Summer Bucket List 2018

It's done and it's up on the wall. Mark scored some fancy white paper this year, so we were able to do a deluxe-super-wide version. He knows what kind of things make me excited. We'll use this big fancy paper till it runs out and then we'll be back to the pink roll that we've had since the pioneer times. It never runs out and it never will. It's magical and unknowable.

Ooooh...this is going to be a good summer!

The best one so far.

Well, hello, Mother's Day. I'm so glad you came around when you did. This last week was a bit of a parenting nightmare. Let's just say that right when one child packed up his things and moved out of that space in my heart where I am biting my nails and screaming in sheer terror cuz I just seriously don't know how in the world we are going to make it through....another one was cued right up and ready to move in. 

And then Mark went out of town. 

I was more than ready for some thick cut bacon and a tulip bouquet. 

I tell you. Mark had me pegged this year. I got to sleep in, eat well, skip choir and go on a breezy bike ride with the kids.

I caught Megan holding up dandelions for Everly to wish on and Ethan taking photos of the cuteness.

Ethan and Megan pretending to row their canoes with their feet.  "Aaaand....stroke! stroke! stroke!"

Like I mentioned, I hung about and skipped choir. It was heavenly and it gave me a little extra time to do the girls hair before leaving.

My calling was completely taken care of by the energetic Bro. Carey, so I just led the kids in their Mother's Day songs in sacrament meeting and then attended gospel doctrine and Relief Society.

There was food.

Mark handled the dinner and house pick up while I got to have a nice chat with my mom and before you know it we were sitting down to yummy Tuscan chicken with ceasar salad, garlic bread and fresh berries.

I took a nice photo of everyone: oh, wait, we're missing Laney and Anna refused to turn around. She was deep into a pout session.

There's Laney!

And around the corner for a quick one of Anna (none too pleased)....the whole family accounted for!

And for the finale.....delicious, heavy, moist carrot cake.

I mean....come ON.

That's a winner. right there.

Anna passed around pens and little papers for everyone to write a little something to me. It definitely made me feel butifle.

Everly tried to sing me a song, but the hiccups hijacked her efforts and left us with her infectious giggles. 

My goodness, I really do love being a mom.

Melodia Bell Choir and Guest Huffords

The long awaited bell concert! Want to do the math on how many rehearsals we attended with  5 members of our family participating in 3 separate bell groups? 

And they said we'd never use algebra again!

Ethan played as a guest on Edelweiss with the Youth Chime Choir. 

Mathew played the chimes and handled them expertly. He had his height in his favor.

Laney made a fine addition to the Sunshine Bell choir!

And I played a duet with Amy Player with the adults...the one and only Melodia Bell Choir.

Yes, that's Megan in there holding her own with the adults. She's super fantastic and seems to thrive off the pressure. 

Check out her spot-on timing!

Mickey's military surplus. Ethan turns 17

What to get for a 17 year old with discretionary funds and access to Amazon prime? 

A trip to Mickey’s Military Surplus to hunt for “treasures”, that’s what.

Ethan is not the kind of teenager to be happy roaming on his own while I sit in a camp chair and read an ebook on my phone. He wants to experience it all together. He wants to try on the old school gas masks.

And he wants so very much for me to try one on too. And I imagine how many sweaty faces have been in there and I know to my core that the only thing that could compel me to put that on would be actual poison in the air.

You should know that the most fun he had, was with this little toy gun that had a sliding mechanism. He almost chose to get one so he could play with his sisters. He's pretty sweet like that.

After an hour and a half of wandering and looking and touching just about everything in the place, he settled on 3 big 'ole bullets, 2 empty grenades and a Marine "globe and anchor" pin. All of which could be found within 4 feet of the front door.

Which we were just about to walk out of...when we were sidetracked by a man named Chuck Nasty.
Chuck spent 5 minutes asking us to create a photo with his friend that said "On a shopping spree with Dave!". Which I did quite expertly, if I do say so myself.....
Then Chuck spent another 10 minutes dropping F bombs and invading my personal space as he insisted that I also drop F bombs and inappropriately compliment Dave.

I declined.

Also, turns out Chuck Nasty is a DJ for Rock101.9. Which did not surprise me one bit. He was nasty....but I'm guessing he can keep talking for 4 hours every night without much of a problem.

Finally, he wished Ethan well in the Marines, offered a few more tidbits of advice and unsolicited counsel, and headed out the door with a noticeably embarrassed Dave. Poor Dave.

So, we'll be tuning in to Rock 101.9 tonight! We can't help ourselves.

Happy 17th, Ethan! You are so funny and I love spending time with you. I will never try on a gross gas mask for you, but I will laugh and take pictures while you do....

Acceptable sushi and hammocking adventures of the Hufford women

Mark and the boys are at the Father/Son campout. (No they're not. They probably went to go get a burger and see a late movie. They like to find alternate camping activities these days.)

So we are going to join Lauren Terry, Mari and Kate Guenther and go try some sushi.

Megan is a superfan of all things Japanese and really wanted to give it a whirl. I'm uncultured and think its icky. I tried it once when Mark and I were on a date with the McDonalds, Guenthers and Sirois a few years ago. They are all grown ups and don't seem to have the urge to yak when seeweed is wrapped around their dinner. 

I've never been more grateful for tempura in my life. 

Shockingly, all the girls really wanted to try it. So I ordered a chicken tempura roll for them to share. It seemed like an acceptable gateway baby step our way to the real thing. 

They were so excited to use their chopsticks!

So, the tempura roll came in 6 segments. I gave it a go and ate one of the pieces. It was tasty, except for the vile weed it was encased in. Guess how many pieces of the roll were left on our plates when we walked out? 5. 

We are very grateful for teriyaki chicken and rice. 

We hoped in our van in headed over to Southdowns park and set up our hammocks for a nice evening swing. Jennifer Anderson and her girls met us there too.

Life is pretty fun sometimes. 

Ethan is SEVENTEEN

That's a pretty big smile for a 17 year old boy at 5:15 in the morning. It must be his birthday! But even birthday boys have to get up for early morning seminary. (We will cushion the blow with fresh donuts for his class.)

After school he went for ice cream with his friend, Ally. Then I made the sacrifice and we gorged on the best fried pickles this side of the railroad tracks....Crazy Good Eats.

We should have anticipated that by the time we got to dinner, we'd wouldn't be too hungry. That would have been good to know before I spent all day making bbq ribs!

I had to capture Ethan's silly face series...he get's it from his father.

He really was super full of ice cream and pickles. He couldn't bring himself to eat any dinner or cake. But he was happy to close his eyes and make a wish before blowing out his candles!

Ethan, you are sweet and funny and musical and I love you to pieces. I'm excited to see what this new year brings. I think you are going to make an awesome adult and hope you have lots of fun and enjoy every minute of being a teenager!

Happy 17th, Eef.

Fancy Dancin

Today was picture day at the dance studio. We gussied up. 

And then we took our own photos because we aren't the kind of people that pay for expensive pictures of our own kids more that once a year. And it best have a fake library background. 

I think we did pretty good! Look at these gorgeous ladies!

And you can't tell me that those professional photographers could do a better job of posing these girls...

Bam!

Gorg!

Perfection.