my magical trip with Mama C

What better way is there to celebrate finishing college than by hitting all of the Orlando theme parks with your incredible mama? There is not one. There just is not.

I texted my mom a couple months ago and said: We should go to Disney World. Her response: Ok when?
So what followed was a perfect week of theme parks, laughing, happiness, diet coke, selfies, good food, magic, and just me and my mama having the best time.

Day 1 and 2 were spent theme park hopping at Disney World doing stuff like...

 hanging out with Chip and Dale...

taking selfies with Cinderella's castle...

 doing two of my favorite things in life: eating ice cream and riding carousels...

 getting caught in the rain (every single day we were in Florida)...

and of course riding ALL the rides.

I think that the absolute best part of Disney was our second night there. We were riding Thunder Mountain while the firework show was going off. I am obsessed with fireworks and watching them while zipping around on the little roller coaster was so so perfect (it almost made me actually enjoy riding a roller coaster. a rare rare thing for me.)

Day 3 was spent hanging out with my boy HP (Harry Potter for those of you who might not be quite as well acquainted with him) and running all around the rest of Universal Studios.

 You know we figured since we were in the neighborhood we might as well see how Harry, Hermione, and and Ron were doing.

There seemed to be this fun pattern of my mom and me getting stuck on rides during our trip. We hung out on the Harry Potter ride for a good five minutes. Five minutes feels significantly longer when you are harnessed in, you are facing the ceiling, and you are in the middle of trying to save Hogwarts.

Guess who just got accepted to the graduate program at Hogwarts University? Looks like I'll be taking the express train to school from now on.

You may have seen my instagram or facebook post about butter beer. It was not a great experience. Last time I went to Harry Potter world I didn't try it because it just didn't really look appealing to me. I got a lot of flack for this and was told that I HAD TO TRY IT. I tried it, and my mom caught my lovely reaction to this monstrous drink all on camera. It's pretty much butterscotch flavored cream soda. I mean if that's your thing? Cool. But, I'm gunna stick with my muggle diet coke from now on.

The rest of the day was spent romping the rest of the park. My mom made me ride Jurrasic Park twice. Maybe because I cried the first time. Oh shoot, did I really just admit that? It's ok, it wasn't as bad as I had remembered, and my mom bought me a new tank as a post ride prize.

Day 4. After Universal I thought that the fun was over. LITTLE DID I KNOW! My mom had planned a surprise day for me?!?! I have long been promised by my parents that I would get to swim with dolphins after a failed attempt on a previous trip. Well, Mama C came through, and the experience did not disappoint. We spent our last day doing the Trainer for a Day program at Discovery Cove and making best friends with dolphins, sharks, sting rays, and sloths, and it could not have been more amazing.

 You guys. I'm on the sloth train now. This little lady (the sloth not the trainer...but uhh she was nice too I guess) was adorable. 

 But I mean, this one time, me and a dolphin fell in love with each other.

 No seriously, look at all that happy.

 SO MUCH HAPPY!

 So satisfying to check things off of the life list.

 Should you ever have the opportunity to be propelled through the water by dolphins, do not pass it up. I repeat: do not pass it up.

So pretty much the takeaway message here is that I love my Mama and I could not be more grateful for this trip she took me on. And I know even though he wasn't there, Papa C was a big part of this trip too, and I am grateful for him also.

Happy Mother's day to this amazing woman and Happy 30th Anniversary to the most amazing parents in the world. I am not just lucky, I am blessed.

peace. love. and magic.

my graduation

So...I realize graduation was a couple weeks ago, and you are probably so so sick of hearing about it...but, I'm going to talk about it anyways. Sorry everyone, but I haven't had my computer for the past week, so we are going to have to catch up now.

To chat about it, here are more pictures of me than you have ever had any desire to see...

Here I am all diploma-ed up. Ok not really, that's just a diploma cover, but we can all pretend. A lot of people seemed kind of annoyed by the whole graduation thing, and I even had quite a few people tell me they weren't going to walk. Here's the thing, if I spent thousands of hours in classes to graduated, you betcha I'm sitting through a 2 hour long ceremony to walk across that stage.

 My sister Diane, her baby James, and my mom and dad all came out for graduation, but unfortunately since my sister Rochelle lives so far away in Germany, she wasn't able to come. Diane and I took this picture to pretend like she was there with us.

 These two amazing humans, my mama and my papa (in the picture below), have been the most amazing support through my college years, and well...every year of my life. I could not be more grateful for all of their help in getting through school (and yeah..life).

 #actiontasselshot

 Seriously, my whole family is amazing (plus Rochelle, Matt, Jed, and Daniel who couldn't make it out).

Every time I tried to put my hat on this little future cougar, he just put it back on me. Guess we'll have to wait a million years till his graduation day to see him wearing a weird flat-topped and tassled hat. (No, seriously. Who invented graduation robes and hats and more importantly why?!)

 Rather than take all my pics just outside of the Marriot Center where my graduation was held, I wanted to take some pictures at my absolute favorite spot on campus, the fourth floor deck of the JFSB. If you have not wandered up there on a sunny day to study (or really any day because it's always so nice), you're not using your time on BYUs perfect campus correctly.

My family all taking pictures of me and looking directly at me, and no one could say Hey Danielle, your hat is really lopsided and off center. Thanks guys.

Well, I guess this is it for me and BYU. I am so grateful for the four years that I have spent here, for the friends I have made, the professors who have taught me, the things I have learned, and the memories I have made. I still remember getting my acceptance to BYU and crying with joy, and I'm going to be honest with you right now, I'm crying just a little while I type this knowing that it's all over. Even with the number of times I pulled all nighters, had meltdowns because I thought there was no way I was going to get everything done, and questioned what I was doing, I still think I might do it all over again given the chance (wait...I guess that's what grad school is. Ok yeah, give me some time to think about that one).  I'm looking forward to bigger things, but I also can't stop looking back on a beautiful four years.

peace. love. and go cougars!