Monday was Dan’s birthday. Sadly, Dan’s birthdays have fallen into a pathetic pattern over the past few years, which goes like this:
1. Plan special yummy dinner
2. Plan special (probably expensive) healthy dessert
3. Try to buy a gift he’ll like
4. Be disappointed by a dinner that was not as good as anyone had hoped
5. Be disappointed by gifts that he didn’t really want
6. Be disappointed by a dessert that did not taste good enough to justify the time or cost
This year was the year I decided to break the cycle. I think it worked.
For dinner, we used a gift card and bought Qdoba. Tried and true. For dessert, we bought some coconut milk vanilla ice cream and blended it up with peanut butter and a dash of maple syrup to make peanut butter milkshakes. Delicious. For gifts, I asked Dan for a list and then spent a few weeks trying to trick him into thinking he was getting a bunch of gifts not from his list. And now…for the pictures.
We started with the cards, of course.
Now for the first present…
This was a reenactment of his surprised and happy face. The original was much more authentic.
Lydia likes it too!
It helps with sore muscles, sort of like a massage. It hurts at the time but feels better afterward…what Dan refers to as “good pain”.
Abby doesn’t know what she thinks about “good pain”.
Neither do we. But we love him.
A bow for Lydia!
(Somehow I forgot to take pictures of the gifts we got him. Oops.)
What could this one be?
A new keyboard!
Dan’s new computer setup. He loves it. Now he won’t have to get a sore neck staring down into a computer screen all day long.
Dan and his baby girl.
And his big girl. She wished Dan a lot of “Hapter Berdays” all day long)
And his favorite girl.
Happy Birthday Dan! We love you!
MI Taylor Family 
Looks like this birthday was a complete success! Everyone looks so happy..glad it all turned out, and the peanut butter milkshake sounds delicious!!! Glad you had a good day, Dan..love to all of you! May this year be a wonderful one.
I’m sorry Daniel, I don’t think there’s any relation. I don’t recognize any of the names you mention and none of our relatives have lived in the places you mentioned. Hope you find them!