Little Monkey

The most recent general conference of the Church was held a couple of weeks ago. The weekend before that, the Church also held the first-ever women's meeting, and all LDS women aged eight and older were invited to attend.

(Yep, I have some catching up to do yet again here on Electric Bassoon.)

At any rate, while the women in the family were attending the women's meeting, Ben, Steve, nine-month-old Christian, and I had a guys' night out together, first enjoying dinner at Sizzler together, then going over to Ben's and Adi's place to watch the Real Salt Lake soccer game.

As a nine-month-old, Christian has a bedtime much earlier than ours, though Ben gave him a bath before putting him down to sleep. His bathrobe resembles a monkey.

Luke's Baptism

My eight-year-old nephew Luke was baptized into the LDS Church Saturday by his dad, my brother Dave. We're all proud of his decision and are grateful for the great young man this kid is becoming.

Here's a photo from after the end of the baptismal service, with Luke standing next to Jenna, Jessica, Jake, Dave, and Kira.

Normally, I post just one photo for an event like this, but I love the look on Luke's face in the second photo. So, lucky you—you get to see two of them.

Christian's Baby Blessing

My newest nephew, two-month-old Christian Jordan, was blessed in church in his Centerville ward last Sunday by his daddy, my brother Ben.

All of the Plowmans were there, as well as our Sanders cousins and a handful of old friends. After the meeting, we gathered at Ben's and Adi's home for a brunch.

Good times were had by all.

Festival of Colors

Those longtime followers of Disconcertingly Choppy - both of you - may remember that I held my own "Festival of Froot Loops" about this time a year ago. The objective in doing so was to try to achieve the same effect as many of my friends and colleagues have by attending the annual Festival of Colors - namely, to get extremely messy and dirty and get all sorts of bright, powdery colors all over myself. So, I crushed up a box of Froot Loops and dumped the contents onto my head.

Looking back on things, I think I nearly achieved my goal.

At any rate, a week ago I was invited by Emily to join her and a group of her friends in attending the actual Festival of Colors, which is held on the grounds of the hare krishna temple in Spanish Fork. The purpose of this festival is to celebrate both the end of winter and the arrival of spring. Its larger purpose, however, is, as I believe I had correctly assumed a year ago, to get people as dirty and messy and colorful as possible.

Once again, I think that goal was met.

Here is the "before" picture of the group:

And here is the "after" shot:

We even took individual head shots. Here is mine:

I think it looks even cooler with the mustache.

Thousands of LDS folks, getting culture with the hare krishnas - that's basically what it boiled down to. I also got a mouthful of colored corn starch, which does not at all fall on the "delicious" side of the food spectrum.

While I don't think I'll necessarily be attending the Festival of Colors on a yearly basis, I am glad that I went and that I can now check it off of my Bucket List.

Day 280: Priesthood Session

It's general conference time again, and today we've enjoyed several fantastic messages from the General Authorities and auxiliary leaders of the Church. Tonight, Mike, Dallin, and I carpooled to meet the other priesthood holders (Dad, Dave, Ben, and Steve) in the family to attend priesthood session in Bountiful.

The good news is that tomorrow we get to do it all over again. It's one of several reasons why I love this time of the year.

Day 244: Justine and Bryce Are Married

Yesterday, my second cousin Justine (oldest daughter of my cousin Jamie and his wife, Julie) and her husband, Bryce, were sealed in the Mount Timpanogos temple of the Church. I wasn't able to make it to the sealing, though I did get to carpool down to Lindon for the reception along with Ben and Adi.

We arrived just before Justine and Bryce cut their cake.

We also enjoyed our choice of several flavors of Italian sodas, and Justine's brother McKay served as bartender.

It was a cool, summer evening, making great conditions for an outdoor wedding reception. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Day 235: Brigham City Temple

Some friends from the mid-singles institute class and I made it up to Brigham City tonight to tour the new temple there.

As you can see from the photos, it's quite a beautiful building. Along the way, I enjoyed the opportunity to make some good new friends.

Day 196: Geocaching

Through a writing project I completed for my employer, I recently discovered, conducted research on, and wrote about the somehwhat new hobby called geocaching. This involves the use of a GPS device and latitude and longitude coordinates to find small treasure boxes, or "caches," that are hidden around the world (which is where the "geo" part comes in). It turns out that many of these caches are hidden right here in Utah, and several of that number can be found just a short distance away.

