the falls are a flowin'

so, after the week of non-stop rain, thunder, lightning and hail (yes hail) a much needed fun weekend was in order. friday night lillian and i had to attend a choir banquet for some of the evening, where we sang, ate and played awkward "get-to-know-you" games. however, we were able to escape early and meet up with friends for Leif's birthday. we all went out to dinner on state street, which was a blast. many laughs and awkward moments were had, starting with the woman that changed her shirt the next table over in the sushi restaurant. no shame. after dinner, which was great, we ended up missing the shuttle, so had to wait another hour for the 11:45 one. let me tell you, state can be a pretty sketchy place at night. for example, walking to the safe-haven of starbucks we were not once graced with the presence of fresh air as the scents changed between tobacco and some not so legal substances...yikes.
along our journey to starbucks, my friends were given the often-occurring opportunity to laugh at me. we were passing a club that had loud music coming out of it. so, allison and i start messing around and dancing as we walked. she said something and in response (though it was totally a joke) i go "lets go!". this guy walking the other direction chose that moment to fully run into me and then say "yeah, lets go. come one." awkward! i didn't get to live that one down.
but, overall it was a fun night.

one half of the table:Leif, Brent, Shanan, Lillian, Candace and Shaun... and the other half of the table (plus Leif): Leif, me, Allison, Amy, Clara, Barrett.

the rest of the weekend was also quite lovely with a nice, relaxing hike up to Tangerine falls on saturday and on sunday. just Barrett and I went on Sat. and then Allison joined us on Sun.

because of all the rain, the falls were full and beautiful! so amazing


but, looking at the falls wasn't enough for us. we decided to climb up the side of the rock-face. so smart...not. Barrett and I did find this neat cave, which is what we are sitting in and the view was amazing!
although climbing up the side of the waterfall was difficult, it was nothing compared to what getting down was like. rocks were crumbling, mud was sliding, tree branches were scratching; it was intense. as Barrett and I were trying to get down from the cave, she goes "Danielle, please don't fall. I don't think I could watch you die.". I laughed and told her the same thing. Allison took this opportunity to get out her Bible and read a Psalm. she read the first one she turned to, which was Psalm 46
"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come and see the works of the Lord,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.
"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.""

is that crazy or what! perfect verse for the situation! :)

Barrett, me and Allison looking quite intimidating...or trying haha

our "grrr" faces...

here is a good one! :)

fun stuff

much soccer was played, much tackling was done

my first week back was absolutely amazing! after not looking forward to coming back to school and even wondering if Westmont was the right place, I've been extremely blessed to discover that i am absolutely loving this semester so far. i think it really hit me Tuesday night; i was in the lounge with Shannon, Leif and Shea. Leif and Shannon got out their guitars and we just started singing and worshiping. it was so refreshing and it was like at that moment, i knew that God did want me here. so, my first week back was such a blessing and a bit eye opening.
the weekend was full of nothing but activity! Friday night was Clark broomball! we all made our way down to the ice rink and divided up the teams by section. our section's color was purple and Barrett just happened to have purple lipstick handy, which we all used to give our self war paint. great! anyway, it was the Clark burbs vs. the Clark beach (different sections of our dorm buildings). it was so much fun! i did earn a great bruise from landing flat on my back. totally embarrassing. i'm running full out towards the ball, loose my footing and my legs just fly out from under me and the next thing i know i'm lying flat on my back on the ice. i wasn't the only one that fell, though my fall was one of the worst. Barrett totally crashed into a wall, which was pretty great. after broomball we all had a sliding contest to see who could slide the farthest.
when we got back in the cars to drive back up to Santa Barbara, Barrett and i were both expressing our frustrations at the fact that we couldn't run. i said it made me really want to play soccer. so, when we got back to campus, we ran to ask our friends if they wanted to play soccer the next day. they all said they were in. Saturday we had a dorm BBQ to celebrate the new lawn we got. while we were at the BBQ, word spread about our soccer game and before we knew it most of the neighboring buildings had joined our game. it was great! however, many other people joining meant that some of them knew how to play pretty well. Barrett opted for tackling. after the game had finished, Barrett and i got into a full on wrestling match. great way to relieve aggression. our friends were gathered around us, staring at us like we were crazy. Amy and Allison did join in though. by the way, the Allison I'm referring to is Barrett's roommate, not my roommate Allison. after soccer, we just hadn't had enough activity and so we started a game of volleyball. great fun! we rewarded ourselves with chipotle and yogurt land for dinner :)
since soccer was so fun in the sun, we just had to get a game going in the rain! what else do you do with a Monday off when it's raining? the group made our way down to the field to play for a while, which actually turned into more tackling...this time it was even better cause it was in the mud! we also did some puddle sliding. after getting totally soaked, Allison, Reggie and Shannon went back to the dorms, leaving Amy, Barrett, Clara, Leif and i to start a game of soccer. we divided the teams up as Leif and Barrett against me, Amy and Clara. we decided this was good because Leif was the best player and Barrett didn't have very good footing on the slippery rain-soaked field although we all played barefoot, so who knows why. anyway, the game kind of went along like Leif having the ball, us three trying to get it from him and Barrett trying to take anyone out who came near him. we tied at 2-2 and then decided we were way to cold and wet to continue. we got back up to Clark and had to take a few pictures before throwing all of our wet, muddy cloths in the wash together. we figured it would be best to do it all at once instead of putting them in with our other cloths...good thinking.

our great looking-tough picture. l to r: Leif, Clara, Barrett, Amy and me

there. now we are happy :) except Leif....who is exasperated? hiding? haha...if you look at each of us individually we all look we are staring each other down...except Leif, who looks shocked and Barrett, who just looks scary

um...a bit confused?

such a fun weekend! only a few more days till the weekend again! i love short weeks! hope everyone is doing fantastic!

i've been slacking on pictures, so here...

so, i noticed i haven't posted many pictures of my time here at Westmont...mostly because i keep forgetting to take any :) but, here are some i've stolen from friends of the last few months just so you guys can see who people are and such.

this first one was just at a section meeting (we meet every week and share testimonies). i know it's hard to see, but from left to right the people are leah, kathryn, sarah, lillian, kelly, barrett, me and candace. this next one was from our NCTO (non-committal-take-out) in early November i think. anyway, again from left to right: shannon, me lillian, kelly, allison and brent
at the christmas festival for chior in december!

snow day! when they dumped a bunch of snow for us to play in...it was great! barrett, kathryn, lillian, me, amy, allison, clara.

clark bbq last sat! these are again som girls from my section. hanna (my ra), madi, lillian, clara, shea, amy, me, kathryn, allison, barrett.

anyway, i just wanted to share with you guys some pictures so you can perhaps better put names with faces :)

not a bad start to 2010

my 2010 started off with a trip to Park City, Utah, where much fun was had with family, much skiing was done and many laughs were had.

we flew out on Janurary 2nd to Salt Lake City and then drove to Park City. we arrived at the place we were staying and i think that evening we simply hung around the house and relaxed.

