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!

Life with Wynnie

Life with two dogs has been a bit of an adjustment from life with only one. No one has had to adjust more than big sister Leia, who sulked a bit and physically shunned JB and me for the first few days after we brought Wynnie (Eowyn) home. There's more poop to pick up in the backyard each week, too, and sometimes they will chime in and bark at the same things together.

Having two dogs is also a great deal of fun and is more than worth the trouble they can cause. Like her older sister, Wynnie has an incredibly nurturing nature. She been a great addition to our home. Even with all of the wrestling she and Leia engage in on a daily basis, during which they briefly don't like each other much, they have also become great friends.

Whenever one of us is out of the house, this is a common sight:

That's Wynnie, looking down the hallway to where the garage door opens. Dogs have this amazing ability to make you feel like the most important person in the world—the most important person in the world to them, anyway. And that's more than enough.

Plowman Family Dinner/April 2023

We met for family dinner on April 23, plus a bonus family dinner this past Sunday in Centerville that included Ben and Graham, who were out of town the previous week.

Clear as mud?

Costco-style hot dogs, chicken and rice, fresh fruit, salad, Care Bear goo, and other goodies were on the menu for the two dinners. We (by which I mean JB) provided the dessert—Sunday chocolate pie and root beer floats—both times. Seven-month-old baby Sam was, once again, one of the most popular attendees, seen here with Aunt JB:

Among the many April birthdays we celebrated for our niblings was now-three-year-old Sadie's. We gave her this toy cash register as a gift, as suggested by her mom. This shot is also the closest we got to her smiling for a picture:

We also got to meet the newest family puppy, Woody, who joined Dave's and Jessica's family over the weekend. Like our two pups, Woody is a mini golden doodle. He was incredibly mellow and gentle, matching Kuma's personality somewhat.

Paco Reviews: "DC League of Super Pets"

In a retcon (?) of the Superman origin story, baby Kal-El is placed onto an escape pod—along with the family dog, Krypto (voice of Dwayne Johnson)—just before the planet Krypton explodes. Fortunately, the future hero Superman doesn't have to make his interstellar journey to Earth alone.

Thus begins the story in DC League of Super Pets, which for the most part is a funny, mostly family-friendly story and one of the better DC Comics adaptations of the past few years. Fast forward a few years, and Superman (voice of John Krasinski) is getting ready to pop the question to Lois Lane (voice of Olivia Wilde). Krypto feels that his bond with Kal-El may be threatened and takes measures to keep the living situation as is.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (voice of Marc Maron) inevitably shows up to cause problems, but his cunning plan is hijacked by a power-hungry guinea pig, Lulu (voice of Kate McKinnon, hamming it up as the villain). Orange Kryptonite inevitably not only gives Lulu and her henchmen (henchpets?) special powers but also gives new abilities to a handful of pets at the local animal shelter. Among this motley crew are black Dane dog Ace (voice of Kevin Hart), Merton the turtle (voice of Natasha Lyonne), PB the pig (voice of Vanessa Bayer), and squirrel Chip (voice of Diego Luna).

The Justice League shows up, but all, including Superman, are captured. Can this new band of assorted super animals band together to save our superheroes and Metropolis, too?

Paco's rating: 7 out of 10

The Good: It's a fun little adventure, and kids of all ages will love it. Johnson (aka The Rock) and Kevin Hart once again make a good team, and there are many great vocal performances from the cast. In particular, Keanu Reeves is hilarious as Batman.

The Bad: Not much to nitpick here. Uhh, I guess I'll go with: Your pets might have to wait until DC League of Super Pets appears on a streaming platform to watch the film with them.

The Ugly: It's rated PG for minor vulgarity, which most likely will sail over kids' heads. Merton also has a bit of a potty mouth, but her swears are actually bleeped out. Do with that what you will.

Eowyn

Well ... Leia now has a little sister.

We adopted Eowyn, another golden doodle, on Wednesday night. We have mostly been referring to her by the nickname Wynnie, which stands to reason because we are now potty training her, and she goes #2 a lot ... if you catch my drift.

Leia has been dealing with no longer being the Top Dog, so to speak, with a little bit of jealousy. But she's already made a bit of progress in just a few days' time. It's been fun watching the two of them wrestle together and interact in myriad other ways.

Plowman Family Dinner/April 2022

On Sunday, we gathered for monthly family dinner at Ben's and Adi's home in Centerville. The whole gang was there this time as we partook of different kinds of casseroles, salad, veggies, peanut butter bars, and other goodies.

This was our (JB's and my) first opportunity to meet Ben's and Adi's new puppy, Mochi. She is a labradoodle.

Leia may not be ready to meet her just yet.

Puppy Sitting 2021

For the past week, we've had a guest staying over at our house. Dave's and Jessica's Maltipoo Millie has been here while her owners have been out of town on a family vacation. (This week has also been spring break for the Davis County public schools, so there you go.)

Leia and Millie get along very well, generally speaking, but we've learned that sometimes they can get on each other's nerves. They like to run around and sometimes rassle, and really that is pretty much all dog buddies need for a good time.

As you can see by these pics of Millie in action, she likes to lounge around the house and hang out. Ergo, we get along just great.

Life with Leia

I'm really grateful we brought Leia into our lives when we did. Having a puppy at home has made quarantining and social distancing a lot better and something much more entertaining than it otherwise would have been.

When I come home from a long day of work, this is usually the sight that awaits me when I walk into the kitchen:

Dogs have this incredible, innate ability to make you personally feel like you are the center of their universe. (Jana caught this view and sent it to me.)

Leia also really loves licking things and licking me, in particular. I suppose dogs have their love languages, too, and licking is one of Leia's primary methods. It's not uncommon for her to climb up on the arm of the couch and try to lick my face, head, and hair, which often leaves me looking like this:

We're still working on boundaries.

