Our Day Out with Christian & Graham 2026

On Monday, June 22, Fun Aunt and Uncle were out on the town for another birthday outing, this time with 10-year-old Graham and 13-year-old Christian. They picked Fly High, the trampoline park (?) that we earlier took Danny and Tanner to for their birthday outing last year. Because their cousins Arthur and Lauren were visiting from Rhode Island for the week, they and Adi joined with us.

The kids had a great time. Certain parts of me, like my back and knees, ached to see them moving around so easily, but the important thing is that they had a great time.

After our session ended, we went to Handel's for ice cream.

Our Day Out with Sadie

On Saturday, June 20, everyone's favorite Fun Aunt and Uncle picked up six-year-old Sadie for her annual birthday out on the town. She chose to go to Bountiful Nails for a pedicure.

We were more than happy to get pedicures ourselves, as it is one of our favorite "treat yo self" activities. JB and Sadie both chose to get their toenails painted with patriotic colors for the coming Independence Day holiday.

Following this activity, we capped off our excursion by stopping at McDonald's for ice cream cones. (Fortunately, their ice cream machine was working.)

Our Day Out with Katy 2026

On Saturday, your favorite Fun Aunt and Uncle picked up our 11-year-old niece Katy for her annual birthday outing with us. She chose togo to Target to pick up a LEGO Friends set, and she found one that she really liked.

After that, we went to Swig for drinks and other treats. We then took her back home and helped her build the LEGO set:

... by which I mean that we mostly watch her build it, while we occasionally handed her the LEGO piece she was looking for. She's getting better and better at these builds as the years go by and is basically an old pro now.

We capped off the afternoon playing Mario Kart 8 with Katy and her brother, Ike. These races went on for some time, and we were grateful to spend another hour with these wonderful niblings of ours.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

Our Day Out with Katy & Sadie

Fun Aunt and Uncle's most recent birthday outing took place on Wednesday, May 21, as we picked up ten-year-old Katy and five-year-old Sadie for a fun-filled afternoon together. Our first stop was for pedicures!

If you are male like me and perhaps think that pedicures are a thing only women, or very sissy men, do, as I once did, let me assure you that it's not the case at all. Pedicures are one of the few moments when you—or, more specifically, your feet—get treated like royalty from start to finish.

Very manly men get pedicures, in case I didn't make that clear. Very manly men! Not Muppets.

I may or may not have gotten my toenails painted, too. (Editor's note: He wussed out.)

After this, we went for ice cream at Arctic Circle. Because for our birthday outings, we spring for only the best stuff.

Our two youngest nieces are really growing up so very fast! We're glad we could spent a little quality time with them.

Our Day Out with Danny & Tanner 2025, Part 1

On Thursday, May 1, it was nine-year-old Danny's and seven-year-old Tanner's turn for a birthday outing with their Fun Aunt and Uncle. They chose mini golf at Boondock's in Kaysville. We were more than happy to take them.

Apparently, per their parents, both boys had previously gotten well versed in mini golf on a recent cruise that their family went on. It was obvious from their putting around the course that they had learned a lot about the game. Even so, we didn't keep score and mainly played to have fun.

Following mini golf, we then took Danny and Tanner to Handel's for ice cream. This was a new experience for them, as they'd not previously been to this establishment before; but I think we made them Handel's fans.

On our drive to both places and back, the boys kept us entertained by explaining everything about a fictional world they have created. Whether this is world is meant for a comic book or video game or something else entirely, I wouldn't even know where to start to go into the details of it, because my brain exploded listening to them describe it. 

Our Day out with Ike 2025, Part 1

On Thursday, April 25, we (finally) caught up with our seven-year-old nephew Ike for his annual birthday outing with Favorite Aunt and Uncle. Ike chose to go to Target, where he picked out a couple of LEGO sets.

After picking up treats at Fiiz, we next went to Ike's house, where games of Mario Kart were next on the list. The evening concluded with dinner together with the Woodsens, featuring delicious homemade enchiladas. (Thanks, Biz!)

Our Day Out with Tatum 2025

On Saturday, March 29, we trekked up to Roy High School to see our niece Kieralee perform with her Grantsville school's color guard at a multi-school competition. (Had you never heard of color guard before? Neither had I.) They did a great job, and in the process I learned a lot about what color guards are and what they do.

We were joined by the rest of the Moodbuckles: Kieralee's parents, Danielle and Tyson, and her brother, Tatum.

Afterward, we congregated at the nearby Burger Bar in Roy for lunch. Because when you're in or near Roy, it is required (for us) to stop there to enjoy a good meal.

Since we had 11-year-old Tatum with us, and we had previously postponed his birthday outing from last fall, we then took him over to Cherry Hill for some mini-golf. His parents came with us, too. It turns out that Tatum is a pretty good little golfer!

Christmas 2024 (and Beyond), Part 2

The family festivities continued with the Plowman side on Thursday, December 19, when we hosted Steve's and Summer's clan at our house for a holiday dessert night. The kids enjoyed baking and making treats with JB.

I aided the cause by watching the Broncos game on TV nearby.

