2011 Halftime (but we're still playing)

I'm as bad at this as I am at keeping a journal. I'll try to review the first six months and see where we go. The first part of the year was cool and wet which led to flooding concerns and actual flooding in a few places along the Weber River. It stayed cool enough though for the snow to melt more gradually than expected so it wasn't as bad as expected.

We were kept busy by multiple basketball leagues with Dallin and Logan. In March they won the Layton City Junior Jazz city championship avenging their loss in the semi-finals the year before.

Thanks to Cory Larsen for coaching and to Dave Tietjen for helping.

In April we took a family vacation to Yosemite National Park, Sequoia National Park and Disneyland. It was a lot of fun and a lot of miles driven. We left on April 2nd and came home on April 11th. Megan, Greg, Macy, and Josh went with us.



We left our mark on the Salt Flats then romped (well one of us) through Yosemite and we were all amazed with the size of the Giant Sequoias. It was awesome.



It was a bit adventuresome for the old family van. We picked up a nail on the trip to Reno and had a flat tire the next morning. Sam's Club fixed that up for us and we were on our way. We burned up the brakes coming down out of Yosemite, so I did a quick brake pad replacement in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn the next morning.

Fun, fun, fun. We loved the "World of Color" laser show at night. Macy loved the characters (from a distance). We spent a cold few hours at Huntington Beach. It was a fun trip but we sure walked a lot.

We also stopped at Zions National Park on the way home. It was very different to be there with snow on the ground.

Okay, that was our vacation. I don't have time to do any more right now, I'll have to catch up on the rest later. Upcoming posts will include Dallin & Logan's AAU championship, Dallin's folly, and Spring/Summer football.

Austin's 2010



2010 was a big year for Austin. He learned some things about life, leadership, relationships, and responsibility through events planned and unforeseen. Sports dominated his thoughts, time, and energy, but he did a good job of balancing the rest of his life as well (Sports was only maybe 65% of his life - but could have been much more).



Tackle vs Layton



He started out the year with basketball, playing with the Northridge High sophomore team. The coaches placed a lot of emphasis on conditioning, so the team ran and ran and ran some more. He lost 20 pounds during basketball and by the end he was beginning to think that he was paying too high a price in strength and weight to consider playing basketball again. He ran track in the spring, competing in the 110 meter high hurdles and occasionally (when Coach Lund had him cornered) in the 300 meter intermediate hurdles.

Through both basketball and track his mind and his heart were really in his first love - football. Spring football gives the players and coaches an excuse to put the pads on and hit someone for the first time in six months. 7-on-7 football is played between late Spring into early Summer. This year Austin competed with the varsity players but played defense almost exclusively. At times it seems that Coach Thompson is trying to keep him a secret offensively.

In June, the Layton Hills Stake sponsors a "Camp Helaman" and Austin was old enough this year to participate. On the first day of the camp, one of his "zone leaders" got sick and had to go home, so they asked Austin to act as a zone leader. The adult leaders were very complimentary of the way he stepped up to take responsibility for his group of young men.

The captains of the football team participated in a leadership camp near North Fork Park in the Ogden Valley. Austin really enjoyed the opportunity to learn and grow with his fellow teammates while having a lot of fun challenging their minds and bodies with physical and leadership challenges. He felt that the camp helped to make their team stronger and led to a better than expected season.



Football season finally arrived and they started their season against Skyview up in Smithfield. It was the beginning of a really good season. They finished the season with an 8-2 record. They beat Alta in the quarterfinals, but lost to eventual Utah state 5-A champion Bingham in the second round. Here are their scores:



Northridge 34, Sky View 17

Northridge 27, Syracuse 12

Northridge 13, Layton 9

Northridge 30, Bonneville 7

Northridge 30, Viewmont 7

Davis 17, Northridge 14
Fremont 27, Northridge 21 (2OT)

