Josh & Jess Shipp

Summer excitement

2011-10-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

Everytime I post on this blog I swear to myself that I will stick with it. Alas, this is never the case. Summer has gone by so quickly and now we are already in October. For the sake of tracking some memories I will attempt to pick a few pictures and document some events of this summer.

Back in May, Bryce got married and we welcomed the newest member to the family, Katy. This was such a fun day and so weird for me to watch my younger brother get married. They are so cute together and it is so fun to be with them. Bryce and Dad built an apartment in Lani's basement before they got married for Katy and Bryce to live in. I love that they get to stay close by to family!

This summer, Josh and I spent a lot of time hiking around and camping. Unfortunately we didn't take a ton of pictures and I can't find many of them. Even though both Josh and I are wearing the same outfits these pictures they were not taken on the same days.

Josh and I went down to St. George for a weekend to visit and this is us heading to church on Sunday. It seems to be tradition that while visiting Amanda and Wes, we take a picture before attending church.

In mid-August, I was able to attend Education Week at BYU and Josh took time off to head down to Lake Powell with his family for a couple of days. I was so glad that he decided to go because I know he loved it!

Amanda and Wes decided to run a relay race together at the end of August. The race was all day long and so during the day while they were gone, Josh and I took the kids. We headed to the zoo, which was so much fun. They loved riding the train and looking at the animals.

Such cute boys!

2nd Anniversary!

2011-05-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

Josh and I have been married 2 years! For our anniversary we spent the night up at Snowbird. The snow was beautiful! I have pictures but they didn't turn out great. We had such a fun time and a great celebration of 2 years of marriage. I love you, Josh. Thank you for keeping me on my toes.

Jess Graduation

2011-05-07T14:00:00.000-07:00

May 7, 2011- Bachelor of Science in Elementary and Special Education

I finally graduated! Originally i had no plans of walking with my class for graduation, but Mom and Dad, of course, had something else to say about that so I walked. I didn't want to make a big deal out of everything so I tried to keep it simple. Josh's parent's and younger brother Matt, and sister Sarah along with my parents, Stuart, Bryce and his fiance Katy all came to watch the graduation.

Josh and I.

My parents and I.

The Shipp family.

These were some of the ladies from my SPED program that i completed distantly from Salt Lake for the last 2 years.

When did February come and go?

2011-02-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

Time has sure flown and Josh and I have been quite busy. Since the last post in September, many holidays and great family gatherings have passed by with lots of fun and many memories. Pictures to come soon, hopefully if i can find the camera :)! At the beginning of this new year, Josh and I started anew. Josh began a six-month internship with Candlelight Homes and is loving the change of scenery his office is providing. I am loving not having so much ridiculously dirty laundry to do from the construction! He is also taking 5 classes and is so-o busy doing homework, which as many of you know, is really quite difficult for me to handle being that i have to leave him alone for hours on end, daily. Not a happy wife does this make. For me, i began my student teaching. I have been at West Kearns Elementary working with a Special Education teacher, teaching 3rd and 4th grade students. I have really enjoyed getting to know these students and after this week i will be moving on to finishing my student teaching in a general education classroom at Plymouth Elementary. I am so sad to leave the familiar behind and enter into a classroom full of 6th grade students, not my forte! So here is to March and the next chapter of student teaching! I surely can't wait until May and graduation, hopefully i survive until then, in the meantime i will type my reports, finish my portfolio(s), and Josh will finish mid-terms!

Summers End

2010-09-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

Okay so I realize this is long overdue and there are so many pictures and events that will be left out but i thought it fitting that on the first day of Fall (my favorite) i would post some of summer's events.

Josh and I at temple square last Sunday for our last summer picture.

On August 10th, Josh's younger sister Emily got married! Congrats and Seth, welcome to the family. Glad not to be the only new one around. :)

Shipp family picture 2010!

Right before school started back up, Josh and I went to St. George for the weekend and spent some time with the Horrocks family and of course my grandparents. This is Amanda and I posing before church that Sunday.

Snagged a few pictures with the boys. I love this one because Blake has such a cute smile on his face!

It just so happened that this particular weekend was Nathan's 2nd birthday so we enjoyed some festivities and lego cake! Happy birthday Nathan!

Okay so I love Build a Bear. It is just so cute! So for my birthday this year, Josh and I adopted our cute little twins and spent an hour or so building them! Ridiculous i know, but we don't have kids so it is not like we ever go there! It is okay you can mock me.

