"The Lion King (Junior)"

On Friday, May 8, Fun Aunt and Uncle traveled to West Bountiful Elementary School to see our 11-year-old niece Katy perform in their production of The Lion King (Junior). Katy played one of the lionesses and did a wonderful job. (We might be a little biased, but so be it.)

Given that this was a Disney production, I am legally required to state that this was the greatest elementary school production of any musical of theirs, ever.

But seriously, though, this was my first time seeing any version of The Lion King musical on any stage, and I found it to be one of the better (Junior) productions I've seen carried out. The costumes, assuming they were made on an elementary school budget, were phenomenal. Much of the dialogue and music were familiar, but it also featured additional tunes previously unfamiliar to me, including the beautiful "Shadowland," which stays in your head afterward (in a good way).

Hakuna matata!

"Finding Nemo (Junior)"

On Thursday night, we traveled over to Legacy Preparatory Academy here in North Salt Lake to see our 10-year-old nephew Danny perform in their production of Finding Nemo Jr. I didn't even know that Finding Nemo was a musical ... but now I stand corrected.

Danny played Bruce, the shark, and by all appearances had a great time doing so. It wasn't bad at all for a performance starring only third- and fourth-graders.

"Alice in Wonderland (Junior)"

On Saturday night, I traveled to Reading Elementary in Centerville to see my nine-year-old nephew Graham perform in his school's production of Alice in Wonderland (Junior). Graham obviously had a blast in the role of the Jack of Diamonds/drummer/ensemble.

I was joined in the audience by Graham's dad, Ben; Graham's brother, Christian; and a couple of of the Centerville Plowmans' neighbors. Though it was his fourth time seeing the show that week, Christian still had a good attitude about sitting through it once more.

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.

Chalk Art Festival 2025

The annual Bountiful Chalk Art Festival returned to the sidewalks on June 4-7, and once again members of the family participated and created some great things. JB and I stopped by and took a look around on the 5th, while Biz and Katy were working on completing their Moana/Stitch mashup:

The finished product ended up looking like this:

Ben, Christian, and Graham also collaborated together on this Godzilla-inspired square:

We got us some talent!

Chalk Art Festival 2023

The annual Bountiful Main Street Chalk Art Festival returned during the first week of June. Sadly, JB and I were unable to arrange our schedule to go and actually walk among the art before a few different thunderstorms washed away most of the drawings. But also fortunately, my siblings caught a few pics before those pieces of art were swept away.

Ben, Christian, and Graham collaborated on this rendition of the Little Mermaid:

Our 20-year-old niece McKenna created this beautiful piece:

... and won third place in the adult division!

Biz and her kids added the third family creation to the chalk art festival, but I didn't get a very good shot of it when I (finally) walked by the other day while running an errand at the post office:

Regardless of that fact, we are amazed with the results. The breadth and depth of artistic talent runs deep in our family!

"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.

"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.

Arbuckle Family Dinner/July 2021

On July 11, we congregated in Grantsville for monthly family dinner with the in-laws. We were missing a few people, including five of our seven niblings on that side of the family. But wherever family members are, there is always a good time.

Our menu on this afternoon included summertime goodies like corn on the cob and ribs. Our crafty little puppy, Leia, nearly wrestled one of my ribs away from me when I accidentally dropped it on the ground (Five-Second Rule and all that).

Seven-year-old Tatum was anxious to show off this Wall-E costume he built for himself with a little ingenuity and a couple of cardboard boxes:

Chalk Art Festival

The Bountiful Chalk Art Festival made its return to the sidewalks of Main Street last week. We took Leia out for a stroll to observe many of these incredible drawings. Among them were pieces drawn by (1) Biz and Kate and (2) McKenna.

Here's Leia, in front of Biz's and Kate's square:

McKenna had not yet completed her Alice in Wonderland-inspired project, but anyway here is what it looked like when we walked by:

Leia was very popular with the other festivalgoers (is ... is that a word?). She received a lot of attention everywhere we went. In fact, she was so overwhelmed by the time we stopped to chat with some friends of mine and their seven children—almost all of whom petted and fawned over her—that she soon grew tired and was raring to go home afterward.

So, that was a first.

Plowman Family Dinner/September 2020

On Sunday, we gathered for Plowman family dinner in West Bountiful. JB and I were in charge of the menu, and we decided on a barbecue---likely the last of the season as we move into cooler weather in autumn. We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone, and we also provided the condiments.

It was Tanner's third birthday, so we celebrated that along with my sister Biz's (our two September birthdays). Costco/Kirkland cheesecake is always a good choice for a birthday cake.

Some of the kids createdsome chalk art during the afternoon. I was most impressed with Kylee's drawing of Meeko from the Disney movie Pocahontas.

Jafar-ckson

On Saturday night, JB and I joined a number of other family members (including Jana, Kylee, Ben and Adi and their boys, and Biz and Kate) in the audience at Morgan Elementary School in Kaysville to watch 11-year-old Jackson perform in their production of Disney's Aladdin Jr.

