Plowman Family Dinner/August 2026

On Sunday, August 23, JB and I hosted monthly family dinner for the Plowman side at our home in North Salt Lake. Nearly 30 people turned out, making our house noisy but fun for this warm summer evening. We were perhaps most surprised and pleased to see, among those who attended, our niece Jenna, who recently graduated from BYU-Idaho and who just moved to Provo to start a new job there. (At least, I hadn't seen her since last Christmas Eve.)

Poor Wynnie was a bit overwhelmed by the number of people who turned up, and she stuck pretty closely by my and JB's side throughout the evening.

The evening's menu consisted of various types of enchiladas as the main dish, all provided by Dave and Jessica. The complementing side dishes included watermelon, strawberries, a veggie tray, and potato chips. JB prepared the dessert options, which included peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream and this delicious banana pudding:

Eight-year-old Ike (successfully) campaigned for those gathered to play several rounds of Mario Kart on the Switch, while others played outside or at the park next door.

The kids also played "Pass the Parcel," a family tradition, and that was followed by the singing of "Happy Birthday to You" by all for our lone August birthday: 11-year-old Danny.

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.)

Chalk Art Festival 2026

This year's Bountiful Chalk Art Festival, held the first week of June, was yet another showcase of the immense artistic talent in our community. Naturally—and biased though we might be—we gravitated specifically toward the chalk art pieces created by our family members who participated.

On Friday, June 5, we found birthday girl McKenna hard at work finishing her fish picture:

On the same row as her creation, we also saw my sister, Biz's, Harry Otter, along with our 11-year-old niece Katy's Zazu rendering:

The talent apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, at least for these three!

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!

"The Pirates of Penzance"

Last Wednesday night, JB and I ventured over to nearby Woods Cross High School to see our 17-year-old niece Kira perform in WXHS's production of The Pirates of Penzance. And I think it is honestly the most fun I have had seeing that particular classic Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. (I think this was the fourth time? Including once at Deer Valley.) This wonderful performance was also directed by my Improvables colleague and WXHS drama instructor Liz Christensen, with whom I had performed improv five nights previously in the reunion show. (See my previous post. ... I know you will stop and now look it up.)

Anyhow, the kids were obviously having a blast, as you could see by the looks on their faces and in their acting and singing, and the audience had a ball right along with them.

The narrator for "Music and the Spoken Word" was there, and he'll vouch for me.

Kira played one of the Major-General's daughters, and can I just say that this girl has pipes? Meaning, she can sing—and I didn't know just how well until this show. She had been holding out on us before this night. She had not one but multiple solos, and she blew us away. Meaning, not like TNT, but figuratively. She also had a few lines of dialogue.

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.

"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.

JB's Birthday 2026, or: Niblings, the Next Generation

Over the weekend, JB celebrated another birthday. It was a busy Saturday for us, but we managed to fill it with a lot of good things with a lot of great people.

Firstly, we journeyed down to South Jordan for my high school buddy Clayton's mother's funeral. It was good to see my old friend, whom I hadn't seen for several years. (He and his family live in Atlanta.) I got to meet all four of their kids for the first time. Another high school buddy, Darren, sat by us for the funeral service, which contained wonderful tributes to a great lady. Clayton's older brother is actually Elder W. Mark Bassett, a General Authority Seventy of the Church, and was, as expected, one of the speakers. Whom we didn't expect to see was Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who presided and who was the concluding speaker. Elder Renlund offered an Apostolic blessing on the Bassett family, and the Spirit was so strong as he spoke.

From there, we trekked down to Salem in Utah County for our great-nephew Levi's baby blessing. (Yes, we now have two grand-nephews.) Two-month-old Levi's dad, Dallin, performed the ordinance. We took a number of pics of baby Levi, along with his parents, Dallin and Eliza, and several others, but we are also honoring their request not to post any pics of him online. Another kid we got to meet for the first time was six-month-old Beau Nelson, our cousin Madison's and her husband, Wyatt's, baby boy. A number of family members on both sides joined us for this occasion.

Lastly, we traveled to Provo to meet up with our niece, Olivia, and her husband, Caleb, who are BYU students, for JB's birthday dinner, featuring sushi and pho, at Saida's on University Ave. It was a great end to a great day.

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.

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.

Ike's Baptism

Our eight-year-old nephew Ike (Isaac) was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, November 1, at his stake center in West Bountiful. His dad, Jeff, performed the ordinance as well as the subsequent confirmation.

Ike was so excited for his baptismal service that he also volunteered to lead the singing of the opening and closing songs:

... and he did a great job doing so.

Other family members participating included Ike's 12-year-old cousin Christian giving a talk on the Holy Ghost, his eight-year-old sister Katy acting as one of the witnesses, and yours truly offering the opening prayer.

Following the service, family on both sides and friends congregated at Biz's and Jeff's home in West Bountiful for good eats and good company.

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.

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.

Tanner's Baptism

Last Saturday, October 11, our eight-year-old nephew Tanner was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His father, my brother Steve, performed the baptism as well as the subsequent confirmation, which Tanner's uncles and Grandpa Keeler joined in on. This event was held at our stake center in North Salt Lake. (In case I've not mentioned it previously here on Paco Nation, JB and I now belong to the same stake as they do.)

A few other family members were asked to participate in the service. Jana 1 conducted the music, Mike gave a great talk on baptism, and Danny was one of the witnesses. Also, we all filled out 3 x 5 cards with messages of encouragement for Tanner, and they were compiled together for to have as a keepsake.

Following the program, we gathered at Steve's and Summer's home for refreshments.

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.