early the next morning, we were met by our family that lives in the Salt Lake area, who came up to ski with us. unfortunately my cousin Jenna had to work, but it was still fun to hang out with the other four (Uncle Jeff, Aunt Julie, Jamie and Justin). when they arrived we all got ready to go out and ski. a couple of runs in betsy had another one of her moments that she is prone to and accidentally sat in justin's seat on the ski lift, pushing him off. ridiculous, but funny. skiing that day was a blast and i was pleasantly surprised that i got back into the rhythm so quickly. the only thing i really had problems with that day were the moguls (small little hills/ bumps that you are supposed to ski between). that was the only time i fell, but i made it count. i completely ate it and then slid at least 60ft down the mt. i'm not exaggerating either. i was literally just sliding down on my back for a good minute...it was awesome :) when i finally made it to the bottom, justin was waiting for me and asked me if i was screaming the whole way down the mountain and i replied that "no, i was laughing". the rest of the day skiing went well and we were able to come back to a nice hot jacuzzi. though it wasn't as thoroughly relaxing as it could have since katie and justin kept throwing snow. at on point justin had me in a headlock and was rubbing snow into my face...lame. i did however run out of the warmth of the hot tub with him to make snow angles. it was painful but so thrilling haha.
after our thilling and painfully cold adventures we all went into Park City for dinner and then to pick up a cake since it was justin's birthday.
the next day just my immediate family went intertubing. it was fun, but the absolute best part had to be when betsy thought she would get a ride up the hill by gary pulling her. so she begins to run towards the tube and completely launches herself. gary totally saw this coming and had this devious look on his face. as she is fully airborne he yanks the rope and pulls the tube out of the way, causing her to face-plant into the packed snow. greatest thing ever and i saw it coming. that evening justin and jamie came up and had dinner with us, which was nice.
tuesday was another skiing day, which was great. it snowed and i accidentally took betsy down a black diamond. my mom and gary went to see katie at her ski lesson, so betsy and i went our separate way to do some more skiing. i told her that we should try going to the right, since we had been to the left already. a bunch of black diamond runs greeted us, but i was positive that there would be a double blue run we could take and there was...two of them actually. it just so happened that they were both closed. so, only way down was to take the black diamonds :) i quite enjoyed it...especially watching her struggle and scream all the way. i'm such a nice sister haha
again that evening the J's came up and had dinner with us and hung out for a while.
then Wednesday we drove down to Salt Lake to see Jamie's new condo she just bought and go visit Jenna at the restaurant she works at to have a quick lunch before catching our flight.
it was a good trip and it was good to be able to spend time with my family. never a dull moment :)
when i get some pics, i'll be sure to put them up.
and i'll update about the rest of my break and the start of the new semester later.

2009 is now behind us

what can be said about 2009? it was another year of life, another year of growth, a year of many changes, yet many discoveries. 2009 marked a huge milestone in my life-the graduation of high school and the starting of college. looking back, it is just so hard so believe my life has changed so much in only a year.
a recurring theme i seem to be encountering as we approach the end of this year is oh "2009 was a really bad year" or "i'm so ready to leave 2009 behind and move on to 2010". for me, i honestly don't think i'm ever ready to say goodbye to a year. i've never viewed the mark of the new year as a fresh start. to me it has always just been a record of time, a changing of numbers.
with this in mind, i looked back to see what i posted last year in the response of the new year approaching.

"happy new year, everybody! can you all believe it is 2009?! i sure can't! 2009 has always sounded so far into the future, being the year i graduate and all. crazy! 2008 was one of the best years, by far! so many things happened. traveling to so many different places was definitely a bit highlight that i am very thankful for. i feel as if i have learned so much this past year; about life, people, God and many other things. i am both nervous and excited for 2009. i know it is going to be a year filled with many exciting and new things. the best i can do is go into it knowing God is in control and with a positive attitude to take these new experiences as they come. "

looking at this now, i still believe that 2008 held some of my most prized memories and lessons in it. i traveled more than i ever had before in that year and i really established and strengthened some great relationships with people that i love and depend on.
reflecting on my year of 2009, i will say this- it has held more ups and downs in it than ever a time i can remember. the end of senior year was a great accomplishment in my book, yet filled with more emotions than i'd have ever felt before. the summer was wonderful and holds some fantastic life-long memories as well. and these last few months of college have gone by in a blur with a huge spectrum of emotions and feelings; many bad and many good.

i'm not sure what this year will hold, but i pray that i will be directed in the way that i'm meant to travel in. i can say that simply from writing on my blog in these last few moments, have inspired me with an idea. what might that be? you will simply have to wait and see.

here's to wishing you a happy, meaningful and prosperous new year. welcome 2010!