Skip to main content

My Two Homes!

I've been thinking about my two homes a lot lately. Of course there's Virginia where I lived from the time I was three years old until just five months ago when I came out here to BYU! I love (almost) everything about NOVA. I love living so close to Washington D.C. I love the monuments, the museums (most of the time), the fact that I can tell people I've been inside the White House, the fact that as long as my Aunt Becky has her magic badge we can take tours of the beautiful Capitol building, and secretly laughing at all of the obvious tourists when I'm there. When I went home for Christmas, it was as if I had never left! I enjoyed every minute of the time that I was able to spend with my amazing family and reconnecting with friends! We went to D.C., went to the temple, saw as many tackily (is that a word, probably not but I'm using it) decorated houses as we could followed by a trip to get homemade donuts which were SO good, stayed up late talking/watching Modern Family/playing the Wipeout Wii game, exchanged gifts on Christmas, went on tons of shopping trips, watched tons of movies, and just had so much fun being together! It seriously felt as though I had never left! Even after a semester of college, Herndon was and will always be home.
Now for the required pictures:
My best friends!!

My Madrigals front row Sopranos: Christine, Sydney, and Robin! I missed them sooo much!!

ICE ICE BABY. Shoutout to Aunt Becky for the coolest Christmas present EVER! Random side note: the man in this picture, my cousin Matthew, got his mission call tonight to serve in LONDON, ENGLAND! I am so proud of him and so excited to hear about all of his adventures!


Seeing the lights at the DC Temple!!

Okay now for my second home. My home away from home. BYU! I absolutely love this place! The atmosphere here is one that you couldn't find anywhere else! It is so incredible to be surrounded by people that share my beliefs and values! The experiences I have had here are ones that I won't soon forget! I mean, the prophet of the Lord came to speak to my school! What more could I ever want, right? The friends that I've made here have become like sisters to me! They're always down for a good time, converted me to Harry Potter, are always willing to talk about anything, and are just all around amazing people! When I was talking with some of my friends last night, my friend Kaylee pointed out that we have become like a family! It's so true! We see each other every day and never get sick of each other, we look out for each other, and we just have so much fun being together! I am so lucky to have these amazing people in my life!
MORE PICTURES:
I mean, c'mon who couldn't love these beautiful faces?

Hiding from the world.

The night I finished the 7th Harry Potter book! It was a very big day!

Chillin in the stairwell. A favorite pastime of ours.

I am SO grateful for both of my homes!!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Until We Meet Again

           On Friday, my Grandma Freeman passed away. She was almost 90 years old and lived a long, full life. She was kind, loving, a hard worker, and fiercely loyal. She taught elementary school, and I've always loved the fact that both of my grandmas were teachers, and good ones at that. We joke in our family that teaching runs in our blood, and it's an honor to be able to carry on her legacy.            For most of the years I was growing up, she lived in New York, in the small, small town of Hornell. My dad would take us on weekend trips to visit during the summers. In fact my first time driving on the highway with my learner's permit was on the way up to visit them one summer, and I remember proudly announcing that when we walked into the house. We would always start off our visits with a trip to the ONLY restaurant in town (Pizza Hut) and then stop by the ONLY grocery store in town (Wegman's) for ice cream to take home,...
1 comment
Read more

My Journey to Self-Confidence

This is a picture of me almost exactly three years ago: And this is a picture of me now: Now, you might be thinking this is one of those stories that you see in Weight Watchers ads on T.V. endorsing a diet. I promise it's not. This journey was about so much more than a number on a scale. It was about working towards being able to recognize my divine nature as a daughter of God. I'll start at the beginning. When I started my freshman year at BYU, my self-confidence was at an all time low. I would try on about five outfits every morning, look in the mirror, and then immediately change. My low self-esteem was reflected in the way I talked to people, the way I dressed, and just the overall way that I carried myself. I compared myself to everyone else around me and was constantly tearing myself down. My lack of self-esteem seemed so obvious, yet it seemed like no one truly understood how I felt. I knew I needed to make some changes, but I just didn't know how. Af...
4 comments
Read more

Never, Ever, Ever, Give Up

           I remember when I was 8 years old, I joined our neighborhood pool's swim team. To say that I was an AWFUL swimmer from the beginning of my ill-fated swimming career was an understatement. For starters, my dive into the pool was basically a glorified jump with my arms over my head. I remember we would get ribbons the Monday after a meet for each event that we had placed in. If you didn't place in any of your events, you got this yellow ribbon that said "Good Swim" on it. I had a nice collection of those "Good Swim" ribbons by the end of that season, but it didn't curb my enthusiasm in the slightest. I loved swimming and even though I was the slowest one in my age group and my three younger sisters could each swim circles around me, I went to every practice, gave it my all, and even started swimming year round.           No matter how hard I practiced and trained, I never became a great swimmer. The older I got, the more...
1 comment
Read more