Improvables: Seventeenth Annual Halloween Showj

After trick-or-treating concluded on Halloween night, I took my TuPac-o costume over to Backstage Performing Arts for that evening's annual Improvables Halloween show. Because of course I was gonna be there after missing last year's performance.

Yes, I'm (or I was for one night) the whitest white guy rapper you know—even more so than the guys who recorded "Mormon Rap." Which is something I happily embraced on stage. I had a few chances to improvise rap songs, so in true white bread fashion, I included lyrics about growing up in the 'hood (Mr. Rogers's, that is), shooting people ... with Nerf guns, and being good, responsible citizens by calling your Congressman to voice your opinion on important social issues.

Anyhow, the rest of the show was a blast. Poor, exasperated Parker struggled in vain to describe the murder weapon in "Mumbling Movie Murder Mystery," which was something from the movie Hocus Pocus ... a movie I haven't seen in far too long.

In other words, I didn't guess that part correctly. But I did get the other two things correct.

We also played "Campfire Tale," "Nightmare," "Tombstone," and other Halloween favorites.

The cast was rounded out by new Improvable Chris as a UTA bus driver (which also happens to be his day job), Claire as a Middle Ages peasant who definitely did not have the plague, Ian as a character from the TV show "Peaky Blinders," Keenan as Dad Peter Parker from Across the Spider-Verse, and Parker as Noir Spider-Man from the same film.

Liz M., as Dipper from "Gravity Falls," was MC, while Kyra, who ran tech, portrayed ... someone whose name/description now eldue me. Incidentally, Kyra added to the decor by carving this phenomenal jack-o'-lantern featuring the troupe logo:

And so ended another unforgettable Improvables Halloween show. If you weren't there, then you were likely doing something else.

Halloween 2025

Halloween, objectively one of the best holidays of the year, rolled around in October, like it is always wont to do. We enjoyed ourselves a great deal.

Our first taste of the holiday came during Plowman family dinner on Sunday, October 26, for which we congregated up at Mike's and Queenie's home in Layton. As always, Queenie (aka Jana 1) had the house (and grounds) all decked out with myriad Harry Potter knickknacks and other pretty cool Halloween things.

Yes, I should have snapped more pics. Their house always blows me away each October with so many creative things that have been crafted and displayed.

Many of the niblings showed up with their costumes in tow. We had a smattering of the following (about half of which I cannot identify, as I am now officially Old, with a capital O):

Naturally, we can't get together during a month with so many family birthdays—including yours truly, Kyra, Queenie, Steve, Ike, and Ben—without playing "Pass the Parcel."

Three-year-old Lighting McQueen (Sam) was the winner!

We also had birthday cake, for which 17-year-old Kyra and eight-year-old Ike did the honor of blowing out the candles.

Well ... cupcakes, shmupcakes. Whatever.

Fast forward to Friday, October 31, for which we celebrated ... get ready for it ... Halloween night! As we did the previous year, JB and I set up a trick-or-treat station outside the front of our house to greet several dozen of our neighbor kids. My favorite costumes were the two kids who dressed up as Harry and Lloyd in the pale blue and bright orange tuxedos from Dumb and Dumber, accompanied by another kid portraying the Monopoly man, monocle included.

As for me, I dressed up as TuPac-O, a mashup of Paco and iconic rapper Tupac (... get it?). My fellow Improvables actor/musician Willis gave me that nickname years ago, so I finally ran with that idea and turned it into an actual costume this year:

JB accompanied me as her cute, Halloween-Muggle self and sat with the puppies as we greeted our trick-or-treaters.

To start with, we passed out bags of microwaveable popcorn. Once that supply had been exhausted, we went with a mix of sweet candy (licorice and Jolly Ranchers) and chocolate bars.

Once that was done, there was still more Halloween left to celebrate. Stay tuned to find out what TuPac-O, the whitest white rapper in history, and the Improvables did later that night.

Our Day Out with Danny & Tanner 2025, Part 2

On Saturday, Fun Aunt and I picked up ten-year-old Danny and eight-year-old Tanner for this year's birthday outing. They chose to spend a couple of hours at Fly High, a local bouncy house/castle/complex thing (?) in Woods Cross that I can describe only as a modern-day Pleasure Island (from the Disney version of Pinocchio), except that it has far fewer boys and girls turning into donkeys or smoking and a lot more trampolines.

This time, we got around to Danny's and Tanner's outing much sooner than we did for last year's birthdays ... ergo, part 2 (in case you were wondering!).

What else can I say about Fly High? Except that they had a great time, and they wore us out just watching them rather than wearing themselves out after expelling all of that energy bouncing around ... literally.

Afterward, we ventured over to the boys' new favorite ice cream parlor, Handel's—which just so happends to be our favorite ice cream place—for (you guessed it) ice cream.

Tanner's Baptism

Last Saturday, October 11, our eight-year-old nephew Tanner was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father, my brother Steve, performed the baptism as well as the subsequent confirmation, which Tanner's uncles and Grandpa Keeler joined in on. This event was held at our stake center in North Salt Lake. (In case I've not mentioned it previously here on Paco Nation, JB and I now belong to the same stake as they do.)

A few other family members were asked to participate in the service. Jana 1 conducted the music, Mike gave a great talk on baptism, and Danny was one of the witnesses. Also, we all filled out 3 x 5 cards with messages of encouragement for Tanner, and they were compiled together for to have as a keepsake.

Following the program, we gathered at Steve's and Summer's home for refreshments.

