Christmas 2025

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year were both wonderful for the Plowbuckles! We are grateful to have spent time with family members on both sides.

On Christmas Eve, we joined with most of the rest of the Plowmans (and Woods) over at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful for family dinner. The only ones not present were Dallin, Eliza, and ... ta-da! ... new baby Levi Brent, born on Tuesday, December 23. (Sharing your birthday with Joseph Smith is a pretty great thing!)

Our dinner included ham, mac and cheese, a crackers and cheese plate, salad, fruit, and veggies, and everything was delicious.

Ten-year-old Danny was anxious to show off a newfound skill: solving a Rubik's cube. (I was anxious to see him do it, because it's something I haven't yet learned how to do. And I lived through the 1980s.)

Games played included the Cup Game (not sure what else to call it; it's a bit of "Simon Says" mixed with having good reflexes) and this Tic-Tac-Toe game, also involving cups:

After dinner, the kids dressed up for our annual Christmas pageant, including narration-from-beyond by both Dad and Mom and the singing of various Christmas hymns:

Following that, we proceeded on to the opening of Christmas gifts between siblings and cousins. The way this works is that the Mike and Jana, JB and I, Dave and Jessica, Ben and Adi, Steve and Summer, and Biz and Jeff each give a gift to one of the other couples, while the niblings draw a name and each give each other a present. Jeff and Biz gave us a Megaplex gift card, which we will make sure is put to good use.

The cousin exchange is the highlight of my night. I love to observe these kids giving each other something truly meaningful—often something they have worked and saved for themselves, through allowances or chores—and to see the hugs that follow.

Seventeen-year-old Jackson walked away with this knife:

On Christmas morning, JB and I awoke to find that Santa Claus had visited us and filled our stockings with numerous chocolates and candies. My wife was, once again, incredibly generous with the presents she gave me. I got an electric toothbrush (my dentist recently recommended I get one), a Utah Mammoth t-shirt, a Salt Lake Bees cap, and a few books off my want-to-read list. My good friend Pepe also got me a few more of those books.

After breakfasting, we hopped in JB's car and drove out to Grantsville to spend time with her parents at their home. While we were there, Nicole & Spencer and Danielle & Tyson and kids stopped by, as well. We enjoyed ham, pasta salad, baked potatoes, and rolls, and we also contributed a Peruvian paneton to the meal.

JB's mom gave a thumbs-up on the dessert.

Improvables: Christmas Party 2025

The members of the Improvables troupe, plus accompanying family members, congregated on Saturday, December 20, for our annual Christmas party and white elephant gift exchange. This year, we gathered at Nickelmania in West Jordan, which was already one of JB's and my favorite hangouts, so we were more than happy to join in on the fun.

For dinner, we enjoyed Costco pizza (only the best stuff for our guys), salad, muffins, and few other sides. After we ate, it was another feverish white elephant exchange. JB ended up with this Nightmare before Christmas karaoke microphone:

I ended up with a mobile alarm clock—really an ingenious device and one that I could really use going forward. Other prized items included a Chuck Norris beach towel, a boxed set of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark books, and a little statue made up of bent forks and spoons.

Since we were at Nickelmania, well, the rest of the evening was made up of (you guessed it) playing arcade games. We are just like little kids at heart.

Our Day Out with Ike 2025, Part 2

Our nephew Ike turned eight years old in October. We were finally able to catch up with him in order to go on this year's birthday outing this past Friday, November 28.

Ike chose to go to Nickelmania in West Jordan, which is a choice we can always get behind. For added fun, his 10-year-old sister, Katy, accompanied us. Katy spent a lot of her time on the ticket-producing strategy games, while Ike was more interested in the racing games.

Once we tallied up our combined tickets, Ike chose a green ninja sword, while Katy opted for a ... whoopee cushion. (Unexpected, but still a great pick!) We then adjourned for treats at Swig.

Thanksgiving 2025

This being an odd-numbered year, we did not gather with a large group of family on either side on Thanksgiving Thursday. We did, however, make a few alternate arrangements.

