future eyes and cut-out hearts.

Underneath one of the antler arches

     Throughout grade school, Valentine’s Day was almost depressing. It was a day that came every year and each time reminding me that I was alone. Girls around me would have their lockers full of candy, balloons, hearts, stuffed-animal bears, and I just had to be happy for them. No one had ever asked me: “Be My Valentine.” This all changed for me on Valentine’s Day of 2010; the day I was sure that I had fallen in love. This is when I found out that when Jason does something nice, he goes all out (hence, the hot air balloon ride on our engagement day) and doesn't disappoint.

A surprise breakfast

     The day started early with a knock on the door and a single white rose. We went to Jason’s apartment lounge where we made breakfast together, which was my first time cooking a meal with a boy, so it was pretty exciting. Our adventure continued with a two and a half hour drive to Jackson Hole, Wyoming with our friends Rex and Jessica where we went on a horse-drawn sleigh ride to see Elk! Amazing. We also toured the city of Jackson Hole and went into shops with beautiful paintings and sculptures of the surrounding wildlife. Jackson Hole is well-known for its antler arches that we took pictures under.

I've never seen so much elk

We love Jackson Hole

     When we returned to Rexburg, Jason and I split from our friends to go to this extravagant restaurant he had heard of, but on our way there, he realized that he left his wallet at home. So we drove back and went inside to find it, but what I found wasn’t a wallet at all, it was a candle-lit dinner in the middle of his living room just for me! Yes, I picked a good one. I was blown away. After being served bowtie pasta by friends, listening and slow dancing to the Valentine's Day mix Jason made, and exchanging cards I couldn’t help but wonder: “Why on earth would anyone do all of this just for me?” That’s when I looked at Jason with love in my eyes and joy in my heart. I was in love. I just couldn’t believe he had put so much thought into a perfect Valentine’s Day.

A romantic dinner for two

     For dinner, Jase and I went to Texas Roadhouse. Warning: only go there if you’re extremely hungry! They bring you this amazing bread with cinnamon butter, and Jason and I just had to get their cheese fries because they're amazing! Each meal comes with TWO  sides and TOO much food, but still incredible. Jason and I exchanged our valentines in the car while we were waiting for our table. Jason’s was SO cute. He actually got construction paper and markers and made this adorable heart-shaped valentine. He even color coordinated. The night before, I was in a really fun mood and I went out with Brooke and picked out a cute balloon for Jason. It was in the shape of a freckled bug that said Love Bug on it. I was hoping Jason wouldn’t be home, (which I don’t know why he wouldn’t be) but when I peeked inside his apartment, Jason was sitting at the kitchen table making my valentine. I said, “Oh! Uhhh...t’s okay... I just...here! Okay, bye!” I threw the balloon inside and ran away. It was fun and I think Jason liked my choice of balloon.

Valentines Day 2011

     As far as school goes, it’s definitely keeping me busy. I’m sorry to say that there are days when I don’t have free time to just relax with Jason. It’s pretty tough. Jason has been spending his free time studying and practicing for his LSAT or GRE that he will take in the Fall. I’m so proud of him for taking it so seriously. Recently, I was accepted into the Fast-Grad program at BYU-I which means I will be attending school year-round with only a 6 week break‒ just enough time to get married. Haha. I’m ready for the challenge.

preparing to be a teacher.

Class of 2009 graduate of Waterford Mott High School

     It doesn't seem that long ago that I graduated high school and now I'm on my fourth semester at BYU-I. My classes are starting to focus more on my major: Elementary Education. I am so happy that I finally have a focus and that I know what I want to do. Although I am still a little nervous about becoming a teacher and being responsible for children’s education, these classes are helping to ease the discomfort. I just started reading this amazing book for a class called, "The First Days of School: How to be an Effective Teacher" by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong. I have only read the first couple of chapters, but I have already learned so much in preparing to become an educator.

     In this same class, being a teacher was compared to being a cheerleader. As a former cheerleader, I absolutely loved this! My favorite part of cheerleading was encouraging not only the football or basketball team, but also my own team members. This is exactly what a teacher does: encourage. They help the students know that they are fully capable of doing whatever they want to do in life and that they  just need the encouragement and motivation to get there. Sometimes I need my very own cheerleader. Luckily my parents have always been my cheerleaders and now Jason has become one. I have also had other friends cheer me on, but these are the few that constantly are there every day by my side. I know that I could not have gotten this far in my life without their help. Having has this experience, I know just how important it is that students have this encouragement.

