Bwhhhaaa haaa haaa! Happy Halloween from OUR HOUSE to YOURS!

new shoes

feeling oh so
excited about these lil' puppies
- they are sweet! my new fancy
schmancy New Balance 470 Trail
Runner Shoes that I soooooo needed!
they are perfect and wonderful and
even better than anything, they are
SKYLINE HS colors! blue and silver baby!
love it!
happy happy day!

been ON TRACK with my running again
and will be putting these new shoes
to some serious use - good thing too
cuz' I need to do something productive

wheeeeeeee!

silly tidbits about Darla...

(for a lack of other things to blog about)

- i am in love at this point in my life with laughing cow cheese
- i am scared at how fast my kids are growing up and not needing me
- i look dilegently to others for direction on my life (who knows me best?)
- i love my new job :O) so much
- i still freaking love to go ride the 4-wheelers whenever we can
- my fingernails are growing long and wonderfully for the first time in my life
- i have baked like 40 loaves of zucchini bread this fall and still have a huge zucchini sitting on my kitchen counter
- i think it is awesome Ed is going back to school
- i am not going to the gym as much as i used to and i am not sure why
- pita pit is my new fave lunch treat
- i hang out on Facebook wayy too much
- i love to do laundry and vaccume and hate to wash dishes
- i am freaked out that i only have one kid in elementary school still
- i am bummed that Skyline lost the Emotion Bowl this year
- i have some of the best friends in the whole world and feel very blessed to have them in my life
- i still love my really awesome blue minivan - Chrystlers rock!

there ya go - my exciting life in a nutshell! :O)

long time no post

soo a little birdie told me I am a non-blogging slacker

there.
i blogged.

sorry Robin -

:O) me

LOVE IT!

Went to Island Park for the weekend - it was amazing! wonderful! fabulous! and just plain relaxing! Ed and I went for a 30+ mile fourwheeler ride and it was just so cool. Not the best photo but the view up top was unreal and I wanted to remember it!
I LOVE Island Park!

:O) Darla

The BIG ONE - Twin Falls 7.5 mile Rim to Rim

Sat Sept 19, 2009 my sister Carlee and I ventured into the
UNKNOWN! LOL Sort of.
We did the 7.5 mile Rim to Rim fun run and walk in Twin Falls.
It was amazing!
We had two goals in mind for this.

ONE: was to get up the grade (12% grade over a mile)
in less than 22 minutes! WE DID IT! Darla at 21 min
and 49 sec at a 18 min mile pace and Carlee at 21 min
46 sec and a 18 min pace too!
OH and it ended up being 1.25 miles too!

TWO: was to finish the complete race including coming
back DOWN the grade on the other side of the gorge
and across the river on a footbridge AND go back UPHILL
*this was unknown to Darla till' I was there* and finish
within 2 hrs and 10 min time. WE DID IT! Darla at
2 hr 8 min 14 seconds and an avg of 17.05 min miles... and
Carlee at 2 hr 4 min and 26 seconds and an avg of 16.35
min miles! THIS is amazing since I usually walk a 20 min
mile and jog a 15 min mile! WOWZER!

It was awesome and amazing and aside from my complete meltdown
to myself at the last uphill climb before the finish (I seriously
lost it) I didn't stop and kept a great pace and a great attitude!
IT WAS HARD! If there had not been that uphill climb at the end
my time would have done SO much better but I think God put it
there for a reason and I had to deal with it - and I did!!!!
This was an experience I'll NEVER forget! Life is so awesome
and so not about winning but about DOING!

LOVE YOU CARLEE and thank you for the experience and challenge
and the love you shared with me this weekend! XOXO!

Darla

playing yesterday.....

My daughter Tiff was in her
1st X Country track meet yest
along with her cousin Jeff and
our buddy Chris - they were
all AMAZING awesome!! I was so
proud of them!
also...
I got to play a bit yesterday
and it was SO FUN! This is what
I managed to put together...

...repaired, fixed, refinished, tweaked...

Robin gave me some tips on how to make this page
a little bit less "active"? LOL So here is the
remake and I agree, MUCH better....
THANKS ROBIN!

hmmmmm

I had a crazy wild and funky urge to
scrapbook tonight and I had this
SUPER OOOBER CUTE paper with owls
on it and I just wanted to use it so
bad and well, you can see what happens
when you put too much busy paper with
too much busy photos and too much color
and well, it looks like a color crayon
box barfed up on my page - oye - but,
hey, at least I scrapped.... so,
here ya go - proof that I scrapbooked
tonight. LOL
WARNING!!!!!!!!!
You might need to
SHEILD YOUR EYES!

