Conference Breakfast/April 2025

As we are wont to do around general conference time, we gathered as a family for breakfast on Sunday morning, April 6, prior to that day's morning session.

The food was good and plentiful. The spiritual insights shared from the pulpit were even better and plentiful-er.

Arbuckle Family Dinner/April 2025

We hosted family dinner for JB's side of the family here at our hobbit hole in North Salt Lake on Sunday, April 13. The menu featured Hawaiian haystacks, rolls, cookies, and other delicious fixings.

No one was happier to have visitors than our two pups:

We had so much fun that we asked the same gang to come over again the next week, on Easter Sunday, April 20. Baked ham was the featured dish, and of course you can't do Easter without Cadbury's Mini Eggs, jelly beans, and the like.

William's First Birthday Party

On Friday, April 4th, we celebrated our nephew William's first birthday at his home in Grantsville. We had cake and all of the goodies. Here is the birthday boy, with his birthday cupcake (which he later tore to shreds, as a one-year-old must do):

One of William's favorite people is his cousin Spencer:

And then people began inhaling the helium, and, well, see for yourself:

Our Day Out with Tatum 2025

On Saturday, March 29, we trekked up to Roy High School to see our niece Kieralee perform with her Grantsville school's color guard at a multi-school competition. (Had you never heard of color guard before? Neither had I.) They did a great job, and in the process I learned a lot about what color guards are and what they do.

We were joined by the rest of the Moodbuckles: Kieralee's parents, Danielle and Tyson, and her brother, Tatum.

Afterward, we congregated at the nearby Burger Bar in Roy for lunch. Because when you're in or near Roy, it is required (for us) to stop there to enjoy a good meal.

Since we had 11-year-old Tatum with us, and we had previously postponed his birthday outing from last fall, we then took him over to Cherry Hill for some mini-golf. His parents came with us, too. It turns out that Tatum is a pretty good little golfer!

Plowman Family Dinner/March 2025

We got to celebrate JB's birthday a second time in March, this time at monthly family dinner on the Plowman side. Steve and Summer hosted everyone at their home, which is now conveniently just a short walk away—one block west of us in North Salt Lake.

The other March birthdays included Jake's 13th and Katy's 10th. (These kids are growing up too fast!) Here is Katy, blowing out the candles:

As "cake," we used Kirkland cheesecake—one of Mom's favorites.

Meanwhile, sleepy Sam took a nap on Uncle Mike's chest:

Improvables: Sixteenth Anniversary Show

The Improvables' annual reunion show was held on Friday, March 7, 2025, at Bountiful Davis Art Center. Formerly regular troupe members Biz, Brianne, Bryan, and Steve joined Keenan, Parker, Richard, Scott, and myself on stage for another fantastic show, filled with many chortles and giggles. Keenan, Parker, and I shared MC duties throughout the night.

Among the highlights were Biz spit-cleaning Parker's glasses and Bryan's hair in "Advice Panel," featuring the return of Janice, one of my favorite characters:

... Biz, Bryan, Keenan, and Scott in an ice cream store-based scene of "Director":

... Biz roaming the aisles, talking to random people and objects, while Steve gave a "Press Conference":

... old coot humor and puns in "Back in My Day":

... and an old skool game of "Don't Make Me Heckle" to conclude the evening:

The rest of our game list was rounded out with "Top That," "Novelist," "Mumbling Movie Murder Mystery," "Pieces of Shakespeare," and "Dueling Plays."

It's always good to take the stage with these guys—and it doesn't hurt that two of them are my siblings. It blows my mind that we're now in our 17th year overall of performing for Davis County audiences.

One of these days, they're going to find out that I have absolutely no idea what I am doing.

JB's Birthday

JB celebrated her most recent birthday two Fridays ago, on March 7. In spite of having celebrated numerous birthdays over her lifetime, she somehow remains 20 ... something ... years old.

The Plowbuckles celebrated her day together first with a reflexology massage, covering both craniums and feet. Then our palates relaxed with some delicious sushi and edamame at Sushi Monster, one of our favorite sushi places.

If that wasn't fun enough for one day, we ended the evening with that night's Improvables show, which also happened to be the annual reunion show. (More on that in my next post.)