Photo by Sami Jo Photography

Hair and Makeup by Celise Artistry

A little bit about me…today I turn 30, and I love making goals and lists and checking things off.  I made this list when I was 25 after I had finished a 25 things to do before I turn 25, I did not finish all of those so several got moved to this list.  I have loved focusing on these goals and checking them off.  Dream Big!…. why not?  What do you have to loose to make big goals, I didn’t think I would finish most of these, but I was so blessed to work on the things that I love.  Stay tuned for my next list of 35 things to do before I am 35! 🙂  I will also being doing a little giveaway on my instagram!

1. Have a Summerfest Booth

completed on: June 12-14, 2014.  It was so much fun to sell my personal photography and to show my images from all over the world.  I love creating my fine art images as much as I love my portrait work

2. Design fabric with Spoonflower

almost complete.  I have been drawing my designs for several years and this last year I started to watercolor and I am excited to get my designs digitalized and printed.

3. Go to Nepal

completed in March of 2015.  I have wanted to go to Nepal since I graduated from college, 8 years later I was lucky enough to go to The Beyond Workshop where we did humanitarian work and had styled wedding shoots.  The people of Nepal changed me, and I created some of my most prized images on that trip.  Check out one of my blog posts about Nepal.

4. Go to the East Coast and photograph the Sacred Grove in the Fall.

completed in November of 2015.  New York City still had some amazing fall colors at Central Park, but the further north we went the barer the trees were.  When we pulled up to the Sacred Grove, the leaves were gone…. except maybe a block worth of trees in the middle of the grove.

5. Read the Bible Dictionary

completed on July 23, 2013

6. Train for a triathlon or duathalon.

will be completed at the end of May 2016, I have signed up for the Wellsville Duathalon, now to train and get my butt in shape!

correction…I had a wedding come up…and then I quit training! 🙂

7. Personal photo project.

in the process of completing.  I have two that I am working on and I am super excited about them, but I don’t want to show any of the work until it is finished…get excited because I can’t sleep because I am so excited about it!

completed and it will be an ongoing!  I created Modern LDS Temple photos, and I have loved doing them.  Visit my new site here for those: Jessica Parker Print Shop

8. Visit all of the Utah Temples and do work in them.

completed in March of 2016.  I was lucky to get a lot checked off when I photographed weddings there.  Logan, Brigham, Old Ogden Temple, New Ogden Temple, Bountiful, Salt Lake, Oquirrh, Jordan River, Draper, Timpanogous, Old Provo Temple, Provo City Center, Payson, Manti, Vernal, Monticello, and St. George.

9. Learn Illustrator

completed but still need to work on it.

10. Hike Half Dome in Yosemite.

not completed, we tried to go last summer and Cole was too sick while we were in the area.

11. Photograph a Ghost town

completed June 2016. We camped in a ghost town near Telluride at Alta Lakes, it was so much fun!

12. Oregon Coast- Go Clamming and Crabbing.

completed in May of 2014  It was so fun!  We rented a little tin boat and dropped our crab cages and we caught them and boiled them up in a crab boil!

13. Salmon Fishing.

not completed.

14. Make nieces a quilt.

completed February 2017.

15. Finish applique quilt.

completed in December 2012.

16. High fashion photo shoot.

completed May 16, 2013.  We did this shoot with a zebra!  It was amazing!

Styling and Hair and Make Up: Mary Hess

17. Read Jesus The Christ.

completed April 1, 2016

18. Apply to be a documentary photographer.

completed  My Nepal images were published in a national magazine and I have contacted several people about pursuing documentary photography.

19. Take piano lessons.

not completed.

20. Learn book making

almost complete. I have made the book, now I need to print the images and stick them in there!

21. Make a meal from the land.

completed in May of 2014.  We caught some crabs in Oregon and brought corn and potatoes from the garden and had a crab boil on the beach and it was amazing!

22. Cross country ski Bryce Canyon.

completed in February 2016.  We only skied a little bit because the snow was so crusty! Haha.

23. Go to all of the National Parks.

completed in March of 2016. Glen Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Zions, Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef.

24. Learn to make artisan breads better.

worked on for the five years, and I still need to improve, but I had some good successes.

25. Learn to make cakes better.

completed.  I had an amazing cake lesson from The Graceful Baker, if you haven’t tried her cakes you need to!  She is the Best Wedding Cake maker in Cache Valley! I worked on this for the five years, and I still need to improve, but I had some good successes.

26. Design an inspirational shoot.

completed in August 2012 and the first one I designed was featured on Style Me Pretty!

27. Learn to make cheese.

completed.  Justin and I bought some swiss cow milk from a little local farm and figured out how to make it, we had some successes and some fails! 🙂

28. Learn printmaking.

completed. Justin taught me how, and I made a pillow with a design that I had cut.

29. Learn machine quilting.

completed and still in progress.

30. Make 30 things for a charitable organization.

almost completed.. I made 23 to take to Nepal, I stitched until I had to leave for my flight and that was all I could finish.  But I am almost finished with the last ones to take on an upcoming humanitarian trip.

completed. I donated the other 7 to an organization for refugee families.