The Day Before Our Marriage!

Well, I can't believe how quick a 5 month engagement has gone by. Becca and I are getting married in the Morning in the Idaho Falls Temple. It has been quite the ride to get jere, and i want to thank everyone who has helped us along the way. The Lord tryly love's us and i'm so excited to be sealed to the Love of my life tomorrow! More post's to come :)

Engaged! Thats Right, I'm engaged! :D

So, here is a dual post from Becca and me. Enjoy!

Becca's Side of the Story.

Hello all of Daniel's faithful readers and those who have stumbled to this blog! I still haven't found my blog in case you were wondering, I am sure it's doing well though. I ended the last blog with a few questions. So I think this next story will answer quite a bit of the ones you may be wanting me to answer.

  Over the summer I have moved to Utah, worked two different jobs, lived out of my car for a little, have gone rock climbing a little, and visited Daniel. Oh yes, and we're engaged. What? oh yes, we are engaged now!! :D ( this smiley is not nearly an adequate substitute to show how happy I am, but it will have to do) I guess that answers the " What does Daniel think about all this?" question I asked. How? You are full of questions aren't you? Okay well if you really want to know here is the story...

 Stardate 07/14/2012
My birthday is on the 15th and Daniel decided to come visit me for my birthday weekend. When I have a birthday I automatically figure that the days surrounding my actual day of entering this world count as celebration time as well. So I was really excited that Daniel would be coming to visit me, because not much of my family could celebrate my birthday with me. Except my older sister Christine, her husband Josef, and their little girl Makayla who also brought my delicious birthday pie which was home made! Plus any time with Daniel just seems to hold a lot of unexpected turns. Well on Friday when he arrived we decided we were going to go for a hike together the next morning. It  turned out to be grey and drizzly which is perfect weather for a hike. We woke up a little late that morning and didn't meet for breakfast until around lunch time. We had really good blueberry pancakes that I made. I got to see one of my favorite families who stopped by and celebrated a little birthday fun with me. Finally Daniel and I went on our hike to Battle Creek falls in Pleasant Grove, Utah. We passed a beautiful waterfall and a really beautiful view of the valley from the canyon. We came to a point on the trail where we could see most of the peaks of the mountains and I was struck by how much detail is in everything. The mountains had the clouds touching the top third part. I realized how much love Heavenly Father must have for us to put that much care and detail into the world we live in. He wanted us to look around and always be able to see the love He has for us. Even the very layers of the earth contain a color and beauty. I told Daniel this he looked around and studied everything. I love that about him he really does consider what I am saying he doesn't just agree to pacify me. He held me close for a few seconds and then said he wanted to give me something. He was taking some time to rummage through his backpack so I kept looking at everything when he pulled out a little red box. At first I though it was going to be some joke he was pulling and there would be a keychain or something. Or a medal he promised to make me because I am so awsome. But then he pulled out the box and showed me the sweetest ring it was so clear and bright that right then when the clouds came out it sparkled!!( No joke that really happened) He said" Becca I love you, and I want to be with you always, Will you marry me?"  I completely forgot about the ring and was just so happy to hear that that was really what he wanted. So we kissed and then I said..."No.." Which he looked at me with a " Becca this is not the time" look that really set me straight becuase he never looks at me like that. I repentantly kissed him and smiled and said" Yes, I will I'll marry you." The sun was still out through all of this and finally it started to get a little cloudy again. We started to walk down the mountain and he said," I wanted to show you this part because we are going to have a lot of mountains to climb together in our lives and I wanted to show you how beautiful it can be."  I know I was quite taken by that too. He can be really clever.

  So then we went to a birthday bar-b-Que for me with some of my dearest friends where I got to sneakily show people my sparkly ring! I loved doing that, because even though Daniel isn't with me and I can't introduce him I can show the ring he gave me to remind me of how much he loves me.