We have been able to do a little overnight camping up at Strawberry Reservoir.

As well as a little fishing!

Look, Josh doing some construction. Oh wait...not really, while spending the weekend with Ross and Jenny in Bear Lake, we had a visit from a mouse and Ross and Josh spent a few hours chasing it down to kill it. This is Josh taking apart fireplace framework to get the mouse out. So GROSS!

I love being around nieces and nephews! Amanda was able to come up a few times this summer and on this particular time we went to the zoo. This is the boys and i, after eating some lunch back at my house.

June Happenings!

2010-06-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

So much has happened in June! Now that school is out I am having a great time enjoying summer. I did think I would have a lot of free time but summer classes have kept both Josh and I pretty busy, but during the day I have been able to spend time with my mom and finish some projects I started last summer and never found time to finish. One is my painting. Last year, I started some painting projects and then ran out of time to finish them so I have pulled out my Welcome Bear. This is a cute little bear that you can change the outfits for every month or season. I have just finished my 4th of July outfit, Christmas, and a Winter one. I am of course working on some in between those times but it is taking me awhile. I am so proud of this little bear, it really has taken me quite some time to get around to it.

Here is my Welcome Bear in his new 4th of July outfit!

These are the other two outfits that I have finished.

At the beginning of June, one of Josh's best friends got married. It was so much fun to attend and see such a great couple get married. Congrats Ross and Jenny!

Ross and Jenny got married in Logan, so we had the opportunity to see dear Logan and visit with friends. Such a great day!!

Complete!

2010-05-31T14:52:00.000-07:00

Josh and I, mostly Josh and a few brothers (thank you!), have been working on taking out those wonderful bushes in the front yard and just trying to freshen up the yard. Today we have completed that project, well completed to the point we are willing to stop for a bit (Josh has lots more he would like to finish but...), and here are some pictures. It doesn't look amazing but we don't want to redo everything so we just added a few flowers to brighten up the yard and hopefully the bunnies won't eat everything.

Also, we have been redoing the inside. Well kinda. We spackled and freshened up some paint and rearranged things so that hopefully everything is organized and easier to deal with.

Here we are finished for the day and relaxing!!

Josh's New Love

2010-05-30T21:39:00.001-07:00

We've been married a year and Josh is already passing me up for a.....(drum roll)....GAME! Dominion has been taking over our lives (thanks Wes!). Of course when Josh gets into something he goes all out, so when he bought the game he didn't just buy the game he bought every expansion possible! Look how happy he is!

And yes, he has even got me to play quite a few times although I haven't quite made it to the expansions yet!

First Wedding Anniversary!

2010-05-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

Wow! It has been a year, and a great one at that. Although we both thought this year would lead us different places, it has been amazing and I have thoroughly enjoyed this new experience. Thanks honey, love you!

Josh's Birthday Cake

2010-03-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

For Josh's birthday I made a Chocolate Cake roll and here it is. Luckily he loved it, and i just have to post it because i am awfully proud of this (it took forever to make)!

March happenings!

2010-03-09T15:17:00.000-08:00

Okay so updating the blog hasn't been my top priority and although we have so much going on, there just hasn't been much time to do anything outside of homework, work, class, laundry, etc...
Anyway i thought i would at least post some of our March happenings, at least some of the things i am looking forward to.

-My last class in Tooele was on the 6th! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Our nephew Blake's baby blessing this last weekend, so fun to see the Horrocks family in Pocatello!

-Josh's birthday on the 15th, plus many other family birthdays! Very exciting!

-My favorite, Josh has 8 cavities to fill this month! Just shows that you should always floss no matter how much of a pain it can be.

-Midterms, yuck! But this means the semester is half over!

-Spring break, from classes at least, always good to have a reason to not go to class.

-St. Patrick's Day, which is always fun when you work with elementary kids!

Holiday Update!

2009-12-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

I love this time of year when there are so many holidays so close together. These past few weeks and the weeks to come are so exciting as we get to spend so much time with family and friends. In the last bit Josh and I have had quite a bit of fun enjoying the season.

A few weeks ago, Josh and I went and spent just a few days with Amanda, Wes, and Nathan. When we arrived, Amanda was slaving away making gingerbread so we could make houses.

Here is Josh and Wes constructing our adorable houses.

I must say the end results were beautiful and I am so glad we were able to do this. It was so much fun and definitely something I want to do every year!

