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!

Are You Ready for Some Baseball?!

Our 11-year-old nephew Tatum, who had never played organized sports of any kind before, chose to play baseball with his local little league in Grantsville. And he ended up having a wonderful experience. It was fun to go to a few of his games and cheer for his team, the Royals.

The first game of the season, which we attended, was on Saturday, April 12:

This other one was held on Tuesday, May 20:

The Royals won both of those games! In fact, they won their league championship. Plus, we had snow cones to snack on both times, which was like the icing on the cake.

Our Day Out with Katy & Sadie

Fun Aunt and Uncle's most recent birthday outing took place on Wednesday, May 21, as we picked up ten-year-old Katy and five-year-old Sadie for a fun-filled afternoon together. Our first stop was for pedicures!

If you are male like me and perhaps think that pedicures are a thing only women, or very sissy men, do, as I once did, let me assure you that it's not the case at all. Pedicures are one of the few moments when you—or, more specifically, your feet—get treated like royalty from start to finish.

Very manly men get pedicures, in case I didn't make that clear. Very manly men! Not Muppets.

I may or may not have gotten my toenails painted, too. (Editor's note: He wussed out.)

After this, we went for ice cream at Arctic Circle. Because for our birthday outings, we spring for only the best stuff.

Our two youngest nieces are really growing up so very fast! We're glad we could spent a little quality time with them.

Our Dinner with the Leons

Javier Leon, a friend and missionary who served with me years ago in the Peru Lima Central Mission, was recently in Utah with his family, visiting from Lima. We invited them to join us for dinner at our home on Monday, May 19.

These were not our only guests, however. The night before, the Spanish-speaking elders knocked on our door while I was out. JB answered the door and invited the missionaries to come to dinner, too. They came and brought along an investigator, Robin, an immigrant from Guatemala. Our final guest for the evening was our North Salt Lake neighbor Mike Bryner, who also served with me and Elder Leon in the mission field in Peru.

We decided to get takeout from Panda Express to feed everyone, and it proved to be a popular choice. We also provided a paneton, which is normally a Peruvian dessert shared at Christmastime and around New Year's; this particular one had remained in our food storage a few months beyond the holiday season.

At any rate, we had a wonderful evening together, and I'm so glad JB was able to meets Javier and family: his wife, Clarisa; and their sons, Hyrum and Taylor. The elders also shared (in Spanish) a brief spiritual message with us all. It felt like old times!

Our Day Out with Danny & Tanner 2025

On Thursday, May 1, it was nine-year-old Danny's and seven-year-old Tanner's turn for a birthday outing with their Fun Aunt and Uncle. They chose mini golf at Boondock's in Kaysville. We were more than happy to take them.

Apparently, per their parents, both boys had previously gotten well versed in mini golf on a recent cruise that their family went on. It was obvious from their putting around the course that they had learned a lot about the game. Even so, we didn't keep score and mainly played to have fun.

Following mini golf, we then took Danny and Tanner to Handel's for ice cream. This was a new experience for them, as they'd not previously been to this establishment before; but I think we made them Handel's fans.

On our drive to both places and back, the boys kept us entertained by explaining everything about a fictional world they have created. Whether this is world is meant for a comic book or video game or something else entirely, I wouldn't even know where to start to go into the details of it, because my brain exploded listening to them describe it. 

Our Day out with Ike 2025

On Thursday, April 25, we (finally) caught up with our seven-year-old nephew Ike for his annual birthday outing with Favorite Aunt and Uncle. Ike chose to go to Target, where he picked out a couple of LEGO sets.

After picking up treats at Fiiz, we next went to Ike's house, where games of Mario Kart were next on the list. The evening concluded with dinner together with the Woodsens, featuring delicious homemade enchiladas. (Thanks, Biz!)

Seven Years ... and No Itch

Friday, April 18, marked seven wonderful years together for the Plowbuckles. Just how has she put up with me for that long? I may never find out.

We began our day with a sealing session at the beautiful Layton LDS temple (pictured above). That was followed by lunch at Red Robin. Then we (finally) watched Wicked—the motion picture—which neither of us had previously seen (though JB has seen the stage musical three times). It was a perfect day together with my favorite person.