 I love him. I can honestly say that I haven't ever felt this way about anyone and every time we get to talk and be around each other it just grows more and more. All his little quirks all those things that some people may find annoying, I don't care about. Because I choose to let them go and remember the choices lead by the Spirit that brought me to him. I hope all of you are enjoying your time with your eternal families. I hope your all living each day to prepare to be eternal families. I am so happy to be able to share this journey at the beginning of my eternal family.

 Daniel you are everything I need in my life to help me be happy, steadfast, and diligent on my journey in life, I love you.

And my side of the story

So, I love this girl. Her name is Rebecca Suzanne Askren. She is amazing, and is everything that I’ve been looking for. I’m so blessed that the Lord let me find her, and put us together, and that we both were willing to work to continue a relationship. I knew pretty early on that I was in love with her, and that I would do a lot to be with her. I had decided to drive out and see her memorial day weekend, and that drive was the kicker, I knew that if I was going to be driving 1500 miles round trip to see her, that I wanted to pursue a more serious relationship with this wonderfully smart, attractive, and virtuous young lady. I’m glad she felt the same way, although we both had doubts about how things were going to work out, we chose to pursue a relationship, and let things happen however they would, and trusted that the Lord would help things to work out for the best of both of us.

So fast forward a few weeks, and she is planning to come out and see me in Colorado for a weekend. I couldn’t have been happier, then I hear that she got sick the day before she was planning to come, and had been puking almost the whole day. I was a little depressed, and prepared to drive out there to see her that weekend if she couldn’t come because she was sick. She started feeling a lot better though, and so she decided to drive out still, but didn’t tell me this until she sent me a text saying that Wyoming was brown, flat, and boring. I was thrilled that she felt I was worth driving all that way to come and spend time with. We had a lot of fun that weekend flying kites, playing with Ben’s telescope, listening to the coyotes howl, ad going to the singles branch here.

The next weekend I was able to see her because I made a stop on the way out to Idaho for Grandma’s funeral. I had mixed feelings. I was really excited to see her and spend time with her, but was a little sad that it was because Grandma Butler had passed away. She was an amazing woman, and I’m glad Becca got to meet her when I was out there Memorial Day weekend. We had a lot of fun that weekend, and Becca was a great comfort to me.

After that, and after the spirit telling me again that I needed to continue to pursue my relationship with Becca, I knew that I wanted to marry her. I thought that right before her birthday, when I was already planning on coming out to see her, would be a good time to propose to her. It would be the last time I would see her before our longest time apart. I wanted her to have a symbol of my commitment and my love for her. So I started looking at rings (I had looked some before this as well but now I was really looking). She told me that her grandmother was going to give her a few rings to choose from, but I knew that she wouldn’t like any of them and I was still planning on buying her a ring.

So the week came, and I picked out the ring that I wanted for her. I felt great about buying it, but it was still a nerve wracking process going to jewelers and looking at buying an engagement ring. I found an amazing ring to give to her (sorry I forgot to take pictures of the ring). I had called her mother that week as well, and told her I loved her daughter and wanted to propose to her. She was excited to hear me wanting to propose to her daughter. But back to leaving to propose to the love of my life, I left work early on Friday and went to the jeweler’s to pick up Becca’s ring. It was beautiful and I was excited to give it to her.

I had decided that I would propose on Saturday morning/afternoon while we were out hiking (Becca had planned that we could go on a hike that day). So Saturday morning came, and I went to Becca’s. She had just made blueberry pancakes and they were delicious. We then started talking about what we were going to do that day, and I kept saying that we should go on a hike, but it took a little bit to convince her that we should go on the hike. She found one that was really close, and had a pretty waterfall to go and see. It was called Battle Creek falls. So we headed out and started up the canyon on the hike. It was a cloudy day, but it was beautiful. We hiked to the waterfall, but there were a lot of people there, and I wanted it to be more of a private intimate setting where I proposed, I also wanted a better view of the mountains when I proposed. So we kept on hiking until I found a spot where we were alone and also had a great view of the mountains. I stopped, and told her that I had something for her, and pulled out the ring from my pack. I then told her that I loved her, and then asked her to marry me. She was so excited, and started to kiss me, and then pulled away, and said no (with a mischievous look on her face), and then said yes. The sun came out right then, and then I told her that I wanted to propose to her there because we could see the mountains and that we would have a lot of mountains to climb together. It was wonderful to have proposed, and to hear her say yes… after teasing me. I love her so much though, teasing and all. The only thing that could make me happier now is if we weren’t separated by an 8-hour drive.            

