Dead Men *DO* Wear Plaid!

A shameless plug goes out today for Murray Arts Council's production of Forever Plaid, starring my brothers Ben and Steve as half of an excellent cast of four.

Yep, I'm biased. Admittedly.

For those not familiar with it, Forever Plaid is the story of the four Plaids, a doo-wop singing group killed in a car accident on the eve of their first major performance in 1964. In 2014, however, the singers are allowed to come back to Earth for a special one-night performance. Good, time-tested music and hilarity ensue. I went to see their opening-night performance Monday and was thoroughly entertained.

To obtain any additional information, visit the Forever Plaid Facebook event page at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1411848399074698/. The show plays through this Saturday night.

Hangin' with Christian

My youngest nephew Christian is now five months old. They sure grow up fast, don't they?

I was fortunate enough to get to spend some quality time with him over at Grandma's and Grandpa's house Wednesday afternoon.

The Family 5K

How was your Thanksgiving this year? I hope it was a good one all around. As far as the Plowmans' holiday went, four of us (Mom, Dad, Biz, and myself) participated in our first 5K race.

Jeff also joined us for the South Davis Recreation Center's Family 5K, a race covering parts of Bountiful and Centerville. As for the four aforementioned first timers, it wasn't necessarily about speed or competition but rather in crossing the finish line, which we did together after about 66 minutes on the road.

 

And now we have these cute medals to show for it. So, it was a win-win all around.

Monday Night at the Pumpkin Patch

For family home evening last night, the Plowman clan (minus Adi and Christian, who are in Florida visiting Adi's friends where she served her mission, and Jeff, who was in class) made our annual trip out to the Pack Pumpkin Farm in Farmington, something that has become a much-loved Halloween tradition for our gang.

Jackson, entertaining as always, enjoyed running through the hay maze and then posed as a zombie atop a different stack of hay bales:

Luke, McKenna, and Jenna posed alongside the pumpkins that they picked out for themselves:

We posed for a family picture . . .

. . . and then the others arrived, after which we took another one. I must say that we are pretty good-looking motley crew:

Good times were had by all.

Shakespearean Festival 2013

A couple of weeks ago, many of the members of the family and I made our annual trek down to Cedar City for the Shakespearean Festival. For more than a decade now, it has been an important family tradition.

This year, Mom and Dad; Dave and Jessica; Ben, Adi, and baby Christian; Steve and Summer; Biz and Jeff; and Jeff's brother, Dave, and sister-in-law Ginny made the trip. At the matinee, half of us went to see Twelve Angry Men, while the other half, myself included caught Love's Labours Lost, which was very comedic and entertaining but nonetheless had a somewhat ambiguous or abrupt ending to it that confused more than a few in our audience.

Well, you can't win 'em all, Mr. Shakespeare.

Between shows, Ben snapped this photo with me sitting next to the statue of the Bard:

At night, we together caught the evening show, Peter and the Star Catcher - which was based on a book co-authored by Dave Barry no less! It was very imaginatively carried out and amounted to a sort of prequel to the ever-popular Peter Pan story and movie.

Good times were had by all, and we are looking forward to the shows in 2014.

The Nennas Go Exploring

At yesterday's bi-monthly family dinner at Mom's and Dad's new abode in North Salt Lake, the kids went exploring out in the backyard. Kira claimed that she saw a rabbit and that it was foaming at the mouth. Since Mom and Dad are the first to build and move into a home on their new street, and there are many more yet to follow, their backyard remains quite extensive - and muddy - at this point.

On their way back to the house, both of the Nennas (aka Jenna and McKenna) got their shoes stuck in a particularly muddy part of the yard that they called "quicksand." Because of this, they had to take their shoes (in Kenna's case, boots) off in order to get free.

 

 

As Kenna shows in the above photo, the mud was not very forgiving.

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 105: Sold!

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

Day 72: Feeding the Birds, Tuppence a Bag

Over the past year or so, Mom and Dad have adopted several of the birds who frequent their neighborhood, and by "adopting," I mean "feeding a couple of times each day."

This shot of a group of these birds hanging on the telephone wires outside is about the best I was able to get, as they tend to fly off if you attempt to get close to them.

That's gratitude for you, I guess.

Day 66: A Fistful of Wontons

One of the benefits of doing a majority of my work from home is that I have a flexible-enough schedule to go out to lunch when the occasion demands it. Well, the occasion demanded it today, and at my parents' invitation, I got to enjoy another great meal at Joy Luck, our local favorite Chinese eatery. It was my first time ordering the sesame beef plate, which was delicious.


In addition, our lunch included this plate of scrumptious wontons, which was good enough to take a picture of and write today's post about.

No need to thank me.

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!