At any rate, our latest mid-singles activity, which I helped plan and carry out, was dedicated to geocaching, which was a new experience for all but one in our group (Nick had found 59 previous geocaches, so it's a good thing we had his expertise to help us out). This afternoon, eight of us embarked on a geocache hunt that took us to several local Church historical sites, including the Bountiful tabernacle and the Heber C. Kimball gristmill, to name just two. It was an uncharacteristically cool and rainy summer day - a nice change from the hot, dry weather we experienced just a few days ago. Earlier in the day, Garrett had gone out and had placed small caches for our two groups to find.

At the end of our treasure hunting, we congregated at Founder's Park in Centerville, and while we were there, we searched for and found an actual geocache that had been placed there a few months ago by someone who uploaded the coordinates to geocaching.com. My first real geocache find was easy to miss, as it was so tiny that it could easily have fit in the palm of your hand, but we successfully located it:

Good times were had by all.

Day 153: The Atteys Unite

A long-hoped-for goal of Mom's was achieved earlier tonight when the temple work for her immediate family was completed at the Bountiful temple, with Dad, their children (my siblings and me) and spouses acting as proxy for those who have departed from this life. Mom represented herself in being sealed to her deceased parents, George and Kathleen Attey, and then, one by one, her kids stood in for her siblings, and the same ordinances were performed.

It was a very emotional evening for us as a family, and we are grateful that we were able to help out Mom in this momentous occasion. I'm still trying to fully understand the Savior's Atonement, and yet one thing that is crystal-clear to me and one of my favorite parts of it is that it provides for the linking of generations of families together for eternity.

Afterward, we assembled at the parents' new pad at The Village for cheesecake - another favorite family tradition:

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.

Day 78: The Life of a Prophet, Part III

Either I'm becoming a voracious reader, or I have a lot of free time on my hands. Or a combination of the two.

At any rate, I finished my latest biography of the modern-day prophets this afternoon. This one centered on John Taylor, third Church president in the dispensation. As with the other biographies, I enjoyed this read quite a bit and learned a lot about this good man.

One of my favorite stories (which I'll have to paraphrase) centered around a sermon Pres. Taylor gave in his early days as a new Apostle in the Kirtland area in Ohio. Certain members of the crowd threatened to tar and feather him if he spoke, but he did so anyway. When he was finished, he tore open his shirt and basically shouted out, "Now, come and get me!" The men who had previously threatened him had been so touched by the sermon that they instead left him alone.

Day 69: The Life of a Prophet, Part II

Earlier today, I finished reading my latest biography of one of the modern-day prophets. This one focused on President Heber J. Grant, and I found it to be very educational and full of many great stories about this good man who was called as a stake president at the young age of 23, as an Apostle at 26, and then served in the Quorum of the Twelve and as president of the Church for an incredible 63 years, including through the Great Depression and the first two World Wars.
My overall experience reading these books has been amazing. I look forward to completing the next one.

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 29: "I Have My Books and My Poetry to Protect Me"

The latest book I've finished reading, as of earlier today, is Elder David A. Bednar's Increase in Learning - a very good read which, indeed, helped me to increase in learning.


I didn't know really anything about Elder Bednar when he was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles more than seven years ago, but since that time, he has become one of my favorite speakers at conference time. This book offers much of the same keen insight he gives in those addresses. I highly recommend it.

Day 15: Dallin's a Deacon

This afternoon, my 12-year-old nephew Dallin (I may have mentioned him once or twice in the last little while) was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood and to the office of a deacon. His dad, my brother Mike, officiated, with the assistance of Grandpa Plowman and three of his uncles (Ben, Steve, and yours truly). He's looking forward to passing the sacrament and all of the other things that deacons get to do, and we're proud of him.

It was also nice to meet Bishop Bruce Newbold, who presided over things. You may remember him as Parley P. Pratt in How Rare a Possession, as well as a number of other Church films.

In the above photo, the Church's newest deacon poses with Grandpa and Grandma Plowman.

Mom and Dad's Excellent 40th Anniversary

Forty years ago today, my parents were sealed for time and all eternity in the Logan, Utah, temple of the Church.

To commemorate the big anniversary, their kids (let's be honest - Biz did all of the hard work) organized a surprise luncheon for them at one of our favorite family restaurants: the Joy Luck Chinese restaurant in West Bountiful.

Most of the Plowmans were present, minus grandson Luke, who was home sick with along his mom, Jessica, who was taking care of him. Our cousin Scott and his family also came up from Lehi to join us for the occasion.

My favorite picture of the afternoon was this shot, featuring a hilarious pose from three-year-old Jackson:
Yup, the kid is definitely a Plowman.

