At the beginning of the summer of 2006, Ted and Marshall embark on two extreme journeys. Ted and Robin are at the beginning of their romantic relationship and Ted cannot be happier. Marshall, on the hand, cannot get over his break-up with Lily despite he giving her the ultimatum of him or the summer long art fellowship in San Francisco. He wants to call and talk to her, but Ted tries to convince him that that is not the right thing to do. Ted and Barney try unsuccessfully to get Marshall out of his deep depression, but it's Robin who provides at least a short reprieve from that depression. However, Barney gives Marshall the idea that he can follow Lily's whereabouts by tracking her credit card use, Barney not actually realizing that Marshall has her on-line account password. When there is evidence from her recent hotel room purchase that Lily is back in New York, Marshall, still hurt that she didn't at least try to contact him first, has to decide if he will try and make contact with ... Written by Huggo

Barney feels that its time for Marshall to get out in the dating scene once again. He likens Marshall being single to a kid in a candy store, with any candy ready for his picking. Barney tells him that he'll be Marshall's wing man in picking up girls. Their nights out don't quite work out that way, but when the opportunity finally arrives for Marshall and a potential date, Marshall doesn't seem to know what to do. Meanwhile, Robin receives a surprise visit: from Lily. Lily implies that she had the best summer in San Francisco, not only with the art fellowship, but with life overall. Robin tells Ted about Lily's return, the two who argue about whether they should tell Marshall. But when Ted finally sees Lily, he has a different point of view. Written by Huggo

In 2030, Ted has a prominent photo in his house of him, his four friends and his parents at his parent's thirtieth wedding anniversary brunch. Ted invited his old fashioned and non-communicative parents, Alfred and Virginia Mosby, to New York for a visit for the occasion. They all look very happy in the photo. But Ted tells his children the not so happy back stories behind the happy faces in the photo. Marshall and Lily were still trying to figure out their relationship following their break-up. Their measures to one up the other in a sexual manner ended up with a few unusual results. The evening before the photo was taken, Barney and Alfred went out for drinks. Barney's stories to Ted later about what happened that evening made Ted's relationship with his father on tender hooks. And before Robin met Ted's parents, Ted told her that Virginia would imply incessantly that she wanted whoever Ted's wife to be to start a family soon. But as Virginia seemed to imply the opposite to Robin, ... Written by Huggo

Ted and Robin have just had their first fight. Part of the issue is that Robin believes that Ted's job is boring, and about which he rambles on and on, especially when he's had a bad day. Barney convinces Ted that his job may or may not be boring, but that he needs to be more convincing and suave in saying what he does for it to be attractive to the women. For fun, Ted tries using his job as a pick-up line to a beautiful woman - a kick-boxer named Anna - and it works. Robin hears about Ted picking up this woman, but she isn't overly concerned about what it means. But as Robin, with Lily by her side, goes on trek following Ted's movements that night, Robin becomes more concerned as it looks as if Ted is willing to go outside of his comfort zone to impress and thus sleep with Anna. Robin comes to a realization about herself as the night comes to a close. Written by Huggo

Two new couples are borne at approximately the same time. Lily has just moved into her run down and tiny new apartment. After taking a look at it, Ted and Robin know she can't live there. Robin would invite her to stay at her place, but Lily is allergic to dogs. And none of the gang have ever even been to Barney's place, he who doesn't offer. But after a mishap at Lily's place, she is desperate to stay with Barney if only for a short time. After some pleading, Barney reluctantly agrees. Barney's reluctance turns to joy when he sees that Lily can be of some use in life. Barney and Lily fall into fake wedded bliss. Is a divorce imminent? Meanwhile, Marshall is lamenting not being able to do typically couple oriented activities anymore, those things such as going to concerts, to the theater or to brunch. But when he asks his old law school friend Brad, who is also going through a recent break-up himself, to use his second ticket (which was originally purchased for Lily when they were ... Written by Huggo

Lily is still trying to find her passion in life after returning from San Francisco. In order to do that, she will have to work somewhere - anywhere - to finance it. After a failed waitressing job, Ted offers her a job as an office assistant with his company. When she arrives at the office, she meets the head architect, Hammond Druthers, who she considers an inconsiderate blowhard who treats Ted like a child, and who is not a very good architect to boot. Lily uses a technique from her kindergarten class to try and make Druthers a nicer person to work with. Meanwhile, Marshall is having a difficult time with one of his professors. She, he's guessing in her forties or fifties, just got divorced over the summer and is taking it out on the students. After learning that she is attractive, Barney makes it his mission to trap a cougar so that the cougar won't attack her students anymore. Written by Huggo

One day when Ted, Barney and Marshall are hanging out at the coffee house instead of the bar, they notice that the beautiful female barista seems to be into Marshall. With Marshall now being single, Ted and Barney encourage him to go after her. Chloe, as she is named, is indeed interested in him. But later when Marshall and Chloe run into Ted and Barney, Ted and Barney encourage Marshall to not date her. The reason?: she has crazy eyes, which is indicative of a crazy personality. But Marshall doesn't heed their warning and goes out on a date with her. On their date, it's not Chloe that ends up coming off as crazy. Meanwhile, the gang are now calling Barney by a new name, a name that was written on his cup at the coffee house: Swarley. The more he says he hates the name, the more they all call him that and variations of it. Written by Huggo

