Christmas Lights ala' Christopher!

A Christmas Project

I have been working on a little project for myself
for the Holidays - it is a 25 Days of Christmas
book - an idea that Robin gave me that comes from
Ali Edwards blog site http://aliedwards.typepad.com/
and it just looked so fun I had to give it a try!
My book is all put together and ready to start
playing with it come Dec 1st!! I can't wait!
Tiffany and Micheal both made a book as well to do.
Should be fun! Here are a few photos of some of the
pages from mine... soon they will be full of photos
and journaling and other tidbits of things to keep
a little of each day of the season alive all year!

Darla :O)

PS Ed hit the road for a weeks worth of training
in Salt Lake City today - I am already worried and
missing him so send me strength please!

A Long Time Blogging

So I realized today that I have been doing
THIS blog for several years now. Like 4 years
plus actually! So cool to be able to look back
at what has been going on... So, just cuz' I can
do it, I am going to share the past 4 years
worth of blog entries (on or about this same
date each year)Enjoy! :O) Darla

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2005
LET IT SNOW...
Let It Snow - Let It Snow... oh the weather outside is frightful, but the FIRE is so delightful, since I have no car to goooooooooooooo...let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

THE SNOW HAS ARRIVED! I have such a love/hate relationship with winter. I hate the HOT HEAT of summer and it makes me literally sick, so you'd THINK I would love winter and the cool days. However, I don't like to be too cold either! Tsk tsk fickle aren't I? Well, snow is grand, and pretty and oh so season inspiring, but it is also a pain in the rumpus to SHOVEL and keep from freezing to the steps! MORE than once I have fallen victim to our not foot friendly front steps, even in the summer! LOL Winter is bad on Darla's back :O(

I am in the beginning planning stages of our Christmas lists and gifts and things. Nothing like waiting till' the last minute egh? Well, it should get me in the spirit quick so I guess there is some good that comes from procrastinating? Right?

Well, I guess I can non prematurely say HAPPY HOLIDAYS now to you my friends! May you have many wonderful memories and happy times to remember and share! Darla

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2006
It's the hap- hap- hapiest time of the year....

Oh, that should read the buz- buz- busiest time of the year.... Happy Holidays!!! I can "officially" say that now, right? Thanksgiving is over and CHRISTMAS is next, then a whole NEW YEAR too! WOW!

Well, things around here are MORE than crazy these days. Just tons going on, kids activities, preparing for the Holidays, and more. Today I have a 4:00pm Dr appt, Parent Teacher Conferences for the kids and a7:00pm meeting for Church. Crazies! Upcoming week will be just as crazed as we need to get out and put all the Holiday decorations, prepare for dh's surgery next week, we also have a Church family party and clean house and prep for a big family get together in 10 days and so much more. Cooking and baking, card making, shopping, gift wrapping.... Just the normal hustle and bustle of the Holidays I guess?
One thing I did want to share is our newfound love of the old cardgame UNO! A couple weeks ago the kids friends brought it over to play, our youngest ds Micheal always gets left out bc he can't play the games.......he totally picked RIGHT up on this one and it has been non stop ever since! While SIL and her family were here over Thanksgiving they bought us our own deck of the cards and now Mr Micheal thinks we ALL need to play UNO with him 24/7 !! (oh and he also calls it "dos" as in uno, dos, tres... LOL) So, I included a photo of the kids all playing UNO over the Thanksgiving Holiday too. FUN times. So glad we have family to share the holidays with and make memories with. How blessed we are.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2007
Crazy sort of Thursday here....


Well, let me tell you, I am no longer a "night owl". Last night my friend Lisa and I went out to hit the big 50% off sale at Khol's (midnight shopping, gotta love it!) and after being up since 4:45 a.m. I was getting a little punchy come 11:00pm. I had a time getting to sleep and although I slept HARD through the night, I am still tired. I allowed myself this morning "off" from the gym and slept in, but still feel like I am dragging.
Had a Dr appt this morning too - some oddball stuff and also my test results from my thyroid bloodwork I had done this week. VERY weird stuff I tell ya, I don't know what is going on, but my levels were all wonky again and so he decided to up my meds and then we'll recheck in a few weeks. TSH (thyroid stimulating horomone) is way high again and we are not sure why, and the T4 is off too. They were coming under control and now they have gone whack-o. *ugh* I told the Dr I was finally starting to feel normal again, whatever that is, but he just said this is a fine art trying to get things leveled out and regulated and to be patient. OK. Like I have a choice?
Weather is still being weird too - just cold. No snow. No winds. Just cold. So odd for Idaho this time of year... not that I am dying to drive on icy roads or anything but a little snow is always festive and fun ya know?! I am dying to go take sleds out behing the 4wheelers again like we did up at the cabin. LOL It was SO stinkin' much fun! (photo is of Lisa (all in black) and Blake (in brown) on the sleds, even the adults took rides!!! but no one got pix of me, however, I DID do it, TWICE, it was so fun!) So, yes, I am wishing for a "little" bit of snow, not a blizzard please!
That's about it for me. Got kids here needing attention and laundry that never waits too... Parent teacher conferneces tonight (student led, HATE that) and Survivor and ER on tv this evening as well as taco's for dinner. Should be a good one!

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2008
Wer'e Home!!!!