Conference Breakfast/April 2025

As we are wont to do around general conference time, we gathered as a family for breakfast on Sunday morning, April 6, prior to that day's morning session.

The food was good and plentiful. The spiritual insights shared from the pulpit were even better and plentiful-er.

Arbuckle Family Dinner/April 2025

We hosted family dinner for JB's side of the family here at our hobbit hole in North Salt Lake on Sunday, April 13. The menu featured Hawaiian haystacks, rolls, cookies, and other delicious fixings.

No one was happier to have visitors than our two pups:

We had so much fun that we asked the same gang to come over again the next week, on Easter Sunday, April 20. Baked ham was the featured dish, and of course you can't do Easter without Cadbury's Mini Eggs, jelly beans, and the like.

William's First Birthday Party

On Friday, April 4th, we celebrated our nephew William's first birthday at his home in Grantsville. We had cake and all of the goodies. Here is the birthday boy, with his birthday cupcake (which he later tore to shreds, as a one-year-old must do):

One of William's favorite people is his cousin Spencer:

And then people began inhaling the helium, and, well, see for yourself:

Our Day Out with Tatum 2025

On Saturday, March 29, we trekked up to Roy High School to see our niece Kieralee perform with her Grantsville school's color guard at a multi-school competition. (Had you never heard of color guard before? Neither had I.) They did a great job, and in the process I learned a lot about what color guards are and what they do.

We were joined by the rest of the Moodbuckles: Kieralee's parents, Danielle and Tyson, and her brother, Tatum.

Afterward, we congregated at the nearby Burger Bar in Roy for lunch. Because when you're in or near Roy, it is required (for us) to stop there to enjoy a good meal.

Since we had 11-year-old Tatum with us, and we had previously postponed his birthday outing from last fall, we then took him over to Cherry Hill for some mini-golf. His parents came with us, too. It turns out that Tatum is a pretty good little golfer!

Plowman Family Dinner/March 2025

We got to celebrate JB's birthday a second time in March, this time at monthly family dinner on the Plowman side. Steve and Summer hosted everyone at their home, which is now conveniently just a short walk away—one block west of us in North Salt Lake.

The other March birthdays included Jake's 13th and Katy's 10th. (These kids are growing up too fast!) Here is Katy, blowing out the candles:

As "cake," we used Kirkland cheesecake—one of Mom's favorites.

Meanwhile, sleepy Sam took a nap on Uncle Mike's chest:

Improvables: Sixteenth Anniversary Show

The Improvables' annual reunion show was held on Friday, March 7, 2025, at Bountiful Davis Art Center. Formerly regular troupe members Biz, Brianne, Bryan, and Steve joined Keenan, Parker, Richard, Scott, and myself on stage for another fantastic show, filled with many chortles and giggles. Keenan, Parker, and I shared MC duties throughout the night.

Among the highlights were Biz spit-cleaning Parker's glasses and Bryan's hair in "Advice Panel," featuring the return of Janice, one of my favorite characters:

... Biz, Bryan, Keenan, and Scott in an ice cream store-based scene of "Director":

... Biz roaming the aisles, talking to random people and objects, while Steve gave a "Press Conference":

... old coot humor and puns in "Back in My Day":

... and an old skool game of "Don't Make Me Heckle" to conclude the evening:

The rest of our game list was rounded out with "Top That," "Novelist," "Mumbling Movie Murder Mystery," "Pieces of Shakespeare," and "Dueling Plays."

It's always good to take the stage with these guys—and it doesn't hurt that two of them are my siblings. It blows my mind that we're now in our 17th year overall of performing for Davis County audiences.

One of these days, they're going to find out that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing.

JB's Birthday

JB celebrated her most recent birthday two Fridays ago, on March 7. In spite of having celebrated numerous birthdays over her lifetime, she somehow remains 20 ... something ... years old.

The Plowbuckles celebrated her day together first with a reflexology massage, covering both craniums and feet. Then our palates relaxed with some delicious sushi and edamame at Sushi Monster, one of our favorite sushi places.

If that wasn't fun enough for one day, we ended the evening with that night's Improvables show, which also happened to be the annual reunion show. (More on that in my next post.)