AloooooooHAAA

I'm just sitting here watching the slideshow of Yellowstone. Is it hot in here? Cause my eyes are starting to sweat.

That was sooooo fun. I miss you all. We can't wait for next year. The kids have earned over $200 for airfare already.

Much love and AloooooooHAAA!

Deb

P.S. Did anyone ever find Paul? Should we send out an Amber Alert? (No, not an Amber Frampton alert!)

Paul where are you??

Here we all sit waiting for a new post and we realize that we haven't heard anything about Paul's family for a really, really, really, long time. The word on the family blog scene is that Jenessa is now in college, you now have a mayor in the family, Asia has had a birthday party and other things going on as well. Why cant we hear an update or story about all of this??? We want Paul, we want Paul, we want Paul!!!! (Can you hear us all chanting) Hopefully we can all enjoy a few stories about all the happenings real soon.

We still want to hear from everyone else as well! Colby how is golf going. Ryan the new job and new city. Kimberpee college. And everything else as well. It is fun seeing how many blogs we have in the family!! Keep putting stuff on grandmas blog she checks it when she gets a chance and loves reading all the happenings.

Proud Parents

Here's a link to an article written in the Honolulu Advertiser yesterday about Zach.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008808240360

My Dirty Little Secret

Why is it so hard to keep beautiful things growing, even if you water them? And yet other things grow freakishly fast without any water at all.

This is my dirty little secret. This King Kong cactus. I'm afraid of it. And when I'm afraid of something I close my eyes and turn my back.

So Alan chopped it down for me in June, 2006 so I could sleep at night.

But AHHHH, it's BACK! It's stalking us, I swear! And I'm not just being paranoid.

And look how the stalks have multiplied. (The better to stalk you with, my dear. heh heh heh--evil cactus laugh, in case you couldn't tell.) Check out the base of this thing? Don't tell me it doesn't make you want to scream and run?

This is how it all started.

From this to this!! And that's AFTER it was machetied to death by my big strong husband.

There's a moral here. There's a definite moral here:

Beware what you plant, it just might take root. And while I'm dishing out wisdom . . . beware of what you close your eyes to and turn your back on and machete to death, it just might come back to haunt you.

I'm baaaaaack! heh heh heh . . .

(You have my permission to use this wisdom in your next Sacrament meeting talk).

Connie takes out Emyly

This past weekend Connie showed up and took Emyly out for a day of fun while school shopping. Grandma Connie was so excited to go and spend time with Emyly and to see how excited she was to start school. Emyly thought she was treated like a princess and could get whatever she wanted. When she returned home Emyly couldn't wait to show Averi all the clothes that they could both wear. Emyly wanted to take a picture and put it on the blog so here it is.

Thanks Grandma!

PhotoGRAPHIC evidence

HA, made ya look with that GRAPHIC thing, huh? Psych. The only graphic photo is the musubi at the end.

So today, I thought I'd post some photographic evidence for my recent ramblings. I posted this on our family blog too.

First, has Alan contracted Olympic Fever or what? (See symptons of Olympic Fever on our family blog)



Here is Tatum embracing her natural curls and looking like a (MODBE) Hawaiian Tropic model rather than a Disney Channel rock star.

Here is Zach playing with his sizably less than $5,000 winnings. He bought an ipod touch (so now I can use the computer again).

And here is Wyatt pumping his system with Gatorade as he recovers from his week long bout with Lepto.

And here is Garrett doing who knows what when he was supposed to be getting ready for school. But at least he met state standards in math! Hooray!

And here's a random photo of Zach's first try at making Musubi all by himself (Soon I won't have to cook at all).

I wish I could go boating every day!

So it’s about time the Bushnell’s put a post up on this blog! It didn't help that we didn't know how to do it until like two weeks ago! Thanks Jer! Well yesterday Brody, Matt, Kenzie and I went boating with some friends and it brought back wonderful memories of Island Park! Also Debbie’s post gave me motivation to put something up! Even though my post won’t even be as clever or as good as hers, but that’s ok I am not an English professor. Well yesterday was a blast we went to Utah Lake, Brody brought four of his guy friends and I brought my best friend Hillary. The highlights of the quick trip were when Brody’s friends would flirt with me, plus ask if I would rub sunscreen on them just to make Brody mad and feel awkward! Another fun highlight was when we went tubing the boys were crazy switching spots and trying to push each other off! But the all time record was when I hit a big enough jump to have my whole tube land on my friend Hillary. I opened my eyes and didn’t even realize it! Kenzie was yelling for me to get off of them for like a minute before I decided to let go so I didn’t kill my friend! I got my ab work out for the day because I was laughing so hard! Well sorry this is so short but I need to go babysit Bryton! I hope everyone is happy now that we finally put something up. Now it’s Bruce and Connie’s turn!

