Plowman Family Dinner/October 2026

For monthly family dinner, we gathered at Mike's and Jana J.'s home in Layton on Sunday, October 25. The menu consisted of a variety of soups, together with Sarah's salad, fruit, veggies, and (provided by JB) pumpkin brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

October comes with the highest number of family birthdays in the year: those of 18-year-old Kira, Jana J., Steve, nine-year-old Ike, Ben, and yours truly. They sang "Happy Birthday to You" to us, and the kids blew out the candles on their cookies and ice cream.

This day fell on Ike's actual birthday, so he opened a number of his gifts.

As it was the last Sunday before Halloween, many of the kids (the niblings) wore their Halloween costumes. We got to see McKenna as Michelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Christian as some monster ... thing, Katy as the White Rabbit, Danny as a soccer player, Graham as Marty McFly, Tanner as Pikachu, Ike as a ninja, Sadie as Belle, and Sam as Batman:

Just for fun, Christian paused for a pic with little Paisely, in which he ate (consumed) Paisley.

I guess you had to be there! It seemed funny at the time.

Jana J.'s Murder Mystery Birthday Party

On Saturday, October 10, JB and I attended a surprise birthday party/murder mystery for our sister-in-law Jana J., who hit a milestone birthday on that day. It may not be my place to divulge the exact number, but suffice to say I am one year and one week older than her.

(Incidentally, yes, I had a birthday last week. Didn't need to post about it this year, though JB definitely spoiled me with a trip out for sushi and a few gifts. I spent much of the day and the weekend watching general conference on TV. It was wonderful, as always.)

Jana J.'s daughters, Kylee and McKenna, put everything together for the murder mystery: the invitations, the plot and character assignments, the props, the snacks, etc. We assembled at The Barn, a Jackson family favorite location in Layton, for this special occasion. Most of the invitees were the birthday girl's siblings and spouses, along with her parents and a few close friends.

The theme for this murder mystery was "Murder at the Juice Joint," and it was set at a speakeasy in Chicago in the Prohibition era/1920s. We all dressed up accordingly and tried to act out our characters as well, accents and all.

It had been many years since either JB or I had participated in a murder mystery event, and we were grateful to be included. I was assigned to play private detective P.I. Pinkerton, while JB assumed the role of celebrity filmmaker Harper Hollywood.

The rest of the cast was rounded out by crooked and quirky politicans, officers of the law, employees of the Juice Joint, and of course gangsters, among others.

Kylee and McKenna were pretty clever with the props. For example, this ashtray and cigarettes (when in Rome—or Chicago, I guess?) were actually broken up Oreo cookies and pretzel sticks dipped in vanilla chocolate:

Sadly, the money, used for bribes and such, was also fake.

Toward the end of the evening, the real killer was revealed. We also voted on best actor and favorite costume (Summer), and there was also an award for the person who accumulated the most (fake) cash (our 18-year-old nephew Jackson).

We had wonderful evening together, but most importantly, Jana J. had a great birthday. We'll have to do it again next year, or another time very soon.

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: 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.

Halloween 2024

This year's Halloween season came and went for us in a blink of an eye. JB has been working hard not only at her job but everything else she does lately, and I've been recovering from a lingering infection. My wife isn't a huge fan of Halloween festivities. However, when I can convince her to dress up or go to any kind of Halloween event with me, I consider it a huge win.

On Halloween night this year, we placed camp chairs on our driveway and passed out candy to the many neighbors and friends who stopped by. Among them were Summer and her kids (four of our niblings).

Four-year-old Sadie was dressed up as Spider-Man (Girl?), while two-year-old Sam wore a Dalmatian costume:

We might be a bit biased, but they were the four cutest Trick-or-Treaters we saw all night.

Mad props also go out to the three girls we saw, one of whom was dressed up like Lightning McQueen from Cars, while the other two were traffic cones. Easily the most creative costumes we saw.

Improvables: Fifteenth Annual Halloween Show

On the heels of the Trunk-or-Treat (later that same night) was my troupe's annual Halloween show at Bountiful Davis Art Center. This always brings out the dedicated fans as well as all of the weirdos, but I can't tell those two groups apart. And that's exactly how we love it to be.

I remained dressed up as Thor and MC'd the show. I was joined on stage by Brady (Waldo), Erica (Oogie Boogie from The Nightmare before Christmas), JoJo (wolfman), Keenan (one of the Peter Parkers from the Spider-verse), Matt (the Bride from Kill Bill), Parker (some Nordic warrior video game character whose name I kept forgetting), Tanner (peanut butter sandwich), and Tyler (Moon Knight), with Willis (some kind of demon) on the piano.

We had a ball, but that's how improv always is. The night's game list included "Advice Panel," "Dueling Plays," "Film Noir," "Mumbling Movie Murder Mystery," "Predictive Text Song," "Replay at Bernie's," "Tombstone," and other favorites.

I think the headline "Improv Show Enjoyed by All" speaks for itself. Come and check out a show for yourself if you haven't done so before now!

Trunk-or-Treat 2023

We had a heckuva great Halloween this year. It began for us last week on Friday, October 27, with our ward's annual Trunk-or-Treat activity. I dressed up as Fat Thor, aka Thor as he appears in the fourth Avengers movie, Endgame. JB chipped in by decorating our car's trunk for the occasion.

First, dinner was served in the cultural hall. There were a number of delicious soups and chilis to choose from, as well as homemade root beer and water to drink. The Primary kids also put on a costume parade on the stage.

The actual trunk-or-treating part was a blast, with a number of neighborhood kids (members of our church along with non-members) stopping by to pick up candy.

Among the other costumes worn was our Bishop's "Fishers of Men" ensemble:

I love it when a ward goes all out for things like this, and ours is no exception.