Icy

It is official.
I have started using the snow shuffle; for those who aren't sure
what the snow shuffle is i will
elaborate.
The snow shuffle is very very handy when the sidewalks are icy. My version
of the snow shuffle is that every time an
ice patch comes along i just scoot my feet across it, i don't pick them up
i just shuffle them across the icy surface.
i may look weird, and you may be able to hear me from
20 feet away, but my falling record is beautiful.
i don't even remember the last time i fell on ice; yep
I'm that good.
In the winter, in Utah, people drop like flies because of icy sidewalks.
Seriously.
I never go a day without seeing someone
slip on an ice patch.
it cares the bajeebers out of me!
SO i practice safe walking.
Thank you snow shuffle.
ps- i do remember one nasty fall i had my freshman year.
i was late for the bus so i was walking fast and i decided
to cut across the street by
walking down a small grassy snow covered hill.
I slid right down that hill.
The whole side of
one pant leg was soaked. i was late for school though so i just
hopped on the bus with wounded self esteem
and a very wet leg.
I was such a committed student back then!
If the same were to happen to me now
i would have turned on my heel and walked straight back home, grateful
for an
excuse
to not have to go to class.
How times have changed! ;)
ha!
I am still a good student, meaning i get great grades. I have
just learned the amount of effort necessary
to generate my desired grades, and
It is very efficient if i do say so myself.

Pictures

i am in love with pictures of Grant and i. Basically all i have done today is stare at the pictures that got taken of us from this last trip home. It isn't that i am obsessed with our beauty or whatever, (although we are quite lovely) but it is just that when i am looking at the pictures of us i feel like Grant is with me, i feel like we aren't so far away from each other. I can see from our pictures how much fun we have together and how happy we are when we are in each others presence. I am so grateful for photography, for the chance to preserve little moments in time. I will always turn to pictures of Grantler and i when i miss him or need a pick me up. He is my best friend and seeing us acting goofy in the middle of the sand dunes helps me to remember how i can always be myself when i am with him; it helps me to remember the joy and feeling of lightness i feel when i am enjoying his company. So, for now, i will comfort myself in our photos, i will dive into the memories that we created together, and I will be happy, like i am when i am with Grant.

Full Body Scanners

Oh ya! Guys!
I was just reading through my old posts and realized I had said I would update on the airport security scanners!
I can't let my many readers down! (ha, just let me feel important)
So to my dismay they didn't use the full body scanners a the SLC or PHX airports. What the?
I don't know why. But I was slightly disappointed.
Oh well.
I probably should be thankful.
But seriously.
I wanted to know what all the hoopla was about. I guess I will have to wait!

Break Continued

So I am back to business here at BYU. Time away from Grant feels like I am just going through the motions. It is not very exciting. It is all
snowy here now;
today I definitely practiced the ice shuffle as I walked to school.
Slipping on ice is a serious thing!! I always take precautions! ;)
So lets get back to Thanksgiving break.
So Monday I hung out with my parents while Grant
fulfilled his school and work responsibilities. It was really enjoyable. i just love my mama
and papa. It was fun to hear them banter
at the office, I love that my parents are in love with each other.
It makes me so happy.
Tuesday I went to lunch with my friend Mercedez, I got to hear
all about her trip to Utah to see her honey.
I loved seeing her and catching up. Wednesday, Grant and I made coconut basil curry and lavash, a yummy flat bread Grant would make in latvia.
It was DELICIOUS.
Oh my gosh.
One more thing I love about my Grantler; he loves to cook and loves to eat.
I am not talking about just burgers or spaghetti,
we cook weird exotic things like curry! We love it. It is so fun for us.
So after we made the whole house smell like curry we went country dancing.
It was a blast. I wish we lived by each other so
we could make country dancing a weekly event!!! Seriously.
Over the summer we are going to make it happen, wooot.
On Thursday we had Thanksgiving!!
We went to Grant's grandmas house and Aunt Stephanie did an
impromptu photo shoot with Grantler and I!
Oh my gosh.
The pictures ended up looking sooo cute. I am in love.
Thank you Aunt Steph!!
All I do now is just stare at out pictures. How can I not? Were pretty cute.
Just sayin.
Friday we went to the sand dunes! The drive was so quick, only 3 hours.
It was great. We got to ride in the sand rail multiple times and oh man there is nothing like it. You feel like you are flying across the desert. It is beautiful. I love it.
Andddd Grantler loved it!
He said it was better than any roller coaster he has ever been on! Yay!
Grantler also drove me around on our Commander. Its like this sand toy that is not a quad
or a dirt bike or a sand rail. It's like the SUV of sand toys.
Grant loved driving it and I loved looking over at my man looking adorable as
we sped through the desert scenery. His hair got all fluffy and he was all smiles. I was all smiles too :)
It was the perfect weekend at the dunes:)
My sister even took pictures for us in the middle of the dunes while we barrel rolled down a sand hill, jumped off hills, and just played in the sand. I felt like
a little kid, it was absolutely divine.
Thanks Jasey for being the best! Her and I decided to shove our faces in the sand and make face imprints. Well that didn't work; all we were left with was a face full of sand!
It made for a great picture though.
I am so thankful for my lovely family. They are so good to me.
I am also thankful for Grant's family and for the kindness they show me.
I felt so welcomed at their Thanksgiving celebration and I always feel welcome in Grant's home.
Saturday night Grant and I just ate dinner at the mongolian grill and watched a movie.
Sunday was church and the airport.
Grantler always walks me in the airport and then be stays with me till I go through security.
My flight was delayed so we sat on a couch in Starbucks and just chatted.
It was great. I love that boy.
That was my trip. It was my favorite trip I have taken to AZ.
Only 20 days and then I will be back! Hopefully that trip will be even better!