Ryan and Jessica's update

So we just got back from the doctors and wanted to let everyone know that its a boy!! We are super excited, though we only agreed on a girls name. With both of us being stubborn its going to be quite the battle probably lasting until he comes to decide the name.

We also have other news, last week Ryan accepted a job in Connecticut :) He was offered a job in CT and one in MD. Being the mathematician that he is, he calculated his salary for the next five years using the salary tables and factoring in the different percent raises each district offers. He even factored in how much a masters would cost in CT (the MD district would reimburse him for most of it) and to my relief, CT won out! One of the big benefits to CT was that they started him on the 2nd step which means he is getting paid as a 3rd year teacher! So we packed up our stuff and two days after he got the offer we were driving up to CT. The only downside is that I am allergic to my parents house (sneezing at least 50 times a day and watery itchy eyes that makes it look like I am continually crying) In the last year I developed allergies to dust, dust mites, mold, dogs, cats, feathers etc. It wasn't a problem staying at Mark and Susan's house even though they have a dog, so I thought I would be okay. Hopefully I just need to adjust to the new place and it will calm down soon.

As for Debbie's other wonderings regarding the Fisher family, we are actually back in MD (we had a few things to take care of and there was no way I was missing my appointment to find out if it was a boy or girl!) but they are all on vacation and we barely see Austin so you will just have to keep wondering!

I Wonder . . .

Today it's raining in that light drizzly sort of way that makes it feel like Christmas (the changes are subtle here). Wyatt is still home from school so we broke out some hot chocolate and now we're snuggling up together on the couch, sweating and watching Alien Abduction and Hauntings. We like to get creeped out together. Here are some of the things I think about when I'm all cozy and creeped out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean:

I wonder what Kimberpee is doing right now. I miss that cute girl.

I wonder if Ryan got that job in Connecticut. Are they having a boy or a girl.

I wonder how Stephanie's doing as a new mom? Does she ever get the baby blues?

I wonder what Austin is reading in his English class. Has he read The Things They Carried? (He would dig it).

I wonder when I'll get to meet Ashley. I hope she and Nathan get to come to the reunion next year. Austin and Mark too.

I wonder if Melissa's swelling has gone down yet. ;) Does Brittany love her chic new hair?

I wonder if Taylor likes raw fish. Has he baptized Pokemon yet?

I can't wait to see Jenessa on SYTYCD (So You Think You Can Dance). Is she excited to start dancing at the U?

I wonder if Dad is feeling okay.

I wonder if Angie is moving to Boston or Jacksonville. She should name her baby Frighten. ;)

I wonder if David and Keri and Tiffany are coming out to visit at Christmas.

I miss Mar--St. George was so fun. I wish I could go wake boarding with Brody. I miss teasing Bro, I miss Colby not being able to throw me in the lake. I don't really miss running with Paul--at least not the running part. :) I need another pedicure. I miss listening to Jen scrapbook. I hope Jer doesn't keep trying to hog all the blog space. I wonder if Aliens ever vacation in Hawaii?
Okay, so maybe I didn't think of ALL those things, but you're on my mind. And guess what! Big announcement. Even though I love love love electronically talking to myself like this, I made my very own family blog. Here's the link: (plus I added to the family blogs on the right).

http://theframpfamdotcom.blogspot.com/

Miss me! ;)

Surprisingly Bedazzled

First, a big Mahalo to all of you, and especially to Jer, for butting out of this conversation and letting me have the whole floor to myself. You guys ROCK! :)

So, is it just me or do anyone else's jaws ache from hitting the floor while watching the Olympics? Is there no limit to the bedazzling things the human body can do? (Under aged and over aged bodies alike). This is the question I was actually pondering while sitting on my couch eating cheetos and watching the finale of So You Thing You Can Dance. It was the night before the Olympics so I had no idea that the story of humankind was about to come to a climax in a birds nest in Beijing. Did anyone else sense that as you were scraping your chin off the ground during the Opening Ceremonies?

I mean, did we just peak or what? You know, We. Us. The collective whole. Civilization as we know it. Phenomenal things are being accomplished while I am sitting on my coach eating cheetos and watching So You Think You Can Dance. People are thriving, pulsing, reaching higher, spinning faster (this was my epiphany as I watched men's gymnastics and got the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge my stomach from my throat).

To borrow a phrase and drive the point home . . . I stand all amazed! (well, sit all amazed, actually--while eating cheetos).

