it all started on a normal monday....

our lives completely changed on a tuesday. june 24th we welcomed our sweet baby girl to our family. everything started the day before. just a normal monday....

i had just returned from a trip to utah for work and to visit family. a couple of weeks before my feet, hands and face started swelling.  my dr wasn't too worried about the swelling but noticed my blood pressure was a little high at my previous appointment. i honestly didn't think too much about it. 

monday june 23rd i woke up and planned to get to work early. as it turns out i wasn't feeling so great. i worked from home for a bit and headed downtown when i started feeling better. i decided to drive. i had big plans to clean out my office and get prepared "just in case" baby decided to come a little early. haha

i had my normal 35 week drs appointment scheduled for 1:30pm. spence was able to get an hour lunch break so we decided to do a quick lunch before my appointment. i took my time getting to my appointment because last time i rushed and i had the high blood pressure. i was trying to avoid that scare (haha). i met up with spence and we grabbed a quick lunch at the hospital (luckily the hospital has a pretty great italian lunch spot that is great...my last meal for a long time). spence didn't have a ton of time but decided to come up with me to my dr.'s appointment. at least to hear baby girls heartbeat. looking back now this was a little blessing that he was able to come with me.

we got in pretty fast and the nurse took my urine sample (tmi???) and my blood pressure. it quickly became clear to us that she wasn't happy with my results. she rushed out and told us the dr would be in soon. my normal dr was on vacation in italy (so jealous) but luckily for us our favorite back up was available! dr chaudhari came in just a few mins later. she was worried about my high blood pressure and the protein in my urine. both signs of preeclampsia. 

some background....my mom had preeclampsia with my brother. it can sometimes run in a family so it had been in the back of my mind my entire pregnancy. when i started swelling up and gaining weight like crazy i started to think this might be an issue for me. 

we asked dr. chaudhari what this all meant. basically we were to go to triage and get monitored. depending on how things looked we could have our baby in 24-48 hours. honestly i felt fine. i really didn't expect us to have our baby girl. plus we were so not ready...our house was a mess, we didn't have hospital bags packed, we didn't even have a carseat (which ironically was our family home evening activity scheduled for that night). basically we were not ready for baby girl. i still had 5 weeks (at least). 

on our short walk to triage i turned to spence and asked him if he really thought it was possible for us to have a baby in the next 24 hours. his response...."yeah i think it's a good possibility". mine...."yeah right". 

to make a long story not as long we spent the next 7 hours in triage. my blood pressure was checked every 15 mins (i'm surprised i still have an arm after all of that) and baby girl was monitored. luckily she was doing great. me on the other hand not so great. they officially told me i had preeclampsia with severe features. basically things were not getting better. i honestly felt great though. i just wanted to go home, pack my hospital bags, stop at target and pick up some diapers and then go back. apparently the dr.'s didn't feel the same way. 

while in triage our sweet bishop came down to visit and he and spence gave me the most beautiful blessing. even though the situation was not great i was filled with the calm assurance that everything would be okay. at this point I knew our little girl was coming and that she would be okay. 

they finally decided to take us up to labor and delivery. at this point my mom had booked a flight and was on her way to chicago. the dr came in and quickly decided that baby girl needed to come out. we were so not prepared for this. i had big plans to have a natural birth. we had bigger plans to be prepared haha! 

at this point both of our phones were basically dead. spence was still in his scrubs and white coat and i had left our car at work. our good friends came to our rescue. they brought us phone chargers, a hair tie (my hair was driving me nuts), and picked up our car. what a blessing having friends that are basically family to come to our rescue (thanks david and katie!). 

we settled in for a long night of labor. i was scared to have them induce me. i had heard stories of how intense the process was and the pain involved. because of my high blood pressure i was put on medicine to avoid seizures. the meds were so intense that i was put on bed rest. this meant every "comfort measure" i had planned on went out the door. 

they started me on oxytocin about 10pm on monday night. it honestly wasn't as bad as i expected. 

my mom made it to the hospital around 12:30am. i had started progressing but just slowly. we spent the next few hours just passing the time. i tried to sleep but of course couldn't sleep. my nurse finally came in and told me they were going to break my water. at this point i decided to get an epidural. my contractions we getting more intense but honestly i was more afraid of having my water break without it. 

