29 reasons I love Lance.

Today Lance turns 29.
Next year he's the big THREE OH.
Though I can list a million reasons why I love him...
I'll give 29.
Happy birthday My Love.

1. I love how committed Lance is to me.  He is faithful and devoted.  He is family.  He is the greatest man I know and a mold for a husband.  Right or wrong, against anyone else, he is always on my side.  Always.

2. I love his sense of humor.  I tell him that he gets his best stuff from me ;) but Lance is funnier than I ever thought about being and occasionally he is hilarious.  He has a keen sense for timing and can be off-color and is often inappropriate but he always makes me smile.  He has saved us from many arguments with this attribute.

3.  Lance is unbelievably patient.  With Maddox, with me, and with most everyone else he comes in contact with.  I am definitely harder on myself than he is on me.

4. I love his eyes.  Big, brown, and almond shape.  Maddox has his eyes. Both gorgeous.

5. He is a dreamer.  I see the world like a coloring book, bold black and white lines.  Lance sees it like a watercolor painting.  He always has a big plans and bigger dreams.  He is always optimistic about the future, which is inspiring at times.

6. He has the best smell.  Not just his cologne... which smells oh-so-good too, but like his smell that God gave him.  The smell that I get every time I kiss him. 
Which reminds me about his lips... they are big and soft and sweet. 
And the freckle by his ear.  Another fave of mine.  But something that only I notice.

7. I love that he is affectionate... but not oogy.  He never neglects to tell me how much he loves me.  And  kisses me a million times a day to remind me in case I forget.  He isn't a huge fan of PDA, but we still hold hands. 

8. I love to watch Lance be a dad.  He plays with Maddox like he is his best friend. He is awesome with him and as important of a task as being a mom is to me, it is equally important to Lance to be a great dad.  Watching him hold Maddox the first time, tears in his eyes, overflowing with emotion is my favorite memory of my husband.  Etched into my mind like a painting, I hold it dear to my heart.

9. I love that Lance is still young at heart.  He plays trucks/ tractors and whiffle ball golf or T-ball with Maddox because HE loves it.  Late night games of pig on a Little Tyke's basketball goal and 20 minute conversations that started as "what if..." happen often in our house.  Dancing in our kitchen may start off as a romantic gesture... but usually ends in a breaking-it-down pretend competition for 'neighbor-girl' to "judge".  A year from 30, he is still 13 in his mind!

10. I love that he is laid back.  I wonder sometimes, how he can go through life with butterfly wings, but when it comes down to it, I'm glad he does. He is the yin to my yang and is calm when I am in the center of a storm.  Lance is always my constant.

11. I love the way he looks at me. Every look has a dictation and I have seen them all!  From pleased to the FAR opposite... from across the room- I can read him like a book.  We are always on the same page and have plenty of conversations without a word ever spoken. 

12. I love that Lance is faithful.  He reads his bible and tries leads our family by God's word.  Lance turns to prayer and reminds me to do the same when I feel like I am lost.

13. I love to see him laugh.  A smile is good.  But when Lance Laughs, I can't help but laugh myself.  It is infectious.

14. He is a faithful fan to college sports.  He has a deep loyalty to the Texas Longhorns.  Embarrassing or not, we fly out UT flag every Saturday during college football season.  And during big games, he fights like hell to get to fly the car flags too.  (I do not allow this sort of rubbish!)  UT baseball and girls softball also tickle his fancy!  He roots for Tech when they aren't playing Texas and he loves nothing more than to tailgait at a TCU game. But at the end of the day, he still bleeds burnt orange.  

15. I love that he is athletic.  He loves to play all sports and is at least decent at most that he tries.  He won $50 a couple of years ago for making 40 out of 50 3-pointers.  Because he is a big guy, people don't expect him to be as good as he is.  I think it may be his strategy! 

16. And I love that he is a big guy.  I always feel secure and small in his arms.  I like that when I was pregnant, I didn't look like I ate him whole.

17. I love to be around him.  I have the most fun when we are together.  Date nights or just watching our DVR shows at home.  I am most comfortable and happiest when we are together. 

18. Lance is understanding.  He rarely judges me, even when I lose my patience as a mom.  He takes over the situation and then assures me that I am a great mommy.

19. I love that he backs me in my decisions.  Even when it doesn't make any sense to the rest of the world...  Like with Maddox: splitting up vaccines, nursing him until he was 14 months old, refusal of daycare, and my other neurotic fears.  Lance listened me out and then defended our decisions.  We work as a team.

20. I love that he loves his new job.  He has definitely made more money in his past but has never been this happy in a career.  I enjoy watching him learn new things and go through schooling to become better and inch his way to his ultimate goal.

21. I love his hair.  He has gorgeous hair.  It is soft, slick, thick black hair.  It always smells so good too.

22. He has an awesome sense of style.  He can buy me an outfit and I do not worry at all if it will be cute.  He always looks nice and put together regardless what he is wearing.  He is so handsome.

23. He is honest, sincere, detail oriented, and precise.  I know that sounds like it should be a header on a resume, but it is true.   

24. I love that he loves sports.  Weird to 'like' as a wife, but that is his niche.  I know it makes him happy to watch them, talk about them, play them, watch the recaps of them, watch old games, talk old games, go to games... throw sticks at a wall and pretend it is a game... you get the idea.  Sports make him happy and it makes me happy for him to be happy.  AND I love that he is okay that I am not a "sporty girl"... I'll watch them with him... I'll deck out in garb... I'll deck my kid out in garb... and I'll be his biggest fan when he's playing BUT I don't throw around names or stats or pretend to be athletic.  And he doesn't want me to.  I don't think I'd be as attractive to him if I did.

25. I love that he isn't scared to cry.  Though tears from Lance are rare, that doesn't mean we haven't talked until the wee hours of the morning, tears flowing about life, love, money, our future, faith and most of all our shared passion for Maddox.

26. He is easy going.  Lance is not jealous and is FAR from controlling.  He trusts me completely.  Because "without trust, we don't have a thing".

 
27. He has a never ending wish list.  Whether to add to his lists of things to collect: baseball hats, watches, guns, Starting Line Ups, shoes, baseball cards, under armour redic, GST hoop-la, ammo, or things he just simply NEEDS....  It is the song that never ends.  This list drives me NUTS most of the time.   But I am thankful that he is not as tight and frugal as I.  He believes, "You only live once."  I love that about him.

28. I love that Lance is ALWAYS prepared.  Some call it OCD, I think he prefers 'ready for anything'.  You could literally live out of his truck in a tsunami.  You can be guaranteed the alarm is set and the garage is shut before he leaves or goes to bed...  It is checked 64 times a day.

29. He is my best friend.  100%.  We had a really hard year, due to the economy and at times I wanted to bail out on it all.  But he never did. We laugh together, cry together, and always have each other's backs.  We share are deepest secrets, biggest fears, and have witnessed our greatest joys together.  We are like turtle doves... mated for life.  We are a dang good team.