Is it REALLY that obvious...my age, I mean?

My little Cole has been so concerned lately with the thought of me getting old and dying. Today during our lunch prayer, he even asked 'that mom doesn't get old and die'. I told him that we'll all die someday, but that we'll live again and be together as families. He's still trying to grasp that one.
He starts school on Wed. and soccer as well (I don't know WHEN exactly). It's exciting and a little lonely to see him growing so fast. I try to get all the hugs I can now...while he still lets me.

I took the kids "hiking" around Battle Ground lake the other morning. It was nice. We needed some alone mommy/kid time. They were so excited, although it took convincing Cole that we were really in the mountains, not just 5 minutes from Gma's house.
Dayne tripped right away and fell flat on her face rolling onto her head. This has become a common thing with her. So, for a good 10 minutes after that, Cole tried explaining HOW we fall, with our arms out in front of us to catch us.
This doesn't go along with our hiking pics, but the other day Cole said he was gonna go out and do some jiggaling. I asked him what it was and he said, "you know Mom, jiggaling". Then he moved his hips around in a circle. I said, "you mean, hoolahooping Cole?".
"yes mom! Jiggaling."

STEve!!

Dear Steve,
I'm sure you're more than excited that I'm posting this for all the world to see, but oh well. You are so blessed to have me as your sister in law. Wait, what I meant to say is that I'm so blessed to have YOU as my brother in law. You're amazing!! YOu really are. Everyone thinks so and we're just so lame to have forgotten your bday while you were up here!!! Dang it!
You're brilliant, funny (a very unique sense of humor, actually), miraculous, marvelous, somewhat of a prodigy, really...now I'm getting a little out of control. We love you STeve!! Thank you for all you do and all you are! Enjoy your day tomorrow and do something special, like take the day off work and bleach your hair. Or better yet, go get a mani/pedi. Something!!
Sorry these pics aren't better!!

my life right now..., read if you wish.

Currently, I'm trying to overcome some certain personality/natural man traits. I figure, life is difficult for all, we all face challenges and trials, it's HOW we deal with them, right?? I'm the WORST, I tell ya! I've been such a grumpy, mean, witchy hag lately, it's ridiculous. Here I am, living it up at my in-laws beautful home in WA, and all I can think about is getting a better job for Geof., making more money, having a place of our own...etc, etc. How ungrateful is THAT?? So, I'm getting those little voices (not the crazy, in your head kind of voices).., but the Spirit voices, telling me, "Darla, get over it. Deal with what you have. Be a mom, and NOTHING else." I'm really trying to just go with that. Relax, take care of my kids, love them, ENJOY them. They don't know we're poor. They don't care. And really, is there anything I'm going withOUT?? Not at all! How selfish I've been. Whenever I get like this, I have to force myself to think of the impoverished neighborhoods I walked through as a missionary in Argentina. I love those people. They're so happy and have so little. What DO we need, really? A roof over our heads, a bed to sleep in, some food in our bellies (not too much, mind you), and those we love. And I have that and MUCH more. Geof. and I read this article by Richard G. Scott, found in the 1996 Ensign. What a great, uplifting article. Please take the time to read it in it's entirety, if possible. Here's what I thought i'd emphasize...


"Sadness, disappointment, and severe challenge are events in life, not life itself. I do not minimize how hard some of these events are. They can extend over a long period of time, but they should not be allowed to become the confining center of everything you do. The Lord inspired Lehi to declare the fundamental truth, “Men are, that they might have joy.” That is a conditional statement: “they might have joy.” It is not conditional for the Lord. His intent is that each of us finds joy. It will not be conditional for you as you obey the commandments, have faith in the Master, and do the things that are necessary to have joy here on earth.

You are here on earth for a divine purpose. It is not to be endlessly entertained or to be constantly in full pursuit of pleasure. You are here to be tried, to prove yourself so that you can receive the additional blessings God has for you. The tempering effect of patience is required. Some blessings will be delivered here in this life; others will come beyond the veil. The Lord is intent on your personal growth and development. That progress is accelerated when you willingly allow Him to lead you through every growth experience you encounter, whether initially it be to your individual liking or not. When you trust in the Lord, when you are willing to let your heart and your mind be centered in His will, when you ask to be led by the Spirit to do His will, you are assured of the greatest happiness along the way and the most fulfilling attainment from this mortal experience. If you question everything you are asked to do, or dig in your heels at every unpleasant challenge, you make it harder for the Lord to bless you.

Your agency, the right to make choices, is not given so that you can get what you want. This divine gift is provided so that you will choose what your Father in Heaven wants for you. That way He can lead you to become all that He intends you to be. That path leads to glorious joy and happiness."

Wow. Isn't that great? Truth IS great.

