Humbled or Hardened?

I was recently asked to write an article for the ward newsletter. (Published again! W00t!) Below is the text from my article:

The "war chapters" of the Book of Mormon cover approximately 20 chapters, from Alma 43 through 62. In his account, Mormon takes us through a long, grueling experience for the Nephites as they endure years of hardship and sacrifice. In battle, they and their loved ones are wounded or killed. The people themselves suffer through hunger and sedition within the government. By the conclusion of this terrible war, everyone is understandably exhausted.

At this point, Mormon tells us that "because of the exceedingly great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the war; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility" (Alma 62:41).

These people have been through the same experience together. Yet there are two very opposite effects on those who have lived through it. What is the difference between those who have become "hardened" and those who have humbled themselves? Ultimately, it is their attitude.

Not long ago, I read through these chapters in my personal scripture study. I couldn't help but think of the COVID-19 pandemic we've all endured together these past few years. When I came to verse 41, I replaced the word war in my mind with the term pandemic.

"Because of the exceedingly great length of the [pandemic] many had become hardened, because of the exceedingly great length of the [pandemic]; and many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility" (Alma 62:41).

Just like the Nephites, we determine our reaction to adversity through our attitude. Will we become hardened by our challenges? Or will we choose to be more humble?

As I've had the opportunity to visit with our ward members, I have learned so much. I have observed that you face a wide array of challenges. Again and again, you have chosen humility over hardness. I'm in constant awe, inspired by the depth of your character and strength. You also strive to take care of each other. Like the people of Alma the Elder at the waters of Mormon, you witness that you "are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in" (Mosiah 18:9).

In return, our Father in Heaven promises that He will "pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon [us]" (Mosiah 18:10).

May we each strive to choose humility through our challenges. "And while [we] strive through grief and pain, His voice is heard: '[We] shall obtain'" (Hymns, no. 134). 

Improvables: Fourteenth Anniversary Show

The Improvables have been around for 14, now going on 15, years! Which is something worth celebrating. And that's what we did Friday night at the Bountiful Davis Art Center.

Big crowds of old and new friends always come out for these shows, and Friday's was no exception. We had so many people show up that we had to bring in extra chairs.

It's the one night of the year I get to share the stage with my siblings; Biz and Steve came out of retirement for one night, again. The rest of the cast included Parker, Ricky, Ryan, Scott, MC Keenan, musician Willis, and yours truly.

We played "Story Genres," "Mumbling Movie Murder Mystery," "Film Noir," "Hey Baby," "Back in My Day," "Mega Replay," "Town Hall," "Pieces of Shakespeare," and other favorites I can't think of because my short-term memory is shot due to TV and video games. During "Greatest Hits," I got to make up a song about piano teachers in the style of the Wiggles ... whoever they are. Keenan, Ricky, and Scott backed me up as backup dancers.

My two siblings weren't the only family members who appeared on stage, though. Seven-year-old Kate volunteered to come up to be one of our "Pillars" when we played that game, and she did a great job.

I might be biased. (But not really.) She did well!

Among those in attendance were JB; Mike, Jana, and most of their kids; Summer and Sam; Jeff; and former Improvable and our good friend Michael Gibbons and his family.

We had so much fun, we'll plan to do it again next year.

Groundhog Day 2023

For the first time in three years, our annual Groundhog Day party was held once again in person! (Thanks, COVID.) We gathered at Steve's and Summer's home in North Salt Lake for the occasion last weekend.

The year 2023 marks the 30th anniversary of one of our favorite movies. Yep, it's really been that long, and I'm officially "old" now. When the movie came out in 1993, I even reviewed it for the school newspaper. Since then, we've more or less held a Groundhog Day party every February, with few exceptions. During COVID, we've just told people to go ahead and watch it on your own at home.

