Thanksgiving Break 2013

Since I'm apparently way too tired and burned out to focus on homework, I thought I may as well write a little blog post about Thanksgiving Break! I got to drive down to warm, sunny, California for the break with my lovely roommate Alyssa to visit her family! It was a full house as her grandparents and her brother and his wife and their adorable little daughter Addie were also in town for the break! We got there on Wednesday night and Alyssa's wonderful mom had dinner waiting for us! She's the best. On Thanksgiving day, we ate our hearts out and then just relaxed! I also got to talk to the entire extended family on the phone! I am so excited to see everyone in just two more weeks! There's never a dull moment, that's for sure. Then, Alyssa's sister in-law talked us into venturing to Target, which opened for black Friday, which is now apparently Black Thursday at 8 pm. The line at the first Target we stopped at literally wound through the entire shopping center, so we ventured to SUPER Target instead. It was literally a madhouse. I only made one purchase because I was kind of a bit overwhelmed by it all. After two more shopping excursions on Friday, I managed to finish all of my Christmas shopping for my family! On Saturday, Alyssa and I spent the day in DISNEYLAND. We've literally been looking forward to this day in Disneyland all semester, and it surely did not disappoint! It was magical. The rides are just so fantastic and well done and we had so much fun! The park was all decorated for Christmas and it just made me so happy! At the end of the day, we got to see a Christmas-themed fireworks show and Fantasmic! On Sunday we went to church with Alyssa's family, and then we spent Monday driving back to Provo! We were greeted yesterday morning by snow on the ground, and I've spent the past two days pretty much ice skating to class and embarrassingly slipping and falling in front of many witnesses, so yes I miss warm, sunny, California very much! It was such a great break!

Comments

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...

Practice What You Teach

Search This Blog