2025 Winter Newsletter: Salt Lake City

As is our style, my family hit the ground running in 2025.

With both kids basically in year-round sports, we took advantage of the short break around the holidays to relax together in St. George – sleeping in was required. It was a much-needed recharge, but we’re happy to be back at home in a routine, as busy as it may be.

My daughter, Coraline, is a high school cheerleader and this is their busy time of year. Not only do they cheer at all of the girls and boys high school basketball games, but they also compete in state and national competitions. To prepare for this busy time, their team practices every morning, Monday-Friday, at 6am. (Oh, and she can’t drive yet, so my wife and I are in a constant state of tired during the week.) Coraline’s cheer team qualified to attend the USA National Cheer Competition in Anaheim, California next month. The team won this national competition last year, so we’re hoping for a repeat. After nationals she will get about a month off before she tries out for next year’s team.

Baseball season has officially kicked off for my son, Michael. His team, The Utah Grays, is playing in the 12-year-old division this year, which means we will be taking the team to Cooperstown, NY this summer for the big national baseball tournament. He has a lot of practices and local tournaments/games before we get there. We are all looking forward to the experience for him and his teammates. Michael has also been invited to play on an all-Utah all-star team this year. They will compete at a couple of out-of-state tournaments representing Utah youth baseball. And I’m still helping coach his team and have agreed to a second year as an assistant baseball coach at Juan Diego High School. It’s so much baseball…and Michael and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Though our kids are living their best lives and my wife, Erika, and I are mostly underpaid Uber drivers at this point, we were able to sneak away to Kansas City, Missouri for a couple of days this month to attend a national financial services conference. Erika skipped most of the “boring” meetings, but we were able to have a little fun too. We got to hear Coach K and Tony Robbins speak, we visited the Negro Baseball League Museum (Go Grays!) and saw The Zac Brown Band perform live. Though conferences like this can be tiring, all those “boring meetings” provided some great ideas, resources and insight for our team. We’re excited to roll out these new ideas in the coming months.

Here's to a great 2025! And if you’re busy like we are, I truly hope you’re busy doing the things you love.

Happy New Year!