Also attending were "adopted" Plowman, Ryan; some of Mom's former college roommates; Elder John K. Carmack, emeritus member of the Seventy and Dad's associate with the Perpetual Education Fund, along with his wife, Shirley; Dad's tennis buddies; and good friends and neighbors from the Bountiful 18th Ward.

Toward the end of dinner, Mike represented the siblings and gave a short speech to honor the folks, using the acronym SLOF (Sacrifice, Love, Obedience, and Faith) to represent the important lessons they've taught us over the years.

When it was over, Ashlyne and Chantel had a little bit too much fun cleaning up, inhaling a little helium from the balloons:

We also gathered for a group shot:


Mom and Dad, you've been excellent to us. Party on, dudes!

Fourteen Things I've Learned in 14 Years

A couple of weeks ago, just prior to the dissolving of the Millstream Ward, I attended my final Ward Prayer meeting. I had signed up to give the thought for the evening, not knowing when I did so that it was going to be one of my last meetings with that good group of people.

At any rate, in preparing my thought, I did a lot of reflecting upon the many ward activities I had attended over the years and the things I had both observed and learned personally from those experiences. These 14 items are what I came up with, and I'm reposting them here after a few people requested copies. (No, I wasn't in the Millstream Ward for 14 years, but I have been home from my mission for that long; so there ya go.)

1. Moses 7:18: "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them." I share this scripture because it pretty well reflects what my experience has been like in this ward. Fortunately, it's an environment we can help to create any and/or everywhere we go.

2. Be of the ward as well as in the ward. In other words, go to as many activities as you can. Why? Because even what appears to be the dullest activity can turn into something great; because there is something to be gained and there are friendships to be made. It's never ceased to amaze when I've witnessed a guy and a girl who have known each other for some time, perhaps years, and then they hit it off at a particular activity, and the rest of their story, as they say, is history. There are some who, for whatever reason, come to church every week but exit the building as soon as "amen" is said on the closing prayer, and they are never to be seen at the other activities during the week. As a result, they get nowhere near the same benefit from the ward and from the relationships to be gained as those who do attend everything they can.

3. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. This is a lesson that, fortunately, I learned early on. I cite the example of Bishop Lake, whom I first knew as Bro. Lake, a counselor in the bishopric, when I joined the ward. He was part of my first bishopric, and I remember the looks on his and Bro. Ohlson's faces when that bishopric was released and a new one called - how they could not hold back the tears and really feeling the love that they had for each of us. I have tried to serve others with the same spirit over the years through all of the callings and assignments I've been given. My experience in the ward came full circle, in fact, when last year, Bro. Lake was called to be Bishop Lake.

4. You never know who’s watching you, so be the best you can be. When I was still in college, I took an Institute class at the U., and it wasn't until the semester was half over that I learned one of my classmates was not a member of the Church. Fortunately, the other members of the class and I had been pretty good examples to her, and at the end of the semester, she ended up getting baptized.

5. Make your goal the temple, or bust. One of my U. of U. Institute teachers, Bro. Forsyth, once taught a lesson on this subject, and he spoke of the differences between having goals of "getting married by age 30" or of "being worthy to be married in the temple by age 30." Over the years, I've seen people get married out of spite toward someone who has wronged them, out of desperation, or for other reasons, and I've seen others who have given up on waiting for a temple marriage and have settled for much less than that. But I've also seen those who have made marriage in the temple their goal, no matter what, be rewarded with that blessing, even when they've had to wait for the right person until age 28, 29, or 30 - or beyond.

6. Be kind to everyone, no matter what. You don't know what demons they’re fighting. This point was reemphasized to me twice, following the suicide of two friends over the course of three years' time. That's two times too many. Everyone out there is having a hard time, in one way or another.

7. You can talk to the bishop about anything. I've never had a burden or problem, be it spiritual, mental, emotional, or social, that hasn't been relieved a good deal by going to talk to him. I have a testimony of the mantle that the bishop carries to lead us at this time. The same goes for his counselors and the others who have been called as advisors to the ward.

8. Everyone is nervous about dating and forming relationships; the ones who get over it are the ones who do something about it. If feel that you're too shy to talk to members of the opposite sex, then learn the art of conversation; practice with family members or close friends, and learn to listen. Or simply learn how to smile and say hello. It's all downhill from there.

9. If you don't want to go out with someone, it's okay to say no. Making up lame excuses and ignoring/avoiding that person wastes the time of both of you and is far more hurtful to that person. 'Nuff said.

