Buhner Dot Com Est. 2000, which is like 1947 in Internet years.

1. Her laughs - both of them.

Tara has two laughs. The first is simple; an everyday laugh that most people have. Sounds like a typical laugh. When she's caught by surprise though, she lets out a different laugh - a HA! that cackles (for lack of a better term) but doesn't maintain. Lisa Simpson has a similar one. I love that one because I know it's true and sincere, and it makes my day if I can produce one out of her.

2. Her cooking

Some people can cook following directions. I'm one of those people. I can cook the hell out of something if you tell me exactly how to do it. Tara, on the other hand, needs no instructions. She looks for recipes, sure, but pretty much only to get the idea the person was going for and to "fix" it to something we'd enjoy. I'm pretty sure she's made dinner with a watermelon peel, a half-jar of cloves, and a turkey neck, and it kicked ass.

3. Her eyes

Tara hates her eyes. When I first met her she wore colored contacts, hid her glasses, and otherwise didn't draw attention to them. But Tara is a woman who holds a lot of emotion in her eyes. She gives herself away in her eyes, revealing her true mood. When she's happy, the squint she gives just makes me feel happy.

4. Her superfocused addiction to games

Games like Angry Birds are bad news for Tara. If there is a game she likes that can be "beaten", Tara will get drawn into it until it is dead and complete. She doesn't do it too often, but it's fun to watch my totally responsible adult turn into a video game zombie. NOTE: it's cute because it doesn't interfere with important stuff. She may go zombie, but a zombie with priorities.

5. How she fills out a sweater

Yeah. I know. I'm shallow. But I'd be lying if I didn't say it.

6. Her skill at baking

I am the biggest waste of my wife's baking skills. Not a fan of cake, like pie only on rare occasions, and cookies only when I'm in the mood. The reason I love it though is that it allows other people to see how awesome she is. I get to see it every day - other people should see it too.

7. Her supermom capabilities

Being a dad to three boys can drive me bonkers. She does it more hours a week than I do, plus she manages to cook meals, do laundry, and not kill herself. This more amazes me than anything, and I love her to death for it.

8. How she looks in a sundress

Sundresses are one of God's gift to men (and women who like that sort of thing). The beauty of the sundress is that a woman with curves can wear it and show off her "assets" without wearing tight clothes and looking like a tramp. The creators of the sundress had my wife in mind when they were creating it.

9. [CENSORED]

Yeah - you don't get to read that one. At least not on this page. This will be on another page for you to read, if I give you access.

10. Her patience

You learn to envy what other people have and you don't. One of the best examples of this for me is patience. Between three boys and a child-like spouse, you need infinite patience in order to get through the day. Not only can she handle the four of us, but she can handle me when I can't handle the three boys. I keep thinking one day she's going to snap and we'll all end up on the news. If so - it wasn't her fault. You read it here first.

11. Her creativity

I touched upon this with the cooking and the baking, but some of the stuff she comes up with out of the blue amazes me. From keeping the kids entertained to webpage design, she pulls ideas seemingly out of nowhere and turns them into just the thing that was needed. The camping party she had for OC's third birthday is a great example. I can't come up with stuff like that. Meanwhile, she's got too many ideas so she has to bounce them off of me. I've never been like that, and sometimes wonder what it's like.

12. Her tolerance of my hobbies

Read comics? That's pretty cool. 1860s baseball? Sure - why not? Text-based baseball simulations? I guess so - whatever makes you happy. I'm sure there are a ton of guys out there who have geeky hobbies that they hide from their spouses in fear of ridicule or that they'll have to give them up. My wife? She's cool with it. Just don't make her participate.

13. Her smile

I will celebrate my 10th wedding anniversary this year. I've known my wife for 13 years (Christ, I'm old). Still - seeing her smile makes me feel as good as the first time I saw it. Maybe it's because Tara can't do a half-assed smile like I can. If she's smiling, the teeth are showing, the eyes are squinting just a little bit, and if I'm lucky - the shoulders inch up a little bit. That's when I know she's extra happy.