An Update on Daniel

Well, I figure its about time for me to update my blog myself. Things have been pretty busy since I've moved to Colorado, but things have also been pretty great. I really enjoy my internship. It's a lot of fun going and working on the experiments in lab. I've been creating retroviral vectors to infect cells with certain DNA fragments so that they will express specific proteins. It's pretty interesting and I really enjoy it!

In other news, I got my MCAT scores back. I didn't do quite as well as Edwin did, but I did get a 33, which puts me in about the 90th percentile range. I was pretty happy, especially considering how much I studied (or didn't study). I'm working on finishing everything else for my application right now. I've got most of my letters of recommendation in, and most everything else in as well too. Now I just need to decide what schools I want to apply to. I will be applying to Dartmouth, University of Washington, Baylor, and University of Iowa. I want to apply to 6 more, but I don't know which schools yet. 

I made a special trip memorial day weekend to visit Becca. It was great, and well worth the drive to go and see her, I also saw Mom, Dad, and David, but Becca was the main reason I drove back. We spent most all day saturday, sunday, and monday together. Saturday we went bowling, and ate dinner, and talked a lot. Sunday I drove up to Rexburg, visited with her and her mom, and then brought her home for dinner and games. Then Monday we went to Jackson and visited with her sisters there. It was hard to leave on Monday, but it was well worth the time driving to go and see her. We talk on the phone everyday and have skyped a few times as well since I've been back. Things are going well. 

This weekend Ben, Shanna, the boys, and Savitri and I spent the night in Denver, and then drove down to Pikes peak and Garden of the Gods. It was really pretty at both places, and well worth the drive. being at the summit of Pikes peak was pretty breathtaking, in more ways than one. It was really easy to get winded being above 14,000 feet. I took quite a few photos with Shanna's DSLR camera. It was really fun to use. Here are some of the photos. 

A Guest Post from Becca

Well, I thought I'd put up a guest post from my girlfriend, so here it is!

 Hello bloggers of the world!

 I had a blog once but I am not exactly sure what happened to it. I ignored it for a few years and it ran away into cyberspace to find a better blogger who could keep up with it. It seems as though this blog is doing just fine and is quite healthy with loads of information about The Adventures of Daniel!( exclamation point added because I think it helps). Shockingly though Daniel has not been keeping up with all of his marvelous adventures,sad day. Especially when it comes to "The Ladies." He only put one line in his newest update. Don't worry that's were I come in! I am the girl he met at the wedding reception.