Ten Days of Bliss

HELLOO WORLD!!
I am so happy.
I just had the most blissful ten days of my life. Seriously.
I had such a good time in AZ!! Lets recap.
-Grantler picked me up from the airport as usual.
*side note- i will now use lower case i's. it takes to much time to capitalize. *
-i love when Grant picks me up from the airport. Every time I get all excited and breathy when i leave the airplane. i made sure to sit right at the very front this time so i could be one of the first ones off. i was number 3. it was great. so anyway, Grant and i left the airport and after our usual getting lost leaving the airport spiel (we never take the right turn out of the airport, ever) we were on the open road headed to Chandler. we headed to the Chandler mall and after some deliberating we decided on eating at The Cheesecake Factory. it was gooood. so much food and the ambiance of the restaurant is super. it was so nice.
-Friday we went to a play and Bing Soo with my sister. it was rather enjoyable.
-Saturday i didn't see my baby till like 6! but i did get to spend a lot of time with my family so that was really nice. i went to my little sisters softball game where she totally owned and then i got to go grocery shopping with my mom! then i got ready for my big date with Grant! we went and painted at the pottery painting place, my fave and then we got dinner at Z Tejas. it was delish. Grantler always spoils me :) it was a lovely day to celebrate our 6 month anniversary.
-Sunday i got to join Grant at church! i just love going to church with him! mama made green chile just for me and it was good. Grant came for dinner too so that was a plus!
*i am sooo tired! i am feeling a large wave of tiredness crash into me and i am not going to fight it. i will continue posting tomorrow!

2:58 AM

Its 2:58 am and I am laying in my parents bed in my empty house basically shaking in my boots except I am not wearing boots and I am not shaking but I am scared. First things first, I have doubts about Floyd in the guard dog area. During the day he is pretty alert and ready to defend but at night, no way. He is snoring peacefully beside me while I jump at every sound. All I can say is that I wish 5:30 am were closer! Grant and I are leaving for the dunes tomorrow at 6! I can't wait. It will be so fun to show him a little bit of family tradition and introduce him to the sand rail. I hope the weather is perfect and delightful.
Thanksgiving was way fun yesterday. I spent the majority of the day with Grantler and it was just perfect. Last night after dinner, chatting, and watching the boys play basketball we played a few great games of catch phrase. I love that game so much! I get wayyy loud though, hhmmm definitely something I need to work on! I feel like it is the perfect opportunity to yell and be expressive though. hahah
"Hi I am Danielle and I use CatchPhrase as an outlet in which I can be expressive and loud."
Totally makes sense.
I hate being alone at night. Seriously. I love my room in my house in Utah. It is tucked up on the top floor, 2 other rooms right next to it. I never feel unsafe. I am thankful for daddy's. I don't think I would have ever slept a wink of sleep growing up if I didn't know that my dad was around to protect me from the noises I deemed to be scary. Right now I have no protection from such noises. Well except Floyd... I seriously want to leave for the dunes right now. Just up and go. gahh. Grantler didn't answer my text ha. I figured he wouldn't but I had to try right?
I love Grantler. I love him because he lets me call him Grantler and likes it.
I love him because he always lets me choose, even though I say I don't care most of the time.
I love him because we have fun cooking together.
I love him because he balances me out when I get a little high strung.
I love him because he is patient.
I love him because he uses this tone of voice every once in a while that I just melt over.
I love him because he likes to play with little kiddies.
I love him because he tries new things with me- we went country dancing Wednesday and yesterday he led me into a little dance in the living room, he totally remembered the moves he learned!
I love him because he loves me!
I can't wait till be get to be with each other all the time- come quickly April 21st.
Right now would be the perfect time for me to do some black Friday shopping huh? Seriously. I have never been up at 3:24 am on black Friday before. Maybe it is a sign.
CIAO

Hhmmm

I have lots of things on my mind.
-I am not sure if I like my new blog name hmm
-I love Arizona
-I am not sure if I will have an indoor dog when I grow up. My parents dog, Floyd is so hairy!! He is adorable though.. I guess that is a bridge I will cross when I come to it!
-My sister and I went to the big desert park across from our house today. We were on a mission to release their beta fish into the open. Ha! It was pretty fun actually. My sisters let them go at the top of the water fall and then we followed them down. We found one at the bottom, I have no idea how we was still alive but he was! We tried catching him but couldn't, it was fun trying though.
-While we were on our walk Floyd saw a rabbit and he really wanted to chase it, I could barely hold him back. It was sort of scary!
-It is really fun having my sisters be older. I am really enjoying spending time with them :) I think we will have a fun summer together!
-Today is Grantler and I's 6 month anniversary. YAY! It seems like it has been way longer than 6 months. In five months I will be back in AZ, permanently. (at least for the whole summer) I can't wait.
-I feel really good about going to Jerusalem. I think I need it. It will be a good time to reflect upon my life and the things I am doing. I am getting excited.
-I need someone to buy my contract.
-I am sleepy.
Ciaoo.

