For the past two years, Troy has had this incredible driving force. He worked and worked, most of the time on not very much sleep and very little relaxation time. This last year was the hardest for all of us. Although he was incredibly busy, he made sure to schedule time with us for dinner each night, as well as a weekly family night and a weekly date night. I really don't know how he kept putting in the kind of hours he did week after week. I know he was physically and mentally exhausted. And I also know, the reason he was doing all that work was for our family. Troy takes his role as provider and protector very seriously. I am so grateful for a husband who isn't afraid to work hard and who is willing to make sacrifices to make things better for our family.

Troy, 2006 BYU Graduation

Here's a ridiculous pic of Troy posing in front of the score screen at the testing center. Ha!

3. Troy takes such good care of me. I know, kind of a selfish reason why I love him, right? But it's true. He takes such good care of me. He has been wonderful this pregnancy while I've been sicker than usual. He's stepped up and helped cook, clean, do dishes and change gross diapers. I love that he asks me how I slept every morning and that he often surprises me by making the bed. He has brought me flowers on the last day of finals several times telling me, "We did it babe!" --- as if I was the one taking the tests and studying all hours of the night. He is so aware of me and my needs and preferences. Like the way he knows I like things a little overcooked so he saves the extra brown rolls for me. Or the way he knows I need to be obsessively in control of our bank account and so he lets me. He never complains about my cooking, even though I know it's far from exciting or wonderful. He gets excited with me about my coupon deals and he praises my crafting abilities. He really is one in a million. However did I get so lucky? 

February 2011. Pretty much business as usual-- Troy playing with Jackson before bed. :) It makes me so happy to watch.

I heard a friend talking about her husband a few months ago. She said, "He is my perfection." I've thought about that a lot since. That's exactly how I feel about Troy. Being with him makes me better. It's what I've always wanted. He encourages me, he loves me, and he wants me to be my best. I love you Troy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for choosing me. Being together forever sounds pretty good. I can't imagine life with anyone else. Happy Birthday!

Weekend Visitors

We got completely lucky, all the stars aligned and we were able to have visitors last week while Troy was off from school. Can you believe it? Family wanted to come see us in July in Arizona?! Troy's brother Landon, our sister-in-law Stephanie and their kids Madi and Boston came to stay for the weekend. We had way too much fun. Observe:

First off, we were completely thrilled to get to meet this little guy. Boston was born in April and we had seen him yet. He is soooo cute. It was so fun to have a little baby around. Jackson was completely fascinated by him. Troy and I told J he should be really nice to Boston because Bos was his only ally. (They're the only grandsons thus far.) J must have really took that too heart because he was very interested in what Boston was doing all the time. "Mama, baby sleeping." "Mama, baby awake!" etc. etc. He kept me updated at all times. Ha!

Our visitors arrived Wednesday evening. Our first item of business the next morning was the pool. It was a hit on all fronts. Jackson got really brave this swimming trip and decided it would be really fun to jump off the edge of the pool. Usually he's such a wimp about his face getting wet, so I was pretty surprised. He learned how to hold his breath and he jumped in over and over. He was very proud. I got some pretty funny jumping shots below.

Later Thursday we walked around the mall trying to stay cool. Then the little guys took a nap and the big boys went to Troy's school for a ping pong match. We had yummy steak for dinner, and then Steph and I went shopping while the dads put the kids to bed. It was lots of fun.

Jackson and Madi were best buddies during the visit. When Jackson first saw Madi Thursday morning, his eyes got really wide and then he got really excited and did a little dance. It was hilarious. Our visitors brought him some new hot wheels which made the excitement all the greater. (We also received clothing for the baby from both Landon and Steph and G&G Bushman. This little girl is going to be VERY well dressed! So so so cute. :)

Friday we toured the Cardinals stadium. We had done this once before with Troy's parents, but it was new for Landon and Steph. Plus, this time we got to see the field being wheeled in and they took us right down next to it. (Unfortunately they wouldn't let us on the actual field, but what do you do?) Jackson was completely enthralled with the tour. Neither Troy or I expected this. He saw so many pictures of football players along the way, and the field alone was enough to keep him super excited. He kept telling Troy. "Daddy, football coming." I think he was expecting a game of some sort to begin any second. Ha!

After the tour we went to the Westgate center and had lunch at Johnny Rockets. We had never been and we found it to be very delicious. Yum. Jackson and Madi loved the little hats they got.