I am not quite sure where to start on my part of the story, but I guess I'll tell you why I was there. I was there to enjoy the food and the celebration of two people being sealed. I was also there because I was the nanny. So I was running around most of the wedding after 4 boys(ages 3-12) all day. Making sure that nobody got blood,vomit,dirt, or holes on any of their clothes. I feel I did my part very well. At the end of the night nobody had beaten each other, or hurt themselves, and they all had eaten good meals. Little did I know until a few dates later that Daniel had been waiting the whole time to talk to me. I am so grateful he got the courage to come talk to me, and in Daniel's normally observant(most of the time) fashion he waited until I wasn't busy with the kids and I was actually sitting down. That was one of my first clues he was a good man, because he knew not to bother me when I was so focused. So we chatted for a few hours and then he finally asked me on a date. I was excited, I finally found someone who would take me rock climbing, and I wanted to go ever since I had been back from my mission. I learned a great lesson though, the lord always has something more prepared for those who are open. So we went on a few dates both knowing he was going to Colorado and I was going to be living in Orem soon. What I didn't expect was just how interesting Daniel would be, and how happy he made me, and how little effort it took for me to be open with him. Our last date before he left we talked(and I really do mean talked) and we decided that it needed to end. I wasn't ready for how sad that would make me, but when we said good-bye that night, and I got one last hug it was like something in my heart and head said "you're sad Becca...that is what you're feeling..you're sad." The next day was annoying as annoying can get. I was trying to do anything to get him out of my head and I would be perfectly distracted for a mili-second and then bam! something about Daniel would come to mind. Like the movie we saw together on our first date, or how silly he looks when his glasses start sliding down his nose, or how respectful and kind he is. So finally after trying to ignore him all day I texted him and asked "If it was as difficult a day for him as it was for me?"...and he said yes! So that is when we decided to take this whole relationship long distance,and I don't regret it. Even when I miss feeling his hand in mine..I don't regret it.

 I had a discussion with an Elder once on my mission about whether or not you could really fall in love or if it was all just lust. How could you learn to do that? Was it even possible? What is the definition of love anyway? And what is the purest kind of love that could last for eternity? I am not sure about all the answers, but I do believe one thing. I think how you fall in love is different for everyone just like how different our answers to prayers can be. Each answer is suited for each person to understand. Luckily we have been given guidance on how we do receive answers, and that it involves both our hearts and mind. It involves happiness, peace, joy, calmness, attached to whatever the answer may be. We won't always be happy with the answer, but if we are truly committed we will be willing to act on whatever the answer is and because the Lord knows our hearts He understands if we are truly committed or not. I was looking to have some fun while praying every night to become prepared to fall in love and be worthy of such a thing. Like I said before the Lord knows when to answer. This has definitely been an adventure and I am looking forward to see where it leads, no matter where that is. So what do you all think? What does Daniel think? Hmmm those are good questions, but I am happy enough knowing what I think,and that answer will have to be in a later blog.

Sincerely,
Becca


 So I hope you enjoyed the guest post! Here are a few photos to enjoy

Some Recent Happenings

Well, I keep getting told that its high time I update my blog, seeing as how it's been a few months since I've updated it. So I'll just highlight a few of my recent adventures, and upload some pictures. I survived my last semester at BYU-I. It was a little bittersweet to leave, but I survived taking 10 credits of chemistry, and only got one B, the rest were all A's this semester. I did have to stay up almost all night taking a take home test, that was due the day of commencement and convocation, as well as take the ACS standardized final for physical chemistry that day. It made for a long day, and sadly I fell asleep during commencement. Graduation was great though, Elder Ballard came and spoke at both commencement and the convocation for the college of physical sciences. After graduation came studying for the MCAT, as well as Brent's wedding. It was great to go and see Brent and Madi sealed in the Rexburg temple. I also had a fun time catching up with Jaxon and Levi and their wives since I haven't seen them much since they got married. I also met a girl at the reception, but thats a story for another blog post. Another exciting thing is I sold my old jeep, and bought another cherokee. This one runs much nicer, is manual, and actually survived the drive to colorado. Which is the other exciting thing that has happened recently, I am now in colorado, after a two day trek to make it here. I drove to Salt Lake and spent the night at Parker and Carly Chapple's. It was great visiting with them, and splitting my drive up. I also saw two other friends while I was in the area. Well, that about sums things up. I am studying for the MCAT all day everyday this week, I take it on Saturday, so I'll see how that goes, expect a post in the near future.

Colorado Awaits!