Our first Thanksgiving occurred simultaneously with Plowman monthly family dinner on Sunday, November 23. We met up at Steve's and Summer's home in North Salt Lake, where all of the fixings were there: turkey, ham, rolls, bean salad, Yorkshire pudding, fresh fruit, cranberry sauce, JB's award-winning stuffing, and (my favorite) Talin's sweet potato casserole. We also had pumpkin, apple, and chocolate pies. What more could you ask for?

Well, people, I suppose. Fortunately, we did get to see most of the family:

We had football on the TV. Everyone was happy and full of stomach.

Second Thanksgiving, as a hobbit might call it, fell on Thanksgiving Thursday, November 27. With numerous family members spending time with in-laws, we nevertheless welcomed JB's parents at our home for dinnner. JB prepared many of the main and side dishes, while her mom brought the pies. (Yes, I helped, too. I did a lot of the cleaning. I helped with some of the food stuff JB allowed me to. I also frequently stood in front of the door or drawer she needed to open at the moment she needed to open it.)

We once again enjoyed a delicious meal. And ... I didn't get any pics from that day. 😖However, I was successful at getting Mom and Dad to watch football after the meal. Like, pretty much a whole game (Kansas City vs. Dallas). I almost couldn't believe it. My in-laws are not quite the sports fanatics like the family I grew up with. But they also go with the flow and didn't really want to watch any Christmas or other shows.

Ike's Baptism

Our eight-year-old nephew Ike (Isaac) was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, November 1, at his stake center in West Bountiful. His dad, Jeff, performed the ordinance as well as the subsequent confirmation.

Ike was so excited for his baptismal service that he also volunteered to lead the singing of the opening and closing songs:

... and he did a great job doing so.

Other family members participating included Ike's 12-year-old cousin Christian giving a talk on the Holy Ghost, his eight-year-old sister Katy acting as one of the witnesses, and yours truly offering the opening prayer.

Following the service, family on both sides and friends congregated at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful for good eats and good company.

Improvables: Seventeenth Annual Halloween Show

After trick-or-treating concluded on Halloween night, I took my TuPac-o costume over to Backstage Performing Arts for that evening's annual Improvables Halloween show. Because of course I was gonna be there after missing last year's performance.

Yes, I'm (or I was for one night) the whitest white guy rapper you know—even more so than the guys who recorded "Mormon Rap." Which is something I happily embraced on stage. I had a few chances to improvise rap songs, so in true white bread fashion, I included lyrics about growing up in the 'hood (Mr. Rogers's, that is), shooting people ... with Nerf guns, and being good, responsible citizens by calling your Congressman to voice your opinion on important social issues.

Anyhow, the rest of the show was a blast. Poor, exasperated Parker struggled in vain to describe the murder weapon in "Mumbling Movie Murder Mystery," which was something from the movie Hocus Pocus ... a movie I haven't seen in far too long.

In other words, I didn't guess that part correctly. But I did get the other two things correct.

We also played "Campfire Tale," "Nightmare," "Tombstone," and other Halloween favorites.

The cast was rounded out by new Improvable Chris as a UTA bus driver (which also happens to be his day job), Claire as a Middle Ages peasant who definitely did not have the plague, Ian as a character from the TV show "Peaky Blinders," Keenan as Dad Peter Parker from Across the Spider-Verse, and Parker as Noir Spider-Man from the same film.

Liz M., as Dipper from "Gravity Falls," was MC, while Kyra, who ran tech, portrayed ... someone whose name/description now eldue me. Incidentally, Kyra added to the decor by carving this phenomenal jack-o'-lantern featuring the troupe logo:

And so ended another unforgettable Improvables Halloween show. If you weren't there, then you were likely doing something else.

Halloween 2025

Halloween, objectively one of the best holidays of the year, rolled around in October, like it is always wont to do. We enjoyed ourselves a great deal.

Our first taste of the holiday came during Plowman family dinner on Sunday, October 26, for which we congregated up at Mike's and Queenie's home in Layton. As always, Queenie (aka Jana 1) had the house (and grounds) all decked out with myriad Harry Potter knickknacks and other pretty cool Halloween things.

Yes, I should have snapped more pics. Their house always blows me away each October with so many creative things that have been crafted and displayed.

Many of the niblings showed up with their costumes in tow. We had a smattering of the following (about half of which I cannot identify, as I am now officially Old, with a capital O):

Naturally, we can't get together during a month with so many family birthdays—including yours truly, Kyra, Queenie, Steve, Ike, and Ben—without playing "Pass the Parcel."

