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: