Day 60: "The Wintry Day, Descending to Its Close"

In a change of pace from the way this winter has gone, we're getting a pretty good snowstorm out there tonight. I just took a gander outside, and it looks something like this:


It's the kind of sight that reminds me of one of my favorite and also one of the most underrated hymns, "The Wintry Day, Descending to Its Close." Written a long time ago by Elder Orson F. Whitney of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the first verse recounts his experience looking out his window at the end of a winter's day and his reflections on the snow. Like the Atonement, he says, the snow is pure and white, and it covers everything.

Happy Leap Day, folks.

Day 59: Gift Boxes

The last picture of Ben and Adi's wedding that I'll post - here on Disconcertingly Choppy and as part of Project 366, anyway - is of one of the many gift boxes that were handed out at the wedding luncheon to the guests who attended.

Each box included chocolate and other goodies - a classy touch and a nice end to two consecutive days' worth of an unforgettable family celebration.

Day 58: Toasting

Today's (next-to-last, I might add) wedding images are of some of the toasts that were given at Ben and Adi's post-wedding family luncheon at Joy Luck. Dad started things off by saying a few words.


Among the others who spoke were Adi's grandmother.

Day 57: The Sticky Fingered Kid

Sometime during today's bi-monthly family dinner gathering, this sticky-fingered three-year-old kid and his sticky (and melting) food items - a blue raspberry Super Blow Pop and an orange juice popsicle - climbed onto my lap and had me pretend that I was Emperor Zurg while he acted out the part of Buzz Lightyear.


I was, of course, the "good" Zurg; the one who is on good terms with Buzz after telling him that he's really his father (as revealed in Toy Story 2).

It was really a pretty great way to spend an afternoon.

Day 56: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace in 3D

This afternoon, I finally made it over to the new Megaplex in Centerville to see George Lucas's recently re-released Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace - in 3D! Accompanying me were Dad, Ben, and my nephews Dallin and Luke, both of who were born after the movie originally came out in theaters nearly 13 years ago.


It was also Dallin's and Luke's first time seeing a Star Wars movie in a theater, and they enjoyed it a great deal; there's just no topping Darth Maul for a movie villain. Even with Jar Jar Binks and some of the cheesy dialogue and acting of the prequels, it's still Star Wars, and we boys shared an enjoyable afternoon together.

Day 55: Free Kéva Day!

At Bountiful's own Kéva Juice, the purchase of 10 drinks means that the 11th one is free.


Bazinga!

Day 54: McKenna Hijacks My Camera

At the wedding luncheon at Joy Luck, McKenna "borrowed" my camera and returned a few minutes later with several new pictures, including (1) this look at her cousin Jenna's wide-open mouth and (2) a shot of the two of them and their new aunt, Adi.

I think this kid definitely has a great career in front of her.

Day 53: The Evil Eye

I've got just a handful of wedding pictures left that I still want to post, including today's, which is an image I sort of had to capture just at the right moment and in the right place.

As we family and friends waited outside of the temple in the cold February air for Ben and Adi to emerge, I captured this glimpse of Jackson horsing around. Notice how he's more or less giving me the "evil eye"?


There's never a dull moment with these kids.

Day 52: The Life of a Prophet

Earlier today, I completed my latest read, which was (as you can see) George Albert Smith: Kind and Caring Christian, Prophet of God, by Elder Francis M. Gibbons.


I got started reading biographies of the Latter-day prophets about a year-and-a-half ago, when I was given President Monson's (at the time) new biography for my birthday, and I enjoyed it a great deal. Since then, I've read biographies of seven of the other 15 prophets of the Restoration, and I now have eight more to go to finish this project.

Reading Pres. Smith's book was a no-brainer right now, as we are studying his teachings in church twice each month. I learned a good deal about this good man from this biography, and I look forward to finishing the next one (which, incidentally, is Heber J. Grant).

Day 51: Jurassic Car

When I was at Temple Square the other day, this car was parked next to mine in the parking garage.

