No new fun pictures yet...but I still thought I would write a bit about what's been going on. We are anxiously anxiously anxiously awaiting our newest niece on Mike's side to arrive....and I know Victoria, our newest niece's mother, is waiting anxiously as well. We pray for them every day! We are also very excited that we will be getting to see our second newest niece, Wendy, her parents, and her grandparents (my parents) this weekend!! It will just be a short day trip most likely, but it should be a good relaxing day. We will see. We may even get to see my cousin Melissa and her husband Matthew if they end up coming down to VA this weekend with us. Then it's back to work on Sunday for me : (....and on Monday for Mike. I have off Friday though so I need to take advantage of that! I have been having trouble getting up at a decent time on days I am off....I have so much to do...which of course just makes me want to stay in bed longer. It also doesn't help that Mike and I are addicted to the show 24 right now (Mike has season 5 on DVD) and I usually don't like to get up before the sun comes up if I am home alone because I get so freaked out!! I haven't been having the most pleasant dreams lately either....my imagination is really getting the best of me! But just two more episodes and the story will (hopefully) be resolved and I can finally rest : ). This past Tuesday (my other day off this week) I was initally pretty motivated to be productive, but the night before I had jammed my finger against the wall....partly, I claim, due to Mike's taunting that I was going to hurt myself if I continued to throw the toy hammer up in the air while lying in bed. He said, in the nicest way possible, while still laughing a little, that I exceeded his expectations in the extremity of my injury! At one point we were both considering the possiblity that I had broken it! Thank goodness it was just a bad jam. Which did, however, cause enough pain that I was unable to get anything done that involved writing on Tuesday...(my Thank you notes!!!) Friday is a new day though...I am determined to do them that day (by the way, if any of you are reading this, I am SO thankful for every single bridal shower/wedding gift....in advance...just in case I'm not as productive as I plan to be on Friday! : ).

So the question I've been asked most this past month is, "How's married life?" I usually respond with, I love it! And I most definitely do! But lately the question has got me thinking. Even after only being married 2 months, I've already realized that marriage takes work! I know those of you who have been married 25 years, 5 years, even 2 years are probably laughing right now. Haha....but I guess I was just under the impression that Mike and I are perfect for each other and we would just live together and have fun. Which we do....but it's even better if we are continually conscious of our relationship and how we can make it better than it already is....learn to love each other better, put each other before ourselves, and put God before each other. Not just hang out and have fun. Even though that's part of it. Last night Mike showed me just how much he loves me. I woke up in the middle of the night (around130am) in a lot of pain....Mike heard me rummaging through the medicine cabinet looking for medicine. He got up, and without me even asking him to, walked out in the freezing cold in shorts and a Tshirt, nearly blind (without his contacts or glasses on), and half asleep, to get me Ibuprofen that I had left in the car. And to top it off....after coming back in and getting back in the warm bed....he went back out in the freezing cold to get my heating pack that was out there! I'm so thankful for my husband! So lately....that's been my answer to the continual question of "How's married life?" That I love it, but that it takes work and I'm just realizing that....and it's worth it. I've been on the family life website recently reading a lot of their articles on marriage and I love them...well most of them. Some of them I have differing opinions on. But anyways, they've gotten me interested in hopefully within the next year going to one of their marriage conferences. I'm not sure if Mike is quite on the same page as me, but I think he's willing to think about it. So we will see!
Amazingly I'm at work today but have gotten to work on my blog in my few spare moments between my many tasks. But it's been a nice escape!

Wendy June Whalen

Yesterday, my sister Stacy had a scheduled c-section and I was so thankful to be able to be there for her and to meet our new niece! This was not at all the way Stacy had ever thought of having her first baby....but since she was breech, it was the safest option. Stacy did so well and was so courageous during the whole experience. She had planned well and was so ready to meet their new little girl. Here are just a few pictures of the day and of our new niece, Wendy June Whalen. She was born at 10:51 on October 22, 2008. She weighed 7 lbs 14 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.







Happy Birthday Wendy and congratulations Stacy and Zach!