Snow Dog

They say that there is nothing friendlier than a wet dog ...

... and they're correct, of course.

Fixing Leia

Our sweet puppy, Leia, whom we've had in our home and in our care for over three months now, had her suspicious organs removed Monday. JB took advantage of a short work week and took the rest of the weekdays off to stay with her and care for her in her recovery.

This is a shot of our brave girl on the car ride home from the animal hospital, wearing the cone of shame as she came out of anesthesia:

Since then, we've removed the cone of shame and replaced it with a much more comfortable onesie that has prevented her from licking or biting her stitches. She's doing really well today, and we've enjoyed this small Thanksgiving at home that we've spent together.

Obedience School

Last week, Leia completed a six-week obedience school course at Coddled Critters, located near us in North Salt Lake. JB did the grunt work in finding out the details, signing her up, and taking her to all of the classes, and I joined in attending for about half of them.

Here's JB and Leia on graduation night:

This doesn't mean we have a perfectly behaved puppy, of course, but she has gained valuable skills through this class, and we hope to build on them at home.

Bathing Leia

LEIA UPDATE: Tomorrow marks two months with our four-month-old mini-golden doodle, Leia. Every day is an adventure. We're going through all of the growing pains of pet ownership and are enjoying the highs while enduring the lows of it.

One of the fun things has been bathing Leia. Since she's so small (eight pounds currently), she is small enough to fit in our kitchen sink for a bath.

If you had said she looks like a giant rodent this way, you'd be spot on.

Leia

I now have two curly-haired brunettes in my life.

We picked up Leia, a mini golden doodle who is much more doodle than golden, Saturday morning. In the days since, we have been going through the growing pains (separation anxiety and potty training) of pet ownership together, but we've also had a lot of fun along the way.

Plowman Family Dinner/July 2019

With Mom moving to West Bountiful in the past few weeks, most family dinners in North Salt Lake (unless Steve and Summer are hosting) will now become a thing of the past.

Anyway! We assembled like the Avengers for monthly family dinner Sunday at Dave's and Jessica's home in Woods Cross instead. Since we were last at their home, they now have a puppy named Millie! She's a Maltipoo, which is both fun to say/write and also means a mix between Maltese and poodle. Ergo, a lot of people were delighted to make her acquaintance for the first time.

Christian (July 11) is our lone family July birthday, which meant he got to blow out the candles on his own cake. I can't believe he's already six years old!

Following dinner, we went over to Mom's house, which we are getting ready to sell, to help clean out some more of the furniture and other items. While we were there, Kate discovered these wooden shoes, which Grandpa bough in the Netherlands years ago on one of his business trips. Those shoes were made for walkin', and she really enjoyed doing just that:

It was both a busy and fun night. But with our gang, you'd expect nothing else.

The Crosby Show

One of the most important decisions in the lives of a newlywed couple is that of adding a member to the family. In our case, we took that step last week by ... dog sitting for one of JB's co-workers. (What ... you were expecting something else?)

We've had Crosby, a Yorkiepoo (which is such a fun breed name to say: half-Yorkie and half-poodle), with us for the past week, and for the most part, he's behaved himself well and only occasionally barked at the neighbors/strangers. He is a lapdog in every sense of the word, and has spent numerous hours curled up in JB's and my laps when we've been home. He's a tiny little thing but has an incredible amount of energy and a lot of love to give, like all good dogs do.

Arbuckle Family Dinner/March 2019

Today, it was monthly family dinner for March out in Grantsville. Fortunately, the weather cooperated this time, and we were able to make the drive out and back with  relatively few problems (unless you ask JB, and in that case, it was me singing along to songs from Saturday's Warrior, My Turn on Earth, and Sons of Provo to pass the time).

I got a chance to tour Nicole's and Spencer's home for the first time. While we were there, Alex showed off the new baby chicks that they are raising.

Here's a couple of hot chicks (get it? ha ha):

The menu was Navajo tacos. It had been far too long since I had eaten one of those. And for dessert, we enjoyed Nicole's chocolate peanut butter cake, which was delicious. So, it was a very enjoyable afternoon all together.

Puppy Sitting

This past week, I got to spend four days dog sitting for my brother's family, who went out of state on vacation.

I had a great time with Neala hanging around. There's nothing like falling asleep with a puppy curled up at your feet.

Dogs are good people. They're better people than a lot of people are, in fact.

Summer Breeze

Following tonight's bi-monthly family dinner, I got to kick back for an hour and hang out with these two puppies on the back porch while enjoying a cool summer breeze. All in all, it was a relaxing summer evening.

Well, except for the mosquitoes. I didn't care for them much.

The Family Christmas Shindig

On the fourth day of Christmas (yes, the Twelve Days technically go through January 5, in spite of all of the radio stations cutting off the Christmas music on the 26th and all of the clearance sales), Paco brings to you pictures from the Plowman family Christmas Eve shindig, which is always a great deal of fun for all involved: 24 total, including both of my parents, all five siblings and five siblings-in-law, nine nieces and nephews (with more to come in 2015!), two dogs (Kuma and Saru), and a partridge in a pear tree.

Once again, Biz put together an excellent Christmas program, in which the six-year-olds, Jackson and Kira, played Joseph and Mary, respectively:

Ben also dressed up as "Man on Porch" from It's a Wonderful Life for a sketch he took part in along with Steve and Summer:

It was a great way to spend my favorite holiday of the year. I hope yours was an enjoyable one, too.

House Sitting

Last week, I got to house sit for my brother and his family while they took a vacation to Disneyland and to other fun spots throughout southern California.

This cute puppy, Neala, kept me company throughout the week and slept curled up by my feet every night.