Here with us now

Geof. shared this video with me last night. Hear that violin in the background towards the end. Just melodious right? Listen or read the lyrics and tell me what YOU think it's about. Drug addiction? Cheating? Or, like Geof. says, sometimes we're not our best selves with our spouses and deserve forgiveness (I know I do). Isn't this song INCREDIBLY beautiful, though?! I love the sound of it, and Eddie? The man has passion (I added a few of his songs to my play list. It's getting so good!).

On to other news. Last Friday we took the kids out of school to beat the crowds and took them to Carter Mountain Apple Orchard in Charlottesville. It was brisk and windy, but beautiful. The kids were happy and I'm always my best self when outside the confines of my

never clean enough home.

Are you seeing Geof.'s jutted out chin in these last pics? Hilarious. He's imitating June who we've noticed

enjoys this face most.

My oldest (almost 8!!)

After kissing Cole tonight he says to me, "Mom, every time I kiss you on your lips I smell something. It's always the same.".

Me, "Yep. Moms have their smell. You'll always remember that smell, Cole." and jokingly, "Was it a good smell or a bad smell?"

Cole, "Um..kind of both."

Good night, Cole. (:

This girl!

I'm a lucky mama to have such a creative mind in my home. Dayne has her agenda when she walks in the door from school (btw, she does like school, but prefers to be home without all that "structure" stuff). The other day I was trying to clean up her art table and found these drawings lying (or is it laying?) around. I love them! It's so interesting to see what she comes up with. She hides these detailed "treasures" underneath Geof. and my pillow, as well. She's also learning to read and spell and shows a lot of interest in this area. It's been fun. She won't go to bed without a story (or 5) read to her. It's torture for her if she misses out on that (sometimes it's just too late and mom is too worn out!).

And before I forget, the other day I was riding Dayne and Cole home from school...er, okay, we were ALL riding bikes home from school and Dayne starts up a conversation about what kind of bike she'll have when she's a mom. "Mom, I want a bike with two seats for me and my husband before we have a car. I mean, if we don't have a car, we can have a bike that has two seats that we can both ride and he won't care that it's a girl's bike....". (pause), "Mom! When am I going to be a mom!?" (that means married to a boy). "I wanna be a mommy!".

Funny girl.

Geof.'s rafting trip

He can make some pretty funny faces, can't he?

http://photos.sethrobertsphotography.com/Other/gauley2010/14032826_BSoe6/#1032660818_n863U

Geof.'s half marathon, Harper's Ferry, a turtle, and the only produce from my garden

UPDATE: Just posted these first few pics. They accidently got deleted in all the shuffle of forming this post, I guess. Geof. wanted us to see Antietam Battlefield (that he ran through). So hilly! not the best way to end a half or full marathon. And these pics of Cole and June? So good to see Cole smiling!! And June is quite possibly the most adorable.





Pics are once again in order from last to first..and don't

forget to click on them to enlarge..mom!

I can't say enough about our our short little weekend trip up north. Geof. ran his first half marathon with ease (he humbly said he feels confident he could have run the full. I know, humble and confident in the same sentence?) in the beautiful town of Sheperstown, West VA. My cousin Ivy had told me about the run a few months back and since I didn't think I could do it with my weak knee (but wanted to see that part of the country), I signed Geof. up for it. In typical Geof./Darla fashion, we left later than planned, hit traffic,

argued and accused each other for not having planned a better route, and finally arrived (after dark) to our destination..well, our dinner destination. The kids (and we) were STARVING! Geof. had signed up for the spaghetti feed which turned out to be cold pasta and a less than decent sauce. Cole and Dayne had probably 7 glasses of lemonade (what was I thinking?) and both wet all over their sleeping bags. Yuck. But enough of that. Back to Sheperdstown. What a beautiful town! I felt like I was in the heart of America, such a quaint little town. After a restless night sleep (we camped 30 minutes away..bad planning. Wasn't aware that there were camp sites closer!), we arrived around 7 am and crossed over a bridge into town and as I looked over the railing to the view of the river, I had to have Geof. stop so I could snap..eh, 10 photos?! The mist hovering over the river and the sun rising..it was breath taking! And of course, I don't have the words to describe it. ): Absolutely stunning. Geof. and I only wished we could be there on a little weekend retreat staying at the Bavarian Inn over looking the river. Don't get me wrong, love our little boogers, but they were quite the handful this weekend. Cole and Dayne both had pretty bad colds and sadly, those two only get along on rare occasion. Once we dropped Geof. off, we ate some breakfast, got dressed, and then arrived way too early to wait on Geof.'s arrival. We sat, and sat, and waited, and waited. And Dayne kept trying to open the port-o-potty doors to look inside, and Cole continued to tease June and make her whine, and June..., oh June, she repeated her usual, "I want to go home now" the whole time! We walked down closer to the river and met up with my cousin Ivy's husband and son (notice pic of Dayne with little Christian?) and Geof. came soon after.. smiling, running as if he was born to do so (and he was), and then Ivy and her friends came a little while after. It made me want to sign up for the marathon next year. You literally run through 4 National Parks (the marathon). Geof. ran through Antietam Battlefield and not surprisingly, was enthralled by the history.

So..what else (Geof. and I are in the middle of our Sunday night Masterpiece Theatre and I really just want to sign off)? While driving to Sherperdstown the night before, we had noticed a little town nestled up against a cliff and the river (Shenandoah or Potomac? Not sure.) and didn't realize it was Harper's Ferry. It was such a pleasant surprise. We had a wonderful visit there and can't wait to go back. Although our kids were close to starving upon arrival (we seem to always find ourselves in this predicament, right?), and drove us nuts until they had food in their bellies, we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Perfect, beautiful little town with rich history and incredible views and sites. Geof. said he felt like he was in England. I really liked the food. (; And the train. And the ice cream. And seeing my kids happy and playing outside. And having everyone at the restaurant laugh at June singing "Sound of Music" (move over Mama Mia, June has a new favorite soundtrack) again and again. We drove home Sat. night, the kids and Geof. watched the new, "Alice in Wonderland" in the back, and we all conked out and slept like babies until morn. Today was nice. General Conference, muffins, fruit salad..and an evening walk with the kids. Fall is here!

p.s. forgot to mention that Cole and Dayne ran a one mile kid run (which they seemed to like), we had a pet turtle for a day or so (he bit Dayne's finger hard and wouldn't let go. Oh, the screams from that girl!), and my garden produced one, tiny little...cantaloupe (not real sure what it is..)? That's it. Not even a tomato. Aren't tomatoes the easiest thing in the world to grow??