Happy Birthday Hubby!!

Today Jake turns 26! Although he isn't really getting to celebrate much being deployed, I had a lot of our family and friends send him letters/gifts so hopefully he can still have a special day. Actually where he is at, his birthday is just about over already! Here's a photo of Jake celebrating his birthday from the middle east...

Knowing that he would be gone, I actually started working on an early birthday present for Jake way back in January... and I knew he was going to love it! I made him a huge framed wall map for the living room where he can put pins in everywhere he has traveled. And yes I actually MADE it!

Originally I was going to just buy a frame and some cork and put it together that way, but frames of that size are so expensive! I had no idea! So with some help from my dad and brother, I decided to make a frame. It was awesome because we were able to cut the wood to exactly the right size and I was able to stain it with the exact color I wanted. After the frame was built, I glued the paper map to a thick piece of corkboard and attached it to the frame. I was so happy that it actually turned out just the way I wanted!

I worked on it while Jake was gone on a trip in January and surprised him with it when he got home. He was so excited about it and right away got to work putting all the pins in precisely the right spots! We were both shocked at how many new places and countries he flew to just in the last year.

It's kind of hard to see the pins well in this picture but you get the idea!

After much discussion we decided to put yellow pins in the places he has been, red pins in the places I have been, and green pins in the places where we have traveled together. We decided not to put pins in the US (seemed like overkill), so instead we put blue pins in the places we have lived together :)

So even though he's not here to celebrate, Jake's birthday did not go unnoticed. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE! You are amazing and I'm thankful for every day with you!