Utah
Free Sparkler app helps Utah parents track their young child’s developmental milestones
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It’s well known parenthood doesn’t come with an instruction manual — or at least it hasn’t, until now. The Help Me Grow Utah program sponsored by the United Way of Utah County introduced a new app to help parents along the way.
Sylvia Lam gave birth to her oldest child, 4-year-old Ashton Nguyen, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Ashton just finished his first year of preschool, so he’s all about numbers and counting. He loves math,” Lam said. “With Ashton being our first I had no idea what milestones were and where we should be.”
He’s progressing really well today but early on, Lam grew concerned when he wasn’t meeting some of his developmental milestones.
“We had some delays in speech … and a lot of significant delays in social skills and kind of being out and with other people so,” she described. “I was really, really concerned about milestones for him because he missed out on early experiences like his first year of life being out in society. He’s caught up now!”
Today, Sylvia uses the Sparkler app to track her kids’ milestones through regular surveys. The Help Me Grow Utah organization released the app earlier this year to replace online surveys they used to send out. “This app provides a faster and easier way for families to get those done all right through their phone,” director Tomas Caceres said.
The app is designed to track progress in communication skills, gross and fine motor skills, and both social and emotional behavior. He says tracking those skills helps parents identify room for improvement.
“Certain questions [like], ‘Can your child pick up a Cheerio?’ Caceres said. “You can go back to the app and say ‘Yes, my child does that’ or ‘Not yet, my child does not do that yet.’”
Sylvia Lam with her child. (KSL TV)
Once a parent completes the survey, they will receive a score for their child’s progress in each area.
“Parents aren’t left to interpret those results themselves. Our Parent Support Specialists will get on a phone call with them, go over those results, and have a conversation with them,” Caceres explained.
A parent support specialist reached out to Lam to offer support when they noticed a need for Ashton. “Having somebody kind of be your coach or cheerleader to say, ‘It’s okay. You can do it. Here’s some very concrete things that you can do. Here’s some examples. Don’t worry. We’ll check in in a couple weeks,’” Lam said.
Lam was so grateful to talk to someone over the phone. “I think if I just read those results, I would have just cried because as a parent, you really want the best for your kids, and when you feel like you’re not giving them the best, it’s really hard,” she said.
Instead, the parent support specialist offered productive strategies for Lam to help Ashton improve.
“Depending on where they scored we might just send some activities for you to try at home, we might send some videos for you to look over and practice with your child, but there are times where a referral is needed for more hands-on in-person support,” which would come from a third party, Caceres noted.
The parent support specialist told Lam to do everything she could to instill confidence in her son since that would, “trickle down into all of those other hard skills that [they] trying to work on like saying more words or completing a sentence or holding a pencil the right way,” she said. Lam really valued that advice.
The app offers more than 2,000 activity ideas for parents to help their child progress. “There’s a lot of fun ideas for play and ways you can just use ordinary items at home to kind of create different games or sensory bins,” Lam said.
“Learning where your child is at developmentally comes with engaging with your child and playing with them and getting down on your knees and actively playing with those toys,” Caceres said. “It promotes healthy relationships. It promotes trust in that parent.”
The app also allows parents to document their child’s progress through photos. “You can actually take a picture of your child completing that activity and you can create a scrapbook within the app,” he said. “It’s really awesome to go back and look at that growth with your child.”
After getting the help she needed with Ashton, Lam was excited to also track her two-year-old daughter, Eevee Nguyen’s growth. “I have a profile set up for each child and so I get pop-up notifications on my phone when it’s time to do a survey for Ev or time to do a survey for Ashton,” she explained. “It gives me good reminders if I’m like, ‘Oh, we’re not there yet. Oh, I should put some more time and more emphasis on activities that will help us learn those things.”
Lam is grateful for the reassurance the support has provided. “When we get those reports back and we’re doing really well in different areas, that makes me feel more confident as a parent and that we’re providing the experiences that our children need,” she said.
Caceres urges parents to start tracking their child’s milestones as soon as possible. “Studies shows that the most critical ages in a child’s life is zero to three,” he said. “Their brain is growing rapidly and there’s a lot going on. They’re taking in a lot from the environment… and so if we can catch those signs early the better off your child will be.”
The Sparkler app allows parents to track their kids’ milestones starting at just two months of age. It’s available for free in both English, Spanish, and Chinese on both the App Store and Google Play store for Utah residents with the code UT.
Edwin Munk Woolley died on June 19, 2026, in a canyoneering accident in Zero Gravity canyon in the San Rafael Swell in Southern Utah. He was born October 28, 1974, in Salt Lake City, Utah to James and Jeanette Woolley. The youngest of four children, he exemplified all the best qualities of the baby in the family: funny, adaptable, sociable, and adventurous.
Growing up, he skied as soon as he could walk, excelled at Zim-Zam, roamed the Federal Heights foothills and threw snowballs at passing cars with his pack of life-long friends. Although his high school attendance record was less than stellar, he was a proud and committed member of the East High Leopard hockey team. Hockey was a huge part of his life and he cherished playing on a late-night team with some of his closest friends.
A life-long Utah enthusiast, he graduated from the University of Utah and lived in the Millcreek area of Salt Lake City. He served a faithful mission in Rome, Itay for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. There he gained a love and appreciation for everything Italian, people, culture and especially the food. He built his career in various roles at Goldman Sach’s Salt Lake bank. He married Whitney Scott in the Salt Lake temple in 2006 and they had four children. Eddie’s family was the greatest joy of his life. He was a deeply engaged husband and father. He treasured his wife and cherished his children, supporting their pursuits and encouraging them through times good and bad.
