Annual Family Pumpkin Patch Adventure

Okay, I have been fighting this program and I can't get my pictures to load in the order I want... so here we go on a journey that is all out of order and willy nilly. Enjoy!

Fan-C enjoying her ride out to the pumpkin patch.
I am feeding the goat (where are it's ears????) since the Tank wouldn't go near the goats after I bought all the goat feed. He wanted to just throw it at them...

Here's Kimmy... she comes down for our annual pumpkin patch visit with the whole family. We became close friends when she moved in as one of my roommates after I got home from my mission. I love you... I miss you.... ;o)

Whoa! Two pictures in a row that mommaduck actually exists! Wow! Look pumpkins in the background, my proof I was indeed there.

This is the other hayride carrying the other half of our family out to the pumpkin patch. We were headed back in...

Grandpa with my niece helping Tiny-T and my niece carry their pumpkins back to the trailer.

My "little" brother, Charlie carrying his load and strikin' a pose.

Hunting for the perfect pumpkin... the weather was perfect!

Grandkids loading into the hayride (see, out of order) with Grandma and Grandpa.

Here we are at the annual family pumpkin patch trip.

The Tank wanted to go up front and check out 'Sally, Nick & Bonnie' (the horses), but he was a little nervous (see his smile) so Grandma and Fan-C stood with him.

Nice 'View' - eh?!?

Once we all choose pumpkins, then we head over to my sister's house and have a BBQ. It is an annual tradition that we all look forward to.

Baby Hopkins makes an early debut!!!!

Lake Bryant Hopkins arrived early~~~

He was born today at 1:02pm.

Weighing in at 7 lbs. 1 oz.,

21 inches long.

Mom and baby are doing great...

Camryn said she couldn't believe it was really HER brother

and then she asked Lauri if she could take him home tonight.

Camryn climbed on her mom's 'soft' bed.
Look at Lauri, can you believe she just gave birth to a baby
like a little over four hours before this picture?
She is doing great~
Here are all four!
Keven was waiting on the other three and all of a sudden says,
"Lauri, we have four freakin' kids!"
A song comes to mind, "Back to life, back to reality..."

Daddy and Lake... he has big hands and feet~ gonna be built like Daddy.


Baby Lake and his first visitor... Aunt Stephanie
He was really quiet and mellow, 'calm before the storm'.

Congratulations Keven and Lauri!

I'm Wishing...

Just wishing I was there... even if it does have clouds~

The beach is one place I feel really close to my Heavenly Father. Walking along the sand and talking, crying or singing out loud to my Heavenly Father and not another soul in the world can hear a thing over the roar of the waves. I love the wind on my face. I look at all the water and all the miles of endless beach and I stand in awe. *sigh*

This too will end, right?!?

When Fan-C turned three years old, oh my goodness, she became this little person that tried to 'rule' our home. I referred to her as a terrorist. Someone trying to force their will on our family. She turned four and I had my sweet cute girl back. Really, like a light switch, my Fan-C girl was back.
The Tank turned three and he too took off into the land of trying to become the new and improved terrorist of our family. I endured the year with a lot of prayer, Cherry Pepsi and the calendar countdown to his fourth birthday. His birthday came and went... the light switch never flipped. He is still STUCK in this mode. Bringing us to today...
Stake Conference. I love Stake Conference. I love the messages, seeing old friends and getting to catch up with everyone and see how big their little ones are getting. I got to see the opening prayer, the opening song, stake business and then the satellite feed began and that was it. The Tank freaked out and I left to a classroom with him to help him become reverent again. Once he was ready we went back in where he proceeded to flip out again. I grabbed his coat, my scriptures and purse and headed for the truck. I stuffed him into Tiny-T's toddler car seat which was a challenge since he was trying to crawl out the whole time I'm trying to adjust the straps to get him in. I chose this car seat because he can't reach the seat belt release and would be stuck in it. Now, this whole incident involves him flailing around and SCREAMING at the top of his very powerful lungs. The poor neighbors to our Stake Center probably thought a cat was being skinned alive. So no message, no visiting with people and a four year old screaming at me for two hours while I played 'soothing' piano music and tried to read my scriptures. The light switch will go off right?!? He will morph back into my cute little man again one day, right?!?
(Please note that my little Tiny-T turned three during this time also. She, staying true to course, has taken on her role as the newest terrorist... so I have TWO right now... and Lance wonders why I am literally going gray overnight...)

Yeah, don't let the innocent smile fool you...

Tag... Your IT!!!

Elise tagged me...

7 random things about me

1. I don't like plain chocolate. I like peanut butter and chocolate combos or white cake with chocolate frosting... BUT, chocolate cake with chocolate frosting sicks me out. Plain Hershey's chocolate bars... YUCK! I can't even do chocolate ice cream in ANY combo.

2. I love to ORGANIZE events. I love to plan, coordinate help/supplies/food, set-up and then execute the event. Not a big fan of clean-up (but, then who is). I have done weddings, receptions, baby showers, birthday parties, sorority events and dances.

3. I love to go on vacation but HATE to travel. So, get me there quickly and I will have a great time and then get me home quickly. My version of hell would be to take a traveling road trip where you spend a week getting someplace and then spend another week traveling home. UGH! No Thank You!

4. I'm allergic to mushrooms. So, this makes dining out an adventure. I've had waitresses go into the back of the kitchen and search the labels of sauce mixes for dehydrated mushrooms. Note: Marie Callendar's is a nightmare restaurant for those with this allergy. I don't like munch-n-mingles (potlucks) for this same reason. If I can't GUARANTEE that is it mushroom free then I can't eat it.

