David turns 40!

Can you believe that we have a 40 year old in our house now?!

David turned the big 4-0 this year and we could not let the occasion pass without making a big fuss! Luckily one of our good friends who also recently turned 40 passed on a bunch of fun decorations to help us commemorate the occasion.

To celebrate the big day we had a fun family dinner. The next day we had friends over for snacks and cake and to watch a soccer match together. 

David really doesn't like attention or to make a big deal about his birthday, so we kept it pretty low key. 

I did end up creating a list of 40 things we love about David compiled from family members. Here is that list: 

40 for 40

Forty things we love about David for his 40^th Birthday

Compiled by your family who loves you to pieces!

1.      I love to play FIFA 16 with you. – Finley

2.     I love how incredibly generous you are. You always put up a good fight for any meal bills with my parents, and you are quite good at sneakily paying for my food as well, like most recently at Armadillo Grill. Thanks for feeding all of us. – Donovan

3.     I love getting to sing during sacrament when it is Father’s Day and see you smiling at me! – Finley

4.     There’s no one else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with. It’s about to get crazy, but if anyone can do this, we can! – Natalie

5.     Despite his prodigious achievements, he is wonderfully sweet and humble!! – Anson

6.     I love that you coach my soccer team! - Finley

7.     You are such a fun-loving and ever-present father for Finley. You two have a great lighthearted relationship and Finley sure loves you a whole lot! – Donovan

8.     I like it when you come and visit me for lunch at school – Finley

9.     I love listening to Wow in the World in the mornings on our drive to school together - Finley

10.  I love how you make me feel beautiful and sexy even when I’m pregnant with twins – Natalie

11.   I loved when we took family photos and I found out that mom was pregnant. - Finley

12.  When you are fiercely protective of me and get jealous, I know deep down it is because you love me so much – Natalie

13.  I love when you take me out to Salsarita’s – Finley

14.  You take care of Finley and I so well! From working hard so I can stay home, to helping around the house, to giving me massages, and always jumping into hard projects and finishing them! – Natalie

15.  Love that you always find the good in people! You never join in to say negative things about people. - Abuelo

16.  Loved watching you sit with Grammie and watch TV when you were little. Especially the time you sat on her lap and asked her why she had so many Crinkles. As you tenderly touched her face. - Abuelo

17.  Loved watching you dance! That is how you got the nick name Boogie!  Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy! Loved watching you and Tami perform at the library. Walk like an Egyptian! You guys were the best act!!! - Abuelo

18.  Loved seeing you snuggled into bed with Tami after you thought everyone was asleep. - Abuelo

19.  Loved watching you at the Christmas Eve parties!  You were in as many pictures as you could be!  And that was before it was popular to photo bomb!  You loved being the videographer as you got older!! - Abuelo

20. Loved watching you and Tami play in the woods in Georgetown. You would follow Tami everywhere! - Abuelo

21.  Watching you eat your first sour pickle at Grammies! Priceless! And loved watching you play with your sword with Grandpa Lollipop!  - Abuelo

22. Loved watching you play tennis and soccer! You always were an example to those around you. - Abuelo

23. Watching you graduate from high school as valedictorian was such a proud moment for us!  We knew how hard you had worked for that honor. - Abuelo

24. Watching you graduate from college and go on to become an attorney!  What a great accomplishment in your life! Another proud moment in our lives. - Abuelo

25. Love seeing the father you are to Finley! Watching you help Finley to grow into a great young man. - Abuelo

26. Traveling across country in our van was a trip we will always remember. You were so excited about every stop we made so that you could learn something or collect something!  Loved seeing how dirty and excited you were when you planned for gold with Dad and Grandpa. I just wanted you to get home safe!! - Abuelo

27. David you have always had an entrepreneurial spirit, as a youth you cared for chickens, collecting and selling the eggs, digging worms for sale at Grammies roadside stand and even doubling your profit by cutting the worms in two so you could sell twice as much. (Poor Joanne Harrington) You would also take construction paper home from school (kindergarten) to make crowns by stapling and coloring them and bring them back to school to sell to your fellow students for 25c each. The teacher called to complement you on the initiative, but you had to close your thriving enterprise down. In high school, you started a car washing business where you could take the car while the person was at work and get it cleaned then returning the car before they have to drive home. Unfortunately, you named the business “Car Takers” which might have given the impression that car might not be returned.   - Grammie

28. Some of the fondest memories Abuelo has with you are going on a birthday vacation each year on the Memorial Day weekend. Abuelo still thinks he had more fun that you. - Grammie

29. You always worked very hard and never had to be asked to help in the yard or with the lawn. When I traveled, I would return home to find all the outdoor chores completed and never once asked to be paid. - Grammie

30.  You were most definitely a collector as a small boy, collecting rocks, pencils, pins, baseball cards and even a snake you lost, and it only showed back up in your drawer when we moved. - Grammie

31.   I love that David never has a mean thing to say about anyone, even when they deserve it! - Tami

32.  I love that David has always loved all creatures, even gross bugs and snakes! - Tami

33. I love that parental look David loves to give me when I say mean things or otherwise behave poorly. Sometimes I do it on purpose just to enjoy the look! - Tami

34. I love that David still speaks to me even after all the mean things I did to him growing up. (Painting his face like a clown with permanent marker. Telling him mom and dad found him in a trash can and brought him home to be my playmate.) - Tami

35. I love that David has always been industrious. Selling worms to a kind woman but cutting them in half first to double his money. - Tami

36. I love that he is such a great uncle. We still call him Unky David. - Tami

37. I love that he is so damn stubborn... no wait, scratch that! - Tami

38. I love that he was my teeter totter partner, teetering until the sun went down in Gram's yard on our make shift teeter made of a ladder and saw horse. - Tami   

39. We love that David followed the nurse carrying Finley to the nursery after he was born for further examination. He wasn’t about to let that precious bundle out of his sight! – M’Liss

40. We love that David makes us yummy crepes and chili at the beach every year!!!! And now has the Dorrance’s playing Bocce and corn hole, along with beach soccer! – M’Liss

41.  (One to grow on!) We love when David gently says “Hey Buddy” when things get a bit too rowdy! – M’Liss