Happy Birthday, Jared!

I just want to say how much I love my husband and how wonderful he is. I think I probably take him for granted a lot, but he is truly amazing and sacrifices so much for our family. Saturday was his birthday, and I'm the kind of person that likes to go all out for birthdays (I get it from my mom-- actually she likes to go all out on any occasion), but we have been really tight financially lately, so not only were we not going to get to go out and do anything to celebrate his birthday, but he ended up telling me to not even buy him a gift (at least not until we save up some money to get him something). I got to thinking about it and got really sad because technically he never got a Christmas present either. I ordered him a punching bag set from walmart.com, but it was missing a part, so we had to take it back to the store and get a refund. We never reordered it because Jared has a friend who works at Dick's Sporting Goods who could get us a good discount, so he thought we might could get one there for less. So, as time went on, we eventually ended up spending the money that we got from the refund and never got him another punching bag. As you all know, he got me lots of wonderful gifts for Christmas, our anniversary, and Valentine's Day, so basically, he spent all the money for HIS Christmas and birthday presents on ME.

As I thought about it, I started crying because I felt very selfish, and I wanted to be able to do something more for him. I realized I was going to have to rely more on creativity- and I am definitely not the most creative person. Cari gave me the idea of making a coupon book with washing and detailing his car as an example of something to do. Well, it just so happened that he left his car windows down one night when it rained, so he didn't drive his car for a few days. So, on Thursday, while he was at work and while Taylor was taking a nap, I vacuumed out the inside of his car, cleaned the windshield, and cleaned the steering wheel and dashboard. I even got an old toothbrush and tried to clean in some of the crevices around the cup holders and stuff. My time was limited because I had to finish before Taylor woke up (although she was a very good girl and slept for 2-2 1/2 hours!!), so the washing of the outside of the car wasn't fabulous, but it definitely looked better than before.

Then, Saturday morning, I tried to let Jared sleep in a little bit, and I made a little sign that said, "Happy Birthday, Jared! 25 reasons why we love you..." and hung up 25 sticky notes all over the house with reasons why we love him (25 because he turned 25). Then, I made him biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. However, it ended up getting cold before he could eat it (if he got to eat it at all) because as I was cooking, a realtor called and said he was bringing someone by to look at our house! So, I ran to the bedroom and said, "Jared get up! Someone is coming to look at the house!" (oh and happy birthday, by the way!) So, we were rushing around trying to get everything straightened up, and then I had a baby shower that I had to go to, so he took the baby and went to town for a little while while the people were at our house. When I got home from the shower, I cooked lunch- well, I started to, but as it usually ends up, I ended up trying to keep Taylor under control and feeding her something while Jared finished making lunch. Then, I baked him a cake while he took a nap. (Taylor was also taking a nap at this point.) I think the nap was probably the thing that he enjoyed the most because he doesn't get to do that very often.

Later that night, we went to my mom's house. She cooked steaks and shrimp, baked potatoes, steamed cauliflower and broccoli, and rolls and made a salad. Everything was delicious! Neal, Sarah, Bryson, and Rylan were also there to celebrate. After dinner, we sang happy birthday to Jared. My mom had also gotten him a cookie cake (which just so happens to be MY favorite...haha) My mom had asked me for some ideas of what to get Jared. He loves to golf but doesn't get to go that often, and we all know that he loves Auburn. So, she and Sarah went shopping together, and they got him some Auburn tumbler glasses, an Auburn golf set with a towel, golf balls, and tees (I think little Aubie tees are perfect; that way if you accidentally knock his head off instead of the ball, then you still get a pretty good shot), an Auburn visor, and an Auburn water bottle. My mom also gave him some money so he could actually go golfing. His birthday turned out to be better than I originally thought, and I think he actually had a good day. His brother, David, is also planning on buying him a ticket to go see some national soccer games in Nashville later this month for the Olympic qualifier. So, thank you to everyone who helped make it a great birthday for Jared!!