As we are wont to do, the rest of the family joined with us for Christmas dinner at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful on Christmas Eve. The fixings included Dutch oven mac and cheese, meatballs, chili, veggies, and other fun stuff. Biz also came up with and led most of the games, including movie trivia and a scavenger hunt for the kids.

Our annual Christmas pageant followed, including narration of chapter 2 of the gospel of Luke by Dad (the audio recording that keeps on giving, year after year). Sadie played Mary, Ike was one of the cattle, and so forth.

Next came to the gift exchange: niblings giving gifts to their cousins, and siblings giving gifts to siblings. Always my favorite part is seeing the glee on the kids' faces as this process enfolds, both in the giving and the getting.

As for JB and myself, we especially loved the socks Biz and Jeff (and kids) gifted us that featured our two pups' faces printed on them:

We behaved mostly pretty well this year, and therefore Santa did visit our home. We got even more stocking stuffers, and I got ... more socks! Some of the best socks I've ever been given, in fact. JB gets me the coolest things.

I'm also quite fond of my new Spatula City t-shirt:

Later in the week, JB and I joined Steve and Summer and kids (now practically our next door neighbors here in North Salt Lake) to watch BYU play Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, a game that the Cougars won decisively by a score of 36-14. Some of the best entertainment of the night, however, came from two-year-old Sam, who played Peek-a-boo with us:

And so, that's how we celebrated the holidays. In a matter of hours after I type this, 2025 will be upon us. Stay tuned for whatever the new year might bring.

Not-pictured-but-still-memorable events from this Christmas season: Our ward's Christmas program featured no speakers and just music, music, music. New neighbors as well as old friends brought over candy and other treats. Getting to know the new ministering families via chocolate oranges. And so much more!

Christmas 2024, Part 1

The holidays brought with them a number of fun family get-togethers and parties, including gathering with JB's side on Saturday, December 21, at Jeremy's and Alice's home in Centerville. We were treated to delicious breakfast foods, and of course eight-month-old William was everyone's favorite kid to spend time with.

The return of new Reindeer Games were once again a highlight. They were particularly notable this time around in that I finally won one! Finishing first in a game of Christmas trivia won me (and us, meaning JB and me) this awesome cookie skillet, or "skookie":

I learned a new word today and hope that you did, too. We're gonna have a lot of fun with that.

Our Day Out with Christian 2024

Last week, we took our 11-year-old nephew Christian out to Nickelmania in West Jordan for his annual birthday outing with Fun Aunt and Uncle. He's definitely better at most of those games than I am. He was good at pretty much everything he played, no joke.

Here is after playing the newfangled version of Space Invaders with JB:

After trading in our tickets, Christian went home with a few goodies:

We also stopped for a treat at Swig before heading home. No big deal, just another fun afternoon with a great kid.

Dallin's & Eliza's Wedding

Our year of four weddings and two funerals concluded Saturday as our nephew Dallin was sealed to his lovely bride, Eliza, at the beautiful new Saratoga Springs temple. As far as August weather goes, it was actually milder than most, and there was hardly a cloud in the sky.

Following the sealing and a hillion jillion pictures, we congregated at Fox Hollow Golf Clubhouse in American Fork for the ensuing wedding dinner, which featured baked chicken, rolls, and salad. Four-year-old Sadie sat at our table, showing off her new cast here:

Throughout the day, we were surrounded by family, new family (the Corbins), and friends. 

The reception was also at the golf club. JB worked very hard to prepare the wedding cake:

Goodies provided included popcorn and a candy bar ((Sour Patch Kids, M&Ms, caramels, gummi bears, etc.) for snacks. There was dancing. There was almost a limbo contest until I realized that that particular decoration is called a wedding arch instead of a limbo bar (I shoulda got a picture of it).

Smiles abounded all day long, because it was a joyous day, indeed. We are grateful that Dallin found Eliza and that she is now part of our family.

Weekend at Bear Lake 2024

Last weekend featured the annual family trip up to beautiful Bear Lake, along the Utah/Idaho border. It was good to get away for a few days and to enjoy some 15-to-20-degree cooler temperatures to escape another long, hot summer, to boot.

A house filled with 26 of us running around was sometimes-chaotic, but it was  never boring. We had the Summer Olympic Games from Paris keeping us glued to the TV much of the time. There were card and board games frequently taking place. Some of us also spent some time at the beach ... go figure. (When in Garden City. ...)

Like last year's trip, "Jack Box" games kept us entertained on more than one night. (I'm not sure who drew the cartoon of Donald Trump on this T-shirt during "Tee K-O," but it amazed us all.)

Vacation time always means more time with the nieces and nephews, and Fun Aunt and Uncle were there for it. The nieces especially love JB.

I need to brag a bit more here about JB, because she captured this phenomenal sunset on one of our nights up at the lake:

My siblings and I took turns providing the meals for everyone. JB and I (let's be honest, she does most of the work, like always; my job is standing in front of whichever cabinet or drawer she currently needs access to) provided the ingredients for tacos and taco salads. We also had pizza, sandwiches, pasta, and assorted breakfast items.

This was our first annual trip without Mom. We felt her absence. But we also know she was with us in spirit and would've wanted the family fun times to continue.