i got the epidural and they broke my water and at this point i was only at a 3. i think this was around 5am. honestly time didn't really exist for me. they came in to check me again around 7am and i was only at a 3.5. i asked the nurses how long it could take and they said maybe by late afternoon. i so did not what to be in labor that long. 

shortly after  though i started to feel some intense pain. i had the urge to push and decided to call my nurses back in. of course they thought i was a little crazy and told me that if the pressure was constant to call them again. 

after about 3 more minutes i couldn't take it. the pressure was intense and constant. i called them back. they called the resident in and sure enough i had gone from a 3.5 to a 10 in just a short time. i was ready to push. 

pushing was nothing like i expected. i guess i didn't know what to expect but it was hard, intense and wonderful. i felt so much more than i expected to feel with the epidural. my wonderful nurse counted me through each contraction. because of her i was able to stay calm and push my little bug out. 

after about 20 mins of pushing baby girl came right out! the nicu team was in there ready to check her out. i had wanted to do skin to skin but because of how early she was and her size they needed to take her first.

i remember just watching them on the side of the room with my baby girl. she finally started crying and so did i. spence and i just watched as they checked her out. i sat there just waiting to hear how big she was. finally they wrapped her up and brought her over to us. i was able to hold her for just a few mins. she was so tiny and so perfect. i couldn't believe our sweet baby girl was in my arms. they finally told us she was 4 pounds 8 ounces. i couldn't believe our gwen was so little but so perfect. 

we could only hold her for just a few minutes. they were worried about her breathing and needed to get her to the nicu. because of all the medicine they had me on i was kinda out of it. i didn't really know what was going on as they took her away. 

finally spence got word that she only had to have help breathing for 10 mins. her little lungs were doing great! 

because of how sudden everything had happened we didn't have anything with us (expect two borrowed phone chargers). after all day monday in triage and labor all night i felt like a mess. i wanted a shower to wash my hair. sadly i couldn't shower because of the meds and everything else that had happened. but, my two sweet nurses figured out a way to wash my hair. they wheeled me into the bathroom and together washed my hair for me. they combed it out after and helped me brush my teeth before heading up to the recovery room. i am so grateful for my incredible nurses who would take the time to wash my hair for me! it made me feel so much more alive and normal! 

we were able to stop in the nicu on our way up to recovery to see baby girl one more time. i didn't have a ton of time with her but it was such a miracle looking at our tiny bean! we were both completely in love with her from the first second. 

i had to stay on the meds for the next 24 hours. this meant i wasn't allowed to get out of bed. because of this i couldn't see my sweet baby girl again. she was on a floor down in the nicu and i was stuck in bed. the next 24 hours were some of the hardest i've had to experience. with a little scare because of a 

hemorrhage (long story.....we'll go there another time) i was watched even more closely and they made sure i didn't leave my bed...ugh! 

spence and my mom were able to go down and be with gwen which made me feel a little better. luckily i had some more incredible nurses who watched out for me and hung out with me during those long hours.

finally i was able to get off the meds, stand up, shower, eat and see my baby girl! 

we spent the next two days going between my recovery room for my blood pressure checks and pumping sessions (oh the joys) and visiting gwen in the nicu. we had big hopes that she would be able to go home with us but sadly our little one needed more time in the nicu. i was discharged late thursday night (you know i stayed till the very last minute!) 

baby girl spent the next 11 days in the nicu. it was a long couple of weeks but also pretty amazing. we had some of the most spiritual moments in our little nicu room. the spirit was so strong in her room. we knew she was never truly alone when we weren't there to cuddle her. gwen needed to come when she did and she made it clear she was going to be okay for us :-) 

in just a matter of a day our life changed completely. gwen became the most important thing to us. my job didn't matter anymore, school didn't matter anymore. it was all about our baby  girl and making sure she was okay. (and luckily both my job and the mr's school felt the same way and were SO great to us in letting us just be with gwen). 

the past 2 and a half weeks have been completely life changing and beautiful. i can't imagine my life without gwen. she is our family. she is our little fighter and all star. she was the most popular little bug in the nicu and honestly couldn't be more perfect. 

so our life changed on a tuesday and we couldn't imagine it any other way! 

thanks to the amazingly talented amy jo for capturing some of our first moments with gwen. these pictures mean more than you can ever imagine! 

they say a picture is worth a thousand words.....

we are beyond thrilled and excited to finally be able to say....

baby barfuss coming july 2014

we are so grateful for the countless prayers from family, friends and even strangers on our behalf! 

our little miracle baby is on it's way!

