Three-Oh or Doug had a Birthday and all I Took was a Picture of Pie

Yes, this is the only picture from Doug's 30th birthday.  A picture of delicious rhubarb/pineapple pie.  Doug specifically asked for pictures not to be taken, so this is what you get.

Doug's birthay was yesterday, Fast Sunday, yay.  So we expanded the party over the whole weekend.  We had our friends Richard & Chrissie over on Saturday night and I made Doug's favorite dish, Noodles Romanoff.   Then I let him open 4 of his 24 (yes, I'm not kidding) presents.  The first four were all new board games, Pitureka, Tsuro, Small World & Castle Panic.  So far we've played Tsuro & Castle Panic, with the later being Doug's favorite so far.  Actually we've played 4 rounds of Castle Panic since Doug opened it and we've won twice and the monsters got us twice.  (CP is a cooperative game, so you're all playing together against the monsters.)

Sunday after church (and a couple more rounds of Castle Panic) Doug opened his other presents.  Most of them were socks (we're replacing all his socks, it's time) and some new dress shirts, but Bryson specifically wanted to buy Daddy a new polo shirt and some socks with dinosaurs on it, and Sariah got him some of his favorite candies: black Twizzlers, Butterfingers & Whoppers.  My big, final, presents were a Playstation 2 (used, but in great condition) and two games, Final Fantasy X & X-2.  He might be in RPG heaven for awhile. :)

We had hamburgers & corn on the cob for dinner and pie instead of cake for dessert.  Outside of my nasty migraine that kept me in bed for most of the evening so we didn't get to play Small World, I think Doug had a great birthday!

As a sort of final present this morning, we closed on our house refinance this morning.  We moved from a 15 year at 4.5% to a 10 at 2.99%.  We're on track to pay off the loan before Doug's 40th birthday.  What a blessing that is in our lives to be able to save that money for later, college tuition, missions, retirement, once the house is paid off.

What a blessing Doug is in our lives as well.  He's the best husband he can be, loves his kids and his wife.  Yesterday Sariah asked me who my best friend is and without a doubt it is Doug.  He's always there for me, and works so hard for our family.  We're looking forward to future birthdays and life experiences!