My parents had only been married for 11 months when I was born, mom said she cried. Her whole pregnancy was a struggle, she was in and out of the hospital, sick all of the time, and unprepared to have a baby of her own; my dad had to teach her how to change my diapers. Mom told me that one time she was really sick in the hospital and so she prayed to Heavenly Father and told him that she would be happy with this pregnancy if He would send her a blue eyed, blonde haired, ducky lipped little girl. That is exactly what she got; I am Danielle Smith, a blue eyed, blonde haired, ducky lipped twenty-year old girl.
I was born in Mesa, Arizona and resided in Awhatukee, Arizona until I was five years old. I remember the small house my parents fondly named the Love Shack, it had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, one of the bedrooms had a huge burn mark in the carpet from when I put my shirt on my lamp shade and it caught on fire; my mom threw the shirt in the toilet to put the flame out. We had a cat at that house named Bunners; one day we were pulling up to our house after a visit to grandmas house and I saw my cat laying in the grass out front, I ran over to his lifeless body and saw the swarms of black ants devouring him.
My brother Jaxon was born when I was two and a half years old and when I was 4 my mom became pregnant with my sister, Jasey. We relocated to Chandler in the summer of
’95. The first night we moved to our new house I remember sitting on my double mattressstacked bed and staring at the fan that was spinning impossibly fast above my head thinking
about how weird it felt being there. I eventually adjusted and came to love living on Oak Grove
Lane which I renamed the “kids street.” Almost every house had kids that were me and my
brother’s age. My dad would always have the garage open where he would be working on his
sand rail, quads, etc and my brother and all his friends would just sit in there with him watching
him fix everything.
My sister Abbey was born in ’98 when I was in third grade, my teacher was very surprised my mom was going to have another child; I remember the look on her face when I told her my mom was pregnant. I was a smart, high strung, analytical child. During the summers I asked for big packets of school work to accomplish, I chose the summer work books when my mom let us pick something to buy at Costco, I subjected my siblings to hours of playing school; me being the teacher of course. Often times I would analyze my parents actions, I was always judging them and wondering if they were doing things that were right or wrong. I was a very judgmental child! I hated school lunches with a passion, I didn’t start eating them until I was in 4th grade and then I would only eat them when it was bean burrito day or soft taco day. Packing my lunch was a large point of dissention between my mother and I, she was a young mom of 4 children, and with me being the oldest she didn’t have a lot of time to pack me lunch which resulted in us fighting every morning. One of the last times I ever brought my lunch was the day that my mom threw some leftover cake in a Ziploc and tossed it to me down the hallway, telling me we wouldn’t be friends until I bought lunch at school. We eventually did become friends, but not until I was fourteen years old.
We started building a house in south Chandler when I was in eighth grade and because it wouldn’t be done until winter we moved into a rental house by my new high school so I wouldn’t have to transfer high schools. Our rental house was terrible in my eyes, I had no friends at my new high school, I was a freshman, I shared a bed with my sister; life was not fun. I started to rely on my mom and my family, I told my mom everything and she became my best friend and still is today.
I was a diver in high school, I loved to jump off that spring board and execute a beautiful dive, I always felt a rush of pride each time I entered the water. Being in the water has always been one of my favorite things; I spent two of my high school summers in the Florida Keys at Seacamp where I would snorkel, scuba dive, dissect fish, etc, all day long. Saying that I loved Seacamp would be an understatement. My parents taught me an important lesson in preparing for Seacamp, they told me they would help me get there but I had to pay for half so we came up with a plan where that would be possible. I am so thankful they were willing to support me in that goal of mine. I was the only LDS person at Seacamp, I remember one particular experience in which this became very clear. The girls in my cabin were talking about drinking and when they asked me if I had drank before I replied no, they were all astonished and Kate, a girl who I had talked to about my beliefs said “If I knew the things that Danielle does I wouldn’t do half the things I do.” This one statement made me realize that people want to know the truth, they want guidelines and direction, and they want what I have. Because of this and other experiences I have become so thankful for the gospel and the privilege it is to have it in my life.
Last semester I was able to go to study abroad in Israel for 3.5 months at the BYU Jerusalem Center for NearEastern Studies, it was absolutely wonderful. I learned that people who aren’t like me are beautiful, the Bible is
real, Christ’s life isn’t some abstract idea; it is real and it happened in a physical setting. I am excited for this fall
when I will start back into my exercise and wellness classes but I am so thankful for last semester in which I had
the opportunity to study religion, mine and others.
I LOVED reading your autobiography. So great! :-) You're one cute girl.
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