Okay, enough about cheetos (notice I always use one key concept at least 3 times in each post--that's the first rule of being a writer. I learned that at writing school). ;)

So Zach has been outed as a BG (band geek). He's been assigned to play one of these most subtle instruments known to man, you guessed it, the TROMBONE! Hard not to be conspicuous when you and your instrument take up one whole seat on the bus. But there is some surprisingly good news; last night Alan and I went to Parent Night where we got to attend all of Zach's classes for 15 minutes. We took this opportunity to scope out teachers and other parents. It seems Zach is still riding the coat tails of good fortune as the band is full of non-geeky parents, an outstanding teacher (who says if you want to get a scholarship to college, learn to play the trombone) and one very lovely girl, who also happens to be Zach's partner in English class. Fancy that. (No wonder he hasn't complained about band yet.)

Other surprisingly good news:

1. Though I still miss you all, I am surprisingly bored no longer (maybe because I put the house on self-clean).

2. Tatum and I had a girls day out and enjoyed The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 a surprisingly surprising amount (have I used that word 3 times yet?). We learned something about each other. We are both ashamed of crying in movies about traveling pants and choose to deflect our shame by poking fun at others who cry about traveling pants.

3. Wyatt is now fully capable of swallowing a pill--one of the upsides of laying in bed for 4 days straight with a high fever and a wicked bout of diarreah (too bad I already used up my quota of poo jokes) Alan treated him for Leptospyrosis, which we suspect he got from that thirsty waterfall we hiked a week ago.

4. I have not yet been excommunicated after voicing my desire for low-rise garments!

5. Tatum has embraced her hair and is letting it go au' natural. She now looks more like a Hawaiian Tropic model (Modbe style) than a Disney Channel rock star.

6. Garrett met proficiany on the state math test!

So far, it's been a surprisingly good week!

Check the Poo

Aloha family, it's me again, Deb, with an update from my super exciting life.

(And Jer, will you stop trying to dominate the conversation. I'm tualkin' here! ;)

Okay, so just as I'm snapping out of my mid-life boredom, AKA, PSFFRB (post super fun family reunion boredom) Garrett starts displaying symptons of it early Saturday. I should have suspected it when he was up at 7:30 am writing sentences that aren't due until Wednesday.

Finally he came out with it just as we were getting ready to go to the pool.

"I'm BORED! I want to go 4-wheeling! I want to buy a 4-wheeler right now!"

We chuckled. It was kinda cute, after all, especially since I had so recently felt his pain. But he was serious. "It's not funny! I want to go to town and buy a 4-wheeler!"

"We're going swimming. That will be fun," said Alan in his perky voice (you know what I'm talkin' about).

"Swimming? That's BORING! I want to go to town and buy a 4-wheeler."

So Alan gave him the let's-start-planning-and-saving speech and threw out a target date of a year.

"I have to save for a WHOLE yeeeeeear!?? That's POO!!!"

Okay, check the poo flashback. I almost expected Zach and Wyatt to jump out doing high kicks and smacking their okoles (hawaiian for backside). But poor Wyatt was laid out on the couch with a fever. Our little hemophiliac, who gets a needle to the vein twice a week, absolutely refused to chew, drink, slurp, snort or swallow tylenol. I was about ready to draw the liquid up with a syringe and administer an IV.

But I digress. We were talking about Poo. Are my kids the only ones that use that superlative to express their discontent? Tatum has been using it on a regular basis. "My hair looks like Poo!" or "This peanut butter tastes like poo!"

So, while we're on this subject, we unfortunately received a letter from the National History Day expressing their deepest embarrassment and regret to inform us that they made a mistake on the amount of Zach's prize $. He really only won $500. (Isn't it amazing what one little tiny zero can do? So small and yet soooooo huge--kinda like the 8/100th of a second that gave the U.S. Men's swim team the Gold medal over France in the 4oo relay. Sometimes the tiniest thing is nothing and sometimes it's everything.) Zach took it hard, as you can imagine. Afterall, he lost $4,500. Poof! Just like that. And to top it all off, Tatum cashed her $83.00 winnings, put it in her wallet, which she put in her purse, which she put in the car on our way to the the mall to spend it. When we got there, the purse had vanished into thin air and has not appeared since. All that hard earned cash . . . going, going, gone!

Now THAT's poo!

We were Rednecks

I dont know if me putting an entry on the blog counts as knocking you (Debbie) off the blog or not.

I almost think we need to change the name of the blog to the ones who live and have lived in Hawaii. If I am putting an entry like this on the blog I think everyone has something that you can put on. Come on family we want to see how everything is going on with everyone!!