labor day

four years ago this weekend i was in jackson hole with my family. i had just met this cute boy a few weeks before. the whole trip i kept thinking about spence. i couldn't get this man out of my head. i knew i was in trouble. he came out of no where and took me by surprise. 

i remember texting my roommate. asking her to make sure we were in the same fhe group as spence's apartment. i just had to be around him. she asked me why i cared. i made up some excuse. i didn't tell her why. i didn't tell anyone. but i knew. 

turns out we weren't put in the same fhe group. but somehow it all worked out. now i get to spend every one of my labor days with this cute boy. and now i can tell everyone i know how madly in love with him i am. 

three.

to my sweet mr. b,

three years ago today i woke up with butterflies. i woke up bright and early. not because i had to (love that we got married early in the afternoon) but because i was too excited to sleep. i remember that morning so clear. you made us a count down. i pulled the last loop off and cried as i read your sweet note. i was going to be your wife and i couldn't be happier. you came and picked me up. i loved our drive in to the temple together. we walked hand in hand into the temple. you were just my cute boyfriend at the time. we walked out a couple of hours later. hand in hand. this time you were my cute husband. we've walked hand in hand everyday since. for three incredible years you have held my hand. 

we have had the most amazing three years. that i am sure of. three years of you holding my hand. three years of pure laughter. three years of adventures. three years of learning to be a homemaker for my mr. three years of you supporting me and my dreams. three years of cuddling before we fall asleep. three years of "i love yous" and "i love you mores". three years of smiles so big i don't think they'll fit on my face. three years of you taking care of me and wiping away my tears. three years of date nights that fill my heart with the happiest of memories. three years of learning together. three years of working through life. three years of growing together has the b. family.  three years more wonderful than i could have imagined. three years that make me so excited for an infinite amount more. 

it is as if three years ago my life truly started. it may be cheesy but it's as if my life hadn't really begun before you came along. you make me feel alive and excited about everyday life. i couldn't imagine a more perfect match for me. i love seeing our love grow. each and everyday. 

thank you for asking me to be your wife. for holding my hand for now and forever. thank you for the most magical three years this mrs. could ever dream of. eternity is not enough. 

happy anniversary mr. barfuss!

love your wife

my pickle juice

i've been thinking about this a lot lately. 

and i think i've been downing a bit too much pickle juice lately. 

the other day i found out through blogs and the facebook that 4 of my friends are pregnant. 4 people i know decided to share their happy news with the world on the same day. 

honestly, my first reactions weren't so great. 

i should have been happy, excited for my friends, and overjoyed that they were having babies. 

but instead i was angry, jealous and confused. i was honestly having a good day. but then it turned into a not so great day (i feel really bad for spence for having to put up with me). thoughts ran through my mind "why them and not me", "they don't know the pain of waiting" etc...

then the other night i decided i didn't like this side of me. i sat there and went through the facts....

- i am at a stage in life where most of my friends will start having babies. this is an exciting time. it isn't a surprise that so many friends are pregnant. honestly this is where spence and i want to be. so it's fun, it's growing, it's happy. i can't pretend like others don't want the same thing we want...a family.

- i am not the only woman out there who desperately wants to get pregnant but can't. this past year has taught me that. i am not alone. i have countless friends who have similar struggles to me. they must hurt as well. i can't dig myself a pity party hole and sit in it. if anything this is a time to not be alone in this.

- along those lines i can't assume that my pregnant friends just woke up one day and decided "hey i want to be pregnant today". for all i know they struggled to get pregnant. they felt the pain and heartache that i have felt. i should be more than excited for them. just because someone struggles and someone doesn't, doesn't mean the outcome is more or less exciting and cause for celebration. 

- being pregnant isn't always fun. i would know. i've been pregnant before. a couple of times actually. i know the excitement of getting a positive test. i know the panic that comes. the worry "can we pay for everything" "are we really ready" "what kind of world will my baby grow up in" "will i be able to handle zero sleep" "will my baby keep growing inside okay". i know morning sickness, i know the feeling of seeing baby for the first time. seeing the heartbeat. having a little secret no one else knows. but boy do i know the stress. the worry. the scared feelings. just because my friends are posting about their exciting news doesn't mean they are happy 100% of the time. i should know that.

