When me and Bren had only been dating for a few short months he took me on a romantic adventure into the Shenandoah Mountains! It was quite the adventure...between him almost letting my car drive over the mountain, the wind being so strong it was almost impossible to keep a fire burning, me forgetting my hiking shoes, and the real fight for survival that first night when the temperature dipped into the 30's. Even though we didn't think it through when we planned a trip with a group of people who couldn't start a fire, or even keep the hot dogs on our makeshift grill, Brendan made it all work, he always got the fire started despite the cold winds, and cooked tons of food to keep us full through the weekend. Did I mention we only packed shorts and t-shirts?! We learned a lot about each other on that trip, and I try hard to remember that story when hes sitting next to me on a hot summer day, or trying to snuggle at night when I was 9 months pregnant, putting off the heat of a thousand suns right next to me...still blessed through it all, and I won't have to suffer another cold winter night again. I'm such a lucky woman.

Christina was at work when she text me to say, "get some sleep because this baby is coming tonight!" So I stayed up all night and text her every hour to see what was happening. At 4am she told me she was on her way to the Labor and Delivery unit to check herself in. (Shes crazy) When I got there it seemed like things were progressing quickly, I called all our family to tell them it was time. Christina turned into a monster with 6 heads and a demon's voice when the lady came in to give her the epidural. (Fun fact: she was actually on her way to a different patient but Christina was screaming so loud she came to our room first.) She pulled out a needle as long as my arm and stuck it in her back, then started feeding a small garden hose so long that I swear it was down in Christina's leg! After that everything got real dark and I was sweating and about to pass out...but im pretty sure it was just low blood sugar. The nurse laid me down, gave me juice and I was back to normal! Meeting my son just a few moments later was the happiest moment in my life, it really wasn't real until I was holding him. I remember asking the doctor if they were sure they trusted us to take this tiny human home!? Christina was so strong that night, I'm such a lucky man.