Bye-bye BCSA

September 29th...the last day of school in Arkansas.

Bye, Miss Jayne.....kindergarten teacher to all 3 oldest Hufford kids. The reason my children still say zehbra.


Bye, Mrs. Davison...we hardly knew ye, but you have cute eyewear.


Bye, Mrs. Hardin....you were a tough cookie. No nonsense.


BCSA, I'd like the 3.5 years of my life I spent waiting in the carline back, please. Nevertheless, thanks for the smarts and the know-how.


And for the Egyptian eye-liner


But mostly we'll miss you, Miss Wellesley. You are what every teacher should be. sniff.


Sunnyside Elementary...here we come.

Packing up

I can't believe we are doing this. We are actually leaving.

The trucks pulled up and they started loading everything in. I found it a little heartbreaking. We have grown to love our life in Arkansas. The neighbors, the house, the ward....what will we do without you?

The house looks so empty. It feels weird.




Bye, Arkansas.

More hard goodbyes

We will miss coming home from school and seeing everybody already waiting to play baseball or swim or drive hot pink cars or put on bike shows or eat microwave popcorn or hand out dozens of otter pops or draw with the sidewalk chalk or do homework or talk or roll on the boxing bag or........

A Family Farewell

My wonderful family here in Arkansas (there's a surprising number of us!) planned a little party at the park. It was fun to get together and play. Luckily, Sarah brought her camera and her crazy camera skilz!

Ethan and Laney
One of many beautiful photos of Megan.

Laneybug


Enjoying a slice of pizza.


Mathew
A little soccer with Uncle Richard


Josie and David


Grandma Jean enjoys the playground equipment.

Mark joins in the fun


Sweet Grandpa Joe


Brianna, Addison and Karah

Giant frisbee!


Cupcakes and cousins


Throwing sticks into the creek

Wishing mom could pick her up.

Thank you so much, guys, for planning this and making the time to spend the evening with us. We love you and we're glad we won't be too far away! Come and visit!

Farewell Party

Our awesome friends in the Rogers Ward organized a farewell BBQ for us and the Smith family, who were moving to Utah. It was nice to have a chance to give hugs and reminisce. Thank you, guys!

Janeen Engle, me and Shelly Smith

Me and Jen Young


Megan freaking me out on the very tall slide.

Lurana Edwards and Courtney Gorden

Brooklyn Young, Laney, Mia Hatch and Portia Hughes playing in the rocks.


Jen Young and Tiffany Hatch

Peter and Ryan Magnusson with Mercedes Watson. Vicki Post in the background.

Jared Edwards, Lynar Young, Lurana Edwards and Zack Aho.


Lana Crowell with her husband and baby girl...sorry! Can't remember their names! In the back: Sister Hildebrandt, Mark, Nate Smith and Ronel Hughes.

Brent Engle doing all the hard work with none of the glory.

Briawna Hughes, Jeffrey Wall, Jessica Magnusson
Michelle Watson, Sadie Waddoups, me and Sarah Waddoups.

Ethan feasting on a dinner made entirely of 4 different kinds of chips. (He threw the hot dog out.)

The Edwards and Mechel and Barry Wall.

A very cute picture of Mark.

The farewell cake.


The ones who have been waiting the whole party for this moment.

We'll miss all of you! Thanks for all the love.

Troop 166

Ethan loves being a scout! He belongs to troop 166 and they have a great time. I get to serve as one of Ethan's den leaders and I love this calling! It gives me a chance to spend some one on one time with my big kid.

Saying the pledge of allegiance:


Hanging out with his buddy, Bryce Wall.

Working on his birdhouse.

Group photo! Clockwise from top: Yanik, Keith, Ben, Cole, Eric, Ethan, Bryce and Christian

Earning his Bear Patch:


Earning his religious knot. His other den leader is Yadira Call and Lanelle Brandkamp is cubmaster.



Pinning on the mother's pin for the bear patch.

Laneybug

Laney is a professional teaser. She has mastered the art and her favorite thing to say is, "I am a tea-ser! NA na na NA na!"

She spontaneously decides to be a dog or a frog or a dinosaur when strangers are around. She likes to crawl over to them and lay at their feet or brush up against a leg.


She is not afraid of strangers at all, in fact, seems to really like men in general.

She loves to chase after Megan and Meg rewards her with terrified screams.

She is a fantastic eater. She will try almost anything and puts her picky brothers and sisters to shame. Her favorites are strawberries, blueberries and mangoes.

She has always loved to snuggle and be affectionate. She gives the most fantastic, squeeze-your-guts-out hugs.

She plays with dinos and barbies with equal fervor.

She has this way of making a horsie sound...it's hard to describe. It sounds like a really low-pitched machine gun. A low whinny. It's awesome.

For her, Family Home Evening is an opportunity run around like a crazy person and push Mark and I to the brink of insanity.

She has the cutest smile ever....I think it's because her canines are still very pointy and it looks like she has little fangs. I love it!

She loves a good PB&J.

Her favorite animals are her yellow dog (a good bike-ride companion) and Bear Bear, who talks to her late and night in a low, dopey voice.

Miss Laney, you are such a sweet girl! You make me feel like I should have more kids because you are so much fun to be with. I love you mucho and I hope your teeth stay pointy.