-just because others are pregnant and i am not does not mean i am not loved by my heavenly father. it does not mean they will be better mothers than i will. it does not mean i am less of a woman. it does not mean he trusts them more. it does not mean they have more capacity to love than i do. i am loved. i am going to be a great mother one day. i can love. i am a strong woman. i am trusted. 

-the fact is, envying another's happiness will not make me happy. being upset, jealous, and angry that a friend is pregnant will not make me pregnant. i am in control of my feelings. i am in control of my reactions. 

i didn't like the feelings that i had the other day. i didn't like what i did to the spirit in my home or my relationship with spence. 

so i'm done. i'm done with being angry when i find out a friend is expecting. i'm done asking my heavenly father "why them and not me". 

i am going to be happy. i am going to rejoice in the fact that a sweet baby gets to come into a good home. i am going to rejoice in knowing my friends will be incredible mothers. i am going to remember that i am loved. i am going to hold on to the fact that in the lords time it will be my turn. one day it will be my turn to tell the world my exciting news. 

no more pickle juice for me. i have so much to be thankful for. so much to be happy about. i do feel god's rewards for my labors. 

and for today that is enough. 

"My beloved brothers and sisters, what happened in this story at 9:00 or noon or 3:00 is swept up in the grandeur of the universally generous payment at the end of the day. The formula of faith is to hold on, work on, see it through, and let the distress of earlier hours—real or imagined—fall away in the abundance of the final reward. Don’t dwell on old issues or grievances—not toward yourself nor your neighbor nor even, I might add, toward this true and living Church. The majesty of your life, of your neighbor’s life, and of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be made manifest at the last day, even if such majesty is not always recognized by everyone in the early going. So don’t hyperventilate about something that happened at 9:00 in the morning when the grace of God is trying to reward you at 6:00 in the evening—whatever your labor arrangements have been through the day.

Which leads me to my third and last point. This parable—like all parables—is not really about laborers or wages any more than the others are about sheep and goats. This is a story about God’s goodness, His patience and forgiveness, and the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a story about generosity and compassion. It is a story about grace. It underscores the thought I heard many years ago that surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it."

-Elder Holland

date night date night // so excited

so the mr. had a test on monday

meaning....our past couple of weeks have been LAME

studying took over his life

so this week i changed that. i planned activities for us for every night. i didn't realize i had planned so much. it just kinda happened.

monday- relax at home and first day of insanity

tuesday - anniversary celebration (more on this later)

wednesday - plans got changed so we could help a sister in our ward but thats okay!

thursday - art institute and dinner 

friday - temple date night

saturday - med school activity (holla)

last night we bundled up (because oh my gosh is it freezing here at night) and headed down to the art institute of chicago. it was free night as well as late night. who doesn't love free date nights?

we didn't have too much time but we had a blast walking around. we found ourselves really loving the impressionist area as well as the architecture and design wing. i could have stayed there much longer. there was this lady giving a tour and turns out she is a big name architect and designer. we jumped on the last leg of her tour. so awesome! 

my favorite piece. i wanted to take it home. spence did not understand why i liked it. haha i guess we do disagree on some things.

 free candy as an art piece? i'll take it!

after the ai we headed to ed debevics for a free dinner (thank you groupon again for your free meals). it was a bit of a walk and a bit of an experience to say the least.

our waiter made fun of me a few times. danced on the tables and accused our neighbors of stealing. hilarious to say the least.

someone's too cool for school...sheesh!

we had a great night. i loved being able to just wander around the museum hand in hand with my husband. we loved looking at all the displays and art and even more excited when we realized we didn't have to rush...we can go back as much as we want. love being a "resident" and getting all the free perks.

it was nice to be downtown. see all the cool buildings at night and really take advantage of the city we're living it. it was a nice treat for me to get out of the house a bit.

love our date nights! so glad spence has had a lighter week....boo med school.

2.5 years // awesome

today is a great day

today marks the mr. and mrs. 2.5 years of marriage
we're celebrating big today

because maybe we really didn't celebrate at our 2 year mark.

celebrations started with this AMAZING parking spot. okay so may seem simple to you but be excited. we got princess parking with this baby. our car right outside our gate = happiness. i'm never moving the car.

okay so maybe that was just how the mrs. was celebrating.

tonight we're dressing up
and going out on the town
reservations at a super fancy place downtown
and we may only order dessert
because it's our anniversary
and we can

 ........................................................................................

husband.
happy 2.5 wonderful years of marriage. i couldn't have imagined how incredible being married to you has been. you are my everything. you are my best friend. you are my forever love. you are more than i ever thought i could want.