Northridge 63, Roy 6

Northridge 44, Clearfield 7

Northridge 41,eber 13

5A FIRST ROUND

Northridge 21, Alta 14

5A QUARTERFINALS

Bingham 54, Northridge 13



His individual stats were:

Rushes   Yards Yards/Carry Touchdowns

26          169     6.50              2

Catches  Yards Yards/Catch Touchdowns

15          252     16.80            2

Defense

Tackles Interceptions  Fumbles Caused  Recovered

120       1                   2                          2

He received the following awards:

Team Defensive MVP                 1st Team All-Area

2nd Team All-State                     Standard Star of the Week

All-Region 1st Team

He was mostly injury-free, he had a great year and is really looking forward to next year. In January he learned that he's been invited to participate with 7-on-7 All-Star team from the state of Utah to compete in Las Vegas against teams from other states. Update on this: Austin was on-line to register for the competition and learned that it was played over Saturday and Sunday and so he elected to not participate because of the play on Sunday - how's that for balancing priorities?

In the fall he decided that he wasn't going to play basketball so he could focus more on football and academics. He's gained 20 pounds since the football season ended. He finished the second term with a cumulative GPA of 3.53. We'll see what the rest of 2011 brings.

2010 Year in Review




Logan's School Picture



Dallin





Starting from youngest to oldest, here is a short update on the events of 2010. This will have to be covered in multiple posts.

Logan's year was very similar to Dallin's which is one of the blessings and curses of being an identical twin. So their year gets combined into one.

Basketball

They started the year with some basketball and finished the year with more basketball. In March they finished third in the city's recreational basketball, "Jr. Jazz." They lost a close one in the semi-finals. They won all but one game with their "comp" team. They lost to a hot-shooting Kaysville team in the state AAU tournament.

Baseball



They played baseball in two "comp" leagues. Because of mid-season rain-outs the season stretched into some very hot summer days which made it really tough to enjoy - especially for Dallin when he played catcher.

Football



They played on the same football team as they did last year coached by Darren Smith. "Dominant" is the best way to describe their team. If you look closely at the team picture it shows the results of each game. Their closest game was in the semi-final against a much bigger Brigham City team and the score was 26-0. The total of points scored for the year was 338-2. It really wasn't fair. They almost got to the point where they just took winning for granted and had a hard time celebrating their championship.

In the past two years they outscored their opponents 682-8. They haven't had an offensive score against them in two years. That's an amazing accomplishment and it's very cool to watch.



The Rest of their Lives

They reached the age of 14 on their birthday this year, so they were ordained Teachers in the Aaronic Priesthood. They began 8th grade and are loving school like they've always done. (If you believe that one, you don't know them very well). They are exploring new and exciting horizons in their social interaction. If you want details on that, you'll have to speak with them about it.

Getting on board the blog express

We have determined that resistance to the world of blogging and an online presence is futile, so here is our very first post in blogworld. Since we are such interesting people, you'll want to check back here often to see the amazing things we're doing in our fascinating lives.

Since it's Christmas time, we'll share some thoughts about what December the 25th means to us. In one of our favorite movies, "Scrooge," which is a retelling of one of the world's greatest stories in musical form, there is a song at young Ebeneezer's place of employment that describes what Christmas ought to be to each of us. His employer is Mr. Fezziwig:

If there's one day in history
That's more than any myth
Beyond a doubt one day stands out

December the twenty-fifth!

I don't hear any arguments
So may I say forthwith
I wish that everyday could be

December the twenty-fifth!

December the twenty-fifth m'dears

December the twenty-fifth

The dearest day in all the year

December the twenty-fifth

Christmas truly is the geatest day in all the year. We believe that as the events unfolded that most holy day, we were among the heavenly host praising God in song and joyful cries of "Hosanna to His name."

The greatest day of all time however was the "third day" following the crucifixion and voluntary mortal death of the Babe of Bethlehem when He rose in triumph over death from His tomb. We know He still lives and loves us all.

So, there's our first post. The next will be about us and what we're up to in our lives, maybe an overview of the past year or so.