Our Day Out with Christian 2024

Last week, we took our 11-year-old nephew Christian out to Nickelmania in West Jordan for his annual birthday outing with Fun Aunt and Uncle. He's definitely better at most of those games than I am. He was good at pretty much everything he played, no joke.

Here is after playing the newfangled version of Space Invaders with JB:

After trading in our tickets, Christian went home with a few goodies:

We also stopped for a treat at Swig before heading home. No big deal, just another fun afternoon with a great kid.

Dallin's & Eliza's Wedding

Our year of four weddings and two funerals concluded Saturday as our nephew Dallin was sealed to his lovely bride, Eliza, at the beautiful new Saratoga Springs temple. As far as August weather goes, it was actually milder than most, and there was hardly a cloud in the sky.

Following the sealing and a hillion jillion pictures, we congregated at Fox Hollow Golf Clubhouse in American Fork for the ensuing wedding dinner, which featured baked chicken, rolls, and salad. Four-year-old Sadie sat at our table, showing off her new cast here:

Throughout the day, we were surrounded by family, new family (the Corbins), and friends. 

The reception was also at the golf club. JB worked very hard to prepare the wedding cake:

Goodies provided included popcorn and a candy bar ((Sour Patch Kids, M&Ms, caramels, gummi bears, etc.) for snacks. There was dancing. There was almost a limbo contest until I realized that that particular decoration is called a wedding arch instead of a limbo bar (I shoulda got a picture of it).

Smiles abounded all day long, because it was a joyous day, indeed. We are grateful that Dallin found Eliza and that she is now part of our family.

Improvables: Goodbye, Willis

Our resident musician Willis, a big part of the heart and soul of the Improvables since nearly the very beginning, is moving on to new opportunities on the other side of the country (Boston). At Friday night's performance, we had one last hurrah with him in the form of a farewell show.

Naturally, music was and has been a large part of every show we've done with him over the past 15+ years. This show featured favorites "Musical Fairy Tale," "Oscar-Winning Moment," "Predictive Text Song," and "Sing It!" Willis accompanied each singer on piano, guitar, and melodica.

Chance, Keenan, Parker, Richard, Scott, Tanner, and yours truly as MC rounded out the cast across games of "Late for Work," "Back in My Day," "Lie Detector," "Nine out of Ten," and "Director."

The troupe directors created this keepsake a token of our appreciation for the countless hours and performances Willis has given us over the years.

We wrapped up the show with a final "Greatest Hits of Willis," in which Willis himself was the interviewee and focus of our songs. Randy Newman showed up by popular demand (composer of the "Monk" theme song and songs from the Toy Story films, among many other works, whom I have portrayed frequently over time).

As always with improv, you had to be there. Fortunately, I got to be there on stage with Willis (and these other guys) countless times over the years, each performance a memory I will treasure. We can't really replace someone like Willis, because his skillset is unique. We will continue to have music, however.