Darla

APPLES!!!!!!!!!

Micheal-man and I went on an apple picking adventure
this afternoon, what a time we had and all in the
name of LOVE for dried apples! LOL
Last summer I was taught much about food storage by
my wonderful best friend Lisa and her friend
(and mine!!) Nari...
I had done some canning before but I learned all
sorts of good stuff from these two friends and I was
so excited about it that I went and found a used food
dehydrator and went to town!
I have been waiting anxiously for the time of year
to roll around when people find themselves with a
surplus of garden goodies and trees swoooning to the
ground full of fruit all ripe and ready for the picking!
THAT opportunity was TODAY! Hooray!
So, Micheal and I went to this gals house and had three
apple trees ready to be rid of their fruit - BUT they
had previous visitors so we had to get the apples from
the tip top of the trees! Micheal bravely climbed up
and brought down dozens of apples for Mom... then we
wised up and started to SHAKE the trees and lemme' tell
you - that is the way to go! Aside from a few hits to
the head for both of us (yes, I am serious!) we got a
haul of apples of several varieties!!! We brought them
home, washed a couple dozen and started to core/peel
them and man did it go fast! I had Micheal on the corer
and he was a crazy boy! We had all the trays on the
food dehydrator filled so quick! I can harldy wait!
My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE dehydrated apples and so this
will be a fun treat to keep working on each afternoon
after school - we can do a batch each day this week and
hopefully work through all the apples AND build up a
good supply of yummy and healty snacks!
Gotta love apples!

:O) Darla

Hmmmmmm don't know why that first photo posted 2x but
I can't get it to come off of the post, sorry! LOL

Back to school - again!

All the kids were up and at em' and ready to head to school...
except for poor Chris, he was just off to work
(and a little grumpy about it too!) in Rigby with Mr Blakely.
A bit different not sending them ALL off for a 1st day! :O(
They are growing up too quick!!
So here they are, all prettied up for their first day back to school
- Dani starting HS - Tiff going into 8th and Micheal going into 3rd grade!!!!

smiling!

happy
happy
happy

HAPPY right now!

*EDITED*
OK, not happy not smiling. Been a long cruddy weekend and NOT where I planned... sniff sniff. LOL I *DID* get to go to the fights though so I guess not all was lost?

What have WE been up to?

Me? Scrapbooking and running... alot.

My kids. Crashing the neighborhood night games.
No further explanation needed... or is there?

ok a few things

1- i am failing miserably at my running goals - not getting out there and doing it and getting so mad at myself but obviously not mad "enough" yet?

2- my weight (in scale measurements) is creeping up a few lbs and I have to nip this RIGHT NOW - I am so not letting this happen

3- some cool photos - my old baby doll Ann which I grew up with and I found her a brand new playmate on the web - all purty and in a box for just $175 bucks! NOT going to be happening anytime soon although it would be cool to have one? weird I know...

4- another cool photo, I got some awesomely awesome old school teachers stamps for mathmatics and they are awesome and I am going to have a blast using them on creating scrappy projects and cards and things - super bargain for just $3 bucks!

5- this has quite possibly been the laziest weekend of my life and it feels good but feels lazy and unproductive and now I'll spend all week in a frenzy trying to catch up? is that really a good thing?

ANOTHER LAYOUT?!#*!?*!

Yes. Two layouts. One day.
AMAZING GRACE! I am on a roll!
Thanks for inspiring me Robin dear!

This is a little quickie page I did
of my dear daughter Dani and her
Aunt Tammy (Ed's sister) at our
family party back in June in Boise.
I STOLE this cool layered flower idea
from Robin and the rest sort of just
came together...

Darla

*finally* My end of the scrappy challenge with Robin...

Sorry so late, I had a busy day yesterday
but I got it done and although the scan
is crooooked, it is a cute page! Photo of Dani,
myself and Tiff from earlier this summer!
(oh, and the sketch I went from...)
Darla

...week 2 ...

Just an update, I have been working on my running for my
big 'date' in Sept but not as hard as I should be so now
the push is on.
I have, however, done a big 5 mile run/walk a couple of
times to work on endurance a bit. Today's was NOT a good
one, I didn't drink enough and it was alot warmer out than
I thought and I got a little dehydrated - got horrid side
cramps and urpie dry burps - it was gross! So, lesson
learned, need to keep going when it is cooler out and
make sure to be hydrated! Yes maa'm!
Now I just have to kick it up and start pushing myself
a little more - my endurance is far from 7.5 miles - dang!

Training....

