Might I suggest a new strategy?

Let the Wookie Win.

perspective

Click here.

Fall in Utah

here are my beautiful girls getting ready for a hay ride. good times












Ashley's birthday trip to lagoon was a "scary" fun time. WOOT WOOT!!!












Ashley is too cool for dressing up, but Chloe is the Queen!! here she is ready for her school party.













Happy Halloween all!!!

Yoda

Nora sings Happy Birthday

Nora love you too, Ashley!

Please ignore her road rash face. She was playing outside yesterday and landed on her face.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEY!!!

Happy Birthday to the Fabulous and Fantastic Ashley Lynn Perkins!

Ashley is always patient and kind to her younger cousins and younger sister.

Ashley is always up for some fun activities and likes to play games!

Ashley is a wonderful friend, big sister, and cousin!

Ashley is smart AND kind. The best combination.

We love you VERY much Ashley and hope you have the BEST birthday EVER!

Are You Sick of My Videos Yet?

Because I'm not sick of posting them! We went to Columbus on Saturday to visit the temple. Afterwards, we went to a mall to let Nora run around and have lunch. They had a great indoor play area that Nora just loved. She kept trying to go up this slide, but it wasn't until Richard took off her socks that she was able to accomplish the task.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RICHARD!

It's Richard's Birthday today! Hip Hip HOORAY!

Here is how we celebrated the day.

1. The Birthday Bird visited and brought donuts, balloons and a couple of presents (stuff for his bike)

2. The Birthday Bird also left Richard donuts to take to his office. Unfortunately, everyone from his office was gone today. He was stuck with a dozen donuts. I told him to eat them all himself. He opted to avoid that much gluttony on his birthday. I say, if you can't eat a dozen donuts on your birthday, when can you??!?!?!

3. Richard left work an hour early. We were really excited to see him at 4:30 instead of 5:30. We had Binner (Breakfast for dinner) at the request of Richard. We had french toast, bacon and orange juice.

4. We are now going to watch Project Runway. What a nice way to end the evening!

Happy 30th Birthday, Richard!!!!

Baby Nora in San Francisco

I posted this on Facebook, but I don't think you all have Facebook, or check it 85 times a day like I do.

Richard got me a Flip Video camera for my birthday and I am LOVING it Expect more videos of Nora.

BEAT TO THE (proverbial) PUNCH!

Rats.


So Betsey's a better person than either of us because even though we had like two days before Betsey, Richand and Nora even got home, she still posted before we did!

But we did get Nora an early birthday present (even though it was like the day after Betsey's birthday. Seriously we were walking back to where we parked the car and Meridth turned to me and said 'Do you think it would've been better if we'd brought Betsey something?' I shrugged.) And we got to eat these exquisite creampuff orbs that Betsey and the Chard grew to love in their CA days. Yum yum!

Anyway, more pics!





In this pic, Nora is showing off her HUGE biceps while Uschi looks on, well impressed.




The start of a real smash-up hug. Too bad Uschi's not quite ready for prime-time.




One of these things is not like the other...





These are from this morning before church. I caught her mid-yawn, but I was thinking it looked more punkrawk.




Uschi's not a big fan of my non-shaving long weekends by about day three.




Finally, what with the baby's colic-y temperament, we're always looking for new ways to hold her -- ways that will either minimize or maximize pressure on her gas-filled innards.

Cheers! Great to see Team Hawkins (+1 Baby Brother!) in SF!

Guess Who We got to Meet?

We were SO EXCITED to meet baby Uschi!

She may not have been as excited to meet us. No, no...she was happy. I promise! And we were SO THANKFUL to her parents for getting her out of her routine to visit us while we were in San Francisco.

See..Uschi is happy to be with us. She was delightful and just SO BEAUTIFUL! I particularly loved her fat rolls that made it seem like she had no neck. It was just fantastic.

We love you Edward and Meridth! Thanks for letting us love on your sweet, squishy, perfect Baby Uschi!

By the way, when Nora sees a baby or a picture of a baby, she calls it Uschi. I love it! Cousin buddies :)

30 Reasons Betsey is the Best Sister Ever!

For Betsey's 30th birthday today, I thought I would give you all a treat. A listing of the 30 reasons why I think Betsey is the best sister ever.

1. Thoughtful. My little sister sent me a Mother's Day card to thank me for being a great Aunt to Nora. Now, who does that? Only a very thoughtful, caring person like Betsey.

2. Stylish. My little sister has a great sense of what is hip. She always has stylish glasses and can put together a pretty sweet ensemble.

3. Unselfish. My little sister always lets other people shine. She genuinely wants the best for other people.

4. Nora. My little sister has a pretty great daughter (and soon-to-be son), this is only because she is so great herself and is raising a fabulous little family.

5. Cheerleader. My little sister will always listens to me drone on about my day, giving me advice and encouragement.

6. NPR. My little sister loves to listen to NPR. I think that makes her pretty great because NPR is rather interesting.

7. Fast Reader. My little sister has always loved books which has made her a lighting-quick reader. Don't try to read over her shoulder, you won't be able to keep up.