Three-year-old Lighting McQueen (Sam) was the winner!

We also had birthday cake, for which 17-year-old Kyra and eight-year-old Ike did the honor of blowing out the candles.

Well ... cupcakes, shmupcakes. Whatever.

Fast forward to Friday, October 31, for which we celebrated ... get ready for it ... Halloween night! As we did the previous year, JB and I set up a trick-or-treat station outside the front of our house to greet several dozen of our neighbor kids. My favorite costumes were the two kids who dressed up as Harry and Lloyd in the pale blue and bright orange tuxedos from Dumb and Dumber, accompanied by another kid portraying the Monopoly man, monocle included.

As for me, I dressed up as TuPac-O, a mashup of Paco and iconic rapper Tupac (... get it?). My fellow Improvables actor/musician Willis gave me that nickname years ago, so I finally ran with that idea and turned it into an actual costume this year:

JB accompanied me as her cute, Halloween-Muggle self and sat with the puppies as we greeted our trick-or-treaters.

To start with, we passed out bags of microwaveable popcorn. Once that supply had been exhausted, we went with a mix of sweet candy (licorice and Jolly Ranchers) and chocolate bars.

Once that was done, there was still more Halloween left to celebrate. Stay tuned to find out what TuPac-O, the whitest white rapper in history, and the Improvables did later that night.

Our Day Out with Danny & Tanner 2025, Part 2

On Saturday, Fun Aunt and I picked up ten-year-old Danny and eight-year-old Tanner for this year's birthday outing. They chose to spend a couple of hours at Fly High, a local bouncy house/castle/complex thing (?) in Woods Cross that I can describe only as a modern-day Pleasure Island (from the Disney version of Pinocchio), except that it has far fewer boys and girls turning into donkeys or smoking and a lot more trampolines.

This time, we got around to Danny's and Tanner's outing much sooner than we did for last year's birthdays ... ergo, part 2 (in case you were wondering!).

What else can I say about Fly High? Except that they had a great time, and they wore us out just watching them rather than wearing themselves out after expelling all of that energy bouncing around ... literally.

Afterward, we ventured over to the boys' new favorite ice cream parlor, Handel's—which just so happends to be our favorite ice cream place—for (you guessed it) ice cream.

Tanner's Baptism

Last Saturday, October 11, our eight-year-old nephew Tanner was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father, my brother Steve, performed the baptism as well as the subsequent confirmation, which Tanner's uncles and Grandpa Keeler joined in on. This event was held at our stake center in North Salt Lake. (In case I've not mentioned it previously here on Paco Nation, JB and I now belong to the same stake as they do.)

A few other family members were asked to participate in the service. Jana 1 conducted the music, Mike gave a great talk on baptism, and Danny was one of the witnesses. Also, we all filled out 3 x 5 cards with messages of encouragement for Tanner, and they were compiled together for to have as a keepsake.

Following the program, we gathered at Steve's and Summer's home for refreshments.

Conference Breakfast/October 2025

The latest general conference of the Church took place on October 4 and 5. Our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, passed away about a week before; but conference went ahead under the direction of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. JB and I tuned in to all five sessions, and we enjoyed the messages and the Spirit that we felt.

Roxana Bongioanni, whom I taught the missionary discussions to in Lima, Peru, nearly 29 years ago, was in town with her family to attend the Saturday morning session in person. While they were in town for the weekend, they requested to meet up with JB and me for dinner on Saturday. Roxana requested a local Peruvian restaurant, since the ones near them in Sacramento (where they now live) aren't very good. Thus, we found ourselves together at Rocoto in Bountiful.

It was wonderful to reunite with Roxana, as well as to meet her husband, Ross; their son, Bruno; and daughter, Paula—last of whom, you may recall, we had previously met in June 2019 when Paula came out to Salt Lake City to attend EFY. (She has since served a Spanish-speaking mission in New York City.) The food was also pretty great.

JB and I also gathered with family on my side for breakfast on Sunday morning prior to the Sunday morning session. We enjoyed pancakes, breakfast casserole, fresh fruit, and a number of other tasty selections.

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.