5. I am comfortable speaking, singing, acting, teaching... in public. I LOVE large groups. I don't have a phobia of this. (I'm hesitant to post this, my luck I'll be getting a speaking assignment for sacrament next month.) I like to speak but, Lance not so much and since they usually ask you as a couple... I don't want to wish this on my dear husband. Once upon a time I was going to move to Utah and sing in a traveling opera company... but I chose to stay home and then Lance proposed.

6. My kitchen-aid mixer is something I would pack in my handcart if I had to pack a cart. I just couldn't leave this behind... is that bad?!?

7. I HATE shopping. Get in-get out-get what's on the list. Maybe I would like shopping a little bit IF I ever had a budget that would allow for some real shopping. I can't just walk around a mall and 'window shop'. So boring. I just get frustrated wanting that 'bigger budget' ;o). So, I just make my list and get it done. I am DONE with Christmas shopping by Halloween. I like to have the holiday season to do fun things with the ducklings and not be stressing out over gifts and shopping.


I tag: (yeah, I don't understand the linking thing sooooo...)
Whomever wants to spend a few minutes telling me weird stuff about themselves.
You know you want to ... do it!!!!

Happy Birthday Fan-C

Okay, I can't believe that Fan-C is SIX already! I remember her being two years old at a cousin's baptism and begging to be able to be baptized and explaining to her how she would have to wait six more years and now we are down to TWO!

Fan-C has been thinking of all her cousins when choosing her cake for the last two years. They always want the flower or balloon from the cake... so she has been choosing these 'scored' cakes enabling EVERYONE to be able to have a flower. That is so nice Fan-C.

We don't have a home large enough to accomodate our large families and we don't have a budget to rent or go to a 'public' place sooooooo, we borrowed the church's gym. Tons of room for the kiddos to run around and play and plenty of 'seating'... ;o)
She was very grateful for the gifts she received and Thanks You were prepared and mailed the next morning... Hoppa and Grandma Lillie got her a princess Barbie with extra outfits. She has been in heaven for the last two days changing this dolls clothes every five minutes.
Let the ATTITUDE begin.

Seriously, I thought I had until the age of nine before this kicked in... she is so 'advanced' for her age. GREAT!!!! (said sarcastically)

MAKE UP!!!! Mommaducks sends out a BIG 'thanks' to the three sets of Uncles/Aunts who have supplied her with such items.

Really, thank you for choosing neutral light shades. She and her cousin have been glamming it up ...

Pumpkin Patch Season...

We took the ducklings and two of our neices to the farm this last weekend...

They had a blast in the hay maze, eating FREE apple crisp and ice cream, and searching for their perfect FREE pumpkin. Yes, there is a definate theme at this place. It has stuff to get and do for FREE!!!!

Here are the ducklings with their pumpkin choices... Tank said he wanted the scarecrow up so we set him up once we got home from the pumpkin patch.

My neice T kept hauling the ducklings around on the pumpkin cart. Kids thought it was so fun and I didn't have to keep counting heads... this place was BUSY!!!

Thank you Studly Stanley...

Okay, this is Lance. A very scruffy faced-end of the day-tired daddy/husband Lance.

He is amazing. He works so hard for our family. He has stayed up to wee hours of the morning trying to figure out ways to help our family... only to get up within two hours to head off to another full day of work. I try to 'spare' him too many details on some subjects just to avoid this staying up thing... but sometimes he still does it.

To say that I love him is such a huge understatement. He comes home and instantly wants to get the kids out from under my feet and entertain them with reading books or looking at Fan-C's homework. He will help with dinner (some nights he will cook), he gives the kids their baths, he cleans dishes and helps with the other parts of our home, and he takes out the garbage without being asked. I know, AMAZING!

I want the world for him. I know he would never seek it for himself. I want him to find his JOY. I want him to be truly happy with everything in his life. I want him to KNOW that he has a family that loves him "all the way to the moon and back" to quote his daughter.

You're awesome, You Rock, You are a KING!

Remember Lance, you are meant for greatness!

FHE ~ Rainbow Cakes...

I was visiting my friend JJ's blog yesterday and saw a video blog she did of baking a cake with her little neighbor guy, Alexander. My ducklings were watching it with me and thought that making a cake would be SO FUN! So, I assisted the Tank with making six mini-bundt cakes that we decorated at FHE tonight. Here is some pictures from the night. Thanks JJ, it was a really fun activity!

All the colors of frosting and the yummy toppings... thank you Winco bulk foods.

The Tank decided he didn't like the gummy worms so daddy ate them for him...
Mommaduck's creation...
Daddyduck says it is a self-portrait...
Tiny-T choose the colors for her shirt, NOT for the huskies...
The Tank was so proud of making the cakes and then assembling his own worm-world...
Fan-C is in LOVE with Rachel Ray's morning cooking show and she kept telling us what she was doing with her cake step-by-step, just like Rachel does while she is cooking. Too cute!

Anderson Island Apple Squeeze...

My dad with Fan-C and the Tank looking at the bug man's car. He had a tent with TONS of bugs under glass. Everything from beautiful butterflies to spiders the size of a plate.... ewwww!

Fan-C enjoying fresh apple pie... yummy!
The Tank doesn't like apples so the whole experience was lost on him. He just wanted to climb things and 'find toys'.
Tiny-T cleared out all their weeds... 'er ummmm ... 'flowers'.
The trees FULL of apples...

It was amazing to see how much apple juice came out of these bins of apple 'mulch'.
Fan-C trying some fresh apple cider and the Tank watchin' her with Ship-Grandpa.

The island is small... EVERYONE was there. The farm was packed. The weather was beautiful. It was clear skies and cool temps to facilitate the Duck sweatshirts to be worn proudly in Husky country. We had one man tell us that the Duck shirts should have been left home ~ he was dressed from head to toe in purple husky gear. Whatever!?! GO DUCKS!!!!