thanks for putting up with me. for taking care of me. for everything.

i love you to the moon and back (twice).

see you tonight!

the mrs. turned 24

i had a great birthday.
i may have cried the night before because i was for sure it would be a horrible birthday (all alone and the mr. had to study) but...my cute mr. really made the day great.

first he woke up and got the place all decorated! how cute is he!

then he made me breakfast....
side note: i hate big breakfasts first thing in the morning. hence the cereal and muffin!

spence even pulled out the candles for breakfast. i completely forgot we had them! after breakfast we went to the cutest bakery to pick out my birthday cake. i think this is going to be a new tradition of ours!

seriously...can this place get any cuter?

we walked around this cute little neighborhood for a bit and then headed home. i took a nap and the mr. studied. perfect afternoon activity for a birthday!

after that we got dressed up and went to a play. we saw "the book thief" and let me just tell you...it was AMAZING!!! the story is beautiful but i loved how they put the book on stage and really showed us the emotions and story. such a great birthday present from the mr!

we headed to the cheese cake factory for dinner. i was feeling a lot of pressure to pick a new fun place that we both decided to just go with something i already loved.

i love us!

we have so much fun together. i guess thats what makes birthdays so great! we got home and spence went back to studying. thanks to modern technology i was able to facetime with a bunch of people from my family. this little bug kept smiling at me...who can't just love that face?

thanks to my mr. i had a great birthday. i was sad to wake up on sunday and have it all be over. so know i'm all old and stuff. what do 24 yr olds act like? guess i better figure that out asap.

the mr. and mrs. voted

today is election day.

and i voted (on saturday)

the mr. and i stood in line for 3 hours

but it was worth it

so glad that i am able to vote

oh and i voted in my pink shoes

because who doesn't love pink shoes on voting day.

i voted.

the mr. and mrs. celebrate halloween

halloween in the b. household looked a little like the below....

the mr. was greeted with this agenda of events for the evening.

given the chance to choose between these two movies. he choose "wait until dark"

movie snacks for after dinner

a low key dinner just the two of us!

and of course the classic b. family halloween dinner menu.

the mr. isn't the biggest halloween fan (shocker) but i decided we needed to create some great traditions that we can carry on when we have little ones.

we had a blast eating with spooky lights, cuddling up with a scary movie and making up funny halloween names for our favorite food items.

even though we didn't dress up, had no trick or treaters, and no dance party was involved in our events we had a great night!

hope your halloween was just as great as ours.



now i can move on to november.
which happens to be my favorite month. more on that tomorrow!

chicagoween

oh wow...how grateful and blessed we are for all of your sweet comments on my last blog post. we thought long and hard about posting that (i actually wrote it weeks ago) but are so humbled by the response. all the love and prayers have been felt. it really means so much to us! words cannot describe the feeling of love we have for all of you!

though this journey will be rough sometimes, all of the support and love makes it so much easier! thank you so much!

...........

we decided to do a little exploring this weekend. i had heard a bit about chicagoween at the frankenplaza (aka daley plaza). i was so excited to do something festive. we worked hard during the morning to get things done (homework for the mr. cleaning for the mrs.) and then bundled up to head downtown.

it was our first time at daley plaza. we're not in the loop much (we need to change that) so we were excited to explore a bit.

i'll be honest....i had big hopes for chicagoween. and let's be honest again....they were crushed. frankenplaza turned out to be a few halloween tents, some little kids, radio disney and some bitter cold wind. not much more than that.

they did turn the fountain orange...pretty cool i thought! we explored a bit and then decided it was just too cold. we hurried to the el and headed home.

even though chicagoween turned out to be a bust i sure loved just hanging out with my mr. it's fun exploring new areas of the city. maybe next adventure will be a bit more exciting!

happy monday!

a weekend home

sorry for being m.i.a for the past little while. we so loved having mom and megs with us last week and then this week i flew to slc for a "work" trip. the mr.'s wonderful parents surprised him with flights to slc for the weekend. though he wasn't here for long it was so wonderful.

on saturday we spent the day with spencer's fam.  we ate fresh toast at kneaders, we went bowling (a typically b. family activity), went puppy shopping (mamma b. has been helping us pick out a puppy for the past couple of months. maybe i'll finally decide what i want), ate at cafe rio, watched the byu football game, played card games, ate pizza, and just loved being together.