I guess birds of a feather do, indeed, flock together.

Day 50: Toothless People, Part II

Just a few days ago, I posted a photo of my six-year-old nephew Luke's smile following the loss of one of his front teeth. It was not long after that that he lost the other front tooth. Luke posed for a new picture during Ben and Adi's festivities, and his smile now looks like this:

Being his uncle, I may be a bit biased, but I contend that he's still a good-looking kid.

For the record, he can also say "Sister Suzie sittin' on a thistle."

Day 49: Having Cake and Eating It, Too - Part II

Continuing yesterday's theme of cake, today's photo is of another cake - one that I saw and snapped a picture of at my brother-in-law Jeff's birthday party tonight.


Why take pictures of food? For one reason, it was delicious. I also took one look at it and immediately thought of the cake that poor Brucey has to eat all by himself in the movie Matilda. It's a great scene from a good family flick.

Day 48: Having Cake and Eating It, Too

Okay, so I have a few more pictures from last week's wedding festivities that I still need to post.

Two of these are shots from Ben and Adi cutting the cake. I believe that, in this instance, the photos say about all that needs to be said about this. Plus, I feel like pats on my back need to be given for shooting these shots between the latticework.

Day 47: Ninja Dallin

When I was over at Mike's and Jana's place the other day, one random occurrence was Dallin dressing up like this:

At least, I must assume that it was Dallin. That mysterious and stealthy ninja sure moved out of there fast!

Day 46: The Honeymooners

The honeymooners have returned, and earlier tonight I stopped by their new place in Bountiful as they opened many of the gifts that were given to them last week by several thoughtful friends and neighbors. At the end of the evening, it looked something like this:

So far, so good.

Day 45: Singles' Awareness-ness

When I was over at Mike and Jana's place the other day, I snapped this picture of their front porch, which had been decorated in anticipation of today's holiday.


Happy Valentine's Day, you knuckleheads.

Day 44: Decorating the Car

One of the duties that falls upon the siblings of the bride or groom, of course, is to decorate the car from which they will be leaving the wedding reception.

Since Ben and Adi planned their reception the night before the actual wedding, we had to improvise a bit. Rather than writing out Just Married on their rear windshield, we went with this message instead:

Day 43: The New-and-Improved Plowman Clan

With the official addition of Adi to our family, the Plowman clan now looks like this:

The bride and groom also posed for a picture with our Sanders cousins who attended the Big Day:

Day 42: Japanese Lanterns

I have many favorite moments from the past two days, but among my very favorites was the Japanese lantern launch toward the end of Ben and Adi's reception Thursday night.

Quite similar to my experience creating and launching "UFOs" (as I called them then in a Disconcertingly Choppy post) a couple of years ago, this is, I understand, a wedding tradition in Japan, where Adi's grandmother is from originally and where Ben served his mission, kind of making doing it a no-brainer for this occasion. It's a bit hard to describe, but as you can see from the photographs, it invovled lighting and sending several of them up into the air.

Great tradition, isn't it?

Almost as enjoyable as watching the lanterns float off was watching everyone's reactions to them. I particularly love this photo of Kira, Dave, and Jessica looking up at the sky, as well as the one that follows and features Luke, Jenna, and Kenna.

Day 41: Mr. and Mrs. Plowman

I attended a beautiful sealing today at the Salt Lake temple.


And the rest, as they say, is history.

Day 40: Lucky Grab

Ben and Adi's wedding reception was held earlier tonight at Le Jardin in Sandy. It was one of those rare instances in which the reception came the night before the actual wedding (which is tomorrow morning).

I could post several pictures - and I plan on posting several more in the coming days - but this one will have to do for now.

What can I say? It was a lucky grab on my part.

Day 39: Toothless People

When I saw Luke the other day, he was anxious to show me his smile now that he had lost one of his front teeth.

I assured him it will grow back. In the meantime, he's looking forward to a payday from the tooth fairy.

