OLD MAN ~

We make a good couple... RIGHT? HAHA!

Looking at our pictures (we took these for the gift for my parents I PROMISE to tell you about soon) I laugh because Matt is so laid back easy going "Chaps button down shirt stand up striaght", and I am "WILD in my giraffe shirt sassy pose"... anyone who know us would say that is SO US!

MY MAN is 30 today!! And I LOVE IT!

To HONOR him I am going to let you know the 30 top things I LOVE about him . . .

1. His smile. He hates being forced to smile... when we got married he asked people to make him laugh because he can't smile fake for that long as he put it . . .

2. His attitude. He is the most STUBBORN easy going person I know. He wants to get out on the boat SO BAD he would do anything, but is SO easy going about it once we get out there. But really he has the best attitude I know. I mean COME ON, he puts up with ME!!

3. His DRIVE to THRIVE. Matt has been laid of TWICE in the last two years. Those of you who don't know about being laid off, IT TAKES ALOT out of someone. Matt was determined not to let the bad economy let him down, and that is why we are who we are today!!

4. His Laugh. It is contagious. He laughs about STUPID things and it just makes me laugh as well!

5. How he treats his kids. Mommy does not always have the PATIENCE needed for the children and there tempers. Matt is almost ALWAYS calm and loving. When he gets home from work their eyes light up and they run for the door to greet DADDY! He may not be on top of every little thing, but he is the BEST loving example to his children, and they will always have that!

6. His determination. Like I said before he is willing to do anything to get out on the boat. His determination gets us to do things I would never do myself and I love that... most of the time.

7. How he sings in the shower. When we were first married Matt would sing RANDOMLY some stupid made up song about me. It would usually be making fun of me, but I still liked it. Now he sings about Hailey going to the potty, or Landon's poopy diaper... he could be a song writer the way he comes up with lyrics!

8. How he helps around the house when he wants something. I always know Matt wants something when he willingly does things around the house without me asking for his help. This has been a work in progress, but he is getting REALLY good at getting what he wants.

9. How he surprises me. Like just recently getting a room for the night after my High School Reunion, or when he brings home flowers or CANDY!

10. How he acts when we fight. I have to admit my friends, when we fight I get MEAN! Matt never brings up the past or says "naughty" words to me. He fights fair and ONE day I will follow his lead.

11. How he asked me to marry him. YES I am the most OBLIVIOUS person in the world. He came down from BYU-I with a friend for a weekend to just hang out. Or at least when he told me that I believed him, and was SHOCKED when he asked me to marry him!! He took me to Old Sacramento where we had our first date, and he planned to ask me while we got a character drawing done like we did on another date we had in Old Sac. LONG story short people were lining up all around the guy drawing because they could see what he was drawing (me thinking MAN lots of people want to get their picture drawn) when the guy asks if I want to see our picture I say sure. He turns it and I see a ring between us, when I turn to look at Matt and get his reaction to THE RING he is down on his knee with a tear in his eye trying to get out " Melissa Andersen, WILL YOU MARRY ME?" I GRAB the ring, put it on SHOCKED obviously then look around at everyone realizing I have not said anything then say "Oh... YES!" CLASSIC Matt and Melissa!

12. And that leads to me LOVING his sensitive side. He is SO queued into the things I need, he just listens when I have had a bad day, and gives me a shoulder to cry on. This last mothers day he treated me like a QUEEN!

13. He will and can cry. I love when men can show their true emotion. I have dated guys who had to always be tough. But with Matt he is the perfect amount of tough and ready to cry with me.

14. He CAN Dance. WHITE BOY CAN DANCE. That is my ULTIMATE turn on!! He is a BLAST to go dancing with because he does not care what other people think. Nor does he need to because WHITE BOY CAN DANCE!! At my reunion there were 4 girls out on the dance floor and MY MAN! NO WORRIES~ just ready and willing to have a GOOD TIME!

15. HALF WAY THERE... His LOVE of soccer. I doubt he blinked an eye about soccer before he meet me. But he went to all my games when we dated, and will watch matches with me throughout the year. He was as happy as I was that the World Cup was starting. He knows all the players on the USA team, and roots for them RIGHT with me! LOVE!

