Graduations
May has been a month full of graduations for our family, but none more meaningful than Jessica graduating from UNLV with her master’s degree in special education. She has worked incredibly hard over the past two years, earned excellent grades, and did it all while balancing work, including her first year as a full-time teacher, and home life. Her dedication has set an example for the kids of what is possible when you set a goal and refuse to give up on it.
To celebrate Jessica’s achievement, Amy and Tom flew out from Colorado, and Rick and Debbie flew out from Iowa to join us for a weekend full of ceremonies, meals, school performances, games, and more. My mom also joined us for Jessica’s graduation ceremony and the dinner afterward. It’s not often that we’re able to get all of our parents together at one time, so this was a special occasion that we don’t take for granted. It wouldn’t have happened without Jessica’s hard work and dedication, and we are all so proud of her.
There were a couple of other graduations to celebrate this month as well. First, Ava graduated from middle school and is now getting ready for her freshman year of high school. I remember Ava’s first day of middle school like it was yesterday. We rode bikes to school together, and I took her photo outside before she headed in. She was still a little girl at that time, but now she has grown into an incredible young woman who Jess and I are so proud of. Middle school was not always the easiest experience for her, but during that time she made new friends, found teachers she connected with, started playing the trumpet, made significant academic progress, and became quite the softball player. There has been a lot of good throughout this chapter of her life, and I can’t wait to see what comes next as she transitions to high school.
The final graduation for us this month was Enzo’s graduation from elementary school. This was his fourth year at Vanderburg Elementary, and all four of those years were spent there with Jess. Now she’ll be driving to and from school alone each day, which is a little sad, but we’re also excited to see Enzo move on to middle school. He did great in elementary school and has a solid core group of friends to lean on as they take this next step together. I had the pleasure of attending his graduation ceremony last week, which included a heartwarming speech about Jessica from one of her students. The tradition at this school is to take your child out to lunch after the ceremony, then bring them back for a party at school. Enzo’s request for lunch was one of our favorite sushi restaurants, so Jess and I were happy to oblige.
The Vanderburg Spring 2026 Concert
A couple of months ago, the music teacher at Vanderburg asked Jess if she thought I’d be interested in playing the ukulele on one song during the spring concert. She knew I had been playing guitar for a long time and figured I could handle it. Without even listening to the song, I agreed to do it, even though I had never played a ukulele before. I figured it was a simple instrument and that it would be no problem.
Soon after, Jess brought a uke home for me to practice with. At that point, I didn’t know any chords or even how to tune it. After listening to the song I needed to learn, it became obvious why they wanted to bring someone else in to perform it. Most ukulele songs have four to six chords in the entire song. This one had 20! It was far more complicated than I expected and took me a few weeks to learn. I had plenty of time, though, and everything turned out fine.
In addition to practicing at home, I went to the school a few times to rehearse with the whole choir and the piano player. There were three performances in one day. The first was in the morning for the youngest kids, then we had an afternoon performance for the older kids, and finally, there was an evening performance for the families. I wasn’t nervous for either of the first two performances, but I could feel my heart racing a bit as I got on stage for the evening show. There were probably 250 to 300 people in the audience, making it the biggest “gig” I’ve had in a long time.
Everything went well, and afterward, I volunteered to come back next year and play with them again. I enjoyed the whole experience so much that I purchased my own ukulele the next day and have been having fun learning classic songs like “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Hey Jude.” Below is a video of our performance of “Great Adventure.”
Elise auditions for Chamber Orchestra
Without question, orchestra has been Elise’s favorite class during her first two years of middle school. She takes a lot of pride in representing the orchestra in the ongoing band-versus-orchestra debate over which one is better. She practices her violin regularly, and I’m proud to say she recently received the award for “Best Musician” in her class. This is obviously near and dear to my heart, and it’s been a joy to see one of my kids become so dedicated to playing a stringed instrument.
As her musical journey continues, the next step was auditioning for the school’s chamber orchestra. This is a big deal and not easy to get into. She knew it would be difficult, so she practiced regularly at home to prepare for the audition. There was only one open spot left for violin, but we also knew they needed to fill a couple of viola seats. As it turned out, Elise was accepted and asked to play viola in the chamber orchestra! She hasn’t actually played the viola before, but since she already plays violin, a lot of the technique should carry over. The viola is similar in many ways, though it is tuned lower and will take some getting used to.
Jess and I are both extremely proud of her dedication to music, and we can’t wait to attend her chamber orchestra performances next year!
Summer Softball
Normally, we only play softball during the spring and fall, but this year is a bit different. I was asked to be the assistant coach for Havoc, our league’s summer All Star team, and I was happy to do it. I knew Ava was going to try out, so my only concern was whether she would make the team. I was very confident she would, but we still worked hard to prepare for tryouts. Not only did she make it, but our head coach was so impressed with her play and natural athleticism that she is now our starting shortstop! Her normal position is third base, so it’s not a drastic change, but shortstop is the captain of the infield and comes with more responsibility, so there has been a lot to learn. She has taken it all in stride and already looks like she has been playing there for years, even though she is just getting started.
One of the exciting things about this team is that we’re traveling out of state to play in multiple tournaments. The first one is next week, when we participate in the Utah Summer Games. We’ll be playing games Thursday through Saturday and participating in a parade on Friday night. Unfortunately, Ava and I are going to miss a tournament the following weekend in Arizona because we’ll be up in Washington for Aunt Norma’s 100th birthday. That is more than a worthy reason to be absent from the team. There will be more tournaments and games, both this season and beyond, but 100th birthdays don’t come along often, and we wouldn’t miss it.