Geof. went to the job fair in NY and sat through this great presentation and at the very end, they tell the room full of pilots that they're only looking at applicants who have type rating and experience in the Airbus 340. Then they end the presentation. All the pilots just looked at each other. Turns out only 2 guys had that experience. You'd think they would of mentioned that on the website!! Oh well, I was pretty positive it wouldn't happen..., but hoping it would. Oh well. Life goes on...

To my mom on her 59th birthday. wow.

Happy birthday mother dear. Happy days SHALL come to you all year. If I had a wish than it would be, a HAPPY, HAPPY, most HAPPY birthday to you from me. Hope the video turns out! Sorry so late mama!

Maybe a post without a video and a few lines of explanation? hmm...where do I begin? We have a little over 2 weeks left of summer and then school begins for Cole. Kindergarten! I can't even believe it. It would probably be a more momentous occasion had he not been going to all day/everday preschool in Richmond, but it's still pretty dang special. He'll be going to a brand new beautiful school right down the road from where we're staying. My sister Amy and her four girls are up visiting right now. They stayed here for a few days and are now staying at my Aunt Renee's for the duration of their trip. They LOVE it here! They say California is way too polluted and crowded. I still believe California to be the prettiest state although it's way overdeveloped and doesn't have the charm (right word?) that it had when I was little. I'm doing well, although a little stressed. I miss Geof. and this commuting from Portland to St. Louis thing is killing us. He always has to leave a day early to get to work, and then it takes a good half to whole day to get back. NOT WORTH IT, I tell ya!! I know Geof. doesn't like it when I talk about any possibilities for jobs, living situations, etc., just in case in doesn't work out, but I thought I'd share his most recent idea...sorry Geof.! (; He called a few days ago and asked me to send his log book out because he's going to a job fair in NY for Etihad airways, out of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Yes, in the middle east. At first I was thinking, "whatever, not gonna happen". But then I got curious and looked some different articles and forums up on line of Americans living in Abu Dhabi (right next to the famous Dubai) and all I could see were rave reviews on the place; safe, clean, quiet, RICH. Now, not to get my hopes up, but although the bubble WILL probably burst in a few years in these billionaire countries, why not get in on the money for a bit..2-3 years? So, I'm all for it and praying that if it's right, it WILL happen. Who would of thought? I'm gonna post some pics of our usual summer fun up in the Northwest. So pretty here.

more of Bear Lake

I have quite a few pics from our trip to Bear Lake a few weeks back, and they're just so pretty, I can't help but post them. What a beautiful lake!! From the pics you'd think we were in Florida!

goof

Here's Dayne trying to entertain June at the airport waiting for our flight back to Portland from SLC. I love to see this one being silly rather than whining. (;

I'm still trying to figure out how to use my in-law's computer and find my pics on it. Shouldn't be that hard, I realize, but it is. While in Logan with my brother Bevan, he took us up to Idaho one day to float a river (can't remember the NAME of the river, nor can I figure out why my pics of that trip won't upload onto the computer), and on the drive back, we followed him far out into the country, well off the beaten path to this water canal. I took at least 10-15 pics of us all jumping in and being sucked in by the current down the narrow shute, but again, I can't find them!! It was SOO fun, possibly more fun than the actual float trip down the river.
If any of you have a problem with cold sores, as I do, try L-Lysine. It comes in pill and topical ointment form, and if you pop a good 4 at a time when you feel the blister starting, most of the time, it stops before it gets too bad. However, as you can see in this disgusting pic of myself, this one will not heal!! It didn't even grow to a full grown blister, but continues to "heal over" to a dark, red blood blister. SOO ugly. My generous brother Bevan sold us his Canon camera for cheap, so I was playing around with it the other morning and thought I'd take this pic of how nasty tired I looked, and the blister on my lip of course.
I thought I'd throw this one in because I'm too vain, and too proud to allow one hideous pic of me shown on my blog. Now you all know I still shower and put make-up on most of the time.
We went to my brother in law Cory's parents home/farm yesterday to pick blueberries. It was wonderful. They live on tons of gorgeous acreage with raspberries, blueberries, and a huge garden that I lay in bed dreaming of one day creating. I LOVE gardens (but am too lazy and overwhelmed right now to plan). Cole has a love love LOVE/hate relationship with his cousins. Most of the time, he adores every minute spent with them, up to the point of obsession and irritation from mom at his constant pleading to spend every waking moment with them. There are times, like with most close family, that fights and arguments begin to which Cole is extremely sensitive (he's sensitive to his OWN feelings, not really others). His INsensitive mom took this pic of him screaming and crying as a result of fighting with cousins, with blueberry juice all over his clean white shirt. How funny is that? I was able to take him on a date last night, just the two of us. We walked down to the local Burgerville for shakes and then walked over to the skatepark and watched some pretty extreme skateboarders. It was great. Cole was a sweet a pie. He's a special kid and I adore him. Just wish I could figure him out...

*this post is not very clear and hard to understand due to screaming kids in the background. I apologize.