Something you may not know...

Something you may not know about me is that I LOVE dishes! I haven't always loved dishes, but ever since we bought our own home, I've found myself looking for MORE dishes. I think they are an awesome thing to grow an attachment to and to possibly pass down to your children someday (if they're still in style). I do have a favorite set of dishes. They are my Paris themed ones. I've had them for about 9 years. For a majority of those 9 years they were in boxes in my bedroom. Before I tell you that story, here are some pictures of them. Go ahead, fall in love with them. I did at first sight.

The whole set.

Cup and saucer.Bowl.Bread plate.Dinner plate.

I just love the street scenes. So, funny thing about these dishes. The first time I ever saw them was at the TJ Maxx in Ft. Union. Although TJ Maxx was only selling the dinner plates and bread plates, I still wanted them. I had no idea at the time there was this beautiful set out there. But, they didn't have 8 of each. I HAD to have 8 of each. I always buy dishes to accomodate 8 because you never know how big your family will grow. So, reluctantly, I put them back. But I still thought of them often and said to myself "someday, someday they will be mine". Then one day, some friends and I went to a furniture store to look around. I forget why we were there, but that's not important. I believe it was fate that brought me to that store that day. There I saw them, just lying on a beautifully arranged dining room table in the middle of the store...MY DISHES! Even at a ripe young age of 17 I knew I had to have these dishes. I knew that someday they would grace the table in a dining room in a home of my very own. Unfortunately, the furniture store didn't sell the dishes...just the massively expensive table they were sitting on. So, I picked up a plate to see if the brand name would be on the bottom and it was (Mikasa) and then looked up the nearest store online as soon as I got home. I ended up driving to the outlets in Park City to buy my perfect dishes. Lucky for me they had exactly two sets of them left, so I got my set of 8. :) The Mikasa outlet is no longer there so don't go looking for it now. You probably won't find these dishes, either. I've tried. I handle them with the utmost care because I am terrified I will drop one and shatter it. I believe they are irreplaceable. And they are priceless to me. Howie knows to be careful with them. I told Howie when we bought our condo that I absolutely had to have a place to display my dishes. They had waited years to be taken out of those boxes and I wanted to do them justice. They are now sitting in my beautiful china hutch. Every once in a while, for special occasions, we eat on them. They are simply perfect.

New Easter Video

Not sure if everyone's seen this yet or not. It's pretty powerful.

Bucket List

Ever thought of starting a Bucket List? We got on this topic at dinner tonight at my in-laws and it got me thinking about all the things I would like to do before I die. I did a little bit of research online first for some inspiration. I tried not to list too many places to visit because there are SO many that it would take all day to list them all. I'm always finding out about more places I would love to go to. So, it's pointless to list them all. But there are a couple of key places that I absolutely will have to visit. Here's the list I have made so far:

1. Swim with dolphins.
2. Visit The Great Wall of China.
3. Write a book.
4. Learn a foreign language.
5. Ride in a hot-air balloon.
6. Obtain a Bachelor’s Degree.
7. Run a marathon.
8. Learn to play the guitar.
9. Visit Machu Picchu.
10. Visit all 50 of the United States.
11. Learn how to juggle.
12. Make a difference in at least ONE person’s life.
13. Audition to be on a TV show.
14. Have children.
15. Attend an Olympic event.
16. Go to the Kentucky Derby.
17. Send my parents on a vacation.
18. Plant a garden.

It's not a long list yet, but it will definitely grow. I encourage everyone to start one. Then tell me what you come up with and maybe i'll add it to my own list!

Phoenix - April 6th-9th

My trip to Phoenix was a pretty fun one! It was really good to see my good friend, Cherise, and hang out with her family. I've never gotten to formally meet her daughter, so it was neat to get to know her. Her son, Ethan has gotten so big! Last time I went down he was only a little over a year old and now he's 3! I'm a little mad at myself for not taking more pictures while I was down there, but I just forget. I'll tell you a little bit about the pictures I DID take. Here is their house.

Right now they are living in a neighboorhood full of student housing. All of the houses look the same and they have no carpet inside. That helps out in the blistering heat of summer, I'm sure. Another big reason for me visiting at the time I did was to attend the Mesa Easter Pageant. I was really excited to see another one of these things because the only one I've seen is the Manti Pageant. They perform it on the grounds of the Temple. Here is the stage.

The original plan was that we'd go to the Pageant and also, sometime during the trip, do a session at the Temple. Unfortunately, during the time I was there it was closed for cleaning! :( Of all the rotten luck. This was going to be my first out of state Temple to go to. Oh well. Maybe next time. It's a really pretty Temple and they even have a mini Christus in the visitor's center. I was surprised how small it was though. I guess I just expect them to all be huge.

Here is the one picture I got of Cherise and I! Atleast it's a cute one! This is us sitting on the lawn waiting for the show to start. She was a little worried that the kids would lose interest in the play and run a muck but they were really good during it! We only had to chase them down a couple of times. It was a really fun night and we got PERFECT weather. Wow, as you can see, I've been out of the sun for a while.

After the show they had some of the cast members around that you could meet and talk to. This is the horse they used to bring Jesus up to his court hearing. It was neat to see an animal that they actually used in the play. Here is Cherise's husband, Cory, her daughter Daphne on his shoulders and little Ethan in the front. Cherise took this picture.

I was loving the weather! It was anywhere from 72º to around 80º while I was there. I came home to Salt Lake yuckyness. It's cold and rainy. I can NOT wait for warmer weather. I got a planter box from one of my wedding showers and I think it will be fun to plant some cute flowers in it. Well, that's all!

Phoenix!

I leave for Phoenix in the morning and I am SO excited! The last time I took a trip to see my good friend, Cherise, was two years ago. She came up for my wedding, but unfortunately we didn't get a whole lot of time to talk then. It will be nice to take a few days from work and just spend time with her and her family. I was looking through my pictures of the last time I went and realized we only have one picture of us together...ONLY ONE! And it wasn't a particularly good one so I decided not to post it. I will be sure to get some pics of us this time though! It should be a fun 4 days.

I met Cherise in High School. We went to Murray High together. We did so much during the first few years I knew her. We did everything together. I love that I look back on all of our memories together and can only smile. She's an incredible person. Even though certain life changing events have put us in seperate cities, we still keep in touch. She got married and moved away to The Sun (aka Phoenix). They moved there for her husband's job. She now has two children and is very happy down there. They have gotten used to the heat.

I can't wait to see her! I'll post pics when I get back. :)