Well, I figure its about time I update my blog, I don't feel like working on my homework right now, so this is the next best thing. It lets me think through whats going on, and keep a journal of sorts. Life is grand, its been a crazy last semester, but its working out alright so far. I am enjoying most all of my classes. I really like my introduction to literature class. Its been an excellent diversion from my 10 credits of chemistry. My FA 100 class has also been interesting. I've enjoyed most of the events that I've attended so far, its been helpful that I've attended most of them with a good friend, Tess. I've had a lot to do with my chem classes. I'm starting work on my independent labs, in one of them I'm going to determine the amount of nitrite in lunch meat, in the other I'm working on a complicated synthesis of a compound for my professor. They should both be pretty interesting. I may be presenting my research in a research and creative works conference at the end of the semester. I'm still trying to decide wether or not I will do that. I've kept up the trend of going cross country skiing. I've gone the last 4 weekends in a row, all to different places. I went to Grand Teton National Park for one of them, and I also went to Harriman state park with one of my chem professors, and I also went to Mesa Falls and skied all the way to the upper falls with Tess. It made for a great way to relax on the weekends, as well as get some good exercise, skiing about 10 miles most of the days I went. I'm sad there hasn't been more snow in Rexburg, otherwise I would have headed out and skied most days after classes. Its been great to get out on the weekends though.

I guess I should also say that I found my internship. I'll be going to the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and working at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes. I'll be doing research on developing an assay to test for the presence of T-cells that are attacking the hosts insulin producing cells. I'll be learning a lot of molecular biology techniques and am excited to go and work there. I'll be starting my internship mid may, right after I take the MCAT.

Stress Relievers

This last semester is proving to be a stressful one. I spend 12+ hours a day monday through friday doing homework or going to class, then I have to cut into my weekends to try and get everything else done that I normally have to do during the week. It is a lot of homework and assignments. I guess thats what I get for being a senior chemistry major, and taking 10 credits of chemistry in one semester, its going to be an intense semester. I do make sure I have time for fun though :) This week I had a friend over on wednesday for dinner and just to relax and catch up on our crazy lives. Both her and I are very busy this semester. Friday I had a lot of fun going to the climbing gym with a girl. It was a very nice stress reliever, and made me realize how much I missed climbing. I was sad that I only made it climbing on real rock about 2 times this last summer. I did get to make it to twenty plus states though, as well as kayak quite a bit. So it had its trade offs. On Saturday Aaron wanted to go hike some places and go skiing. I went with him, but took some cross country skis. It made for a good Saturday afternoon/night. I am a little sore from it, but will definitely go again. I also tried his downhill skis. They were fun, I want to try downhill skiing on a real slope. Maybe some weekend I'll find time for that... I'm also hoping I'll be able to go on a winter backpacking trip this winter. I'll see how it goes with school.

I am trying to get an internship in Colorado, and I'm also working on an application for an internship in Taiwan. I hope I can find a good internship that I'll enjoy.

A new Semester, the last to be specific

Well, I've been pretty lax on updating my blog lately. I haven't done much on it for over a month, so I figured its high time I finish updating it, and get going with keeping it updated. I finished last semester, I got a B+ in p chem, which isn't too shabby, I was a little disappointed though, I was .06% away from getting an A- but such goes life. I got an A- in my technical writing class as well, but its over with. The rest were A's. I still have a really good GPA so I don't particularly care. The break was a good break, I didn't work on fixing my jeep, which just hasn't been the same since I flooded it last march (learned my lesson there), I think I'll be looking at buying a new car when I graduate, which will be at the end of this semester (pretty crazy!). I'm still working on getting an internship, and have a goal to spend time studying for the MCAT everyday (I need to get working hard on it!). Its going to be busy this semester though, I have 10 credits of chemistry, spending 12 hours in the lab every week, and still trying to keep up a social life as well as keep grades up. I don't know how things are going with the ladyfolk lately. I still try and go on a date once a week, but its slowed down some. There is a girl I'm interested in, but I don't know quite how she feels. Anyways, thats about it, I don't know what pictures to put up, I didn't take many during the break, but I guess I have some of me and my nieces Katelynn and Claire (at least I know those girls like me :)).