Day 121: The New-and-Improved Plowman (and Sanders) Clans

Here's the whole (new) family - and our cousin Scott's family, to boot - at the temple following the wedding.


We're a good-looking bunch, aren't we?

Day 120: Mr. and Mrs. Plowman, Again

Another of my favorite photos from last week's festivities is this shot of Steve and Summer, emerging from the Bountiful temple for the first time as man and wife.


Good times, those.

Day 119: "Still Single," Again

Much the same joke that was played on Ben and Adi at their wedding reception was played on Steve and Summer at their reception last week; namely, their car was decorated with a "Still Single" sign on the rear windshield.

That's what you get, of course, when you hold your reception the night before the actual wedding.

Day 118: Dinner Group at Famous Dave's

We're in the middle of another mid-singles conference sponsored by the Wednesday night Institute group, and tonight's activity was another dinner group at a favorite local eatery: Famous Dave's barbecue in Layton.


As you can see from the photo, the women flocked around Pepe and me at dinnertime; but who's complaining? We got to spend some time with some old friends and made some new ones, to boot. Also, the food was delicious.

Day 117: All the Single Ladies

One of the most important parts of a wedding reception is, of course, the bouquet toss by the bride. Also, the catfight that usually ensues is often very amusing.

Fortunately, there was little-to-no blood or tears shed over Summer's bouquet toss, which was easily claimed by the tallest girl out on the floor: my 16-year-old cousin Ashlyne.

Day 116: Justin

Tonight, I was Justin; not Bieber (shudder) or (even bigger shudder) Timberlake, just Justin.

How so? When I arrived at Institute, the girl greeting us at the door had already written out my nametag for me. She was so polite that I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'm not really Justin and that she had confused me with someone else.

Day 115: Machete

Earlier today, Jackson came over for a visit and was his usual photogenic self once again. He was more than willing to let me take his picture holding this wooden machete, a souvenir from our family's days in Puerto Rico.


Then, he proceeded to beat me over the head with it.

Day 114: Knockout Punch?

Another of the pictures from Thursday's wedding reception of which I'm rather proud is this shot of Summer feeding Steve a bite after they had just cut the cake together. From the way the photo turned out, it rather looks like she's punching him in the face:

Fortunately, this was not the case, and everything else over the course of the evening turned out smoothly. The cake was also delicious.

Day 113: Hot Dog, the Seagull

With today's unseasonably warm spring weather, including a high temperature that was just three degrees shy of making it the hottest April day in Utah history, our family's bi-monthly dinner together also became the first barbecue of the year 2012. Included in this feast were several delicious hamburgers and hot dogs:

I joined most of the kids in the backyard, as they felt like picnicking out on the grass. A couple of them got a bit anxious to go over to the adjoining playground before finishing up their meals, and a clever seagull soon swooped down and begin to pick apart the crumbs that they had left behind.

Notice the hot dog in its mouth here:

Kenna named him Hot Dog, which seemed only fitting. Come and visit us again, won't you, Hot Dog?

Day 112: "Boogers"

One of my favorite images from Thursday night's wedding reception in North Salt Lake is this shot of six-year-old Luke, who picked up some refreshments and sat down by me to enjoy them. He liked all of the food but described the punch as looking like "boogers."

He drank it anyway.

Day 111: Steve's and Summer's Wedding

I suppose I could post any one of several pictures of today's festivities; but this one is among my favorites.

More to come soon.

Day 110: Lucky Grab - Again!

Yes, yours truly ended up with the garter. Again.

 

 

I'm just lucky, I guess. Or someone's trying to tell me something.

Day 109: Here We Go Again . . .

In under 24 hours, the hullabaloo starts once again.


Most importantly: Will I catch my fourth garter all-time?

Stay tuned. . . .

Day 108: Typewriter

I've said before here on Disconcertingly Choppy that, many times, there are moments in our Improvables workshops that are just as hilarious, if not more so, than moments in our performances.

One such moment occurred tonight while Guy, Ian, and Jordan rehearsed a new game, "Typewriter":

Day 107: Jenna's Bicycle Helmet

Though Jackson seemed to be rather unhappy while wearing his birthday present in yesterday's photo, today's photo presents the converse; namely, Jenna in her new bicycle helmet.


I'm sure she'll be the envy of every girl in the neighborhood.

Day 106: One Unhappy Camper

One of the birthday presents Jackson received last week was this costume:


Unfortunately, he looks like a less-than-happy camper here while he was wearing it. It's not that he didn't like the gift; he was upset about something else and asked me not to take his picture, but I did so anyway. I guess that's what I get in return.

Day 105: Sold!

The parental units finally sold the house. It's now official.

Day 104: "Blink If You Want Me"

There were many great things about tonight's Improvables show at the Davis Center for the Performing Arts. For one thing, I got to sit back and watch this time around and enjoy my colleagues putting on a very funny performance. For another thing, there was this shirt that Ricky wore:


'Nuff said.

Day 103: Jenna's and Jackson's Birthay Party

My niece Jenna recently turned nine years old, while my nephew Jackson hit age four a couple of days after that. To celebrate their birthdays, we had a combined family party for them Sunday afternoon. Mom was good enough to make not one but two cakes (one for each of them):


There was, of course, also "Pass the Parcel" and all of that good stuff, too. Good times!

Day 102: Frozen Hot Chocolate

I've recently posted here on Disconcertingly Choppy about my friends' relatively new Wednesday night tradition of going out for Slurpees after mid-singles Institute. Ben is no longer a mid-single, though he continues to join us on this outings.

