New Year

Happy 2017.

Happy to report I accomplished a few key goals this last year that I look forward to building on.

First, I got into pretty good shape. My max bench is 215, squat 250, dead lift 275. I'm running a 9 min mile and am stronger and healthier than I've been in a while. This was accomplished by working on 4-5x/week and generally eating healthier. This year I want to really understand how food affects me and work on generally eating cleaner, more consciously.

Second, I taught at the U as an adjunct professor. I built the course, marketing to businesses, from scratch and delivered a great class. At the end the students were so complimentary. Most came up and expressed their appreciation and sentiment that it was one of, if not the best class they had at the U. They encouraged me to continue to teach and share my experience, which I will gladly do in the future.

Third, I developed a bit more of a consulting practice and worked for 470, an ERP Technology Cloud company, and Priority Dispatch. Not major dough, but it's nice to have something additional coming in and building a bit of an additional practice.

We traveled pretty extensively, going to Orlando, Disneyland, Seattle, and Hawaii (twice, the Big Island and Maui).

Here's a little about the family. 

Maddie had a great year. She is a leader in school - she was selected to visit the Mayor of Kaysville as one of a few students in all of 5th grade. She had two great seasons of soccer where she played hard defense and scored some great goals. She was chosen to be a special needs helper at school on account of her kindness and leadership. She and I had a great trip together to Disneyland for the annual Halloween party - she was the cutest Belle there, and I was the her tag-along beast. She helped find $200 this year - once on the streets in Anaheim where she saw and pointed out a $100 bill, the second time with Gigi on the streets of Layton as a gift card. She's played basketball and is a great developing athlete. She is the nanny to three cute babies (Fayth, Millie, and Evelyn) who she cares for every day. Most of her Christmas present this year was baby supplies to help with these little cuties. She's a better nanny to them than most people would be to actual kids. She is a bright light in our life and helps us stay young and fresh and funny.

Favorite song: Feed the birds frosted flakes (Makena Beach early morning snorkeling)
Favorite book:
Best job: Teacher
Best friend: Alexis
Favorite movie: Moana
Funniest moment: Jordyn the turtle (Maddie made a sand turtle in Maui and within 20 mins her head was smashed. Since, Maddie has been paying tribute to her legacy)
Favorite moment: Playing ping pong and getting smoked by Maddie's crazy serve
Worst moment: Overall, great year.
What I learned: Social media, the fun of Instagram, Animal Jam (AJ), Family House
Favorite apps: Family House, AJ, Instagram, FaceTime
Favorite subject in school: Math
Friend group at school: Kerri, Brinlee, Kaydance, Chloe, Presley, Bryker, Ashley, Mae

Abby had an impressive year. One of her best moments was going to Montreal with Mom...it rained the whole time, but they loved the shopping and spending time in old graveyards. She's excelled in school - she's got a rocking 4.0 and is especially good in French and Math. One of the things that Abby is really good about is getting ahead of things. For instance, she did a leaf project in school and got ahead of it and killed it. Abby liked golf and tennis lessons this year. She was student of the month in October. What really stands out to me though is the social excitement...friends, boys, etc. Abby is really coming into her own and finally in Utah has a fun group of kids who are sweet, cute, loyal, and fun. She met a special boy named Noah who is a fun, kind, thoughtful boy. She's not quite ready to call him a boyfriend, but they definitely like each other...alot.

Favorite song: Cheap Thrills
Favorite book: Great Expectations
Best friend: Lexa
Favorite movie: Moana
Favorite moment: For me, teaching her to drive and playing modern warfare
Favorite apps: Texting, Facetime, Instagram
Worst moment: Spraining her knee skiing at Snow Basin
What I learned: Snowing
Teen moment: Girl Scout Camp
Abby's friend group at school is: Makayla, Michael, Addy, Zach, Noah, etc.

Mom had a good year, for the most part. She continues to work at MarketStar, but doesn't take it too seriously thankfully. The last part of the year Mom's been prepping for the bar and that's been nothing  but painful for her. The good news is she killed the professional responsibility part of the Bar and is prepping hard for the real deal in Feb. Mom has been running primary as the secretary and does a good job generally providing not just management, but also guidance of how to best support the primary kids. Mom spends a lot of time keeping the house running, i.e. doing carpool, driving the girls to sewing and piano, cooking, and generally doing an amazing job of keeping us well fed and happy. She continues to love to walk, and took up jogging later in the year.

Favorite song: She won't commit
Best friend: She won't commit
Favorite movie: Moana
Favorite moment: She won't commit
Favorite apps: She won't commit
Worst moment: She won't commit
What I learned: She won't commit