yep, it's snowy

We've had a lot of mushy, slushy, wet snow here in Utah last week mixed with super sunny days...it's kinda been weird, considering we only got about 1" of snow the entire month of December.  I'm not usually a big fan of snow, but going the whole month of December with brown grass and dead leaves was not as beautiful as December could/should be. 
I guess Utahns were not prepared when the snow finally starting flying....This is an example of the snowy days we've had, and the difficulties some of had driving in it:



The days in between the overcast and snowy are so beautiful!  I absolutely love a sunny, snow-covered day.   When I take Swede to school, it's right when the sun is rising and it's so amazingly beautiful I often have to stop and take pictures.  These are from my cell phone, just imagine if I'd had our nice camera with me!

I absolutely LOVE when there's frost on the trees! It reminds me of my wedding day :)

 Oh, and the next day, I came upon this:

I felt like a dork snapping pictures while they were in this predicament, but I had to share!  Plus, they seemed like they were in pretty good spirits.

I have no idea how they did this, considering that above this is a parking lot, and the ice had melted by then.  I hope they have good insurance :/

Drive safe out there, people!  Oh, and enjoy the beauty that is winter while you're at it ;)
xo-Danielle

sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy

we had a lot of rainy days with no sunshine last week and by a lot i mean like 5, but it felt like a month!  

i told jeremy i don't mind the rain, i'd just like it to be rainy above us and sunny in the western sky so that it lights up the whole valley....yeah, not too much to ask, right?  

Rain and sunshine at the same time is one of my very favorite things!

well, low and behold a few days later, while walking in the walmart parking lot the rain was pouring and the sky opened up in the west & we were blessed to have the whole place lit up. 

so beautiful! 

Lindsay (from aisle to aloha) told me they call it "liquid sunshine" in Hawaii....that's a perfect name!  It is like walking through wet sunlight. gah! i love it!

picture me walking thru the parking lot pushing Sofia in the cart whilst exclaiming "this is so beautiful! this is SOOOO beautiful!!" yeah, umm, got a few weird looks!

also, i didn't get a good picture :(

it's really much prettier in real life, and i took the pic about 2 minutes too late

and this happened:

at a restaurant we frequent (and by frequent i mean, it's like Norm going into Cheers when we walk in there) we had a pizza-sized cookie.  It's hard to tell from the pic but this thing had 6 large scoops of ice cream on top, and drizzled with chocolate and caramel.  the cookie is so hot and the ice cream melts allover it...it's the bees knees!  i'm drooling now just reminiscing of yesterday, thinking i may have to go back soon...it today tooo soon?

and i heard about this cool way to do hair from leonora at yellow heart art...she tweeted about this tutorial.. so I gave it a whirl, what could be more fun than a hair bow made of hair, right? :)

mine turned out a lot messier than the original, and my bobby pins won't stay in, and i think i need to put it higher on my head next time, but other than that, i love it...it's simple and cute.
added the mustache to distract from how crooked my bangs are in this photo! :/
well, i'm off to trim my bangs and sew... watch for some new headbands coming to my etsy shop later today!  a sneak peek:

oh, and aren't the children supes adorbs?!

hope your day is full of little things that make it great!!
xo-Danielle
linking up here with these lovelies:

a post of pictures

i just wanted to share with you some of the beauty i see each day...this is the view from my front yard, no photoshopping, just straight to you from my camera:

aren't those beautiful?? :)   and, here are a few shots jeremy took when we went on our trip to idaho last week:

isn't this world just a wonderful beautiful place?!

xo-Danielle

the adventures of borgie and muddbutt

jeremy and i traveled 3 hours by car and countless hours on foot to reach palisades, idaho a place jeremy had told me about for the last 10 years.
for those of you not interested in an agonizing 6 hour hike with large backpack on i guess i'll share ;)
yes! freeze-dried dinner...not too shabby!