LOOK OUT GUYS! I am going for the big one this time!
I am "IN TRAINING" now. I have just a few weeks till'
the big run in Twin Falls with my sister Carlee....
it is the "Rim to Rim" run and it benifits the Habitat
for Humanity program there in Twin Falls. I have yet to
get a lot of details but as far as I know it is a 7.5
mile route (walk and or run or combo) and you shoot for
your personal best. I *KNOW* I'll never make a full 7.5
mile run but I am going to do my dangdest to get a good
portion of it done by running. Yesterday I started my
'official' running training and did a 3 mile run on the
treadmill with a couple of wee wittle walking breaks.
I hope to push it hard tommorrow and get more in. I'd
like to do a decent time in the race and hope to break
some personal barriers in the midst of it all too!
So, cheer me on guys, I am running every other day and
doing my strength training and other stuff (bike, ellyptical
and so on) on the in-between days! This is going to be a
challenge!!!

FUN STUFF! Right??
******************************************************

2009 Rim to Rim
September 19 - 9:00 AM



Run or walk this scenic and challenging 7.5 mile course. The race begins at Bass Lake at the Blue Lakes Country Club. The course climbs the Blue Lakes Grade, crosses the Perrine Bridge and winds down the Canyon Springs Grade. After crossing the Snake River via footbridge, the race finishes at Bass Lake with a party and lots of prizes!!! $100 Dash for cash goes to the first male & female to reach the top of the Blue Lakes Grade. $50 cash prize to the fastest man & woman finisher. Prizes to the first man & woman walkers. Awards given for racer that collects the greatest amount of donations for Habitat (must be turned in by September 6th) Awards also given in each age group for runners & walkers, with separate divisions for men and women. Newly designed race T-shirts for all participants. The $40 pre-registration fee, before September 7th ( is a tax deductible donation) $45 fee after September 7th and day of race.

he's still cute...

With all my craziness lately about optimism or lack thereof, and, well, yea, I have to revert back to my old Jr High and High School days when I was CRAZY about Mr Michael J Fox...ahhhh he was so cute! So, I am not going to plaster 100's of posters and magazine photos of him all over my bedroom walls (somehow I don't think Ed would go for that??) but I am going to sing the praises of his amazing will and strength and optimism! He wrote this great book (that I have yet to read! gasp!) and I have read excerpts from it and he is just really taking things in stride - day by day- one challenge at a time. It is so inspiring and really when I think of all the minichallenges life has handed me, well, wow.
So the other night I was watching TV and he had a documentary type show that goes along with his book and it was really interesting how people all over the world take challenges and make them into good things - lemons and make lemonaid type scenerio if you will.
I had to come and do a 'cheers' to Michael J Fox - still cute and somehow still optimistic!

Darla :O)

Good friends and family.

I want to say how blessed I am with such good friends and family. How caring and wonderful they are to me. I know I am a big whiner a lot of the time and still, even if they have to call me out on it, they back me up.
So, lately I have had my share of physical 'woes'... I guess I am getting old or something but my body is not cooperating the way I'd like it to so what do I do, I whine! LOL
Seriously though, my thyroid levels have been whacko making me tired beyond what I can believe, it is so weird! I had very little trouble stabalizing my meds after having my thyroid taken out almost 2 years ago and NOW it starts to give me fits? Whatever!? So, when I whine about being tired, now you know why. My knee. Well, my knee does not like the running thing I guess but I am not giving it up - I know it is the right thing and so I will tough it through. I have worked too long and hard and am determined to meet my goals! So, I have some funky tendon thing going on with it but the Dr assured me it is nothing too dramatic, just have to work through it. So, I will! Also I made a maybe not so great choice to take a depo shot for my monthly issues (you know, girl stuffs... cuz' I certainly don't need birth control!) and in the long run it has helped but I think I am paying a higher price for it. It has really made me struggle with my weightloss and I am grinning and bearing it now but deep down I am SO mad I made this choice because now I have to wait it out! UGH!
Basically my big issue is that I have been busting my butt for these weight loss goals for SO long now and have had so little progress on the scales... but with my current issues (thyr;meds;knee;depo) I think it is really hampering my ability to see the numbers drop - cuz' Lord knows I am working out a lot and trying my best to eat well. Aside from kinking off my guts or going on a liquid diet or something crazy I don't know what else to do?!
So.... to all of you who have been listening and loving me while I whine and boob - you have not gone un-noticed. Thanks for loving me and supporting me and letting my forced optimism waver a bit.... I promise I'll be more upbeat and optimistic and encouraging to myself and to you! :O)
XO
Darla