Happy Birthday Matt!

Today is Matt's 29th birthday. I'm so excited to spend this special day with him. We celebrated with cookie cake and presents yesterday between all the games.

The only candles I could find were tapers so he got one huge candle instead of several small ones.

Matt and I have known each other for about 7 years and have been dating for about the same amount of time. It's been a wonderful time. He's my knight in shining armor, he listens when I'm upset, he surprises me with little things, he stands up for me and worries with me. He understands what makes me tick better than I do. He reassured me when I had roommate troubles and when Andrea was sick. He does so much for me and I truly appreciate him.

Matt is a HUGE Auburn fan. He kept that hidden from me when we were dating. We have such a fun time during football season. We kid about the other team, but we always show good sportsmanship. He reads everything there is to read about Auburn, all year round. He keeps up with recruiting, with spring practice, with fall practice and of course when the games actually roll around he's the first to know what kind offense AU plans to run. (other than the coaches of course) He knows stats, names, numbers, hometowns and tons of other stuff about the players. When we went to the AU-So. Miss game, we went to the Tiger Walk. Matt took a video and I just snapped pictures for him. He knew every player. I'm ashamed to say that although I'm a lifetime Bama fan, I probably couldn't look at the players walk by and tell you who they were, except for JPW.

Matt loves Nintendo. He's had just about every product they have produced at one time or another. He loves Legend of Zelda, Mario, Tiger Woods Golf, and tons of other new games. He bought a Gamecube with his limited law school funds and played NCAA football constantly. He now has a Wii and has a collection of games that he rotates. He even plays golf online with his dad occasionally. This is his wind down, form of relaxation. It's fun to play with him, we have a good time with Mario Kart.

Matt loves Steven King novels. He's been shopping at used bookstores lately to collect all of King's books. I never knew there were so many. He has the complete collection of the Dark Tower, practically all in hardcover. He loves to read, which is a quality we hope to pass on to our children. Matt at his happiest sitting by the beach in a comfy beach chair with a good book.

Matt really enjoys art projects and is very tolerant of my crazy projects around the house. He even joins in with ideas. We had a hilarious time getting Steve and Wil to paint a canvas. He's painted so many pictures, our walls are covered. He's done some amazing oil paintings and he's really talented. If we ever have to evacuate for a hurricane I have a list of things I MUST pack and all of his paintings are on that list. In law school he even cross stiched several presents for me, his mom and his sister.

Matt is a neat freak and believes: "there is a place for everything and it should be there" - I'm not that way. Fortunately he knows this and understands it so I don't think it drives him TOO crazy. He also likes for the light to be turned off if no one is in the room. Even if I've stepped out the room for a second, planning to come back, he'll flip the light off on me. I've left the kitchen to do something in the middle of cooking and he turned off the light while there were pots bubbling on the stove.

Matt is a movie buff as well and would go to a movie every night if I went with him. I'd rather see it on my own TV, but, he likes to see it in a theater with people all around him. He likes the dark, cold theater and the smell of popcorn. We've found inexpensive ways to see a lot of movies by going to matinees and the dollar theater.

Matt likes to cook and is very good at it. He gets creative with spices and other ingredients and he finds a way to use what he has in the cabinet. When we were first engaged and living in Tuscaloosa, he was my upstairs neighbor. When I came home from work in the afternoons he always had dinner ready. I do a lot of cooking now, but I enjoy it more than I did then. Part of the joy I have in cooking now is from watching him and becoming less fearful of using the exact ingredients. He taught me to be more creative and braver in the kitchen. Now I have famous recipes and requested recipes of things I've made that people really like. If you had seen me back then in my Sr. year of college you would have never believed it because Matt was(is) the true chef.

As you can tell, Matt means the world to me.

Matt, I wish you a wonderful birthday filled with all the things you love. Most of which are mentioned above. I love you!