So I’ve given some thought about the last decade, and I’d like to share a few of those things. When I compare this decade to the one previous, the 2000s for me was a decade of vast changes, and the 2010s was a decade of growth. In the 2000s, I went from High School, mission, and college, to career and buying a house. I still did do a lot of new things throughout the 2010s, but it was more about building on that foundation I had already built.
My first thought was to make a bulleted list like I normally do, but this time, I’ve been on Facebook for the last ten years, so you could just go back and look at all my previous notes. Instead I want to share the highlights, things that had real meaning for me that I often reflect back on. A bulleted list adds some distance from my emotions, and I want to be a bit more real today. But not too much-- this is the internet, after all.
In 2010, I was struggling socially at the YSA ward I was going to, so I continued to go to most of the activities at my first YSA ward in Layton. I’m glad I did, because that helped me out a lot. I also kept doing things with friends, and it was in 2010 that I went on a Singles cruise to Cabo San Lucas. Later that year, the YSA boundaries rearranged along the Wasatch front, and I started attending the Clearfield YSA Ward. I went in with optimism, and I actually put effort into remembering people’s names. In 2011, I played a bunch of Ultimate Frisbee, and I felt like I made better friendships, and I had a lot dates that first year.
However, being outgoing and social was something fairly new to me, and so I worried a lot about not doing or saying the right things. Okay, I still worry about that, but at the time, everything was new for me, while now just some things are new. But I remember once going for a long bike ride all by myself, when I decided to take the opportunity to pray for some strength that over the next several years I could grow to the point where I could meet some specific goal. Heavenly Father works on His own timetable, though, and He worked things out, and He prepared the way that this thing I thought I thought impossible happened that weekend. God answers prayers, and miracles happen.
At the end of 2011, my dad had heart trouble. I decided that I had better take better care of my health, and I started taking advantage of the fitness benefits work provided. That is something I have kept up generally well throughout the decade.
My youngest sister Teresa got divorced in 2010, but she found a new man, and was married in 2012. In 2018, they had their first daughter. Meanwhile, one of my other sisters, Carol was married in 2011, and they have four kids now, ages 7, 5, 3, and 1, and I’m happy being everyone’s favorite uncle.
I bought a new camera at the end of 2010, and a new camcorder in 2011. That same year, I bought a new computer and video editing software in order to handle processing HD video.
In 2012, I moved to a new project at work where I would need to travel out to Boston a ton. I also moved from the internship program I was hired under to a full software engineer. The project started out as a two-week-there, 1-week-back kind of deal, and then switched to 2-week/2-week, and then in 2013 it became 1 week a month for the first few months, until the project was cancelled. During that time, it was a great opportunity. I made sure to do something every weekend I was there, and I got to see a lot of sights. However, it was also very stressful for me emotionally being away when I felt like I was just starting to figure out how to make friends. All the same, it was a valuable experience, and I’m grateful for the friends I did have during that time and other hard times I’ve been through.
In 2012, a friend invited me to go backpacking to hike King’s Peak. We were woefully out of shape, but we did it! This kind of sparked a series of backpacking adventures. I love camping, but backpacking isn’t really something I had done until this time. In 2014-2017, I went into the Uintah mountains with some coworkers, In 2016-2019, I did other backpacking adventures with different sets of friends, most notably going up to King’s Peak again in 2018, but this time I was experienced and in shape, so it was a much different experience.
Besides backpacking adventures, I also had other camping trips with friends. Most notably in 2013 when I went with some people from the Roy YSA to Nauvoo, then again in 2014 when we went to Palmyra. In 2018, I went with some friends to Rocky Mountain National Park. In 2019, for the first time I organized my own vacation with friends, and we went to Yellowstone.
As our family has grown older, we haven’t gone on as many family vacations like we used to. Some memorable ones we had this decade though was to the Grand Canyon in 2011, Glacier National Park in 2013, and Monument Valley in 2015. In 2012, Sandy and I went to southern Utah to see a solar eclipse, but that amazing experience was dwarfed by the total solar eclipse in 2017-- I went with my dad and sister to see up in Idaho.
In 2013, I celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who by watching every episode. When I was a senior in High School, I created a character based off Doctor Who called “Senior Who.” In 2014, I decided to change his look, going for a cross between 4th doctor and 6th doctor. I knitted a giant scarf and sewed a multicolored coat. In 2015, I knitted a new scarf, because the original was too bulky. In 2018, I went to FanX to get my picture taken with David Tennant, and that was really exciting!
In 2013, I was called as a Finance Clerk for the ward. Talking with one of the counselors one day, he suggested that I might have better luck getting into a relationship by going somewhere that people share similar interests, and he had heard of a local board game group and thought it would be a good idea for me to go. Not long after, a coworker let me know about SaltCON, a local board game convention. I decided to go, and I had a lot of fun, and I’ve been going every year since. I went to the local game group (Northern Utah Gamer’s Guild) but there wasn’t many people there at the time, probably just a bad week. In 2016, I finally convinced one of my friends to come with me to SaltCON, and he loved it, and became obsessed, and so we’ve continued to go as a group. Later that year, we went to a game convention in St. George. We also went to the NUGG together, and it was much better, so I’ve been going there if I’m free those nights. In 2018 we went to Gen Con, the largest came convention in America.
In 2015, I paid off my house, and I paid off my car in 2016, becoming debt-free. In anticipation for that, I started buying shares of companies in the stock market in 2014 so that I could have some experience and not be overwhelmed with what to do with what had once been a big part of my monthly expenses. After 2016, I increased my regular contributions to my 401(k) and my retirement account is the one that gets to see the real success.
In 2015, the Riverdale ward started up for singles my age. My Bishop liked me and said I was welcome to stay, but the stake was releasing me from my calling, and so if I wanted a new calling it was time to move on. So I did. Unlike last time, I didn’t begin my new ward with a very good attitude. I had a lot of anxiety at the time, and I felt like a failure. I had tried online dating that year, but no one messaged me back so I quit. But I kept going to activities through 2016 with my old ward, and that’s what I needed to keep positive. In 2017 I started playing Ultimate Frisbee with people in my own ward, and I feel like I’ve made some good friendships through that. Of course, it’s not like I was negative all the time-- I’m generally a positive person. But I look at how I was feeling in 2018 and I can tell I was putting myself down far less frequently than I was in 2015.
One of my friends invited me to run Ragnar with him. I knew several friends that had done that, and it seemed like a good adventure to do, so I practiced my long-distance running. In 2016 I ran with him on the Wasatch Back, and then that same year, I ran with a different group of friends in Las Vegas. In 2019, after wanting to get back into running again, I ran in Ragnar Del Sol in Arizona.
One thing I like doing that I haven’t really talked about is that I enjoy answering questions online, especially about religion. I took a break from 2009-2012, but I was drawn back in. Three times (2015, 2016, 2019) I even volunteered to answer questions from other Christians that they had about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I don’t like debates, but I do enjoy explaining what I believe. The first couple times we were bombarded by ex-Mormons that were more interested in telling their side of the story than asking questions. It was such a nightmare that they stopped doing it for a while, but the time this last year it was actually a pleasant experience.
At work, gradually over time I went from being least experienced to having the most experience. Since about 2014 we had been working as an Agile development team, and I really enjoy it. I felt like I had really grown, and I was productive at work. Over time, I learned and became really good at certain software engineering concepts. In 2016, we switched to a new pay-for-contributions pay plan, and so I had extra motivation to improve. In 2018, I became the team lead. It came with a lot of extra responsibility, and I don’t get to program as much anymore. But being team lead is something I had wanted to do-- I do like being able to guide others to become better programmers, and that’s the kind of responsibility I do like. In 2019, the team had grown so much that we split the team, and now I’m over two teams working on two different things. It’s stressful, but I’m keeping up so far.
Okay, that should be all the big things. There’s tons of more minor things I could write, and I do appreciate all the minor adventures we’ve had, parties, and activities. Most of you I met during the last ten years, mostly through either the Clearfield YSA ward or the Riverdale SA ward.
I feel like I’ve come a long ways these last ten years. Thanks for the memories, and I’m looking forward to the next grand adventures making memories in the 2020s!
