Year-end review: Utah's most memorable stories of 2011

SALT LAKE CITY — As we approach the end of 2011, KSL News takes a look back at this year's top 10 most memorable Utah stories.

 

1. Who can forget the year of the Jimmer? Following a stellar senior season playing basketball for BYU — and garnering hundreds of thousands of fans along the way — Jimmer Fredette went on to win college basketball player of the year and was taken in the 1st round of the NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings.
2. But not even Jimmer ever accomplished what a group of young ladies from Farmington did in May, all thanks to an outbreak of horse herpes. Rodeo queen contestants had to ride stick poniesduring a rodeo because the virus was making the real horses sick. Their story made international headlines.
3. Speaking of animals, thousands of birds came down in Cedar City in early December.
4. And hundreds of pigs were burned in a barn fire in Beaver County in November.
5. Then there was the eagle hurt in a car accident that was sent back into the wild in San Juan County last April. The man who let her go was Brody Young — the Utah park ranger who was shot several times near Moab, and is now back to work.
6. A group of Logan bystanders showed amazing strength in September when they lifted a car off of a motorcyclist who was hit and pinned underneath it. Surveillance video captured them pulling 21-year-old Brandon Wright out from underneath the burning vehicle.
7. There were other amazing rescues, for example that of two men who got lost and ran out of gas while snowmobiling in Wasatch County in March. They built a snow cave and lived there for a couple of days until search and rescue teams eventually found them.
8. A missing 12-year-old Boy Scout also built a shelter when he got lost in Daggett County in August.He was found safe the next day.
9. Lehi Police Chief Chad Smith saved a 3-year-old boy from drowning in a swimming pool in July. Smith did CPR and made a lifelong friend.
10. And who can forget Dale Price? He's the American Fork dad who dressed up in a different costume every morning to wave goodbye to his son as he boarded his school bus? His story made headlines across the world.

I miss Christmas already

No Fear in the New Year

via jongordon.com

No Fear in the New Year

Eleven years ago I looked out into the Atlantic Ocean on New Year’s Day with fear in my heart and uncertainty in my life. I had been fired from a "dot.com" company two weeks earlier with only two weeks of severance, no insurance for my two young children and only two months of savings in the bank. My wife and I had just invested every dollar we had and even took out a second mortgage on our home and $20,000 on a credit card to open what would be the first Moe's Southwest Grill in Florida.

The restaurant was set to open January 13th and we had no earthly idea how we would pay our home mortgage and other bills since I planned on keeping my salary and job while my managers built the restaurant business. Now, it was New Years Day and I had no job, no salary and a restaurant opening that at worst would fail miserably or at best take a year to be profitable.

I thought of all this as I prepared to jump into the icy cold water-to take a symbolic plunge that this would be the year of NO FEAR. Regardless of the circumstances I was facing, this would be the year where I would trust and go for it. This would be the year I would be bold in actions and faith and humble in spirit. No longer could I do it alone. Now I needed a miracle and I decided to act as if my future depended on me and pray like it depended on God.

By jumping into the ocean I was declaring that no longer will I allow fear to cut off the flow of abundant and positive energy in my life. No longer will I allow fear to paralyze me. Instead of fear I would trust.

Now, eleven years later, as I write this I am preparing to jump into the ocean once again on New Year’s Day. It has become my yearly ritual - to remind myself to follow my passion, live life to the fullest, surrender and to stay one step ahead of the fear that hovers around me.

And as I take my leap into the ocean I want to invite you to jump in with me. Perhaps not in the ocean but in the depths of your mind. This jump doesn't necessarily require water but rather a leap of faith in your belief system and a shift in your mindset. The antidote to fear is trust and it is only a thought away.

No one is going to push you over the chasm of struggle to the life that you want. God will nudge you but you must take the leap. You must make this jump in your mind and then with your actions. You must make this jump with trust, determination and faith. After all, they don't call it a leap of fear. They call it a "leap of faith" for a reason.

You will always feel fear. Everyone will. But your trust must be bigger than your fear. The bigger your trust the smaller your fear becomes. And the more you trust the more you become a conduit for miracles. I know. A consulting project presented itself out the blue and we were able to pay our mortgage. A check came in the mail, the right opportunities came our way and somehow, some way my family and I were carried. A year after the restaurant opened I started this newsletter which eventually lead to me writing books, speaking and doing the work I do now.

I know that 2011 was not a great year for many people but I believe New Year’s Day represents a fresh start and it presents a new opportunity to create the life and career you want. All you have to do is jump in with all that you are and all that you wish to become.

Are you ready? How will you make 2012 your best year yet? Share your thoughts on our blog or Facebook page!

-Jon

P.S. People often ask me what happened to my restaurant. Well, thankfully I eventually opened 4 restaurants and sold them seven years ago knowing it was time to focus 100% on the work I'm doing now. Thank you for your support and for sharing this message with others.