Thirty-nine

Jeff turned a venerable zesty 39 years young on Tuesday, June 1st. We love him. Whenever I think I'm low maintenance, I look over at Jeff. The man is so easygoing, it's hard to make a day special for him! When I asked him what he wanted to get, do, and eat for his birthday, he didn't have much to say beyond "brownies and ice cream, please." Jeff finally admitted to wanting a new Garmin heart rate monitor, some headphones, and a sampler of chicken sandwiches for dinner. I had actually already ordered the heart rate monitor and ended up giving it to him two weeks early so he could enjoy accurate data from his athletic activities. He ordered himself new headphones and I wrapped the box (ahem, shoved it into a gift bag) so he could open it on his birthday. 

We had an epic five way chicken sandwich taste test fest for Jeff's birthday dinner. That afternoon, he and I drove around town to five fast food restaurants and bought a chicken sandwich from each, plus some nuggets for Amber (who prefers her meat minced and processed). Back at home, we cut the sandwiches four ways and tried each sandwich at the same time. The rankings were surprisingly easy to agree on:

1. Popeye's Chicken (won by a mile)
2. Carl's Jr. (unexpected)
3. KFC (a solid middle-of-the-pack)
4. McDonald's (a very distant 4th place)
5. Burger King (an even more distant 5th place; actually so gross I didn't even finish my quarter)

For birthday dessert, Jeff requested brownies and ice cream. To ramp up the fancy-factor, we had fresh Ghiradelli brownies with strawberries, ice cream, and whipped cream on top. It was pretty good. I took two lactase pills so I could enjoy the creaminess without negative digestive consequences. Since I happened to go to Costco on Jeff's birthday, I put two articles of clothing that I would have gotten him anyways into gift bags so he could have more birthday joy to unwrap. If that's not the definition of real life and a long term relationship, I don't know what is! Haha. 

When I kissed Jeff goodbye as he left for work on his birthday, I said "have a good day, birthday boy." From the other room, Amber shouted "birthday MAN!" 

Birthday dinnertime: I'd say this was the easiest birthday dinner I've ever made, but it actually took a while going from drive thru to drive thru collecting the sandwiches! Still, no cooking and easy cleanup.

We drew lines on the paper plates and labeled each sandwich so we could all test each restaurant's sandwich at the same time. Rose and I took the pickles; Jeff and Jay took the pickle-free portions. Amber enjoyed her chicken nuggets.

Three candles + a #9 candle = 39 years. I actually counted all of our regular individual candles, but we only had 38, so I got creative.

I've now known him for 2/3 of his life. Heart eyes.