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.