HAPPY "V" DAY!

Today is a Valerie's birthday. I think she'll be more surprised to see me posting here of my own volition than by any of the gifts Brendan and I got her.

This has been a pretty busy and exciting year for Valerie. She kick started it by driving 2500 miles across the country in a 17' moving truck with a car in tow and a baby on board. She lived in Berlin, NH ("The town that paper built") where she enjoyed views of burning houses and snow to the rooftops. Four months later she loaded up the car and some trucks and moved again (Brendan and I helped a little). This time only about a mile and a half. And this time the house didn't smell like cigarettes, but it was full of all sorts of bugs and spiders (Valerie's worst fear). In the mean time, she made some good friends and found out that we were moving yet again. This time there were movers that packed and did all the work, but a move is a move and it's never really fun. Now we live in the complete opposite environment than we did in Berlin. We enjoy tons of traffic, tons of people, stores open past 5pm, more shopping choices than Walmart, etc. The only problem now is that I have the car all day while Valerie and Brendan are trapped at home wishing they could go out and see all the stores, parks, and other great places they've heard about. Hopefully that will be resolved soon (It's a surprise, but I'm building Valerie and Brendan a car out of some scrap wood and an old mattress I found behind our house).

Other notable events from Valerie's past year include reading over 80 books (possibly 90 by the time this is published), speaking in church three times, becoming an "expert" in Rockband, driving up Mt. Washington (tallest mountain in New England and home to the most extreme weather in the world), driving down Mt. Washington, drawing a picture of Brendan pooping, per his request (not joking, good picture too. Stink lines and everything), killing a spider all by herself, selling some of her cool, homemade crafts/accessories, voting over 1000 times for Adam Lambert to win on Idol (just kidding!), and encouraging me to change my clothes more often; among other things.

All in all, the past year has been eventful. Valerie has been a little trooper when things have been difficult and has been a sweet mother and has made life in general much better and much more fun than it otherwise would have been. For that, as Valerie's big gift this year I'm going to try to not get another job and not have us move for at least 11 months.

I want the whole blogosphere to know that Valerie is my BFF and I love her. Just like Edward loves the girl in Twilight. I forgot her name, but she's the "moody" one.

Chris the Hiss- out