2010: A Year in Review

Along with Christmas, the month of December is an opportunity to reflect on the events of the year as well as look ahead with anticipation for a new year to begin.

It was a monumental year in many facets. For one, the lack of blogging seemed to be quite prevalent. Goals are great until they lack achievement. Hopefully the future will provide an increase in literary accomplishments.

As for 2010, well…

…February was spent living and working abroad in Vancouver, BC during the 2010 Winter Olympics. I had the opportunity to work many 16-18 hour days at Canada Hockey Place. (Also known as GM Place or to locals ‘The Garage.’) This was the second time I’ve had an opportunity to bask in the Olympic spirit. Early on in the games, I mentioned to a co-worker, in spite of the lack of snow and the Olympic flame-out occurring, all Canada had to do was win the gold medal in men’s hockey and nothing else would matter. Sadly for the US, but luckily for the Canadians, nothing else mattered. I was able to experience the most watched television event in Canadian history from six (6) rows above the ice, behind the Canadian bench.

When I returned I quickly went to work assisting a great friend of mine Sam Granato, who was running for United States Senate. The experience gave me an in-depth perspective of what truly goes on inside political circles.Skipping ahead, he was unable to win in the general election but the people I met through the year and the experiences we shared will not soon be forgotten.

May was met with the birth of my first nephew. The poor little guy managed to not quite develop a esophagus or trachea in the womb. Less than 24 hours into life he was enduring major surgery and wouldn’t end up coming home until August. He still doesn’t like to swallow much, but he’s doing just fine now. We also found out that come January 2011, we will be sharing in a first of our own.

Pregnant as she may be, my wife still decided to run a marathon. June is normally a great time to run, unless of course you are 8 weeks pregnant. I’m pretty proud of her as she didn’t give up when she could have and although her time wasn’t great she finished the race and was far from dead last.

The enchantment for our second home in New York City led us to spend a few weeks there in August. There is certainly something about the Big Apple that draws us in each and every time. I was offered a job and we could’ve moved back as permanent Manhattenites, but it just didn’t feel completely right and so we carry on in the doldrums of suburbia.

Also in August I was able to captain a small armada of Scouts in canoes 30 miles over open water through Flaming Gorge. The gorge is definitely one of the hidden gems of the Western United States and seeing it at 3 miles an hour isn’t as terrible as it sounds.

The rest of the fall encompassed trips to the Pacific Northwest and Southern California.

All in all, it was a newsworthy year as I happen to find myself in Sports Illustrated, The City Weekly, and the Deseret News.

So here we sit in December of 2010. Although my life did revolve around some of the major world news of the year, it still doesn’t quite compare with the experiences of normal everyday life. There were some pretty interesting world events this year: Olympics, LeBron, Wikileaks, Chilean Miners, the World Cup, earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, just to name a few.

No matter what was accomplished in the year by ourselves or by others, each of us still come home each night and hopefully have an opportunity to sit by the Christmas tree and maybe even watch the gleaming eyes of a child’s anticipation of Santa, as we reflect upon the truly matters most. Not only at this time of year but each and every day as the only accomplishment that really merits anything of eternal value; the birth, the life, and the atoning sacrifice of our Savior.

Merry Christmas!