Eddie was an excellent athlete and took full advantage of Utah’s outdoor opportunities. He was an expert skier, water-skier, and mountain biker. He also loved riding dirt bikes and helicopter-skied across the globe; he generally reveled in all things outdoors. He particularly loved introducing his children to all his activities, encouraging them with patience, humor, and occasionally a firm nudge.
He was an avid sports fan, cheering on the Utes, Mammoth and Dallas Cowboys and would follow a variety of professional teams and players, but only those who lived up to his exacting standards. As a devoted hockey fan, he was delighted when Salt Lake acquired a team and had strong opinions on name selection. Some of his favorite times were cheering on the Mammoths with his kids, all of whom he managed to convert into fans.
While he loved all the wild places, Snowbird, Southern Utah, and Hebgen Lake, Montana were favorites. Southern Utah brought adventure and challenge, while Hebgen meant water-skiing, boating, and meaningful time with family and friends. One of Eddie’s greatest passions in life was teaching his kids how to ski at his beloved ski resort, Snowbird. Eddie had a season pass at Snowbird ever since he was four years old.
Eddie had a gift for finding common ground and connection with everyone he met. He gave the good Samaritan a run for his money, always jumping in to help without reservation or complaint. He was up for any challenge, always with a positive, can-do attitude. He found purpose and comfort in the church and served admirably in many callings.
Eddie is survived by his adored wife, Whitney Scott Woolley, his four children, Sadie (17), Spencer (14), Savanna (9), and Lewis (7) Woolley, and his father James Woolley. In addition, his siblings (Sue, Calvin, and Camille), in-laws (Brad and Kathy Scott), nieces, nephews, cousins, and countless friends are bereft at the loss of his buoyant presence and will always treasure his memory.
Viewings will be held on Friday, June 26, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and on Saturday, June 27, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. at the Canyon Rim Stake Center, 3051 S. 2900 E., Salt Lake City, Utah 84109. Funeral services will be held at the Canyon Rim Stake Center on Saturday, June 27, at 12:00 p.m. Interment will follow at Larkin Sunset Lawn, 2350 E. 1300 S., Salt Lake City, Utah.
A livestream of the funeral services can be accessed via the following link: Zoom Link
After landing Darryn Peterson at the top of Tuesday night’s first round, the Utah Jazz are heading into day two of the 2026 NBA Draft without a second round at their disposal.
However, with a front office like the one that’s in Utah, it’d be hard to truly count out the Jazz from making a trade throughout the night to jump into the second round, in the event there was a prospect the Ainges had a certain appeal for.
While most of the big names of this class have already been scooped up in the first 30 picks, there’s certainly a few both interesting and potentially valuable names to keep an eye on through the next 30.
And for the Jazz, a few of them could fit their current lineup or some specific needs well enough that would make sense to get back on the clock once again.
Let’s take a look at four prospects still left up for grabs on day two of the draft that could be a worthwhile pickup for the Jazz to consider trading up for.
Dillon Mitchell | F, St. Johns
An athletic forward fresh off of a season under Rick Pitino at St. John’s, trading up to add another D-Mitchell to Utah’s draft history might not be the worst idea here.
Offensively, he won’t bring a ton to the table, as he only averaged 8.3 points a night during his senior season and shot a rough 6.7% from three. What he does do is check a ton of boxes in terms of size at 6-foot-8, 210 pounds, as well as his abilities as a defender, rebounder, and energy guy enough to warrant a look at the top half of the second round.
For the Jazz, perhaps they’d like to land on a more dynamic fit on both ends than Mitchell. But he sure would bring a nice spark on the defensive end that Utah could utilize after multiple lackluster years of production on that end of the floor.
Richie Saunders | G, BYU
A local product who spent four years with Brigham Young, Saunders might not fit exactly the type of mold on the defensive end that Utah could really covet here in the second round.
However, he does project to be a pretty seamless connecting wing with solid NBA size standing at 6-foot-5, has a strong outside shooting ability with a 38.7% clip from deep from his career, and should be able to at least hold his own on the other end.
He’d be a nice fit in Will Hardy’s system, and have a solid pro career as role player in the wing.
Trevon Brazile | F, Arkansas
If you’re looking for a lengthy, two-way impact player that could fit with the current standout size in this Jazz frontcourt, Brazile would be a perfect fit to bring in that would do just that.
He’s got great length standing at 6-foot-10, can be an ample shot blocker, is a threat at the rim who can finish well, stretches the floor, and on paper, looks like the type of piece in the frontcourt that many front offices around the league would love to get their hands on.
However, he has seen several questions regarding his lighter frame at 225 pounds, and has shown a lack of physicality and a real motor from his time at Arkansas. That same reason is why many GMs might turn away from taking a flier on him.
Jaden Bradley | G, Arizona
For the guards that are up for grabs in this range, Bradley has some of the best traits in terms of size at 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, and has the chance to be an impactful player on both ends of the floor as a solid playmaker and perimeter defender.
He wasn’t a high-volume scorer during his three years at Arizona, but he was efficient in his opportunities, shooting over 46% from the field and 39% from three on over nine shots a game. He could be a worthwhile dart throw to bring in for the back-end of the roster.
Another note that could make him a fun target for the Jazz: Bradley and Keyonte George are tight-knit from their days as teammates back at IMG Academy. So he’d be a pretty awesome fit into the locker room on top of the impact he offers on the floor.
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Utah
‘Now’s our time’: Utah Jazz fans rejoice as Darryn Peterson gives them something they’ve been missing
The rookie guard is already dreaming of a championship in Utah.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jazz fans celebrate as the Utah Jazz pick Darryn Peterson in the 2026 NBA Draft during a watch party at The Shops at South Town in Sandy, on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
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