We went to the Rocky Mountain Raceway in Salt Lake and watched the monster truck races along with some real racing Nascar style. I surprisingly had more fun than I thought and it seemed that everyone else did as well. Everyone but Colby went in the family to watch the exciting races. We got to see the monster trucks that you see on TV and how they jump and run over cars. They were very loud! It was definitely a experience that the girls wont forget for a while. They even asked when we could go back and do it again. Bobbi made the comment that this would be something that boys would love to come and watch. I guess this could be the closest I get to doing the "boy thing."

Seriously, so bored

Could someone knock my latest blog off the front page, please?

Anyone? anyone?

Perhaps you think you have nothing to say. Believe me, I can relate.

In fact, I've been thinking lately about Happy Valley. Remember the women who the film followed through rehab? Remember how, when she got clean, the camera panned in on her rolled up in fetal position like a deflated ballon--no air, no angst--and asked her how she was feeling? Remember she replied, "I feel just like everybody else . . . " poignant pause ". . . boring." And that honesty hung in the air for another poingant pause before she asked, "Is this how you feel everyday?"

Ah Ha!

Well that's how I feel today.

Question: Do you think mid-life crisis and mid-life boredom are like a rose by any other name would smell the same? (Do you think it would help if I went out and got myself a Mountain Dew addiction or something? ;)

Maybe I'm just experiencing mid-week boredom or mid-morning boredom.

OR, maybe I'm still coming down with/off/from PVB (Post Vacation Boredom) or PSFFRB (Post Super Fun Family Reunion Boredom)

At any rate, it's not like I'm sitting around playing solitaire and doing Sadoku puzzles all day, (although I did play one game of solitaire yesterday--for the challenge, of course--but I actually won (totally true story) so even that was a bit dull). I've got far too much to do, it's just that . . . (between me and you) . . . I'm bored silly doing it.

Okay, okay, I'm obviously overstating the obvious. But, for the record, folding laundry, scrubbing toilets and completing homework rituals, dinner preparations and carpool coordinations on my own doesn't hold the same charge as talking story on the back porch while Bobbi does makeovers, or watching So You Think You Can Dance with 50 people while eating chicken chalupas, IF you know what I mean. (Speaking of SYTYCD--Wasn't the finale exhilarating!!?)

Yes, I admit, I MISS YOU ALL!

But besides the boredom we are fine and dandy. The twins are having a challenging time staying awake in the 4th grade because their teacher is very sweet, but (ironically) very boring.

Zach is learning how to organize his time and energy to meet the homework demands of Junior High and he's scared silly of becoming a BG (bang geek) since we strongly suggested/borderline forced him to sign up for band.

RANDOM SIDENOTE: He passed the sacrament for the first time on Sunday, with his extraordinary deer-in-the-headlights focus. Proud mom moment!

Tatum is in High School and, since Bobbi taught me to curl hair with a straightener, she's sporting that Disney-Channel-teen-rock-star kinda vibe. In schizophrenic fashion she has joined the debate team, while still juggling dance team, 3 soccer leagues, the Koolau Choir and the tennis team. Rumor has it she is slated as the best girl on the varsity team (this is how small our town is). And then she has the nerve to say she's not good at anything. (Could someone please slap her!)

Alan has had next-to-no transition back to reality (doesn't that mean I miss you more? ;) He's pleasant and content and ever so happy to slip right back into action (except when it comes to scout mastering). He makes sure we tread water for an hour at the pool a few times a week, take our early morning walks on the beach (where sometimes it's so strikingly beautitul if hurts. Almost makes you want to hurt it back ;) and smack the tennis ball around as often as possible. He's been dragging the kids to the tennis courts a lot since we've been home and is getting ready to coach the twins soccer team. His biggest thrill was patching our Sante Fe's flat tire all by himself. (He finds such joy in the little things. ;)

Me? I re-orgainzed the visiting teaching list. YAWN! Oh, and I did have a GNO (girls night out) for Creme Brule' at Turtle Bay, where I got super wild and convinced the other girls to petition for more form fitting garments. (I may be excommunicated shortly). I also took the family on a hike to a massive 100 foot trickling water fall. I have never seen Hawaii so thirsty.

On the movie front: Despite the title, Hellboy II, is an awesome family flick, (once we got Tatum over her I'm-NOT-going-to-see-a-movie-with-a-swear-word-in-it mentality). And Batman II was pretty darn powerful. That Joker said some eerily ironic lines that made me go Hmmmmm. . . Lot's of complexity to contemplate in that film.

So that's all the nothingness I had to say. Now can someone please knock me off the first page! ;)

P.S. Heres' a link to a hilarious new tongue-in-cheek blog called seriouslysoblessed. Check it out for a good laugh.

http://seriuslysoblessed.com/