Day 38: Oysters!

One of my guilty food pleasures is oysters. I had a few today for lunch.


If you think oysters are disgusting, well, I was once like you. Serving in a small branch on the outskirts of Cusco, Peru, where I was served oyster soup for lunch every day for three months, however, changed my mind; they're actually quite delicious.

Rocky Mountain oysters, however, are completely out of the equation.

Day 37: Jeff Honks Kylee's Nose

This photo, also taken during yesterday's family gathering, deserves its own post.


Why? I believe it's one of those rare ones in which a picture really does say a thousand words.

Day 36: Super Sunday and Uncle Paco, the Punching Bag

Earlier today, there was a football game on TV. Perhaps you heard about it, or maybe you even watched it yourself.

Anyhoo, the family gathered for this annual event up at Mike and Jana's home in Layton and also to enjoy a good Sunday dinner together, with Mike serving up hamburgers from the grill.

After taking the following photo, I told Biz that I thought her glasses made her look like Amy Farrah Fowler from "The Big Bang Theory." You be the judge:

If you agree with me on this, and she should happen to find out about it, please be forewarned that she may punch you in the arm.

Speaking of which, at another point during the day, I had my camera out when Jackson randomly came up to me and proceeded to punch me repeatedly in the stomach. Here's more or less what it looked like:

You can see the right hand starting to swing forward and beginning to form a fist.

Later, I took this picture of the two three-year-olds, Jackson and his cousin Kira, as they ate dinner together:

Jackson lifted up his right hand, almost as if to say: "No pictures, please. Remember what happened the last time you messed with me, buddy?"

I couldn't make up this stuff if I tried.

Day 35: Ben's Bachelor Party

Earlier tonight, a good group of family members and old friends and I gathered to celebrate Ben's bachelor party, and we did so in pretty much the wildest fashion that a bunch of LDS guys can have a bachelor party: by going bowling and eating pizza.

First up was bowling at Bountiful Bowl, where most of the gang bowled a couple of games each.

Included among the group was the youngest bachelor, 12-year-old Dallin.

Steve even set a new personal best with an impressive score of 208.

Gary and I, meanwhile, opted to play a few games of pool. I must say that Gary is a much better pool player than he had led me to believe.

Afterward, we adjourned to Steve's and Ben's place for pizza, which we consumed while watching the Utah Jazz vs. L.A. Lakers game on TV. Fortunately, the good guys (the Jazz, of course) pulled out the victory.

Ben now has less than a week of bachelorhood left. It's going to be an eventful week.

Day 34: Phantoms of the DCPA

Well, now that post this photo, I thought it looked better when I originally took it. Sigh.

At any rate, what you're supposed to be looking at is my brother-in-law Jeff and our tech people in the rafters up above the black box theater, setting up the lights and otherwise getting things ready for last night's Improvables show at the Davis Center for the Performing Arts. They're really some of the unsung heroes of our troupe, and they do a great job making things happen, week in and week out.

Day 33: Sweet Vermuth on the Rocks, with a Twist

For many years now, Groundhog Day has been one of our favorite family holidays, and getting together with friends to watch the movie of the same name on or around February 2 each year has become a family tradition. Tonight was no exception.

In addition to watching the film, Ben or Steve or both of them traditionally make their own batch of sweet vermuth on the rocks, with a twist - the same drink that Andie MacDowell's character, Rita, orders in the movie. Their version of the drink is, of course, non-alcoholic. I wouldn't want to spoil the secret recipe, but it contains grape juice and lemon-lime soda.


I don't know what actual sweet vermuth tastes like, and, frankly, I don't want to know. Our recipe is far better anyway.

Day 32: Wednesday Night Slurpees

My friend Gary and I have a relatively new tradition of sorts in which we stop at 7 Eleven on our way home from Wednesday night Institute to get Slurpees. When Gary offers to buy, as is often the case, it's hard to say no.
It's a pretty good tradition, really.