Arbuckle Family Dinner/August 2025

August's family dinner with JB's side of the family took us down to beautiful Memorial Park in Provo on a beautiful (and unusually cool, mid-80s) summer day. Olivia and Caleb, who live nearby in BYU student housing, hosted our little picnic. Our menu included build-your-own sandwiches with all of the trimmings, fresh watermelon, and Costco cheesecake for dessert.

Our afternoon also included a spiritual thought and short lesson by Livvy:

I had never really spent much (or any?) time in this park previously, though it was just a stone's throw from the ComedySportz (now Comedy Box) club I used to perform improv in with my sister. We enjoyed spending some time there. While we were there, I had to get a picture next to the big cannon:

Plowman Family Dinner/July 2025

It was our turn to host Plowman family dinner again on the final Sunday of July. We were short a few people, including Dave's and Jessica's family, as they were out of the country on a cruise, and also Ben and Adi, who were on vacation together (though their boys, staying with Adi's parents, did show up. The only others missing were Dallin and Eliza, whom we recently learned are expecting their first child, a boy (!).

We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for the gang, and we also had complementing side dishes such as chips, salad, fruit, veggies, and other fixings.

One of my favorite shots of the day was of two-year-old Sam chowing down on a piece of cheese, which our two puppies patiently paid a lot of careful attention to in case he dropped anything:

The lone birthday for the month was Christian's twelfth. (They are growing up so fast! Christian has been mowing our lawn this summer.)

And of course you can't have any birthday party without a game of "Pass the Parcel":

Much of the rest of the afternoon was taken up by Mario Kart on the Switch, as our family get-togethers are wont to go.

Pioneer Day 2025

On Pioneer Day, July 24, we hosted a family shindig for JB's/the Arbuckle side of the family. Nearly the whole gang, minus a few who were absent due to work commitments, gathered at our home. We cooked and served hamburgers and hot dogs, with side dishes brought by our guests.

A portion of our group went to the nearby HOA pool for swimming, and I accompanied them to ensure they could open all of the doors (i.e., I brought our clubhouse fob). This was one of little one-year-old William's first times in the water, and he was a bit shy about venturing out any farther than the first step down into the pool.

After swimming, we went back to our house to eat and play games. William continued to keep us entertained by running around with an American flag:

... and climbing through the dog door (as he is just the right size to fit):

The day before had been JB's dad's birthday, so we got him a cake. Everyone joined in singing "Happy Birthday," after which he blew out the candles:

Nickelmania! Just Because

On July 23, my sister, Biz, invited me to join her and her two kids, Katy and Ike, on an excursion out to Nickelmania. There was no birthday or other special occasion to celebrate this time; this was just because Fun Uncle was in demand and was also more than willing to come along for the fun.

Ike immediately went for his favorite, the motorcycle-riding games:

And boy howdy, did we get tickets! With our combined tickets, we racked up more than 4,600, which is by far the biggest haul of any group I've been part of has won on one visit. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but (Honk! Honk!) I contributed by racking up multiple jackpots on some of my favorite arcade games:

Pics or it didn't happen and all that.

So, when we totaled up everything, the kids walked away with some fun prizes. I usually give them everything I've earned and pick out nothing for myself, but this time they really wanted me to get the umbrella hat we saw another guy wearing on his way out as we arrived. It looks like this:

Is it comfortable? Not really. But I imagine it helps keep the sun off of heads that no longer have the full amount of hair, if you catch my drift.

Improvables: Moving Day

As of the first Friday in June, the Improvables have moved our home base once again!

BDAC had been a wonderful host and stage for us for more than six years (give or take a year or so, due to a pandemic). However, we were informed earlier this year by the top brass there that they were going to start scheduling other events on Friday nights, as these events tended to bring in more money. This change would require us to either have no show on those Fridays or to find another stage on which to perform. We began looking around locally, and Backstage Performing Arts, a children's/youth theater on the west side of Centerville, agreed to let us do a few trial run shows there.

The results were good, and Backstage was pleased with our being there. As it turns out, a family-friendly improv troupe fits in well with a youth theater, and thus the decision to move was made.

As of this writing, I have performed on the Backstage stage four times. The stage size is good for our type of show, and there is stadium seating, like we used to have at CenterPoint and Rodgers. The acoustics and sound are good. Best of all, many of our audience members have followed us there, and kids who have performed in some of the Backstage shows have also stayed to watch a couple of our performances now.

For those of you keeping track at home, the following have been Improvables hosts since our inception in 2008:

Rodgers Memorial Theatre, Centerville (2008-2010)

CenterPoint Legacy Theater, Centerville (2011-2018)

Playbills Theatre, Clearfield (2013)

Clearfield Community Arts Center, Clearfield (2013-2017)

Bountiful Davis Arts Center, Bountiful (2019-2025)

Backstage Performing Arts, Centerville (2025-present)

We've been all over Davis County these past 17+ years, and fortunately we've developed a fanbase wherever we have gone. Such appears to be the case now after two-plus months into our time at Backstage.

"Weird Al" Returns

One of my favorite performers, the great "Weird Al" Yankovic, returned to Utah on the Bigger & Weirder tour with a stop at the Maverik Center in West Valley City on Monday, June 23. It had been ten years since I'd last seen Al in concert, and I didn't want to miss another one.

So, Pepe and I got tickets (nine months ago actually) and went to the show. This was my eighth time seeing "Weird Al" in concert, and Pepe has been with me through the majority of them.

A performer I'd never heard of before, Puddles Pity Party, was the opening act. He was dressed up like a clown, but once you got over any similarities to a murderous clown a la Stephen King, PPP was actually a pretty fun and talented singer. Our favorite number of his was his cover of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song, set to the tune of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven."

When the main man, Al, came on the stage, the whole place went bananas (noise wise). We were treated to a wonderful show. He performed many of his favorite tunes, including "White and Nerdy," "Dare to Be Stupid," "Fat," "Amish Paradise," "One More Minute," "Word Crimes," "Canadian Idiot," "Mission Statement," and so many others.

For a man who's now 65 years old, Al is still pretty limber and athletic, and he moves around the stage pretty easily.

The evening couldn't end without an encore, and this one included Al's two Star Wars-inspired songs: "The Saga Begins" and "Yoda."

Do you feel like you missed out? Well, come with us to the next one. Hopefully, it won't be another ten years from now.

Chalk Art Festival 2025

The annual Bountiful Chalk Art Festival returned to the sidewalks on June 4-7, and once again members of the family participated and created some great things. JB and I stopped by and took a look around on the 5th, while Biz and Katy were working on completing their Moana/Stitch mashup:

The finished product ended up looking like this:

Ben, Christian, and Graham also collaborated together on this Godzilla-inspired square:

We got us some talent!