8. Faith. My little sister has an unwavering commitment to her faith. She serves unselfishly and I think that's pretty great.

9. Music. My little sister has always had such a great taste in music. If you're looking for something new, ask Betsey. She'll know.

10. Family. My little sister is always coordinating things for the Gimbel Family. She's a good little Gimbel Family advocate, always.

11. Richard. My little sister found someone who loves her very much and supports her in everything. He's also a pretty good guy, which makes Betsey even better.

12. Blog. My little sister is a good blogger and can come up with interesting updates and thoughts. Reading her blog is fun.

13. Learning. My little sister loves the classroom and is working on her second master's degree. She's a smart cookie.

14. Organization. My little sister helped to coordinate her 10 year class reunion and is always helping out at church to organize things. That makes her great.

15. Committed. My little sister will regularly go-the-distance for other people, whether it's driving for hours or sacrificing her time, she's do it for other people.

16. Crying. My little sister has the biggest heart EVER and cries at very touching stories of humanity. I think this makes her super great.

17. Chard. My little sister brought home a boy named Richard and she let me call him Chard The nickname stuck. I love it.

18. Cooking. My little sister is a great little chef. She and the Chard were super helpful at Thanksgiving last year. Chard can dice up brussel sprouts like no one's business.

19. Unique. My little sister once painted the walls of her room four different colors. She has a very unique sense of aesthetics. (This, too, might also demonstrate committed. Painting is the worse job ever and to paint a room takes commitment esp. when there are four colors involved.)

20. Sweets. My little sister loves sweets. And loves to make sweets even more. This makes her fantastic.

21. Boy. My little sister is going to have a son! The first in the Gimbel family. This makes her great and very special.

22. Creative. My little sister made a memorable card to announce baby #2; She is not only creative, but also follows-through on great ideas.

23. Dedicated. My little sister rallied the Gimbel clan to finish several puzzles over the Christmas holiday last year. She's dedicated to fun and activities that bring the family together.

24. Popular. My little sister was on Homecoming court and the Silver Arrow court in high school She is always very popular and everyone wants to be her friend.

25. Tolerant. My little sister doesn't mind that the two times I've had to speak in public for her, I've cried and not been able to get out a coherent thought. Her wedding toast was terrible, but she loves me anyway.

26. Devoted. My little sister served a mission in Ireland for 18 months when she was only 22. This demonstrations her devotion to her church and her self-less attributes.

27. Independent. My little sister is an empathic, caring thinker. She isn't swayed by conservatism that masks itself as the religious choice.

28. Advocate. My little sister isn't afraid to stand-up for what she believes in. She volunteers her time for causes she believes in and isn't afraid to let others know why she's doing it.

29. Respectful. My little sister might disagree with someone but she is always respectful and listens to both sides of the story.

30. Mine. My little sister is my little sister. My only sister. I love you, Betsey and hope you know how grateful I am that you are mine. My little sister.

Happy 30th Birthday.

xo

-M

Ode to Ryan

I just saw that Casey posted on Facebook a cute poem that Chloe wrote. I thought I would repost it here for all of us to enjoy

Hero
Smart friendly
Driving walking helping
He helps me float
Dad

That about sums it up. We all love Ryan!

random the 2nd

more from ryan.....

so not much to write about today other than run of the mill crap. ate left-overs for lunch. heading back to work. i have been having a hard time with this inspection fixture i have been working on occasionally. it's extremely tight tolerance, and i'm just having a hard time putting things where i need them. hopefully today we'll get it.

so i spent 230 dollars last night at autozone. i used to go to the checker, but this bossy, know-it-all, worthless dillweed works there now, so i "avoid the noid" and go to autozone instead. anyway, i bought 12 quarts of oil because it's oil changing season, two filters of course, a thermostat for casey's jeep (still kinda working out cooling issues with that one), and 2 post catalytic converter O2 sensors for my truck to get rid of that nagging "service engine soon" light. that last one is a requirement for a car to be registered her in utah. no idiot lights allowed.

i have a bit of a confession. for some reason i will periodically spend time during the day making myself mad reading the comments on ksl.com. ksl is a local news outlet in the area, and their stories on the website allow comments from readers. you would be amazed at the depths of some peoples rage. typically pointed at those "communist hippy bastards". i don't know why i do it. sometimes i partially agree with issues because i'm for the most part not strictly party aligned and go on an issue by issue basis, but the level that some of these people drop too is phenomenal. almost like reading tyler hershey's posts on facebook.

it's a weird thing i do. i just like to get myself fired up i guess. either that or prefabricate rebuttals. who knows.

the weather this time of year is great. pretty soon the ivy leaves on my house will start to turn a brilliant yellow. it will be one of the things i really miss when we move out of this house. the high today here in the greater ogden area is going to be 83. tomorrow the high will be 55.

miss you all,

ryan