Independence Day 2026

This year, Independence Day got off to a bad start. Like, a really awful, painful one. Specifically, the culprit was kidney stones, the likes of which I had been through previously a few years ago.

It began on Friday night, July 3. That old feeling of being kicked in the groin came back and stayed for an uncomfortably long while, making minutes feel like hours and hours feel like a day. Bless her heart, my sleep-deprived, longsuffering wife took me to the ER at 2 a.m. to get checked out. The doctor and the CT scan confirmed a kidney stone that was, thankfully, on the way out of my poor, tired body.

0 of 10 stars, would not recommend.

So, after declaring my independence from that kind of discomfort, I was released to go home. Under the circumstances, JB and I decided it best to stay home from the family Cul-de-Sac of Fire and BBQ down at our cousins' home in Lehi while I recuperated. We instead watched a few patriotic favorites on TV—Rocky IV and Independence Day among others—while I kicked back and rested. We were sad to miss out on the family gathering but were also glad to be home with our dogs while a few random fireworks went off.

Speaking of which, the state of Utah had banned the use of private fireworks this year due to extreme drought conditions and the prevalance of a number of wildfires being fought across the state. So when I mention that a few random fireworks still went off, they weren't really supposed to.

Anyhow, I was feeling slightly better the next day, Sunday the 5th, and so JB and I made it out to Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful for June family dinner with the Plowmans. (June's family dinner had been delayed a week because of number of the families were out of town or had previous commitments the week before.)

The food was delicious, and the company was great. To fulfill our food assignment, JB made these American Flag Jell-O jigglers for dessert:

Another Golden Anniversary

On Sunday, June 14, we gathered for family dinner on JB's side of the aisle at Jeremy's and Alice's home in Centerville. Not only was this monthly family dinner, but we also celebrated Mom A.'s and Dad A.'s 50th wedding anniversary, which occurred earlier in the same week (June 10).

It was a sort-of surprise party in that JB's parents were expecting family dinner but were not aware of an anniversary party per se. (It's the thought that counts, I guess?)

To celebrate the occasion, we roasted hot dogs and bratwurst over the fire for our dinner, followed by s'mores later on in the evening. JB also prepared Sunday Chocolate Pie, an Arbuckle family favorite, for dessert.

Easter 2026

Easter weekend this year came and went, as it is wont to, with lots and lots of candy. Also, in our case, a few family gatherings. And, as a bonus, general conference on both Saturday and Sunday. We pretty much had the perfect weekend.

On Saturday, we went out to Grantsville for our two-year-old nephew William's second birthday party. Together with most of JB's side of the family, we enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and dip, and a delicious peanut butter and chocolate cake that Nicole made for the occasion.

William received a number of gifts, including a harmonica from us. He was not able (yet) to make music with his new instrument, due to being two years old and not having the lung power to blow into it. But he enjoyed dancing along to the music that came from it. And he also loved playing with the balloons that were there.

On Sunday morning, we awoke to find that the Easter Bunny had visited both JB and me, and he had been generous with his offerings. We then gathered with the Plowman side for general conference breakfast at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful. There were pancakes, bubble buns, fresh fruit, and myriad breakfast casseroles to choose from.

The conference messages all weekend, and especially Sunday morning, were wonderful. It was a blessing to participate remotely in the solemn assembly, raising the right hand to sustain our new prophet, Dallin H. Oaks, and to receive his counsel from the pulpit.

Later that afternoon, we were joined by JB's parents for Easter dinner at our house. The menu included pork loin roast, Lion House rolls, baked potatoes, and carrot cake for dessert.

Plowman Family Dinner/March 2026

Last night, we—the Plowmans—gathered for monthly family dinner at Steve's and Summer's home in North Salt Lake (which is, luckily, just a block west of us). Dinner on this unseasonably warm spring evening consisted of lasagna, garlic bread, salad, fruits, and veggies, with red velvet cake and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

We also celebrated March's birthdays, including JB's, Jake's (14), and Katy's (11). The kids played Pass the Parcel, and each walked away with a candy bar as a prize.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Plowman Family Dinner/August 2025

I'll bet you've been waiting on the edge of your chair to find out how family dinner went for us in August. Well, wonder no further: It was great!

We gathered at Dave's and Jessica's home in Woods Cross. It was build-your-own sandwich time once again (just like we did with JB's side a few weeks previously), with fresh fruits, veggies, and chips as well. We played Twister, we did some breakdancing, etc. It was actually a beautiful afternoon for an August day, and we spent a lot of our time out on the deck. Then the bees came, and most of us spent the rest of the afternoon indoors.

Ten-year-old (!) Danny is our only August birthday. We celebrated his b-day with a specially made cupcake.

I'm genuinely not sure what Kylee is looking at in this picture, but it did give me a hearty giggle. Generation Z, amirite? Plus, Tanner and that rubber snake.

Arbuckle Family Dinner/August 2025

August's family dinner with JB's side of the family took us down to beautiful Memorial Park in Provo on a beautiful (and unusually cool, mid-80s) summer day. Olivia and Caleb, who live nearby in BYU student housing, hosted our little picnic. Our menu included build-your-own sandwiches with all of the trimmings, fresh watermelon, and Costco cheesecake for dessert.

Our afternoon also included a spiritual thought and short lesson by Livvy:

I had never really spent much (or any?) time in this park previously, though it was just a stone's throw from the ComedySportz (now Comedy Box) club I used to perform improv in with my sister. We enjoyed spending some time there. While we were there, I had to get a picture next to the big cannon:

Plowman Family Dinner/July 2025

It was our turn to host Plowman family dinner again on the final Sunday of July. We were short a few people, including Dave's and Jessica's family, as they were out of the country on a cruise, and also Ben and Adi, who were on vacation together (though their boys, staying with Adi's parents, did show up). The only others missing were Dallin and Eliza, whom we recently learned are expecting their first child, a boy (!). Grunkle Paco & Graunt (?) JB are very pleased.

We grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for the gang, and we also had complementing side dishes such as chips, salad, fruit, veggies, and other fixings.

One of my favorite shots of the day was of two-year-old Sam chowing down on a piece of cheese, which our two puppies patiently paid a lot of careful attention to in case he dropped anything:

The lone birthday for the month was Christian's twelfth. (They are growing up so fast! Christian has been mowing our lawn this summer.)

And of course you can't have any birthday party without a game of "Pass the Parcel":

Much of the rest of the afternoon was taken up by Mario Kart on the Switch, as our family get-togethers are wont to go. Did the kids beat you multiple times in those races, Paco? you might be wondering? Why yes, of course they did. Even when I'm the only one playing, I'm not the best video gamer in the room. But it's still fun to play.