Well, earlier tonight, Ben, Gary, Jon, and I decided to mix things up a bit by going over to Dairy Queen for ice cream. I'm glad that we did, because I found a new dessert that is absolutely delicious: frozen hot chocolate.

I'm kinda getting hungry again by just looking at these pics.

Day 101: The Easter Bunny Does It Again

With the passing of time, at least one thing remains constant: The Easter Bunny still visits me regularly each Easter morning.

Thank you, Easter Bunny - whoever you are!

Day 100: Jazz vs. the Spurs

Earlier tonight, the boys in the family and a handful of Steve's friends celebrated Steve's bachelor party. Yes, it is time once again to be getting ready for yet another upcoming family wedding.

Steve selected going to the Utah Jazz vs. San Antonio Spurs game for this party, and Ben found us a good package deal on tickets. We ended up having to sit in the upper deck, but those are the breaks.

It was about as wild an evening as you'd expect for an LDS bachelor party.

San Antonio played without its three biggest stars - Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili - making it somewhat of an easier contest for the home team, but who's complaining? The Jazz eked out a 91-84 victory, and a win is still a win. We enjoyed watching the game.

Day 99: Easter Egg Hunt

In addition to celebrating the Easter holiday, today also marked our bi-monthly family dinner at Mom's and Dad's place. Everyone gathered to enjoy a good meal together, after which the kids participated in the annual Easter egg hunt in the backyard. As you can see from these photos, each one of them was rather gung ho about it:

When we Plowmans do something competitive like this, we go all out and don't take any prisoners.

Day 98: Candy Bar! Candy Bar!

For a four-year-old, Jackson is definitely smarter than the average bear.

Whenever we play "Pass the Parcel" for our family birthday parties, he has learned that everyone who plays the game is a winner, because everyone who gets "out" gets a candy bar. Thus, the first "loser" is really the first winner and becomes the first one who gets to eat his/her candy bar.

As soon as the parcel falls into his hands, he holds onto it until the music stops and is always the first one out. That's a rather smart strategy, I must admit.

Day 97: Respecting the 'Stache

My growth from Mustache March is now gone, but before I shaved it off a couple of days ago, I took this final shot:

If you see this in a post office sometime in the future, remember that you saw it here first on Disconcertingly Choppy. That's a big if, though.

Day 96: Verónica's Wedding

Today's photo is not actually one of mine but one that was sent to me by Verónica, to whom I taught the discussions as a missionary in Peru more than 15 years ago. She and her sister, Roxana, were baptized together in December 1996, and their mother, Nancy, followed not long after my mission came to an end in February 1997, thus making their family one of the few I had the privilege to teach in which all of the members ended up joining the Church.

Yesterday, Verónica was sealed to her husband, Carlos, in the Lima temple. Congratulations to you both!

Day 95: My Dinner with Jenna 2012

My niece Jenna turned nine years old Monday, and since the third-grader has the week off from school for spring break, I picked her up and took her out to lunch today for our annual birthday outing.


A girl after my own heart, she picked Wendy's, where we enjoyed a good meal together. Afterward, I took her to the store so that she could pick out her own present, as per my agreement with her and the other Munchkins. She selected a Barbie video game for her Nintendo DS, which she received for Christmas a few months ago.

I enjoyed getting to spend some time with my niece. Happy birthday, kiddo!

Day 94: Putting It Together

One of the things that I love about Improv - and there are many of them - is that sometimes there are moments in our Tuesday night workshops that are just as comical and brilliant, if not more so, than our Friday night performances. Unfortunately, our audience never gets to see these. Fortunately, though, we troupe member get to enjoy them together.

I felt like tonight's workshop, a musically oriented one, was one of our most solid in quite a while, and since I've gotten into the habit of carrying my camera with me everywhere, I was there to take this photo of Biz, Jordan, Aivan, and Ricky performing an improvised musical fairy tale (and group dance number) based on "The Prince and the Pauper."


As you can tell, they are having a great time doing so, and their efforts contributed to a most enjoyable workshop experience.

Day 93: Little Wizards

Whenever the nieces and nephews come over to visit, invariably Jackson will make his way up to my Rock Band drum set and will pick up the drumsticks. His purpose is to use these drumsticks as makeshift Harry Potter wands.


The other day, I captured a photo of Jackson and Kira using drumsticks for exactly this purpose.

Day 92: Wake-Up Call

This morning, I was awoken by this three-year-old wearing Mario pajamas:
At general conference time, we have a family tradition of gathering together at the parents' house to eat breakfast, and then we watch the Sunday morning session together. Since Jackson was over visiting, he made sure I was up in time to eat . . . and to play video games with him.

"When it's time to get up, you gotta get up," he told me. That's sage advice. He learned it in just under four years, while it's taken me more than 30 years to grasp the concept. And I'm not quite there yet.

Day 91: Dallin's First Priesthood Session

This weekend marks the biannual general conference of the Church, in case you've been living inside a cave, and tonight, Dad, my brothers, and I were joined at the priesthood session broadcast with a newcomer: my 12-year-old nephew Dallin, who was ordained a deacon just a couple of months ago. Dallin did rather well sitting through his first priesthood session and did not fidget too much in his seat.

We enjoyed listening to good messages and counsel from President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors in the First Presidency, Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve, Bishop Edgley, and Brother Ochoa of the Young Men's presidency.

Following the meeting, we adjourned to the parents' house for cheesecake from Costco, which is really a great way to end a great day.