Conference Breakfast/October 2025

The latest general conference of the Church took place on October 4 and 5. Our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, passed away about a week before; but conference went ahead under the direction of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. JB and I tuned in to all five sessions, and we enjoyed the messages and the Spirit that we felt.

Roxana Bongioanni, whom I taught the missionary discussions to in Lima, Peru, nearly 29 years ago, was in town with her family to attend the Saturday morning session in person. While they were in town for the weekend, they requested to meet up with JB and me for dinner on Saturday. Roxana requested a local Peruvian restaurant, since the ones near them in Sacramento (where they now live) aren't very good. Thus, we found ourselves together at Rocoto in Bountiful.

It was wonderful to reunite with Roxana, as well as to meet her husband, Ross; their son, Bruno; and daughter, Paula—last of whom, you may recall, we had previously met in June 2019 when Paula came out to Salt Lake City to attend EFY. (She has since served a Spanish-speaking mission in New York City.) The food was also pretty great.

JB and I also gathered with family on my side for breakfast on Sunday morning prior to the Sunday morning session. We enjoyed pancakes, breakfast casserole, fresh fruit, and a number of other tasty selections.

50

In spite of my best efforts, I had another birthday on Friday. This one was a pretty big number and something of a milestone for me. All I can say is that it was one more than 49 and one fewer than 51.

I don't know how I got here. Where has the time gone? Emotionally, I feel like I'm about half that age at best; meanwhile, my body feels like it is 20 or 30 years older than that.

Anyhow, JB spoiled me rotten. She took me out to lunch at Penny Ann's Cafe in Bountiful, one of our favorite new local restaurants, where we always seem to get breakfast food, no matter the time of day. Apparently, if you tell your server that it's your birthday, they will bring you a free scone to accompany your meal.

JB also took painstaking time and effort to collect recorded video birthday greetings from family members, a few close friends (Pepe and Darren), and myriad members of the Improvables. It was very well put together and was very touching. I'm truly blessed to have wonderful people in my life.

Finally, many of the same people from that video congregated at our house that evening for karaoke, featuring also pumpkin cheesecake, chips, and other snacks.

At one break in the action, I caught Danny taking the pumpkins only from JB's bowl of candy corn treats. (The thing is, I also do this.)

The partygoers picked out "Weird Al" Yankovic's "One More Minute" for me to sing. I accepted. Ben, Steve, and I collaborated on Mr. Big's "To Be with You." Many of the niblings got in on the act, and I even convinced JB to sing "That Thing You Do!", which is of course the title track of one of our favorite movies.

We ended the evening by watching BYU play West Virginia in college football. The Cougars beat the Moutaineers, 38-24.

Plowman Family Dinner/September 2025

On Sunday, we congregated at Ben's and Adi's home in Centerville for monthly family dinner. Hamburgers and hot dogs, in a last hurrah BBQ of the summer season, were the featured menu items. We also enjoyed fresh fruit and veggies, chips, salad, and JB's wonderful pumpkin cake and peaches and cream sensation as desserts. (I helped by ... get ready for this ... making the crust.)

(Takes a bow, blows kisses to the crowd.)

Ahem. Anyway, most of the gang were there. We celebrated our three September birthdays: Biz, eight-year-old Tanner, and three-year-old Sam.

You can't have a family party without a rousing game of "Pass the Parcel." Dave's and Jessica's dog Woody remained in the circle and was the center of attention.

In the backyard, the niblings built forts for a Nerf dart war (basically just as it sounds), while Ike lounged in the hammock:

Sam was very happy with his new toys, which complemented his collected of cars from the Disney/Pixar movie Cars.

Our Day Out with Christian & Graham 2025

On Saturday, Fun Aunt and Uncle picked up 12-year-old Christian and nine-year-old Graham for their annual birthday outing with us. Together, we headed to always-enjoyable Nickelmania in West Jordan. So, we played a plethora of arcade games and won a bunch of tickets, like you do.

Graham, for some reason, chose the AC/DC pinball game—not sure why, as I'm not certain he's ever listened to that band. Regardless, he was very good at it.

It turns out that Christian, meanwhile, is pretty good at Guitar Hero III. I used to be pretty good at that game myself, but when you don't pick up a (video game controller) guitar for a few years, you end up not being so great at it anymore. Who'd have guessed?

Normally, the boys walk away with a few toys and goodies when we redeem our tickets. This time however, they opted to save most of them for future use.

Plowman Family Dinner/August 2025

I'll bet you've been waiting on the edge of your chair to find out how family dinner went for us in August. Well, wonder no further: It was great!

We gathered at Dave's and Jessica's home in Woods Cross. It was build-your-own sandwich time once again (just like we did with JB's side a few weeks previously), with fresh fruits, veggies, and chips as well. We played Twister, we did some breakdancing, etc. It was actually a beautiful afternoon for an August day, and we spent a lot of our time out on the deck. Then the bees came, and most of us spent the rest of the afternoon indoors.

Ten-year-old (!) Danny is our only August birthday. We celebrated his b-day with a specially made cupcake.

I'm genuinely not sure what Kylee is looking at in this picture, but it did give me a hearty giggle. Generation Z, amirite? Plus, Tanner and that rubber snake.

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 (!). Grunkle Paco & Graunt (?) JB are very pleased.

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. Did the kids beat you multiple times in those races, Paco? you might be wondering? Why yes, of course they did. Even when I'm the only one playing, I'm not the best video gamer in the room. But it's still fun to play.

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.