DAY 1: we slept in the back of our car and had fun taking goofy photos using super-long exposure :) check out these fun photos

wrote my name with a flaming stick!

aren't those cool? i didn't do anything to them, that's just how they turned out...

we were having fun photographing until i heard a noise..we turned our flashlights around to see two shiny eyes staring at us.  we don't know what animal it was...i asked jeremy what if he thought it was something dangerous he said  no, it was probably a skunk or porcupine.  uh, hello, getting sprayed by a skunk or pricked by a porcupine doesn't sound like fun, but...we just went in the car and stayed away from those shiny eyes!


DAY 2: the hiking began...uh, if your shoe feels "a little uncomfortable" at the half-mile mark, you're going to want to shoot your foot off by the 15 mile mark to relieve the pain. (i know this from experience)

me, and my foot pain...just wrap it in tape.  that's what climbing tape is for, right? oh wait....no, it's not.

here is one of 2 lakes we saw during our trip, it was so pretty and had moose in it

when we finally made it to camp (about 4 hours) we set up the tent, had "lunch" and i took a nap while jeremy went fishing

lunch: beef jerky, pistachios, and crystal light, mmm :)

so, i have never fly-fished in my life until now, which is crazy because jeremy was teaching me how to fish when we were 1st married....but i never got around to actually doing it.
it was actually a lot of fun

 however, asking me to walk up a river in waders is like asking a very clumsy person to walk on a moss-covered tight rope with clown shoes on....

falling on gross mossy rocks right on my butt....hence, the new nickname "muddbutt"

 had an awful nights sleep in the tent...nightmare woke us all up with me yelling "get out of here" at the top of my lungs at 1:30 am...ok, i'm not gonna get into that :)
DAY 3: hiked to the upper lake which had crystal clear turquoise blue water.  very beautiful!

upper lake, palisades idaho. seriously beautiful.  the lake, not me, haha

on the way back down to the car we had to pass by the lower lake, the lake w/ all the moose in it.  we were walking down the trail talking loudly as to scare all the moose away...well, apparently we weren't loud enough as i got within 6 feet of a bull and a cow moose hiding in the willows!! i startled them and they ran off into the lake.  these moose are like 9 feet tall, y'all! it was FREAKY! we continued down the path, jeremy in the lead this time....and he ended up about 10 feet away from a mama moose and her calf...i was freaking out...(whispering freaking out, but freaking out nonetheless!) luckily the mom moose didn't charge us and walked away. gah! talk about adrenaline rush!

death by moose trampling? no thanks

These are some of the little things that made all the difference

1. eating a fruit roll up after 5 miles...seriously a fruit roll up NEVER tasted so good!

2. hubby offered to carry my backpack the last 100 yards or so

A true gentleman.    #swoon

3.  jeremy filtered water for us every day from the stream w/o complaint

he's so good to me :)

4.  i didn't get trampled by a moose and die

5.  fallen leaves along foot paths are one of my favorite little things

4.  we went and got juicy delicious extra large hamburgers french fries and milkshakes at Rulon Gardner's Burger Barn when it was over....right before our bodies shut down, haha

good bye palisades, you rock...but i don't plan on coming back for a while

xo- Danielle

oh, teton park, how i love thee...

so, have you ever been to Grand Teton National Park??
if not, i will take you on a visual journey
if so, i will take you on a visual journey ;)

Mt. Moran

every year my husband's family stays at a condo just out side of jackson hole, wy.
we try to spend as much time in teton park as possible!
and, you see...from a photo like that one up there my husband will make a beautiful painting like this one here #amazing!

it's so beautiful up there right by them there mountains

canoeing and swimming in string lake

 picnicking on the beach

hiking to the bottom of the grand canyon of yellowstone

 and a jaunt to see the hot pots in yellowstone too

oh, and you can't forget about the wildlife!

hiking to water falls

more hiking
oh my gosh, don't we look like we're having fun? love it!

and a lot of this

driving around with binoculars looking for "aminals"

{and there may or may not have been a little bit of skinny-dipping ha!}

it's so amazing to have a place where we can spend time with family surrounded by such beauty, you really feel like you're in the heart of one of God's most beautiful creations.
love that place!
until next time, tetons

 xo-Danielle