Arbuckle Family Dinner/November 2019

On Sunday afternoon, we traveled out to Grantsville for monthly family dinner with JB's parents, siblings, and niblings. That's a lot of family members, but even with so many running around, it's always a good time.

Leia came with us, and she enjoyed all of the extra attention she received. Spencer is especially good with her and keeps her humble.

One of the benefits to having in-laws is two Thanksgivings, and that's what was on the menu for this day: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, a pumpkin roll, and all of that good stuff.

"M.A.D. about Hogwarts"

The acting bug continues to repeatedly (but kindly) bite various members of the family, including our 11-year-old niece Kira. She appeared this past week in CenterPoint Legacy Theatre's youth production of of M.A.D. about Hogwarts. JB and I attended the show Friday night in my old stomping grounds, the black box theater, along with several other family members.

Afterwards, Kira and the other members of the WX Plowmans showed off their jazz hands:

Plowman Family Dinner/October 2019

On Sunday evening, we gathered for our Plowman/Wood monthly family dinner and birthday party at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful. JB provided the desserts, including a pumpkin roll and this delicious chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting:

Tanner was among the many who enjoyed her baking.

October is a busy month for birthdays in our family, including those of Kira, Jana, Steve, Ike, Ben, and yours truly. It also marks a year since Dallin, our current Elder Plowman, left for the mission field in New Hampshire. It's incredible to think that his two years are already halfway gone.

Improvables: Eleventh Annual Halloween Show

The Halloween season and Improvables together have been a winning combination for 11 years now. It's hard to believe that it has been that long!

For the first time in five years, I was not in the scheduled lineup of players for our Halloween show, which was A-OK by me. Others in the troupe need the chance to perform in the Halloween show, after all, and I'm also in the middle of some physical therapy on both aforementioned shoulder and foot injuries.

Nevertheless, JB and I attended the performance in our costumes, which were inspired by the TV show "Parks and Recreation": yours truly as Ron Swanson and JB as his true love, America/bacon and eggs. We enjoyed watching my colleagues perform from the audience, alongside our fans. Chance, Heather, Keenan, Landon, Lorin, Richard, Truman, Tyler, and MC Parker did not disappoint, as we knew they would.

After the show, we all posed for a group photo together with everyone who attended in costume.

Obedience School

Last week, Leia completed a six-week obedience school course at Coddled Critters, located near us in North Salt Lake. JB did the grunt work in finding out the details, signing her up, and taking her to all of the classes, and I joined in attending for about half of them.

Here's JB and Leia on graduation night:

This doesn't mean we have a perfectly behaved puppy, of course, but she has gained valuable skills through this class, and we hope to build on them at home.

Out and A-boot

One of the fun things about getting older is that muscles and bones start to ache randomly. Such as the peroneal tendon in my left foot. (Don't know what that is? Neither did I.)

As a result, I get to wear this lovely boot for the next few weeks, which makes me look as if I'm about to administer corporal punishment in some far-off country.

Bathing Leia

LEIA UPDATE: Tomorrow marks two months with our four-month-old mini-golden doodle, Leia. Every day is an adventure. We're going through all of the growing pains of pet ownership and are enjoying the highs while enduring the lows of it.

One of the fun things has been bathing Leia. Since she's so small (eight pounds currently), she is small enough to fit in our kitchen sink for a bath.

If you had said she looks like a giant rodent this way, you'd be spot on.