we ended the night with spencer's entire family having family prayer together. though it was only for about 48 hours, being home with spence was just what we needed. there is strength in being with family. how blessed we are to live in a time where quick trips home are possible. i am also super grateful for a company that will fly me home every so often.

this morning we got dressed up and headed to temple square. it was the perfect fall day.  chicago has really cooled down so it was nice to have some "warm" weather for a change. we walked around temple square hand in hand. what a great way to spend our sabbath morning.

the mr. is headed back to chicago right now. so wish he could have stayed longer. i have my big event this week. super nervous but so excited to see how it all turns out. after months of smaller meetings for practice i'm ready to big out the big guns! who knew i would love event planning so much!

happy sunday friends!

the weekend update

this weekend was perfect. it's great to finally feel like chicago is home. we relaxed, ran errands, played with friends, visited new baby lincoln and just enjoyed being together. i did manage to take a couple of pictures.

lately the mr. has been more and more nay on the picture taking. i don' like this new side of him. i think he is embarrassed to look like a tourist in his own city. so....you get awesome pictures of me (not). but it's the best i could do.

friday we spent all day excited to meet new baby lincoln. our good friends dan and nicole texted us friday morning that they were at the hospital. finally later that day we got to go visit the new little family of 3. how special it was to be there with dan and nicole. of course baby lincoln was perfect. i'm kicking myself that i didn't get any pictures.

after we got home we rushed over to some friends to watch the byu game. we're grateful for our friends with real tv to share in the football goodness. i would have one sad mr. on my hands if we didn't have good friends to invite us to watch the games! (thanks alex and nate).

hey its us outside wrigley stadium. we were waiting for the bus and decided to snap a few pictures in front of the stadium.  even though we live just a couple of blocks away we still haven't gone to a game. slackers i know. we'll catch one in the spring for sure. 

saturday we ran a few errands and decided to head downtown to visit baby lincoln once again. (seriously i can't get enough of his little face). we did some window shopping and enjoyed the mobs of people. the ryder cup was this weekend and brought likes of fun to the city. 

of course i fell in love with these huge golf balls around the city. you can't see the whole thing but it says "chicago says hello".

we have been waiting for what seems like forever (or maybe just the two months we've lived here) for the niketown store to open up. spence was super excited to check it out.

so this picture....
me: "hey babe let's get a picture of you in niketown"
mr.: "okay sure"
me: "where do you want to take it"
mr: "i don't care"
me: "okay smile"
mr.: "syd there are people all around"

so this is our awkward picture while people were staring at us. the things this mrs. makes her mr. put up with.

me again....with another golf ball. love this one!

after walking around for a couple of hours we needed a break. we stumbled upon m burger. we didn't try the food (which looked awesome) but did get a dipped cone and shake (yep we got both).

we finished the weekend with some studying for the mr. the relief society general broadcast for the mrs. and two dessert nights with friends on sunday.

it's safe to say we are loving our new home and city living.  and always safe to say we love the weekends!

hot date in the city

one night the mr. and i went on a hot date in the city. we made reservations at this new little italian place and planned on watching the fireworks together. well.....

we got to the little italian place and discovered it was way out of a med school students budget (does $$ really mean $30 a plate...wowzers). at this point we were both starving. i desperately wanted to try something new, because well i always want to try a new place. but lets be honest, when you are starving in a new city it is nearly impossible to find a new place you are willing to try that both of you can agree on. so next best option...cheesecake factory. we rushed in only to find an hour wait. but bar seating was open. the waitress basically told us "good luck". well luck was on our side...we found a cute little booth tucked away in the corner. perfect for our date night.

so we ate at chicago's finest...cheesecake factory (and we didn't even order cheesecake, seriously!) afterwords we decided to walk around before the fireworks. part way along our walk we both started getting tired. the strain of the week was finally sinking in. i'm not sure how long it took us but we both decided that fireworks would have to wait. so we ran and jumped on the bus and headed home. our hot date ended with pjs, some tv shows, popcorn and cuddling on our temporary couch.

though it wasn't the hot date in the city i was expecting it was the perfect night. it's nights like those that make me so happy i married my best friend. it doesn't matter where we go to eat or what we do afterwards we have fun together. we laugh...a lot. and just love being together. as simple as that is.

hopefully one of these times we'll really venture out and do the date we planned on. but if it's pj's and popcorn nights for us for the next four years i think i'll be okay!