"The Little Mermaid (Junior)" 2022

For the second time in the past few years, one of our nephews performed in his elementary school's production of The Little Mermaid Jr. (Apparently, it was originally supposed to be run two years ago but was delayed—like many other things—due to the pandemic.) Eight-year-old Christian played two roles: a sailor and one of the fish (fishes?) under the sea.

It was a fun evening out. I'll be darned if elementary school productions aren't just as entertaining as junior high or high school ones. Christian had a blast, which is probably the most important thing.

Improvables: Thirteenth Anniversary Show

They are still letting us do live improv these days, pandemic and all. We've done Improvables so long now that we recently passed our 13th anniversary, which at the same time also marked the beginning of our 14th year of performing together in Davis County.

Anyhow, our annual reunion show—canceled last year because of aforementioned circumstances—returned this year and took place on Friday, March 11, at the Bountiful Davis Art Center. Biz, Ian, Ryan, and Steve came back for a night to take the stage along with current players Keenan, Parker, and Ricky, musician Willis, and MC yours truly.

Among the highlights were this game of "Advice Panel," featuring the return of one of my favorite characters: Janice, as played by Biz.

Another was this game of "Greatest Hits," with songs about magicians. It included a song and dance number by Steve as Britney Spears, for which I promised I wouldn't post a picture of online. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it.

All told, it was another enjoyable reunion show for our gang. We're looking forward to the next one in 2023!

Jenna's Mission Call

Our soon-to-be 19-year-old niece Jenna is going on a mission! Her call from Church headquarters arrived yesterday, and we gathered as family and friends to watch her open and read it.

And the winner is: Texas Fort Worth (English speaking)! We are very excited for Jenna and are confident she'll have a wonderful experience over her upcoming 18-month period of service.

Plowman Family Dinner/February 2022

On Sunday, we gathered for monthly family dinner at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful. Pasta was on the menu, with JB providing a majority of the dishes. We also had garlic bread, salad, fresh vegetables, and a number of other goodies.

One of the highlights for me was sitting at the kids' table with JB and being entertained especially by six-year-old Danny. At first, he displayed some reluctance to eat everything on his plate. When we took a page from A Christmas Story and encouraged him to show us "how the little piggies eat," he was more than happy to comply and really got into it. (Kylee helped.)

All told, it was another wonderful evening spent in the company of family. Those have been few and far between during the pandemic, and we don't take them for granted anymore.

Christmas 2021

On Christmas Eve, the Plowbuckles met up with Mom and all of my siblings' families for family dinner in West Bountiful. After enjoying a meal featuring ham, chicken, mashed potatoes, and a number of other holiday goodies, we listened to Dad narrate the Christmas story, as told in Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke—still one of our most prized possessions. Meanwhile, the niblings acted as Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men, and the animals in the manger, and we also sang a number of Christmas hymns found in the Church hymnal.

Once that had concluded, the 15 niblings (on my side) exchanged gifts with each other. This is a still-relatively new tradition for us, and we are loving it so far. It does my heart good to see the love these kids have for their cousins and the hugs and smiles that were exchanged throughout the evening. Their cousins are also among their very best friends. They got to open their gifts from Grandma, too.

Kate was very grateful to have received her Princess Tiana doll:

Then, my siblings and I also exchanged gifts; we do this part couple by couple. Steve and Summer got us some very thoughtful things, including this sign, which we will be hanging up in one of our bathrooms:

I guess it kinda speaks for itself.

After spending Christmas morning together and with Leia, the three of us trekked out to Grantsville to spend the bulk of the afternoon on Christmas Day with JB's parents and two of her siblings' families. We enjoyed a baked potato bar and tacos, and a number of those attending played board games while the rest of us talked or took naps.

Wherever you were, whomever you were with, my family and friends, I hope that your Christmas this year was both joyful and triumphant.

Improvables: Thirteenth Annual Christmas Show

Friday was a busy day for the Improvables. At noon, a group of us—Jamie, Kelley, Matt, Richard, and Ricky, with yours truly as MC—put on a lunchtime remote show for the good people of Overstock.com at their SLC headquarters in Midvale. The audience physically seated in the auditorium there never got larger than eight or nine people, because the vast majority were watching from home. For this reason, we each had to carry a mic throughout the performance so those watching remotely could hear us. This presented an unprecedented challenge for us, but it was one that our actors rose to meet, and they put on a great performance.

Then, later that evening, it was our annual Christmas show—our thirteenth annual!—at BDAC. The tacky (ugly) Christmas sweaters were abundant, and Chance, Jamie, Keenan, Megan, Parker, Tanner, and MC Ricky delivered another great evening. I participated by running the sound and music via Bluetooth in the audience (and it was fun to kick back for once and enjoy a show together with JB).

Well, that wraps it up for the year 2021! We now move into our annual winter break, with the next few Fridays off. Becoming a small business owner this year was something I never would have expected,  well, ever, but it has been very rewarding. Plus, my co-owner is my favorite person in the world, and I'm glad we are going on this adventure together.

The Santa Parade

How do you hold a ward Christmas party during a pandemic? The answer, apparently, is by organizing a Christmas parade.

For the second year in a row, Santa Claus and his elves drove right outside our house Wednesday night. Christmas songs were blasting over the speakers as a caravan also took him and Mrs. Claus to the other neighborhoods in our ward. Bishop Gough and the young men and women followed along, passing out gift and goodie bags to everyone (not just ward members).

 Yes, Virginia, Santa came to our house this year.