I am so happy we were able to spend some time with the Horrocks family. Thanks Amanda and Wes, we love you!

Next was Thanksgiving dinner in St. George with the Nelson clan. It was so much fun to go and visit. This was the first time Josh has ever met and been around my Aunt Susan and Uncle Kirk's family. I love Thanksgiving, and not really for the food, although yummy, I have never been one to eat a lot so...not completely amazing. I do, however, love spending time with family and reflecting upon the many blessings. No talk of Thanksgiving would be complete without my expressing my gratitude for some blessings. This year as I have joined a new family and created my own I must say that family has been something on my grateful mind. I am so grateful for my new family and all that is done for me! When seeing some of the children i do and the backgrounds they have i truly am grateful for my roots and the family that raised me and the many blessings the Lord has provided.

Ladies first!!

It was so warm and look no snow! Josh and I took a drive while down in St. George, if you look closely you can see the temple!

Now that December is here, it is time to move on to Christmas! Although we don't have many decorations we were able to somewhat decorate our tree (thanks Nate and Cami for getting the tree for us). We thought it turned out cute! So here is to our first Christmas!

6 months!

2009-11-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

Josh and I have officially been married for 6 months today. I have to say I have loved being married and not having to drive back to Logan after the weekends! Although I am sure this won't be the case I sure hope that in the next 6 months we will get to spend more time together. I love you Josh and pray we will always enjoy each other's company the way we do now!

So it has been awhile...

2009-11-08T14:44:00.000-08:00

Okay, okay! I realize it has been a really long time since any posting has happened, here you all are, a major update of just a few of our activities. Since our last posting, a lot has happened, most of which has been our day to day activities. School has started for both of us and we are now busy as ever and although I miss the easy days of summer, it is nice to be working and enjoying our crazy life!

Clear back in August was Nathan's first birthday and for the day, Josh and I drove up to Pocatello with my family and celebrated. It was a great day and we loved being able to just spend time together hanging out with family and watching Nathan open presents!

During the summer, my mother helped me begin some decorating projects to pass time, these were my first attempt at sewing decorations. You can't completely tell from the pictures but these are the biggest Christmas stockings i have ever seen, but i am awfully proud of them!

After the sewing projects, I decided to dabble in a bit of painting and so here are my first toll painting projects, a turkey and some pumpkins. Although i wasn't sure I would enjoy painting, I really have. I am now working on a bear that i can change the outfits for the different seasons and holidays. Look at me, I am crafty!

Over conference weekend, Josh and I joined the Shipps in St. George. We had a great time and here we are walking through the Narrows with Matt.

Zions was definitely pretty and I was glad we were able to get to spend some time in there.

I love fall! I love how beautiful the trees look especially in the canyons. It makes me miss driving back and forth to Logan and seeing how gorgeous Sardine Canyon looks in the fall!

My adorable nephew, Nathan, dressed as Tigger for Halloween. I am so glad that he came to visit for a few days and that I was able to at least say hi!

For the last week, Josh and I have been babysitting his brother Matt and sister Sarah while his parents were out of town. For Halloween we were able to go to the Ute game, we went early so that Sarah could trick-or-treat. The trick-or-treating, however, did not take that long and as you can see we were quite early for the game!

At the last minute, Matt needed a gangster costume for a dance at East High so while we were there we scrounged around and found we thought made a great "gangsta." Doesn't he look great?

Sayonara!

2009-08-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

This month was my birthday, my 23rd to be exact, and my birthday has always been an interesting time for me. Of course I enjoy birthdays but mine being in August is always a bit sad. I know that as soon as my birthday comes the days of summer come to an end and alas real life must begin. This summer has been such a quiet one for me. I haven't been working and although i have had a few classes they weren't all that time consuming and thus i had plenty of time to spend cleaning, visiting friends and family and just getting done that which never gets done. Unfortunately, next week classes begin again and my job in an elementary school starts and while i am grateful to be busy again, I am having a difficult time saying goodbye to summer. So here it is my last pining for summer bliss. Sayonara! I am now ready to embrace the busy days of real life!

Despite the weather!

2009-08-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

For this last weekend, Josh and I had planned some fun water activities. We were planning an end of summer pool party bash with friends we hadn't seen in awhile and then because I had planned on playing a bit with my friend Stephanie we decided we would go up to Bear Lake for Saturday. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with our plans and it ended up being too cold and rainy for all of the above.

