Life for Danielle

Well I am going to start off with a question. Have you ever had an onion with an EXTREME onion smell? I have chopped, eaten, smelled many onions in my life (especially this last year) and I have NEVER experienced an onion like the one that is sitting in a ziploc bag in my fridge right now. This onion has caused my entire fridge to smell like an onion. In fact, I just got the grapes out of the fridge, and they have a slight scent of onion on them. Thank goodness they don't taste oniony, they just smell like it a bit. When I open the fridge, the smell permeates my kitchen for about 10 minutes afterwards. I just smelled my hand and IT smells like onions. I haven't even touched an onion today. Why is this? I have never had an onion do this before. It confuses me.

Anyhow, as you may have discovered, I am eating grapes. Green grapes to be exact. There is something about grapes lately that just make life better. The crunch of freshness is priceless!

Life has been good. Clay and I have been soooo blessed. I truly feel like Heavenly Father is blessing us extra lately for some reason. Life has been like this: Every morning I wake up at 7:00am (or so...every once in a while a snooze gets in)-the fact that I am able to wake up that early every morning is simply amazing. I wake up, and I am okay with it! I then check the blog and my BYU-I email. I eat or go take a shower and then eat. Every morning I drink a Carnation Instant drink with soy milk. I feel that it is a very healthy breakfast- correct me if I'm wrong! And it is sooo easy! I then get ready for school because I have TIME to get ready. In semesters past we've woken up at the very last minute and I always felt disgusting because I never really got ready. Now I always feel cute because I put my makeup on and brush my teeth (yes, I sometimes went to school with un-brushed teeth). I then go to school where I have amazing teachers who always start the class with a prayer, inviting the spirit. Each class has put me into a group so that we can discuss our confusions in the chapter and so we can realize we aren't complete idiots-other people are confused too, and everyone for the most part is dressed and groomed nicely as well as smiling at you as you walk by. As much as I can't wait to be done with college, I know I will miss Rexburg and it's beloved BYU-Idaho. The spirit that is there- which here we call the "Spirit of Ricks", is very unique. After school I come home and do homework or grocery shop or take care of the apartment. The fact that I can stay home and not work is such a blessing. There are so many that are going to school and working, or going to school and working while carrying a baby in their tummy. Then when Clay comes home we talk and laugh and amazingly enough, love each other more each day. Don't get me wrong, of course we have our struggles, but lately life has just been wonderful. It's weird because so many times I look at other peoples life and think, man they have it good. Or, I really hope I am like that someday. Or, I wish my life was like that. But I really feel like if we all just looked around at all the good things we DO have- because no matter who we are and what we look like on the outside, each one of us DOES have problems of our own and trials that many people can't see- we would see that we really are blessed. I feel like a reason Clay and I are so blessed is because we ARE so grateful. Especially lately. We don't take what we have for granted, for the most part.

Now that I have gotten the hang of my schedule and organizing myself, school hasn't been too bad. Don't get me wrong- school is HARD and I do occasionally have those stress attacks creep up on me, but that is sadly inevitable for the young married college student. All in all, I can handle it and create enough time to play Nintendo Wii with my husband every once in a while.

Tonight we played. He beat me in golf and tennis, I beat him in bowling and Fitness.

Okay, now the grapes are beginning to taste like onions. This just isn't fair!

I have also been able to play piano a bit. It's wonderful. I really do LOVE the piano. I am sooooo grateful to my parents for paying for piano lessons all those years. I know I complained a lot- for practicing and stuff, but I am so grateful that I can play the piano. When I play songs that I have memorized, I find myself getting so wrapped into the song that I begin to close my eyes and I'm not kidding when I say that the adrenalin inside me builds up and keeps going until the end nears and I slow my emotions and peace arrives. It is such a range of emotions when I play the piano it almost feels spiritual. I don't mean spiritual by like...hymns, I mean with all of my songs. These men and women that create these songs are inspired in my opinion.

I just want to say that I love my husband Clay so much. He is so good to me and such a hard worker. He never complains about him working and me staying at home, and is always assuring me that it is okay that I don't work. He always tells me I'm smart and pretty and he always laughs at my jokes. I am SO blessed to have him as a husband and friend and I love him more than ever. I know that this is really random but I just wanted to say it because I am realizing more than ever that he is so perfect for me.

Alright. This has been quite a blog. I shall leave now. It is irritating because after I write my blog, about an hour later I realize I wanted to put something but I forgot and I feel it's too late to change it. Does that ever happen to you? Oh well. I am going to use my onion smelling hands to take my onion flavored grapes to my onion denominated fridge. Wish me luck.

I love you all!!! I miss you too.

PS- I was going to put a picture of Clay and me to spice it up a bit, but it wouldn't load for some reason. Sorry.