happy birthday, babe! i'm pleased to announce that my husband of 13.5 years is turning 38 today! i know... he's old, right?! what's great is that i'll always be 4.5 years younger than jay and therefore always feel kind of young. at least next to him! thanks, honey!

alright, enough with the lame age jokes. jay said something last night or perhaps the night before that summed him up so well. i had made a somewhat "healthy" cake for his little family birthday party monday night. if you know me at all, you know that dessert is a really big deal to me. i mean really big deal. my world literally used to revolve around sweets. i would definitely have called it an addiction, and i'm not using the term lightly.

i'm a recovering dessert-aholic. but just like any -holic, you're really never completely over your addiction, and there's always the danger of falling back into your old habits and thought patterns. (yes, this is about jay. just give me a minute to set this up!) so even though i've gotten my sugar issues under control to a great degree, i still think about birthday cakes and what we'll have at this or that event, and i think about it a lot!

i've been thinking about the perfect birthday cakes for several family members including jay for months. yes, months! if you follow me on pinterest, you've probably seen a trend on my "food" board! anyway, jay once told me that his favorite ice cream was butter pecan, which was kind of a surprise to me, but he can be random like that! so i stumbled upon this cake a while ago that seemed perfect for a butter pecan lover and had intended to make it for his birthday this week. (wow! this is a really long set up! stay with me!)

BUT we've been eating poorly lately and feeling it. we both need to back off of processed and sugary foods a little. so instead of the butter pecan cake, i decided on a much less sweet gluten-free zucchini-almond cake. it was pretty good, and everyone seemed to enjoy it, but it just wasn't the same as a really good birthday cake. i really thought hard about this decision and was rather torn about it.

after the party, i was worried that jay might have been disappointed, (cause I definitely would've been!) especially since he grabbed some extra tater tots after his piece of cake instead of a second piece. that alone told me everything i needed to know... or so i thought.

but later i asked him if he was disappointed about the cake. he kind of looked at me blankly. when it finally dawned on him what i was talking about, he said that he hadn't given it a second thought. he'd forgotten about the cake soon after we'd eaten it. then he said, "i don't hold dessert grudges."


after laughing, i wrote down the quote. that is so jay. as long as i've known him, he's never held a grudge against anyone no matter what. it just isn't in his nature, and it's amazing to me. i've honestly never known anyone else who is as forgiving and easy-going as my guy. it sure has made our marriage a heck of a lot easier. i remember early on telling him things he'd done to hurt me or whatever. instead of the fight i was expecting, jay would simply apologize and ask what he could do differently in the future! i mean, do you know anyone like that? who doesn't get immediately defensive? i sure don't! he has taught me so much over our years together about love, patience, maturity, responsibility... since we were married when i was 19, i always tell people that i "grew up" with jay, and it is the absolute truth. he finished raising me!

anyway, i think i'm a pretty lucky gal and that certainly isn't the only reason. he's also an amazing father! he loves his kids like crazy and is so good with them. he teaches them and really takes the time to invest in their lives. they adore him. there isn't much more important than when your husband really loves your kids.

jay is such a blessing to me and our whole family. he's the cream of the crop. he's so great in fact, i think i might make him that butter pecan cake after all! :) happy birthday, darling!
