chris and courtney met at mcfarlane toys. courtney was working in marketing and chris was working as a brand manager. their friendship started off pretty rocky at first because chris introduced himself with a terrible joke aligning right with his dry sense of humor and sarcastic personality. let's just say.. they weren't office favorites. eventually, they became friends as the core team was quite small and they bonded over their love for the outdoors and hiking. it turns out, chris wasn't all sarcasm and jokes, he was actually quite serious and had the ability to be attuned to people, catching every detail. courtney left mcfarlane toys in 2018 and they lost touch until 2020 when courtney reached out to chris to see what he had been up to. eventually courtney introduced chris to madeline which was a really big deal! we went out to breakfast and to the zoo and she took to him right away (well...after he got her the sucker that she wanted and a popsicle for himself but then decided she wanted the popsicle instead so she stole it ;)). if you've ever seen chris with madeline, you know he's a great bonus in our lives. the rest... is history!