Hey all - we finally made it home from Island Park and our Thanksgiving getaway with the VERY BESTESTEST FRIENDS IN THE WHOLE WORLD, the Browns - it was awesome fun and lots of great memories! My camera was LESS than cooperative but I did manage to get a few shots taken to share. Right now however, I am wiped out tired and going to bed! (me and my whining sore tailbone that is...) So for now, you just get these two wee wittle glimpses of fun... the kids adoreable crazy lil' snow buddy and ME in the car on the way home! (I know, what a ham and oh! don't I look lovely after a day of hot tubbing, playing, cleaning, no shower and loading up to go home? HA!)

Toodles! And Happy LATE Thanksgiving to all!!!!
XOXOXOXO!
Darla

PS I promise to share more photos tommorrow! PROMISE!

grrrrrrrr ----

trying to change out my background format and it is not working

grrrrrr...

Decorations! Gingerbread house and real houses!

Took a TON of photos of the kids doing the Gingerbread House
kits we got them - all the while our oldest son, Christopher,
was out crawling around on the roof decorating our REAL house
with Christmas lights! My nerves are S*H*O*T! LOL So, here is
the collage of photos - we did have fun and my kids are oh SO
creative! Love the houses, they are so cute! Chris is still
working on the real deal but when he is done we'll be sure
to share those photos too!
:O) Happy Holidays!?

DarlaLOU

Saturday Chores

Today is catch up day. After my really crazy week
and Thanksgiving celebration my house looks, well,
forgotten. So today is clean up catch up day and
I am on a laundry marathon. :O) That last part
makes me happy! LOVE doing laundry. Goofy me.

Chris is out (with lil' Micheal) working on our
Christmas lights. He bought some fun new decor
on the Black Friday sales and he is having a blast.
Hope it works out a little better than our wind
blown disaster we had over Halloween??????????????

Hope to get to the gym or out for a run again today.
Slept really long and hard last night- my back is
still out of whack from falling on the ice last
week so sleep has been not great but it did not
bother me on my run last night so that is good.

That is about it for today. More later....have a good
weekend! I am!

DarlaLOU

a little P.S.

I am going to try REALLY hard to post more often and keep
you updated on the weightloss battle. Sorry I have slacked
so much. I am going to focus on posting more - PROMISE!

struggles - a turkey friend - scares - running

LOTS of topics to catch up on but overall life is treating me well.
Can't complain about much really other than my constat battle with
the bathroom scale - *sigh*.

So, I have been struggling to keep the weight down. I am fighting to
keep off the weight and am actually up about 15 lbs from my lowest
weight and I hate that! Not sure what/why it is going on but I am
fighting like hell with it. Thanksgiving has not been a help
- or stress - but I am marching on.

I have the best friend in the whole wide world.
She gave me their turkey.
SERIOUSLY she GAVE me their turkey!
After our big scare with Ed and spending 24 hrs in
the hosptial with him, well, our Turkeyday plans were
all washed out and suddenly I was having to throw together
a Turkey dinner for my family! Lisa, bless her heart,
bailed me out and offered to give us her turkey she'd
bought since they were going to the in-laws anyway.
What a blessing!
I was able to pick it up late Wed night to get it
thawed out and then did a mad dash to WalMart Thurs a.m.
to get all the trimmings and we ended up having a beautiful
Thanksgiving dinner at home with just our little family.
Thank you Lisa!!

So, what is up with Ed? Well, long story short, he scared the
heck out of us and thankfully he is ok. There was something
going on with his heart - although all his testing has been
inconclusive he did have some sort of episode??? and it was
so scary! I am still worried to death but the Dr's have said
he has nothing to worry about. Sooooo?? trust the experts or
trust your gut?? Either way, I am so grateful they found
nothing and that he was home for THanksgiving...

Running. AHhhhhhhhhhhK! I have been trying to run as much
as possible between the gym, outdoors and Lisa's (my sisters)
treadmill - or the *deathmill* as she affectionatly calls it.
I am not doing fab but I am going at it. Tonight Tiff and
I went out and did a little 2.6 mile route and it felt SO good.
It was perfect temps at 40 degrees and no wind.
We really enjoyed it. My endurance is the pits but at
least I am going. :O)

That is about it for now...... hope everyone is feeling
good and having a healthy and happy holiday season.
We are so blessed. SO blessed.

DarlaLOU :O)

Another layout....

Just finished this tonight - a CUTE photo of my daughter Tiff
and her cousin Madison from last summer. They were doing crazy
poses all over for me and this was MY fave one!
This was done from a sketch that Robin made for me a few weeks
ago and I just now got to it... tsk tsk! LOL
Enjoy!
Darla

A few new projects I am working on ...

I have been playing. A lot.
I have a neat little paperbag
book I made and a
25 days of Christmas book I am
working on as well as this
layout I did today! Feels
SO good to create and let
some feeling out
onto paper/projects. :O)

Darla

A few more....

My BEAUTIFUL chillin's....

AMAZING FAMILY - AMAZING PHOTOGRAPHER

One of our new family photos - I am SO excited about!! My kids are all growing so fast and getting so attrative and beautiful!

I am FOREVER grateful to my good friend Robin and her photography skills - she is amazing! Check out her site - you'll LOVE her style! THANK YOU ROBIN!
http://heartfelt.typepad.com/robingibbonsphotography/

Somedays you feel :

VERY much pooooo'd on.

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...