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!

Halloween 2020

We didn't have an improv show nor any other Halloween parties to attend this year (thanks, coronavirus), but I wouldn't let that stop me from dressing up for one of my favorite holidays. On Friday, I went to work dressed up as Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid:

Naturally, I had to dress up Leia in a costume, since she (cough cough) is a member of the family who will actually take part in Halloween along with me. I found this Chewbacca harness for her (which turned out to be a little bit big):

No regerts!

Weekend at Bear Lake

JB invited Mom and the Centerville Plowmans (and also me! yay!) to spend the weekend up at her family's cabin in Laketown, on the shores of beautiful Bear Lake in northern Utah. And so, away we went for a few enjoyable days, also passing through a few booming metropolises (metropoli?) in Idaho and Wyoming in our travels.

The weather up there was several degrees cooler than it is currently in Davis County. In other words, it was quite nice.

Of course, you can't go up to Bear Lake without stopping by LaBeau's for raspberry shakes. And who are we to buck the consensus on such an important issue?

They were delicious. Also, it's my understanding that there was some sort of college football game played Saturday that involved two of our local teams. The colors of both teams were well represented among our motley crew. I guess there was a winner and a loser, but we couldn't tell because we had no access to the game on TV or on the radio.

Oh well. There will be other games with other teams in the future. All told, we had a very nice weekend and then lived to tell the tale. And, fortunately, a large dragon did not emerge from the mountains and come down to Laketown to lay waste to the place. It appears movies and TV have lied to me yet again.

Family Dinner/February 2017

Last weekend, we gathered for family dinner and to celebrate the family's February birthdays (Dave's and Jeff's). At the same time, there may have also been a football game on TV.

I failed to get a shot of the candles being blown out over the cake, but I did snap this picture of Kylee giving her sleepy 18-month-old cousin Daniel a bottle:

So, there's that.

Congratulations to the Patriots on the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. Overall, it was a fun evening with the best people I know.

My Dinner with Luke 2016

My nephew Luke reached his 11th birthday Tuesday, and tonight I got to play the "fun uncle" and take him out to dinner for his Big Day. He chose Chuck-a-Rama, where we had a most enjoyable meal.

In talking to him, I realized that he knows a heckuva lot more about football than I'd given him credit for, and that he wants to eventually play high school ball and then, afterward, in college. He's an excellent student in his fifth-grade class and is overall a wonderful kid.

Am I biased when it comes to my nephews and nieces? Maybe a bit. But in this case (and in 11 others), it's true.

Improvables: Layton High School Drama

Earlier tonight, Jamie, Lorin, Richard, and I had the great opportunity to take the stage with 10 talented students from Layton High School's Drama Dept. for our Saturday night show at the Clearfield Community Arts Center. It was a fun evening filled with . . . well, unexpected, spontaneous theater, which is what makes improv such a phenomenal thing to take part in.

There was also some college football game being played at the same time at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake. But I didn't miss much . . . did I?

Retaking the Trophy

Who has two thumbs and recently recaptured the family league fantasy football trophy?

This guy.