Jack landed the role of the villain Jafar, and he once again did a great job and had a wonderful time playing the bad guy. The show was everything you'd expect for an elementary school version, and I may be a bit biased (but 100 percent accurate) when I say that Jackson was the best one up there on the stage.

"Peter Pan (Junior)"

On Saturday evening, we traveled up to our 10-year-old nephew Jackson's elementary school in Kaysville to see him play the role of Captain Hook in their production of Peter Pan Jr.

I may be a bit biased when I type this, but Jackson was phenomenal in this role and put his little heart and soul into every moment. He both recited his lines and sang with stage presence and confidence you just can't teach many 10-year-olds.

This was the stage version of the Disney movie from the 1950s, so there were a lot of familiar songs and funny moments.

Luminaria

My eyes were opened to a whole new world (so to speak; don't sic your lawyers on me, Disney) last Wednesday night when we traveled down to Ashton Gardens at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi to see the beautiful lights on display for what was/is called "Luminaria."

We were accompanied by JB's sister Nicole, Spencer, and their kids Alex and Zack, and we had a lovely time walking through a winter wonderland.

I would highly recommend Luminaria to anyone who enjoys seeing the lights of the holiday season or simply anyone who might like a nice, not-too-far walk on a November or December day.

I think we will be back.

Improvables: Davis Conference Center

On Monday night, I joined with fellow Improvables Cassie, Kelly, Megan, Richard, Ricky, and Truman in putting on a half-hour set, along with a number of other local performers, for the Evergreens Benefit (a fundraiser for a very worthy cause: victims of domestic violence) up at the Davis Conference Center.

I had never previously been to the DCC, and I was rather impressed with the facility. And oh, by the way, the fundraiser was a big success, and we were grateful to be a part of it.

Following our five-game set, we posed for pictures with Anna and Elsa (of the Disney movie Frozen, in case you've been living under a rock):

. . . and then Santa Claus:

The event was also a Christmas season kickoff (in case you've not gathered by this point). Though it was a little earlier in the season than I'm used to partaking in Christmas-type festivities, it was still a pretty fun evening.

"Newsies"

Our niece McKenna, a sophomore at Davis High School in Kaysville, is currently appearing in her school's production of Disney's Newsies. We saw her perform in Saturday's matinee show.

It was obvious from her performance that she is acting her heart out and is having a wonderful time taking part in the musical.

Plowman Family Dinner/October 2018

On Sunday, with Mom home sick, we gathered up at Mike's and Jana's home in Layton instead for monthly family dinner and also for our monthly family birthday party. October has the most birthdays of the year, with six: mine, Kira's, Jana's, Steve's, Ike's, and Ben's.

Here are the kids chowing down at dinnertime:

Ike and Jeff, sitting on a beanbag chair:

After dinner, the kids dressed up in their Halloween costumes so we could see what everyone will be wearing when they trick-or-treat and also so we could get some photos for Grandma. Featured in this photo are Graham, as a knight; Christian, as a scorpion; Ike; Kate as Moana-achu (a Moana and Pokemon mashup); Kira, as Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series; Danny, as Olaf from Frozen; Jake, as Captain America; Tanner, as an Ewok; Steve; and Jackson, as a scarecrow-type character (?) from the Legend of Zelda series.

As for our new missionary, who was notably absent, reports from his parents are that he is doing very well in his first week at the MTC.

Improvables: Tenth Annual Halloween Show

On Friday night, it was our tenth (yes, 10 big ones) annual Halloween show as a troupe for the Improvables. As always, it brought out one of the biggest and best crowds of the year on one of our favorite nights to perform for the good folk of Davis County. The audience was so big that we had to set up extra chairs on the sides of the stage, in fact.

I dressed up as Tanooki Mario and was surprised to have my Mario Bros. counterpart in Hipster Luigi, portrayed by Willis, something we did not plan (but that's improv for ya).

The other cast for the evening was rounded out with Keenan, as a Walrus; Kelly, as a pterodactyl; Landon and Truman both as Mr. Rogers (something else not planned!); Matt as a German Oktoberfest girl; Parker as Wolverine/Logan; and Richard as Paulie from the movie Juno.

Following the show, we posed for some pictures with our audience members:

One of the costume contest winners was our niece Olivia, dressed up as Darla from Finding Nemo, seen here with JB (as Sadness from Inside Out) and me:

It was a wonderful evening and a good reminder of why I am still pretty dang lucky to get to still take part in one of my favorite hobbies after all of these years.

Danny's Third Birthday Party

On Saturday, we congregated as a family at West Bountiful Park to celebrate my nephew Danny's third birthday. There were Frozen-themed games for the kids (Frozen is currently Danny's favorite movie), such as "Pin the Nose on Olaf," and cake and goodies for everyone.

Ten-month-old Ike was among the many who showed up to join in on the fun.

Here's Danny blowing out the candles on his cake:

It was a lovely summer evening, and of course good times were had by all.