Happy Birthday B-Bop.

On December 31st 1980 a major disaster was avoided. Rosemary Raspberry Robbins had tackle and as such became Brian Christopher Robbins. I can't believe that you would have named a girl that mom. Aren't girls sensitive by nature?

Brian turns 27 this year and is doing great. He is a part owner of Summit Tile and Stone. They do an amazing job and are very competitive in price. If you ever need tile done, call these guys.

Happy Birthday Brian. I will most likely see you at a Training Table on the 31st.

Planet Earth with Coop.

For Christmas Gary and Jean gave Sarah and I the complete series of Planet Earth. If you have not seen this I highly recommend it. It was filmed over 5 years and takes a look at every nook and cranny our great world has to offer. I watch it and truly appreciate the creation and all the beauty of the earth.

Tonight Sarah took Riley and Camden to go visit her cousin who is in town from Arizona. I stayed back with Coop who had a fever and a "scratchy tongue" as he put it. I wanted to watch the Jazz and he wanted to watch "channel 33" (Disney) so we compromised and put in Planet Earth. It was fun to watch how captivated he became. He kept looking over at me and saying "WOW!!!" Tonight had no prospect of fun or excitement but watching my son become so passionate about what we were watching was, to say the least, a good time. This is the part of being a dad that I truly enjoy.

Here is Coop watching a pride of Lions attack and eat an Elephant.

The Robbins Bunny Blast of 07.

(Left to right: Michael, Greg, Garrett, Brian, Gavin, Camden, Grandpa Richard, John John, Gary)

As you may well know any time you check out my blog you never know what you will get. Today you get a little bit of hunting. Brian organized the Robbins Family rabbit hunt. This was a blast both literally and figuratively. We drove all the way to the southwest side of Utah Lake to one of Brian's secret bunny spots. Once to our spot we lined up and set for the sage. I was toting my 12 gauge and Camden followed step by step with his new bow that Santa brought.

All in all we blasted about 10 bunnies with Cam and I taking care of 4 or 5. Brian was shooting his bow and finished off one that I slowed down. It was so much fun to be out in the foothills with my family. A little crazy too. Thanks to Brian for putting together such a fun day. And special thanks to the Keen shoe/boot company for making the best boots a guy could have in winter conditions. My feet were toasty all day. Check these boots out at,

http://www.keenfootwear.com/product_detail.aspx?sku=1221


(Here is me and Cam with our first bunny of the day.)

The Fat Man came again.

Christmas 2007 has come and gone. Holy Crap! That went by fast. I can't believe how fast time is flying by. My mom quoted in her Christmas letter that life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer to the end, the faster it goes.

We had a great couple of days. On Christmas eve we had a feast fit for a king. Thanks to Sarah. Then kept our traditions of reading "T'was the Night Before Christmas" and Luke 2 from the Bible. Riley read Luke 2 for us this year, it was a neat thing for a dad to watch.

Here is some of our feast.

The kids spent most of Christmas eve on the NORAD site tracking Santa. It was fun to watch them stress over bed time while Santa was still in Trinidad and Tobago.

As you can see by the forensic evidence above, Santa showed up and everyone was happy. This year may have been our peak year in the Santa Claus facet of Christmas. All three kids were so excited and really enjoyed the prospects of what Santa might bring.

My Beautiful Bride!

I LOVE MY WIFE!!!

Gordon's and La La's Big Day.

The above picture is of Gordon Canada and his soon to be bride Lauren. They will be married today 12/22/2007 in the Salt Lake Temple. We had a lovely dinner with them and about 50 other people at Treo' (Sarah and I both had the Salmon) in Old Mill last night.

It was a great evening. I was able to sit with all of my best friends including my wife. We had a great conversation and it was truly like the good old days. I look forward to making many more good old days with my friends and their wives. Gordon spoke and did a wonderful job. He said that we get so caught up in life that we often times forget to look and see how truly blessed we are. He spoke of the blessings of friendship and talked about us as his friends. It was an amazing feeling to sit around that table and look at my best friends and realize how blessed I have been.

I often have to explain myself when people ask in shocked tones that I still hang out with my best friends from elementary and high school. I am lucky to see weekly Dustin Tate( BFF since 2ND grade), John Peterson (BFF since 5Th grade) and Gordon Canada (BFF since sophomore year, however I feel like I have known him forever). The explanation that I am inclined to give is that I have not found anyone better. These are the kind of guys that you go into battle with. I know that that sounds cliche' but that is the strongest way to drive my point home. These guys have that greater love that they would lay down their lives for their friends.

I did turn into my Dad last night. When I was asked to give a toast, I stood up and just started to cry. It was awful. I have a lot of love for my friends and the only way to get it out was through my tears.

My Daddy!!!

If any of you know me you know that I cannot sing. But My dad sure can! I could never say that my dad could beat up your dad, because my dad had on makeup and sang opera. I do think that He probably could beat up your dad though.

Every year for Christmas my dad sings "O' Holy Night". He does a wonderful job. Here is a brief clip of him singing at the 1st Annual Birch Family sing along......ENJOY.

P.S. My dad is 72 years old and his voice, in my opinion, still sounds very strong.

My Favorite Picture.

One major event that happened to us this year was that Riley was baptized on September 15Th. She was glowing that day and like her father she loves to be the center of attention ,although she does it much more quietly.

It was an honor for me to be able to baptize and confirm her. She is a lovely young lady that always seems to get whatever she wants from me.

This picture was taken in our backyard after her big event. She wanted to hold my hand all day. I do not like to hold hands but I found it hard to not hold hers. She is my best friend and I love her like I never knew one could love.

And we're back...

It has been too long since my last post. I am aware that many of you still believe that I am on top of Grandeur peak. It has been an up and down year but a lot of fun.

So here I write to bring you back into our lives and hopefully keep better touch with all of you. I will start back up only referencing the past year when necessary. It would take to much effort to catch you up on the last few months. I enjoy writing and keeping an interactive journal so I will simply ask for forgiveness and start anew.

Riley, Cam and Coop are getting very excited for Santa to come in one short week. They are busy with ginger bread houses, school presents, songs and all else that goes along with the Christmas season. When I got home from work today I saw that Riley and Cooper had made snowmen. They stood a towering 8-12 inches high. They were very funny and so I snapped a pic and pass it along to you for your viewing pleasure.