16. How he folds laundry. It is a HOT mess, but he folds it. I used to RE-DO it MY way, but I have learned to LOVE the way he folds stuff.

17. When he takes out the garbage or mowed the lawn. There are "men jobs" and he does the MEN jobs.

18. When he kills the spiders EVEN though I am FULLY able TO DO IT when he is not around. (shhhhh don't tell him) I love that I can call to him and he comes running with a paper towel in hand to kill it. He will sometimes say "Why don't you just get it, and I will say ~ BECAUSE you are home hunny, and that is a "man job". And YES I kill anything that comes into my house, don't judge me. If I let them outside nicely they will just return with friends later...

19. How he wakes up early on Saturday and sometimes Sunday and makes breakfast for us all. It is a SWEET blessing to wake up to breakfast cooking and YOU are not the one making it EVERY DAY ALL DAY LONG!!!

20. His "swagga" need I say more??

21. His asthma... funny thing to love right? But it is just too cute sometimes when he tells me he needs his Inhaler. I joke "I need my puffer!" to him. When we were dating he came over and we got into a BIG fight, I told him to leave, and not half an hour later he was back because he was having an asthma attack. I had to help him calm down and get his breathing under control. It was REAL scary for me, but it was important for me to see my "crazy girl" stuff had an impact on him.

22. His HUMOR. This man has a humor like NONE OTHER. I think he is funny most of the time, but he knows how to work a crowd. Most people would be offended at out humor, but Matt and I just get each other!

23. His ability to learn. When we were first married he told me he was HORRIBLE in High School. He BARLEY graduated, and he is dyslexic. When he went to college something just CLICKED and he KNEW he needed to further his education. He was just a lazy kid, he learned everything, he just did not do homework and slacked off. But he graduated from Fresno State, and was on the Deans List MULTIPLE times. I am FOREVER grateful that my husband has a degree. It is needed in times like these. We have been lucky to only be out of work for short periods of time because he was dedicated to further his education and become a GREAT Engineer!

24. His OTHER ability to learn. Not that I trained my husband... but I kinda did. He learned that we needed to SAVE our money to be able to do fun things. He learned that we did not have to have the BIGGEST and BEST things, just the things that will get us by. He has learned MANY things from me, and vice versa.

25. His research ability. If you want a deal YOU want Matthew Bird searching it out. I LOVE this when it comes to OUR little family. But it gets to be a little too much when other people want him researching a deal for them. I MARRIED HIM, get your own!!

26. His love of the Gospel. He is a returned missionary, and a STRONG member. We attend church EVERY week. Sometimes we are at another ward, or we only get Sacrament when the kids are sick, but we do not duck out all together without REALLY good reason. He helps me understand things when we are reading the scriptures, and he KNOWS why we are here. We may not be the most "holy people" you ever know, but we are the funnest Mormons ever!

27. His love for his (first) family. He cares about EVERY single person. He has a special place in his heart for all his siblings and both his parents. We are thankful for the example they are to us and for each of them being SO different! They bring a new light to our eyes about what family is all about.

28. His love for his (second) family. I always worried what it would be like for IN-LAWS in my family. 5 girls means 5 husbands HAVING to get along with 5 crazy sisters. Not to mention a little brother in the mix . . . Matt was the first brother to marry into my family, and he was accepted from day one. He LOVED spending time at my parents house when we were dating, and I think he loves it even more now because we have HELP with the kids on vacation!! He truly has opened a special place in his heart for my family, and that makes me love him SO much.

29.  His LOVE for me. He is SO caring, and SO sweet to me. There is not a day that goes by that I worry about how much he loves me. He lets me know on a daily basis by not only telling me, but by showing me. We have sure had our ups and downs, but those times have made us REALLY LOVE each other. THANK YOU MATT FOR LOVING ME, it really is what keeps me going when things get tough.

30. And last but not least... I love HIM!! ALL OF HIM!! From his feet that need a pedicure SO bad to the top of his adorable balding head. He is the LOVE of my LIFE and without him I would not be the same. I know that we will be together forever, and I am SO thankful for that! Like the saying goes "We may not have it all together, but TOGETHER we have it all!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTY!

May ALL your dreams come true!!