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

Popular posts from this blog

A Birthday Shoutout to my Favorite Missionary Cousin!

What better way to return from my unintentional blogging hiatus, than to write a birthday blog in honor of my favorite cousin? Whenever I describe Matthew to my friends I refer to him as, "my cousin who's kind of more like my brother." In honor of his birthday, this weekend I was reading through some of our e-mails that we've written to each other while he's been on his mission and selected my top 10 favorite quotes that encapsulate ten of my favorite things about Matthew. 1. He will forever be a matchmaker.  "So a guy in my ward sent you a message on Facebook. He was going to say that he's single and looking for a girl to take to the temple. I said that would probably be a little strange." Side note: He sent it to the wrong Sarah Freeman, so I never got it.  2. He appreciates good television.  "So I've been e-mailing Michael Scott. I thought you would appreciate that he's been working in the mission office. Please think about th...

Shipps on a Ship Part 1

        It truly feels like just yesterday my grandparents gathered our family in the living room of our rented beach house and told us that they were taking us on a Disney Cruise. In reality, it was a year and a half ago and at the time it seemed like November 2014 would never come. It still almost felt like a dream even as we boarded our plane to Orlando last Saturday after MUCH airport turmoil, i.e. Michael forgetting his carry on at security, Jonathan getting a bloody nose, and me almost losing my debit card. Against all odds, the Shipp cousins made it to Orlando in one piece. I always get teary-eyed when I see my family after a few months away, and this time was no exception! Just as we were getting settled into our hotel room, we found out that our toilet was broken, so we had to move rooms! Once we were finally settled, Uncle Dave was kind enough to take as many cousins as could pile into his van for a McDonald's run. We spent Sunday in Downtown Disney, visiti...

Life Changes and New Adventures

          I thought that I had the next couple of years of my life all figured out. I am a prime example of a chronic over-thinker, and the queen of the pro/con list. I had carefully thought out every recent decision I had made. I was settled at the school where I had been working, I had a good apartment and ward, and I had just been accepted to a 2 year long Master's of Education program, which would fulfill one of my long term goals. Yet something still felt off. Despite the fact that I thought I had a good direction in my life, I felt confused and unsettled. It felt like I was trapped inside a box. I would walk in one direction, hit the wall of the box only to turn in another direction and hit another wall.          The problem was, I just could not figure out what it was that wasn't right. I started taking the long way driving home from work each day and praying about my concerns. It took a couple of weeks of this before seemingly o...