Birthday Camping Weekend

This weekend is Mike's birthday weekend. Tomorrow is his 26th birthday and we just got back from our camping, biking trip that we decided to take in pre-celebration of his birthday. Friday after Mike got home from work we headed down to Burke, VA, which is right outside of DC. We barely made it there in time to rent a camping spot (about 15 minutes to spare before the store closed). Once we got to our site, we realized we had two flashlights, and no firewood. We ran back to the store which had already closed by the time we got back to it. So while I worked on setting up the tent with flashlights, Mike gathered sticks and wood in the barren forest. Luckily, Mike is determined, and he came back with a whole bunch of sticks and logs! By the end of the night, we had a cosy fire to sit by and hot italian sausages off the grill. It was a fun night! The next morning, we got up fairly early and headed off the the bath houses for showers. Mike kept teasing that we were really roughing it...but after showering with 3 daddy long legs IN the shower, I am convinced that was roughing it enough for me! We then packed up and headed off in search of the Mt Vernon Trail where we planned to take our first long distance bike ride on our birthday bikes! It took us a little longer than we expected to actually find access to the trail, but once we did, we unpacked and got in our gear to head off on our bike ride.

We got to see a lot of pretty scenery while on our bikes, the path ran along the Potomac river and went all the way from Reagan National Airport to Mt Vernon.
This is a picture of the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge crossing the Potomac River.
We road 15 miles down, stopped to eat lunch at George Washington's House, and then 15 miles back. We're pretty proud of ourselves for making it the whole way with just a few stops to stretch our legs or drink some water.

On our way back, we got to stop in Springfield, VA which is where I lived from 1st-4th grades. With the help of my sister and our GPS, we were able to go by my old house. It brought back a lot of memories to get to see it again! We also made a starbucks run and walmart run to buy an air mattress for the night and some burgers for dinner. We spent the evening cooking on the gril and sitting by the warm fire. We were so thankful to get to sleep on an air mattress the second night since the first night we spent it on just a couple comforters for padding on the hard, cold ground. Although our air mattress was comfortable, it was still quite cold out. I woke up in the middle of the night so cold, Mike thought I was having a bad dream. I spent the rest of the night in my sweatpants and hoodie trying to keep out the cold. I checked the weather for that area tonight and it's supposed to get as low as 33 degrees, I have no doubt it got that cold last night. We slept in this morning and headed back to MD for the afternoon. Mike wanted to catch the Raven's game (we're ahead 27-13 right now, yay!) and I was happy to come home and rest my sore biking body on the couch.

This next week is an exciting week! Tomorrow is Mike's birthday and we're excited to get to go out to dinner with his parents for his birthday. Wednesday, my sister Stacy is having a C-section and our new little niece will be arriving. Also this week, hopefully Mike's brother's wife, Victoria, will be having her new little baby girl. We have been praying every night for both little girls' safe arrival. That's all for now, we plan to spend the evening cleaning up from our camping trip and we might watch the Indiana Jones movie tonight that we gave in and bought at walmart : ).

I meant new niece AND niece-in-law in the previous blog. Both my sister and sister in law are due in the next couple of weeks!

Amy's new baby, Ethan

Well, I have lots to catch up on for our blog....but I have been waiting to find my camera card!! Just when I was getting on a role in updating my blog (haha), I lose my camera card. So, until then, I will just have to describe what's been going on. Last week we bought a tent and set it up in our living room. No, we didn't sleep in it, we just wanted to see how big it was. Let's just say it was a little bigger than expected. It pretty much filled our whole living room and of course was set up in the middle of our house for two days. We bought the tent in preparation for our camping trip this weekend. Mike and I bought each other early birthday presents....BIKES! We plan to go on two weekend camping and road biking trips for our birthdays! We've gotten to ride our bikes twice in preparation for our trip so far, and Mike has already gotten a flat on his. He is currently trying to repair it. Let's just say we better not get flats on our bike rides this weekend because they are quite a project to fix. Today I went to the hospital to visit my girlfriend who just had her baby. She is actually about 2 weeks early but everything went great and she was more than happy to have the baby early. She actually named him Ethan, which is my nephew's name...so that was pretty exciting. It also got me VERY excited for the arrival of my new niece -in-law here in the next couple of weeks. I can't wait. Well, looks like we may be headed out on a quick bike ride before my bible study. Mike was successful in fixing the tire : ). More later!