After lunch we visited the splash pad. J usually isn't the biggest fan of splash pads. As expected, he was more interested in "riding" the stone lions than playing in the water. The stone was so hot, we had to cover the lion in a towel to protect from burns. Eventually though, J warmed up to the water. He and Madi ended up having a grand time running through the fountains. Jackson being okay with his face being wet is opening all sorts of new activities to us. Hooray for that!

Although the little kids were enjoying the water, the adults were dying in the heat. It was ridiculously hot. We did a little shopping quickly and then headed home. On the way home we caught Jackson holding Boston's hand as seen below. That evening Troy and Landon went golfing and Steph and I got to sit and chat while making dinner. So great.

On Saturday we visited the Anthem outlet mall. It is all outdoor, but was surprisingly cool with the misters and the shade. We had fun browsing through the shops and the kids played in the splash pad there. This time in their clothes, because we didn't know they had one. That evening Landon and Steph very generously treated us to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. It was utterly delicious as usual. After dinner we went for one last swim.

Lan and Steph bought J this cute gun and holster set. How sweet is that? Jackson was completely thrilled. He has had at least one gun near his side at all times since then. (You should have seen the meltdown when I wouldn't let him take one into sacrament meeting Sunday! lol.) The time with our visitors came and went so quickly. They left Sunday morning. I felt like laying on the couch and crying for a while after they left. Too bad I had to get to church. So I just saved the tears for later during church ;) We had so much fun. Thanks for coming all that way to see us. We miss you a ton already. Love you guys!

Just more reminders for me that someday we need to be living close to family again. Although we have loved living in Arizona, we miss their company way too much. Here's to hoping that we end up back in Utah sooner rather than later.

Independence Day Celebrations

It was oh so nice to have Troy off from school for July 4th. You should know that Independence day is Troy's favorite holiday so it is a big deal at our house. Because it is his favorite, we decided to leave town and get a break from the heat. I'll explain more on that later.

First, you should know we have spent a lot of time wearing the "football hat" as Jackson calls it. I have now been sucked into wearing it too as you can see from the picture above. As much as J likes to wear it, I think the likes Troy and I to wear it even more. These pictures make me want to sing the song, "What's more American than football? I am! I am! I am!" Anyone else learn that one in 3rd grade?

Anyway, back to our July 4th. We started out with a lovely breakfast at the Wahlstroms'. It was extremely delicious and lots of fun. Jackson, Colt and Jack W. had a glorious reunion after not seeing each other in a few weeks. Screams of "Coltie!!!" and "Yackson!!!" echoed through the house and were accompianied by hugs and even a kiss on the lips between Colt and J.T. So funny. I was laughing pretty hard.

After the breakfast, we packed up the car and headed north to flagstaff. We got a hotel for that evening and enjoyed a lovely family get away. The temperatures there were completely heavenly. We're talking a high of 80 people. FAN-tastic. Our first stop was a 4th of July festival in the park.

There were lots of vendors to see and some music playing. It was fun to walk around. Jackson especially liked the tunes. He threw down some great moves there on the grass.

Unfortunately I wasn't feeling so great, so we didn't last at the park too long. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and relaxed for a couple hours. When we walked into our room for the first time, Jackson gasped and said, "Wow! Fun!" He was immediately interested in checking every last inch of the place out. He was climbing into cupboards, talking on the phones, pushing the buttons on the air conditioning. Anything he could get his hands on, he was exploring.

He mastered this face as we had to tell him, "No, you can't play with that" many times during our hotel stay. He was not pleased.

That evening we had a very American dinner at Outback steak house. The little girl inside me really likes steak... and baked potato... and french fries. So this was an especially good meal choice. It was delicious. After that we went swimming in the hotel pool. Jackson had a blast. There's something very exciting about going swinnin' (as he calls it) in a new pool. I mostly watched as I still wasn't feeling the greatest. But, it was good to watch the boys having so much fun.

The next morning we enjoyed a lovely continental breakfast and then headed out to check out a few flagstaff sites. Mostly, we just walked around NAU's campus. It was very pretty. Jackson especially liked this little park we found.

After that we got some lunch and then headed back home. It was a quick and simple trip, but it was a really nice change of pace. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Upon returning home, Jackson decided to ride around the house on his bike dressed like this:

Silly little man. He sure loves to be naked. :) Hooray for the 4th of July!