Dwight J. Bushnell

Hard to believe it's been 10 whole years. I'm trying to find my CD with all my old pictures on it of him to put on here, but for now, here are a few to pay tribute on this September 22nd to an incredible Dad.

"All at Once"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1Y5Ln9PzVw

This little post is dedicated to my little sister Whitney (pictured with me above when I was 6 )because I was on iTunes the other day looking up the new Whitney Houston album (I know, I know... but it's been so long since she's had anything out and we loved her when we were little). Anyway, I saw the song "All at Once" from her Greatest Hits album and immediately got this picture in my head of walking into our bedroom when Whitney was about 7 or 8 and she was standing right in front of our awesome ghetto blaster with "All at Once" playing and was trying her hardest to get that verbratto just right as she sang along with all her emotion. You know when the song goes "once......." with all that wavering and soul? Anyway I listened secretly for a few seconds before I burst out laughing and she got embarrassed and mad and yelled at me to get out. Click on the link to see Whitney Houston singing it back in the day.

Here's a pic of Whitney and me in college...

And this last picture is of Tyler, Whitney, and me and something about it always makes me laugh when I see it...maybe it's that unfair look on Tyler's face, or Whitney's thoughtful pose, or my bangs I was trying to grow out.

So it's taken me forever to get these pics from our Santa Cruz camping trip/Nuno reunion from July up because I am obviously pregnant in them and I was going to do some blog first about me being pregnant...with twins, but being on bedrest I can't even get up to get the camera, cord, use the scanner to scan ultrasound pics etc., so I'm doing this in the mean time.

Here are some pics from the boardwalk in Santa Cruz - CD didn't like the whale ride.

Here is one of the beach days. I gave Carlos the camera to take some pics and he came back with these couple shots of everyone. Vote for your favorite couple :)



Yvonne and Ed

Karli and Daniel

Christina and Ben

Carlos and Cheryl

and best for last....Tasha and Carlos

This is Salesi and CD who found a spot by themselves to eat snacks and soon were surrounded by seagulls.

Dwight loved his headlamp and wanted to put it on first thing in the morning.

Rivers and I took off to Capitola for a day by ourselves. She loved shopping in all the cute shops and selected a sea otter in a bikini from Beach Bears (a build-a-bear knock-off) as her purchase for the day and fittingly named her Sandy.

If you can spot Rivs and CD in the stump and eucalyptus tree, this is where they would perch and talk at the campsite.

Looking cute and amazingly clean at the end of a fun week of camping and cousins.

Green, fresh air, fun (Oregon trip)

After the wedding and Rivers birthday, we headed off to Oregon in the car and drove through the night (so the kids would be asleep and we wouldn't have to make so many stops). We made it to the beautiful Multnomah Falls by morning and I couldn't resist pulling over (since Carlos was out cold) and taking the kids on a little walk to see the falls up close. I immediately was overwhelmed by how much I love the delicious, fresh smells of western Oregon and the cool, clean air.



Up closer - this is the 2nd largest year round waterfall in the nation (for you non-Oregonians).



We made it to Oma's and each night this was the scene on her living room floor. All the cousins lined up under a blanket, ready for bed, watching something.

Whitney and her twin (Rivers) setting up for reception/open house #2 in my Mom's backyard.

My favorite place - the dessert tower.

Cute little flower arrangements I helped Whitney put together. These were on the Italian Soda table.

Wedding video with my favorite picture currently displayed from Havasupi, wedding pictures, and old time typewriter to sign in on and leave messages to Tyler and Amber.

Most of us ended up on the pool deck hiding a little bit from the crowd that soon took over the lawn. That's my brother Jason, his wife Diana, Rivers, sister Whitney, her husband Cody, and of course Carlos.

OK, so I can kind of see how people thought we were triplets all the time when we worked Shaved Ice events together. Tyler finally got to have the reception Whitney and I wanted. Backyard, perfect weather, etc. etc. Mine got moved inside because of a storm and most of the people at Whitney's ended up inside too because it got too cold. I guess the end of June is a better time than early May to count on the weather in Oregon.

Carlos and CD looking off into the distance......

Traditional Sunday walk the next day. Dwight wanted to ride the big wheel, but his legs are a couple inches too short, so we had to improvise.

Jason brought his monster truck out for a spin which the kids (and the silly boys) like to ride in the back of. My mom and I walked home while they went up and down the street and we could hear them yelling the whole way. One of the many fun things about small town coutry living.

Another fun thing about country living - clothes are optional. Dwight always opted not to wear any, and if we couldn't find him immediately, he was always here in Oma's raspberry patch shoving in berries by the handfuls.

Rivers put on trampoline shows just about everyday. This day her audience was Oma, CD and cubby.

Naked pool boy doing his chore of skimming the pool and Tyler's head kept getting in the way.

Of course lots and lots of shaved ice at Cloverland Park. A summer is not complete without it.

Love this pic. These three mischievious boys were looking at a big yellow racer snake in the flower bed. When I found them Dwight was actually touching it. Kept these cousins entertained for a long time.

I had to put a picture of the cows and the baby calf in because Dwight made my mom take him out to see them first thing every single morning. He still talks about them almost every day.

Um.......Cody? This starts the pictures from the 4th of July after we spent the morning downtown at the waterfront for the 5K race, party, parade, farmer's market, New Morning Bakery, etc. etc.

Nice catch Amber!

A classic Tyler picture.

We decided we wanted even more water fun, so we got out an old pool cover and made a huge slip and slide. They even soaped themselves up to go faster. Somehow Whitney remains unphased by it all as she reads on the "big ol' cot".

Tyler showing off his backward, head first slide.

That's Rivers taking a spin.

And Jason shoving Brody speedily down.

Amber looking like a stylish lifeguard and the boys eating parade candy.

Now Dwight is the naked mechanic trying to "fix stuff'' as he tells me. The rototiller has wheels, a motor and buttons, so it entertained Warwick and CD for the whole field volleyball game.

Field volleyball

cute girlies watching the game.

We still couldn't bring ourselves to go inside, so we played a game of Olly-olly over until we couldn't see the ball anymore. Nice shorts Jason.

Here's Cody taking off full speed after Whitney, my mom and Diana. I have to say the adults got more into this than the kids even. I think this is when Cody pantsed Diana. Hee hee.

It was such a fun trip. The only bummer was Carlos and Tanner only stayed a few days, so they missed most of the fun.