30

Yesterday Nate turned the big 3-0. We had a good time. Nate decided to be excited to turn thirty and when Nate is excited, he becomes spontaneous. We dropped our kids off at Angie's. He decided that we were going to go to Olive Garden, but first he started telling me about the Mushroom Swiss burger at Burger King, and he decided that we should go buy one right then so I could taste it and so we did. We got to Burger King and the order taker asked him how he was. He replied, "I'm doing great! It's my birthday!". We then go to the window and the girl tells us that her manger was going to pay for our meal because it was Nate's birthday. She even gave us a BK birthday crown. The mushroom burger was very good. Then we stopped at Classic Sports and bought Nate some shoes for ping pong. This seemed really spontaneous to me, but apparently Nate had been thinking about getting these shoes for at least a day. So we bought some very nice shoes, and then we headed to Olive Garden and ate dinner, and ordered a few extra things on a whim, and they all tasted delicious.

So, in honor of Nate turning thirty, I've decided to list thirty things I like about Nate:

1. He helps me take care of the kids.
2. He's good with the kids and they're still alive and {pretty} healthy when I return.
3. He {and about 200 other people including me} thinks ping pong is a serious sport.
4. He can cook his own dinner and it usually turns out surprising well.
5. He loves cookies and ice cream.
6. He loves instrumental guitar.
7. He writes his own music on the guitar.
8. He wants to go to New Orleans, Venice, and Guatemala with me someday.
9. He knows the difference between larceny, theft, robbery, and conversion.
10. He doesn't know the difference between black and navy blue.
11. He cares as much about the dodge ball game as the 12-13 year old boys he's playing with.
12. He "doesn't like chocolate", but he loves the chocolate ribbons in moose tracks ice cream.
13. He still likes super heroes.
14. He helps calm the storms in my life.
15. He believes in me.
20. He plays ping pong with himself in the garage--I mean ping pong dojo. (He has this whole set up were he hits the ball against some rubber attached to a big board and then the ball returns back to him.)
21. He is incredibly loyal.
22. He reads his scriptures everyday.
23. I like the sound of his laugh when he laughs with his mouth closed.
24. He sings with me in the car.
25. He thinks I'm a good cook and never complains about any food given to him (unless he had to pay for it at a restaurant and he wasn't impressed).
26. He's working on some novels.
27. He is steady.
28. He has no desire to do dangerous things like, hang-gliding, motorcycle racing, bungee jumping, stunt driving, etc.
29. He sends me emails from work occasionally to let me know that he loves me.
30. He likes to watch movies with me late at night when the kids are in bed.
[And for a year to grow on]
31. Nate is wearing his Burger King birthday crown around the house for fun.