A Day For Mothers

Dear Mom,

Our hearts are full of love, gratitude, and appreciation this day as the world celebrates you. As my mother, you have been the perfect example of charity and sacrifice.

You have always been on my sidelines cheering me on in life and your warm hands comforted me when I needed them. You have always been a great example of faith and have taught me by your example how to serve others. One of the greatest lessons you taught me was to be humble, to never seek for more than what I needed, and to be happy and grateful for what I have. I admire and appreciate how you always put our family first.

You taught me the strength of women and encouraged my independence, you always had a listening ear and good advice during moments of discouragement. From you I have learned the importance of hard work, enjoying life, finding my own path, and finding excitement in the future. There are many qualities and characteristics I have gained from you.

Most importantly, you taught me about the life and example of my Savior. You taught me to rely on the Holy Ghost and be obedient to the principles of the gospel. You taught me the importance of keeping the commandments and trusting in my Heavenly Father. You taught me how to be a missionary every day for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

I never questioned your love for me and am now learning more of the depths of that love. You are not only my mother, you are my friend. You loved, nurtured, and cultured me and allowed me to grow into the person that I am now. I am so grateful for you. I love you with all my heart. We love and cherish you.

you can't win them all...

This is a lesson I have been taught from a very early age, but I wish I didn't have to relive it this time. Michelle and I flew to Utah to watch Real Salt Lake play against Monterrey in the CONCACAF Champions League Final. This was the biggest game in RSL history and we wanted to be a part of it (I interned for the team for 2 years when it first came into the league and wasn't very good, so this was a pretty neat experience). A majority of people in the US Soccer community were also calling this the biggest club soccer match in US history. Let me put it into perspective....no US soccer club had ever won the tournament (let alone make it to the final) and by winning RSL would go on to the Club World Cup and play teams from all over the world (Barcelona, Manchester United, Estudiantes, etc.). To add to the excitement, this two-leg final only required that RSL win at home (unbeaten in 2 years), or just have a tie at less than 2 goals (because they tied 2-2 at Monterrey). Needless to say, we were all very optimistic and in good spirits.










The pre-game festivities were fantastic!




Kick-Off

The team ended up loosing 1-0 on a goal coming from Monterrey at the very last second of the first half. RSL had the majority of the scoring chances, but couldn't put one in the back of the net.

Despite the loss, the atmosphere in the stadium was the greatest that I had ever experienced (including games seen abroad), I was so proud to see my little ol' Real Salt Lake come so far in just a few years (when I interned there we didn't have our own stadium and hardly had more than 10,000 people out to a game, but for this game there were 20,000 screaming die-hard fans), and most importantly we had the opportunity to catch up with family and friends that we hadn't seen in a long time (this aspect of the trip made the feelings from the loss dissipate very quickly)!