Anyhow, the last time we met in person—which was three years ago—COVID wasn't even a word in our vocabularies, and nearly three-year-old Sadie (pictured here) hadn't even been born yet:

The treats last Saturday were plentiful and included goodies like Jenni's "Groundhog Dung" chocolate balls, which fortunately tasted nothing like actual dung (not that I'd know what that sounds like, just ... you know what I mean):

While the kids colored and played together, the grownups watched the movie. Well, sort of. We kind of did both things together and at the same time.

Seven-year-old Danny also proudly showed off the comic book he created and, I think he did a great job on it. I was not all that different from him at the same age, creating comic books of my own when I was a kid.

In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, meanwhile, the real Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, which means six more weeks of winter. Or six more weeks until spring. I'm not sure which. Either way, we were glad to be gathered together with family and good friends for one of the year's best holidays.

Plowman Family Dinner/January 2023

Last week, we gathered at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful for monthly family dinner. Pasta was on the menu, along with garlic bread, salad, veggies, and other goodies. JB provided the desserts and knocked it (them) out of the park once again.

Graham showed off his homemade sword and shield set. I gotta give him big props, because they looked pretty good:

JB was pleased to get some smiles out of four-month-old Sam, but then again this innate ability of hers is one of her many superpowers.

"Beauty and the Beast (Junior)"

Fun Aunt and Uncle were present on Friday night for our 14-year-old niece Kira's performance in Beauty and the Beast (Junior) at South Davis Junior High School. (I had never been inside the building before!) Kira played one of the narrators and was also part of the "Be Our Guest" ensemble.

We had decent seats for a junior high gymnasium, plus we also got to see part of the show with four-month-old Sam to boot:

The headline "School Play Enjoyed by All" just wouldn't suffice. But at any rate, we had a good time.

Christmas 2022, Part 2

Our Christmas family festivities continued on Christmas Eve. We headed over to Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful for some holiday Plowman shenanigans.

Among the many revelers present were five-year-old Tanner and his three-month-old baby brother Sam:

After a good meal, including all of the trimmings, we all participated in the annual family Christmas pageant. The kids are always the most excited about this part, and they dressed up as shepherds, wise men, and the other main parts in the Christmas story as found in the scriptures (mainly, Chapter 2 of Mark and Chapter 1 of 3 Nephi).

The niblings then exchanged gifts with each other. I am always impressed with the depth and breadth of how thoughtful they are toward one another. Mom had gifts for each of her grandkids, to boot. She spent a good deal of time over the previous weeks and months knitting beanies for each of her grandkids, which they modeled here:

That bearded guy you may not have seen before in my pics is now counted among the niblings; he's Kylee's fiancé, Talin. They got engaged not that long ago and are now planning on a wedding in August 2023. Not pictured this year is our missionary Jenna, who had her beanie mailed to her in Texas.

One of our collective family gifts to Mom was her life story, which Steve, Summer, and I compiled (meaning that we asked her questions and typed down her responses to them) over the course of the year through the Storyworth Web site.

(Storyworth didn't pay me to plug their product for them; but I will say that we did find it to be a useful tool in putting the book together.)

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Christmas 2022, Part 1

So, this was Christmas. And what have we done?

We first traveled out to Grantsville on Christmas Adam (December 23, the day before Christmas Eve ... get it?) to celebrate with JB's side of the family. There was a lot of good food, including sloppy joes, cheese and crackers, holiday goodies, and such. And there were also (wait for it): Reindeer Games!

Last year's Reindeer Games was such a big hit, we decided to do them again. For this year's Second Annual Reindeer Games, we played five "Minute to Win It"-type games back to back. One of these was the candy cane drop, which involved trying to get as many candy canes as possible to remain on the string over the course of a minute. JB and Tatum demonstrate here by:

For another game, one teammate had to wear the reindeer hat while that person's teammate threw rings at the antlers and tried to get as many rings to land on them as possible ... in a minute (go figure).

The mischievous look on Spencer's face here is just ... really something.

And so on. It was a fun night. And the good food and even better company almost made me forget that the Plowbuckles team finished nowhere near first place in the overall point totals.