I Like Tortoises

I have had a long time fascination with tortoises and turtles. It started back when I was really young, around three years old I'd say. My youngest aunts lived with my grandparents still and they had turtles. I loved to go over and play with them! I even kissed one! (this did not end well for me, my tongue got bitten) I eventually got my own turtles and then tortoises. I like tortoises better than turtles because I find that turtles have more flexible necks so when you hold them they can put their heads back and snap at you. NO THANKS! Not a fan. Tortoises are way more inflexible and nice, they will even let you stroke the top of their head. I haven't had a tortoise since my last one got sprayed with insecticide, he was mistaken as a rock. Thanks pest control guy, so great. That was around my sophomore year of high school and now I am being reintroduced to the world of tortoises and I can say that I am totally smitten! My sister just got two new babies. I loveee them, they are darling. It is like a piece of my youth has been given back to me. I love it.

Pictures!!

So I just wanted to post a few pictures of life lately!

Hey!

Hello all!
Today in the lovely college town of Provo, Utah it is FREEZING! I mean sun out, wind blowing, face numbing freezing! I always feel like its colder when the sun is out because then there isn't cloud cover to insulate me! I must admit that I absolutely loveee the beautiful mountains. It is so heavenly to be walking across campus and look up to see the snow dusted mountains right at my finger tips. They are so clear and gorgeous today. One great thing about the cold- we get to use our fireplace! It is so awesome! I loveee it! Definitely the highlight of my winters!!
So here is a quick rundown of my life as of late!
-Today I participated in a study at the business school, it was a food consumption study. I got to eat a cup of peanuts and answer some survey questions! The best part was at the end I got five dollars! I didn't even know I would be compensated! Talk about awesome! What did I do with my five dollars?? I booked it to the nearest building with a vending machine and bought myself a water! I was so thirsty! And to my delight the vending machine spit out my change in gold coins, with the lady on the back! I can't spell her name so we will just go with gold coins ha :)
-I leave for Arizona in t minus 49 hours. YAYYYYY. I am really excited. I can't wait to spend 10 whole days with Grantler!!! We are going to go hiking, country dancing (maybe, pray that Grant won't back down!), have Thanksgiving, go to the dunes, and just enjoy life together. I am thinking it will be pretty blissful, maybe even perfect.
-I am excited to see if they use the full body scanners at the airport that everybody has been chattering about. hhmmm I will definitely let you know.
-I love fall in Utah. Falling leaves=lovely
-Falling leaves makes me think of yesterday when I was walking across campus and I happened to see the most delightful thing! (and ok maybe a little odd too) This boy jumped onto this tree trunk, hugged it, and proceeded to monkey climb it in like 15 seconds. Once he got like halfway up the tree he reached out and shook a branch with lots of leaves on it. The leaves then shimmered free, down onto the girl standing below with her arms outstretched. I am pretty sure he did it just for her. It was rather cute and illegal too! But cute.
-I did bad on my epidemiology take home test. I knew I would do bad. It was my worst grade since like one year ago. Sort of hard to take. But oh well. I can rebound.
-I am preparing for my departure to Israel. Less than 2 months. WoW. I really don't know how to feel. I am excited but I don't think the full excitement has hit me yet, I think that'll happen once I am at the airport. This trip will be amazing.
-The semester is ending and that means my time with my roommates is almost over. It is definitely bitter sweet. I love those girls and am sad that they will be moved on with their lives when I get back up to the Y. But I am so excited for them.
- I reallyyy need to find someone to buy my contract at my house. Holy moly I try not to stress about this too much but it definitely weighs on my mind.
-I am realizing how amazing my parents really are. They are the best examples to me. I love them.
-I am trying to really develop the gift of faith. We had a great lesson on Sunday and I read some really awesome quotes about faith in the Bible Dictionary. Love that resource, its amazing. Trusting in Heavenly Father and His plan will bring me peace. I know this.
Anywayyy sorry my posts are always so long! Have a great week! I hope your Thanksgiving is as good as mine will be! :)

Studying... or Not

At this very moment I am sitting in the Harold B Lee Library trying to study for my epidemiology test that is looming over me. What I would really like to be doing is cuddling at home, next to the warm fire, not thinking about school or anything. But alas that will not be happening anytime soon. So I will go back to my epidemiology book. And I will study. Yayyyyy.