Danielle is a mother to two young kiddos, who is currently enrolled and working toward a Masters in School Psychology, has a very kind heart, and a patient demeanor. She is incredibly hardworking and passionate about her work, her family, her friends, and her life. She is also a pretty wonderful soda-run companion. I am eager for you to meet Danielle, I have learned a lot from her in the past years I’ve known her, and I am certain you will, too. Here she is.

If you only had 5 things to teach your children, what would those 5 things be?
I’m not sure if it’s because it is close to Mother’s Day and I’ve been thinking about my upbringing or because I have a young daughter and a son on the way that I’ve thought about this lately. It is hard to limit it to just five things though. In our home we have a plaque of family rules. It says things like, “Know you are loved, try new things, help each other, and some other really great things that I love. I bought this before we had children but now especially that they are here, I want our family to really live by these rules because I see the great potential in them and the people my children can grow to become by following them. My all time top five though are not all included in this plaque.

My top five would probably include:
1. Be independent and work hard
2. Know you are loved no matter what (by me, your Dad, and by our Heavenly Father)
3. Do anything and everything you want to do without being afraid of failure
4. Be involved (in sports, music, dance, clubs, etc.) because there is nothing better than figuring out what your talents are and making wonderful friends while you’re at it
5. Nurture and work at your relationships (with friends, family, and especially your Savior and Heavenly Father)

What does JOY mean to you?
When I think of joy I think of pure and complete happiness. When I think about my daughter and when I spend time with my family I think that is when I feel and experience the most joy. When realizing that it makes sense because I have an eternal bond with these people. Heavenly Father knew what He was doing when He came up with His ultimate Plan of Happiness. Joy = eternal happiness!! I think you can experience joy any time you’re doing something that is aligned with His plan. Giving service, participating in sacred ordinances, fulfilling your potential, utilizing talents He blessed you with, and the list goes on but I think joy is a pretty awesome thing!

When your kids leave home, how do you hope they speak of you? What do you want them to tell their friends about their mom?
I know that when my kids are teenagers I may be that weirdo who knows nothing because i’m old and out of touch but when they grow up a little bit more and leave the nest I hope they remember everything that we tried to teach them. I hope they remember the traditions we kept and they know how hard we worked to make their lives as great as they could possibly be. I want them to respect me as their Mother but I want them to be able to tell their friends that they knew they could come to me with anything as if we were best friends. I know that when I left for college I talked about my Mom’s awesome cooking and would call all the time for recipes. I think it would be nice for my kids to appreciate such a silly thing as that. Overall, I think I just want my kids to be nice when talking about me to their friends.

If you could offer one bit of advice to a complete stranger, what would that be?
I had a little help with this one from my Hubby. He said, “Don’t worry about the times you get knocked down, just think about the getting up part.” The more I thought about this, the more I thought how perfect it was for a complete stranger. We don’t know that backgrounds of others, we don’t know what they’ve been through, or are currently going through. Everyone has different trials and different shortcomings but as human beings we’ll all be there at some point. Don’t worry about getting knocked down because I’m telling you right now, it WILL happen at some point. Pick yourself up and keep going. You’ll be stronger and wiser from the experience so continue onward and upward.

Do you believe people are innately good?
I do. I don’t think people go out intentionally and hurt people physically, or emotionally. I think that there are natural emotions at play when these things happen and our own emotions sometimes push us to act out in a not so nice way but we can choose not to. Anger for instance is a secondary emotion. People act out in anger once they have already felt either sadness, or humiliation, or fear. I also think that guilt is something we feel because we want to be good. I know there is a valid argument to this question and lots of people that don’t feel as I do but I would prefer to live in a world where people are good and so I do.