This All Star team has been a bigger commitment than we’re used to. During our normal seasons, we have two 90-minute practices per week, plus an hour at the batting cage every weekend. Now we have practices on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights from 6:00 to 9:00, plus an hour at the cage on Friday night. I’m out there in the field running and participating in drills the whole time, and at my age, it adds up. By the time Thursday night comes around, I’m sore and exhausted, but that never stops me from going hard in practice and showing these teenagers that I can still keep up with them. I got on a roll hitting fly balls to them on Wednesday night and ended up hitting five home runs out of the park, which was a personal record. Having the wind blowing out didn’t hurt.
Memorial Day Weekend in Phoenix
Last Friday, the kids finished their school year, and literally a couple of hours later we were on the road, heading down to the Phoenix area so Enzo could play in his second pool tournament, the Arizona State Championship. Enzo’s coach, Sean, who has quickly become a friend to our whole family, joined us for the trip. Sean is focused on building up the youth pool community and really wanted to attend, so we were happy to bring him along.
At the tournament in Nevada the previous month, we had become friends with a couple of families who live in Arizona. One of the dads we met is a real estate guy in Phoenix with a few rental properties, and he was kind enough to give us a great deal on a rental house for the weekend. He ended up taking Sean and me out Friday night for a crazy night of pool at one of his favorite dive bars. It felt like we had walked into a movie scene, with all kinds of characters partying and playing pool. Word quickly got around that “the Vegas players,” Sean and I, were in the house, so we started getting pulled into games right away. It took me a few games to get warmed up, but then I got on a roll and started playing some of the best pool of my life. A couple of Crown Royals didn’t hurt in terms of loosening up, and before long, I was running tables and making shots that got quite a reaction. Considering that I’m mostly the dad, coach, software engineer guy these days, the attention I received that night was a lot of fun.
On Saturday, we all drove across Phoenix to Dozer’s Grill, where the tournament was being held. This was the fifth and final event of the Billiard Education Foundation’s 2026 tournament series, and it had the biggest field of competitors yet. Enzo was nervous and honestly didn’t play to his full potential, but he still took fourth place in the 9-ball event. He easily could have finished third if a couple of shots had gone differently, but it’s all good. He had fun, got to catch up with some friends from the Nevada tournament, and left with a smile on his face. We stuck around afterward because they were giving away a beautiful Balabushka cue stick. Unfortunately, Enzo didn’t win it, but it was still cool to be there for it. Afterward, we all went out to dinner with another family we have become friends with at a Mexican-inspired sushi restaurant that everyone loved.
The next day, we laid low and spent most of the day at the swimming pool. The house we were renting was part of a neighborhood with a beautiful pool and community center, so we took it easy and enjoyed playing in the water. During the drive home on Monday, we talked at length with Sean about his ideas for a youth pool tour and development program. He actually wants to name the tour after Enzo by using his nickname, “No Fear,” in the title, so I’m getting started on building a website to promote it. Sean and Enzo have quickly formed a special relationship, and he is dedicated to Enzo’s success. Over the weekend, I also started an Instagram account so everyone can follow along with Enzo’s journey as a pool player. Just search for enzo.nofear and you’ll find him.
I think Enzo’s game is about to take a huge step forward because tomorrow, we’re getting our own pool table at the house! About a month ago, we decided to convert one of the garage stalls into a game room, so I took on the huge task of emptying everything out, cleaning it up, and painting. I hired a professional to paint the walls and ceiling, then handled the floor treatment myself. Sean was able to get us an amazing deal on the table and equipment, and assuming all goes well, we’ll be playing at home tomorrow night.
The table I bought is a Clash Steel Alumen Pro. The Clash Steel brand isn’t well known in the U.S., but it’s a professional-quality table from Europe that gets incredible reviews. I expect it to be the nicest table I’ve ever played on, and I can’t believe it’s going to be permanently located at our house! You can expect to see plenty of videos of Enzo and me playing on it very soon.
Upcoming Summer Travel
As I’ve mentioned in some of my recent posts, including this one, we have a lot of travel coming up this summer. More than ever, actually. The trip to Phoenix started within hours of the kids’ summer break kicking off, and next up is Ava’s softball tournament in Utah. After that, we’ll be spending a week in the Seattle area visiting family and friends. We’re trying to cram as much into that trip as possible, and the timing is pretty cool because it will be almost five years to the day since we moved away. The kids haven’t been back since then, so this trip is going to be very special for them.
Shortly before Elise’s birthday in mid-July, we’ll be heading down to Arizona for another softball tournament, then after her birthday we’re traveling up to Canada for a week at the Martins’ cabin on Lake Huron. They’ve been doing a lot of work up there to get it ready for visitors, and we’re all excited to check it out. The activity I’m most looking forward to is deepwater salmon fishing. Although I’m not an avid fisherman, I went through a phase around age 12 where I frequently went fishing with my uncles Jim and Bob, so this experience should bring back some good memories.
Shortly after returning from Canada, Jessica and I will be heading to New York for a few days as part of a work trip. We originally thought I’d be going to Boston at the end of June, but things changed, and now it’s going to be Manhattan at the end of July. We’re actually traveling home on the night of my birthday, which makes it even more fun. I’ve only been to New York once, when I was 13, and Jess and I have never been there together, so it should be a great experience. We’ll only be there for about two and a half days, so it will be a quick trip. I’m a bit jealous of Jess because she’ll be able to explore during the day while I’m working, but we’ll make the most of the time we have.
As always, we have a lot to be excited and thankful for. I think this is going to be a summer to remember, and we can’t wait to see everyone on our upcoming trips!