Rasslin'

My nephews Luke and Jackson, both neverending sources of entertainment, got in some old-fashioned rasslin' Sunday after bi-monthly family dinner at Ben's and Adi's house in Centerville.

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.

Second Thanksgiving

Hobbits have second breakfast; we have second Thanksgiving. At least, we do on the years when everybody goes to their in-laws' on Thanksgiving Day.

Such was the case last week, when bi-monthly family dinner became second Thanksgiving. Scott, Claudia, and their gang came up from Lehi and joined us for the occasion. The food was plentiful and delicious.

Christian continues to be the ladies' man wherever he goes. . . .

Most of the nieces and nephews gathered around the Christmas tree to play with Grandma Plowman's new train.

Good times, as you might expect, were had by all.

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.

The Leaning Tower of Dallin

At last week's family FHE, Mike taught an object lesson with wooden building blocks. Basically, the lesson was that, together, we can do and make things better than we can on our own.

As part of that object lesson, Dallin and Jackson worked in tandem to create the night's tallest Jenga-like structure, which reached up to the ceiling.

The Little Drummer Boy

Mike, Jana, and the kids recently acquired a drum set from some friends who were moving and didn't have a place to put theirs.

Not too surprisingly, Jackson has now taken up drumming.

Carving Pumpkins

Halloween is, sadly, now over. Still, I have one more photo to post today from recent Halloween-related festivities.

Last Monday night, I joined with Mike, Jana, and their kids to carve up the pumpkins we picked out the week before for FHE. As you can see, we (collectively) made some pretty great jack-o-lanterns.

Ben's Birthday Bash 2013

It was Ben's birthday last Saturday, and to commemorate the occasion, Adi put together an enjoyable birthday party for him at their home in Centerville. It being only five days before Halloween, the event was also organized as a costume party.

Our family seemed to unofficially capture Disney/Pixar as a theme for our costumes, as Ben and Christian, respectively, dressed up as Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story:

Summer and Steve were two Pirates of the Caribbean, yours truly dressed up as Squishy from Monsters University, and Adi portrayed Hamm (also from the Toy Story films). Adi's friends Corinne and Joe were a couple of bank robbers, and Biz and Jeff were a couple of zombie killers from the movie Zombieland.

In one of my favorite photos from the event, five-year-old Kira took a turn holding her three-month-old cousin Christian.

Ben and Adi also brewed up some Butterbeer, which was based on a recipe from the Harry Potter world. It was surprisingly good.

Here's to many more birthdays, Ben.

Spider

Today's video clip is from last Friday night's aforementioned Improvables Halloween performance.

In it, Bryan, Keenan, and Brianne re-create a 60-second scene in 10 seconds. It's about spiders.

Enjoy!

The Improvables' Halloween Extravaganza 2013

Friday night marked the Improvables' fifth annual Halloween performance, as well as our second anniversary of performing at the Davis Center for the Performing Arts (aka CenterPoint Legacy Theatre). It's hard to believe that we have been together that long and that we have put on that many Halloween shows, but the calendar doesn't lie.

Among the highlights were "Half Life," played by Bryan, Keenan, and Brianne:

. . . Erica's zombie costume, inspired by "The Walking Dead":

. . . and our many fans who dressed up for the occasion, including our costume contest winners, one of who is pictured here as the Last Airbender:

Following the show, the assorted troupe members (and an enthusiastic audience member dressed as Bruce Lee) posed for this group shot:

Yours truly chose to dress up as Teddy Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States and one of all-time favorite historical figures.

Good times were had by all.