The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Today is Christopher's birthday, so I made him a pumpkin spice cheesecake last night.  I've made cheesecake for his birthday for the last three years. He said his mom used to make one for his birthday, and she lives too far away to do that now. I've never made this flavor before, so it was a whole new challenge. I hope it's good! I can't wait to try it later!

My dearest Christopher is 29 years old. That means one more year until he's 30! He's turning into an old man!

I am so thankful that God gave me such a wonderful old man! Happy Birthday, Chris!

"Statistics show that birthdays are good for you. People who have the most live the longest." - I don't know who first said this, but it's funny.

After a lot of grinding, I finally got graham cracker crumbs.

I've never made graham cracker crust with pecans. I had to make part of this up...couldn't find ginger snaps at Wal-Mart...

Recipe I sort of followed from Real Simple.

Yes, cheesecake sometimes calls for four 8oz. packages of cream cheese. A bit overboard? Probably. Delicious? Usually.

This is where the cheesecake deviates to become pumpkin spice.

All mixed up.

Going into the oven for one hour and twenty minutes.

Let's see if it's done.

Cheesecake always looks puffy and strange when it first comes out. I haven't perfected a "pretty" cheesecake. Is it any good? I don't know yet.

All that work for this guy. You're worth it.