Cheerleading is like teaching

     This semester has me pretty busy. I will be taking a total of seven classes including an Early Field class where I will be attending a 5^th grade classroom at Madison Middle School to first, observe and later, to contribute to the students learning. Luckily, I have had some experience with this. During my senior year of high school, I was in a Leadership class and one of the requirements was to attend a school and help tutor or work with the kids. I absolutely fell in love with going to my classroom of over 50 kids (it was a combined classroom with two teachers). Many of the students ran up to me to give me a hug as soon as they saw me. One even developed a crush on me and wrote me love notes. Haha. While helping the students with reading, spelling, and other subjects; I felt good knowing that I helped them understand how to do things that they will use throughout their lives. Anyway, because I had such a good experience before, I look forward to doing it again this semester.

     Another class I’m excited for is Preparing for Eternal Marriage, which I am taking with Jason. We haven’t started it yet, but I really look forward to discussing important aspects of marriage in the class and outside of the class with Jason. I think it will help us to better know what is to come this year as we prepare to get married this Summer. Speaking of marriage, so far, things are going pretty great with planning the wedding. My mom and Jason’s mom have been a tremendous help with finding the reception places and getting all the BIG stuff out of the way so we can focus on the "fun things." I found my dress! I ordered it online and it was shipped to me over Winter break. When I tried it on, it fit perfectly! I would post a picture, but I don’t want Jason to see it. Planning is still kind of stressful, but I am getting more and more excited- with a side of nervousness. But that’s normal, right?

balloons and shiny things.

Getting ready to float

     I’ve wanted to start a blog for a while now, but I didn’t want to just start randomly in the middle of my college years; however, I just became engaged to be married and I thought this would be the perfect time considering this is sort of the beginning of my new life. It’s almost as if life up until this point was just training for what's to come. To introduce myself, my name is Danielle Garber (soon to be Danielle Cowles) and I am from White Lake, Michigan. Right now, I am attending Brigham Young University–Idaho and majoring in Elementary Education. My fiancé (wow, that’s weird to say) is Jason and he is from Lake Forest, California. His major is English with a French minor and he's hoping to go to grad school for International Law or International Relations. 

Our trip to Salt Lake City

     Jason and I met at college through friends and roommates in September of 2009. Not much of a story there, but one we didn’t expect to have such a great ending. I’ve always been pretty shy, so our relationship started off slow, but I gradually became more comfortable around Jason and we became “official” on December 30, 2009 (sometimes we say we started dating in October because, technically, we did). Each day, as the semester went on, I fell more and more in love with Jason. Unfortunately, when the winter semester was over, it was time for me to go home for the summer while Jason continued going to school. The summer break for me was from April until September and Jason and I talked and decided to give long-distance a try. This attempt started off very difficultly as Jason left for Europe for a month to study abroad in Ireland, England, Wales, and France. I cried myself to sleep some nights only to be comforted by his sweet postcards that I waited for each day by the mailbox. After a long six months and a visit to the Cowles' home in California just before school started, somehow our relationship and friendship grew greatly and we are now back at school in Idaho.

Away we go

Now to bring you up to date, during our Thanksgiving break, we took a trip to California and during this time Jason had a little surprise in store. On Monday November 22, 2010, Jason and I went on a hot air balloon ride over Del Mar! To tell you the truth, ballooning was one thing I vowed I would never even consider doing, yet Jason makes me feel like I can literally do anything. Anyway, during this time the thought crosses my mind that it’s possible that Jason is going to propose to me today, but I got mad at myself because one of two things could happen. (1) I could ruin the surprise or (2) I could be very disappointed if it doesn’t happen. So I let it go. 

Gorgeous views

     After our amazing, peaceful balloon ride, Jason and I drove to the San Diego temple which I haven’t seen since my brother’s wedding about nine years ago. While we are there, we took a walk and talked about things involving our future; by this time my mind is back on, “Is it going to be tonight?!” I know something is up when Jason starts stating all of the reasons why he loves me. Then, he gets down on one knee and says, “Danie Garber, will you marry me?” Eeep! Obviously I say "Yes!" and give him a huge hug and start sobbing (which didn’t last long, I think my emotions were just really screwed up by this point). 

Moments after the engagement

     Since that moment, I have felt so much more in love than every before. I look at Jason differently and I feel different around him now. I don't really know how to explain it. Oh, by the way, Jase and I had talked about getting married way before this time and I even helped pick out the ring. He just likes to throw me off and say that we were going to get engagedin January. I hope you enjoy reading about our many adventures

He liked it, so he put a ring on it