Happy Birthday Jared!

Today is Jared's birthday! I thought I would be nice and get the kids breakfast for a change and make him breakfast in bed. We had one of his favorite dinners, taco pie, with corn on the cob, opened presents and homemade cards from the kids, and then some of our friends came over for delicious ice cream cake. I was planning to buy the cake but it was like $25! I love Jared, but evidently not that much. Instead I made an ice cream sandwich, Oreo and Fudge cake and it was a hit, even though Jared couldn't eat all of the chocolate parts.

Despite the weirdness about not liking chocolate, Jared is great and here are a few reasons why:

He can figure out how to fix almost anything and has the persistence to keep trying until he does. It always amazes me when he installs a garage door opener, hangs a door, fixes the plumbing, builds a fence or repairs a car--basically when he does things that I would have given up on long ago and spent thousands of dollars on. He is smart and, even though I get a glazed over look on my face whenever he starts talking about software engineering, he is an expert at it. He's always been willing to go to work to provide for his family so that I can stay home, lay on the couch and try to keep our offspring alive. He paid for 6 1/2 years of my architecture school and supported me in all my demanding and crazy endeavors. He still does.

He peels my oranges so I don't have to get my hands all yucky, he folds burritos so nothing falls out of them, he's the best egg and omelet maker around, he can pick fruit like no other, he's the dead rodent cleaner-upper, the garbage taker-outer, the bare-hand bug catcher (ever seen the karate kid?) and that's not all; he's also a ketchup connoisseur.

Yep, he's the kind of guy who would drive 30 minutes out of his way and fish through the trash to find my wallet that I accidentally threw away on Memorial Day. I blame pregnesia--I had thrown it in our Quizno's bag and forgot about it. But he found it for me a day later and saved me an obnoxious trip to the DMV.

He is a great dad and loves his kids. He is interested in their lives, can laugh about them with me and is the fun dad that all kids deserve. He is happy-go-lucky and willing to help those around him. He loves to do things around the house while I am gone just so that I will be surprised when I come home; and I always am. He's willing to listen to me ramble and at least he acts like he is interested. And he's supplied endless foot rubs and shoulder rubs to me--daily, without me even asking. I love that he is athletic, in shape and good at almost every sport. And one last thing, I think he looks great in his first pair of glasses--they are very modern.

Surely the list could go on and on, but just so you know, I think my husband is fabulous and I am so grateful to be the one to share my life with him. Happy Birthday J-rod!!