Despite the weather, Steph and I found a great way to entertain ourselves. On Friday we visited the zoo, something we both had not done for quite some time. Although we were without children and I think some people were wondering what exactly we were doing, we had a great time!

This picture you can't see all that well but it was hilarious as it happened, Steph was standing in front of a fan blowing water and it just looked too funny to not picture.

Okay so these water fountains have always just made me laugh so we both had to take some pictures in front of them.

It was a great day! Thanks for suggesting this Miss Yates, it made for some great pictures.

Thanks to the Lash family we were able to go to a Real Salt Lake soccer game on Saturday night and although it was an interesting game, we all had fun!

Our First Home

2009-07-21T21:11:00.000-07:00

We are finally getting around to decorating our home. It's been fun going through our pictures and deciding what to put up...ok so more often then not Jess has done the deciding of what goes where but lets be honest and say that it's a really good thing she does! We've been given lots of great gifts that have also really helped. We really do thank all of you for your generous gifts.

Jess is...helping? ;-)

Here I am measuring where to put the nail.

It turned out great. I love the stuff that Jess already had. This had stitched "6 be's" of President Hinckley is a great touch.

I think our mantel turned out really nice.

So we bought this the other day and finally put it together. We finally have a place to put the beginnings of our food storage.

The Honeymoon!

2009-06-12T20:47:00.001-07:00

Hawaii was beautiful!! Despite the many rainstorms we had a lot of fun and I am not sure I have ever relaxed quite that much. This was the view from our hotel room, a welcome site our first day!

This was actually our last day in Hawaii. We went around Pearl Harbor for a few hours and then hiked Diamond Head. Pearl Harbor was amazing, quite a different feeling there and a deep appreciation for those who serve our country then and now.

Okay so this is slightly embarrassing, here we are after we just got down from volcano. This is supposed to be a walk really, and it is, until you reach the last 300 feet of the 600 feet climb. Really it doesn't sound that difficult but oh my, the last half of the climb is straight stairs and my thighs really were sore after climbing them and then going back down. By the time we took this picture I was tired and slightly ornery.

Here we are enjoying dinner in the sunset. This was one of my favorite times of the day! It is very interesting to compare the sunsets there to those of home, quite different but both beautiful.

One of our first days in Hawaii we went to walk the grounds of the Laie Temple. We had wanted to go to the temple while in Hawaii, but the temple is closed for remodeling so we walked around quickly and took pictures before the rain came.

While at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we enjoyed a lot of Hawaiian rain. The day was enjoyable, even though the rain didn't stop for long. I enjoyed seeing the dancing in the rain!

Oh look, Josh and I wet.

Mom, this is the site of your and dad's mission. Look at the pretty quilt! I need to show you the rest of the pictures we took in this room.

Our Fijian tatoos. Mine signified a queen and Josh's a warrior.

The Wedding Day!

2009-06-12T20:17:00.001-07:00

May 20, 2009 was a beautiful day to get married, we are so grateful that everything turned out as well as it did. Thank you family and friends that helped us along as we went through this amazing day!

Here we are walking out of the temple after the sealing, both exceptionally happy and ready to embrace the wind!

Thank you to all the family and friends at the temple and luncheon. This day wouldn't have been the same without all of your love and support.

Aah! Aren't we cute? I must say we enjoyed this.

The luncheon was perfect. A little out of the ordinary but everyone was great. Here we are cutting the cake, isn't it cute!

New Post!

2009-06-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are finally adding to our little blog. This experience is a bit new and since life hasn't quite settled we have neglected our blogging obligations. No worries, we are getting there.

Wedding Fun Stuff

2009-04-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family,
We thought it would be fun and helpful to have a blog in order to let you all know general information about our wedding. We are gettting married May 20, 2009 in the Salt Lake Temple. We have opted for having just a small luncheon and no reception.

For those looking for registry information there are links to the left under our picture. If you are looking at the registry information online, follow the links and use Josh's name to find us (this is the easiest way, my name pulls up too many people). We have decided on colors for our new home and they are the following: Kitchen- Red and White, Bedroom-Navy, Burgandy, Sage, Chocolate Brown, Bathrooms- Tan and Sage, Living Room- Navy, Chocolate Brown, Deep Dark Red, Light Green (similar to bedroom).

For those not looking on the websites we are registered at Target; Bed, Bath and Beyond; and thanks to Josh, REI. :)

Thank you all, we love you!
Jess and Josh