14. Her sense of humor

Part of me wonders if I've warped her a little bit, but the wit and the sarcasm that comes out of this girl makes me smile more often than anyone else. I've always said that some people get my sense of humor and some don't (and never will). Tara gets it, and gives it right back to me.

15. Her willingness to sacrifice

Any parent makes sacrifices in order to keep the family afloat (or at least they should, you deadbeats). Tara gave up some things that I wasn't crazy about that she used to do because it would make me happy. If you find a partner willing to give things up for you, you've got a keeper.

16. Her ability to teach

I like to think I know a lot of stuff. That's great and all, but when you have kids it's important that you know how to share that information with them, and to get them on the path of learning. Tara does that better than anyone I know. She's the homework helper, she's the one loading up everyone to the library, she's the one thinking up of projects during track-out - Tara makes sure the classroom continues at home without it being a chore, and that's so important for those kids and will help them so much as they go through their school years.

17. [CENSORED]

Yeah, I can't tell you that one either. It's different than the first one though.

18. Random emails to cheer me up

Every once in a while - seemingly whenever I'm having a bad day - I get an email from Tara about something. Nothing major, just mentioning a little errand or reminder, followed by an "I love you!" at the end. It's a double-edged reminder, reminding me of whatever the email was meant for, but also reminding me that she's thinking of me. Occasionally that email has no other "purpose" than a picture of her or the kids meant to make me smile. It works every time.

19. The fact that I've never beaten her in Scrabble

This has nothing to do with intelligence. It's just that logic says that between two people with similar vocabularies, one of the two shouldn't win EVERY game of Scrabble. 13 years. 0 wins. Deluxe Scrabble, Travel Scrabble, iPhone Scrabble, Words With Friends - nothing. I almost don't want to win at this point; it's a cool streak and it would be a shame to see it end. But I hate losing.

20. She finds me funny

Not everyone finds me funny. In fact, I'd wager more people I come in contact with don't than do. My humor doesn't work with everyone. But I can put together a Twitter post or make some passing remark and she'll laugh and it makes my day.

21. The way she puts her heart into the things she does

The cakes, the invitations, the designing - everything. My wife doesn't do anything half-assed. She might say that she could have done more, and maybe that's what drives her, but when she does something, you know that she's giving it her all. Watching her do a cake is equal parts amazing and frightening; the research she does, the detail she puts into things - she's the type of person I hated in school unless she was on my team. Now, she always is.

22. The fact that she hates the phone as much as I do

Total monthly minutes in our family cell phone plan: 550. Total rollover (unused) minutes as of 2/14/11: 5489.

23. The way her mind works with mine

People joke about how couples finish each others sentences. We don't do that, although we could - I'm just not that much of a talker. It's more when Tara will ask me a vague question ("Is that the guy from the thing?") and I know exactly what she's talking about and can answer the question. It freaks people out. It's fun.

24. [CENSORED]

I could probably make a whole list of these. With video.

25. She's the smartest person I know

She doesn't think so, but she absolutely is. Being surrounded by kids all day "dumbs" you down a bit, but when you get her away from the kids and get her relaxed, the ideas and words that come out of her mouth are on the level of anyone I've ever worked with or been around. I know she can pass the MENSA test. I leaned on her in college and it was her - more than my brains - that got me though several classes. Maybe that was the foreshadowing of how she'd end up working with our kids. I don't know. All I know is that if someone wiped my brain and they gave me a choice of copying anyone else's to get me back on my feet, I'd drool a lot and do little else, but hopefully I would have written down Tara's name before they did the procedure. You know - because they wiped my brain.

This list isn't meant to be all-inclusive, but for the sake of time and word count (1708 as of last check), you get 25. Happy Valentine's Day, kiddo. I love you.