10. You can't make friends with everyone. There will always be people who, for whatever reason, refuse to get along with you, no matter what you do. Even so, smile when you pass them in the hallway and say hi.

11. There are two types of regret: chances not taken and failure. Of the two, the former is far worse. Any basketball player knows that you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take.

12. Try new things. If there's a hobby you've always wanted to learn, take a class. If there's someone you've known for years and are dying to ask her out, then do it. If there's a place you've always wanted to visit, then pick up the phone and call your travel agent.

13. Wear sunscreen.

14. The time goes by pretty fast; remember this: “Come what may, and love it.” –Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin I have enjoyed most every minute of it, and my only regret is that it couldn't last longer.

Moving On

Well, the “skinny” on the changes to the Millstream Ward, as well as to the other singles wards in Davis County, was delivered to us at a meeting at the Conference Center Thursday night and again today at a reorganization meeting in the Viewmont High School assembly hall. Major changes included: (1) dissolving of all student wards; (2) the formation of new singles ward boundaries, as well as the formation of singles stakes; (3) and the aforementioned reinforcing of the rules, including the age and boundary factors. A Bountiful YSA stake was created, consisting of 12 YSA wards from North Salt Lake to Farmington.

The old Millstream Ward was split two ways: the Central and South stakes became the new Bountiful YSA Ward, and the Heights stake portion of the ward was combined with the YSA of the Bountiful and North stakes to become the new (and improved?) Millstream YSA Ward. Bishop Lake was retained and assigned as bishop of the Bountiful YSA Ward, which will meet at a chapel across the street from the Bountiful cemetery; and the Millstream YSA Ward will meet at a chapel just off of Pages Lane and 400 East.

Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presided at Thursday night's meeting and also spoke to us about the reasons for these changes. It's regarding his comments that I now wish to focus. I gleaned three important concepts from his message (which aren't necessarily the words he spoke but the impressions I had):

1) Our Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us, and singles wards have been designed to help assist us in achieving our part of the plan by providing us opportunities to make lasting friendships, to serve others, and - most importantly - to find someone to take to the temple to be sealed to.

2) We are a people who believe in eternal progression, and these changes allow us yet another opportunity to progress and to move ahead into the next stage of our lives.

3) Elder Ballard issued each of us an assignment to reach out to and to invite at least one of our peers back into the fold of activity in the Church, according to our age group and/or situations. As my group is no longer the singles ward bracket, I'm going to invite as many of those 31 and older as I can to take part in the Davis County-based mid-singles Institute group that I've recently joined. It's been a great way to stay active socially with those in relatively the same situation and a good way to meet many new people so far.

So, that's it, Mouseketeers; out with the old, and in with the new.

Jenna's Baptism

Earlier today, my eight-year-old niece Jenna was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a service that all of the Plowmans, most of the Woodburys (minus Jessica’s parents, who are serving a mission in San Diego), and our cousins Scott, Claudia, and Madison attended in Woods Cross. Her dad, Dave, performed the baptism and confirmed her a member of the Church.

Here, Jenna (left) and her "identical" (and also soon-to-be-eight-year-old) cousin McKenna (right) pose for a picture at the conclusion of the service:


Jessica, Dave, and all three of their kids also posed together for a photo to commemorate the occasion:


Afterward, we collectively adjourned to Dave and Jessica's nearby home to enjoy a nice potluck lunch. Fortunately, the weather cooperated throughout the afternoon and gave us a beautiful spring day.

It was an unforgettable day, and I am proud of Jenna for making the decision to join the Church.

National Kiss a Mormon Day

Today was, according to many people, "National Kiss a Mormon Day." Or it might actually be tomorrow. There's some dispute on this matter, in fact.

On Facebook - which is never wrong, except for those occasions when it is - I was invited to attend and/or participate in this holiday, if that's what it can be called. Then, I had a handful of people comment on this fact and tell me that it is actually tomorrow, April 26.

Well, whenever "National Kiss a Mormon Day" is or actually may be, it was observed, in some small part, by myself and a handful of people I came in contact with:

- I was busy helping photocopy and fold the sacrament meeting program in the library at church this morning when a girl in my ward came up from behind me and kissed me on the cheek. She was immediately followed by another girl who did the same thing. Not to brag or anything, but neener, neener.

- Later in the day, at family dinner, I got another kiss on the cheek, courtesy of my niece.

Well, you won't find me complaining. Happy "Kiss a Mormon Day," everybody.