Now that Marshall and Lily are back together, they have to decide if that means that an imminent wedding is also part of their future. After some convincing by Marshall for Lily to woo him the right way, they do decide to get married. A perceived problem is that most of Marshall's family now hate Lily for walking out on him in the first place. To avoid the wrath of the Eriksen's at a wedding ceremony, Marshall and Lily decide to go to Atlantic City to elope, with only their three closest friends by their side. Although some do have some work issues to get around, all three of Ted, Robin and Barney head off to Atlantic City for the event. But once there, Marshall and Lily run into an obstacle that it takes three days to get a marriage license in New Jersey. Lily in particular does whatever she has to to make sure they get married on this day. Meanwhile, the guys seem more preoccupied with being tourists in Atlantic City than they are with the wedding. Ted is preoccupied with Robin's ... Written by Huggo

Ted is learning a few secrets about Robin: she's scared of the seven dwarfs, and she refuses to go to the mall. Although she is up front about why she fears the dwarfs, she refuses to tell Ted and the others about why she won't go to the mall. Marshall believes it's because she got married in a mall and is still married. Barney believes it has something to do with Robin having performed in a porn video. The two of them make a slap bet with each other: whoever is right gets to slap the other across the face as hard as he can. They even ask Lily to be the slap bet officiator, as long as she promises to be unbiased. Ted tries to find out Robin's secret, but she asks him to respect her privacy on this issue. When Ted does eventually pry it out of her, he wishes he didn't know as he doesn't know what to do with the information. But as time goes on, Barney actually finds out that it has to do with a video starring someone named Robin Sparkles. It is only then that Robin makes full ... Written by Huggo

In the cold winter of 2006, Ted and Robin and Marshall and Lily feel more like staying in in their respective coupledoms than venturing out in the cold world outside. So Barney brings in his gay black single brother James Stinson to act as his wingman as they prowl the bars for hook-ups. Besides being black and gay, James is like Barney in most other respects: confident, well dressed, always out to get laid, and always watching out for his wingman. James' arrival in town convinces the four that perhaps they should go out to a bar with James and Barney for the evening. But as Ted, Robin, Marshall and Lily watch James in action, they can't help but think that there is something strange about his behavior, almost like he's part of a couple and would rather be nesting at home with his significant other, much like the four of them wish they were doing. Indeed, they all learn that James is engaged to get married to a man named Tom. An incredulous Barney is angry as he believes this move ... Written by Huggo

It's the Christmas season 2006, and as usual, Lily, who loves the festive nature of the holidays, is the chief decorator, which everyone else in turn loves and appreciates. On Christmas Eve, Lily finds the old answering machine that was unplugged during the summer while she was gone. It was unplugged because Marshall, still despondent over his and Lily's break-up, would listen to Lily's old messages. Ted and Lily decide they can once again plug it in. However, one of the old messages that Lily hears on the machine is from Ted to Marshall, in which Ted calls Lily a bad name (using the word grinch as a euphemism when the story is later told). Ted is sorry, but he refuses to apologize to Lily, since in his mind, she really was a grinch for what she put Marshall through. Although Ted later tries to make it up to her, Lily already has taken her revenge on Ted. Again for Marshall's sake, Ted has to try to make up with Lily before Marshall comes home, he who is secretly running his own ... Written by Huggo

Robin is about ready to say I love you to Ted - the first time she would have said it to any man - but it just won't come out. These feeling coincide with a visit to New York by Robin's seventeen year old baby sister, Katie Scherbatsky. Katie doesn't arrive alone, but with her two month boyfriend, Kyle, who is also visiting family in New York. Katie plans on losing her virginity to Kyle on this trip, something that Robin tries her hardest to talk her out of. Robin requests her friends' help in convincing Katie not to lose it to Kyle, but to wait for someone special. This request makes everyone discuss their first time, which brings up some controversy between Marshall and Lily based on Robin's first time. And Barney's first time comes straight out of a movie... or several movies. Written by Huggo

Although Ted is happy that the firm's client liked his design for the Spokane National Bank making him now the boss, he doesn't like a lot of what having to be the boss entails, like the fact that most of his former colleagues, who are now his employees, dislike him solely because he is the boss. The worst part is that his former boss, the arrogant and mean spirited Hammond Druthers, is now one of those employees, although he still treats Ted poorly. Brady, one of the managing partners of the firm, recommends to Ted that he fire Druthers. Ted has every intention of firing Druthers and having fun doing it, but he begins to have mixed emotions about doing it after spending some time with Druthers and finding out about his life. Meanwhile, Barney, Ted and Robin find a nude painting of Marshall that Lily painted of him while they were in college. Beyond the embarrassment that Marshall feels especially as Barney, Ted and Robin taunt him with public exposure of the painting, the painting ... Written by Huggo

It's tradition for Ted, Barney, Marshall, Lily and now Robin to watch the Super Bowl together. The 2007 edition of the game is different in that they have to attend a funeral the day of the game. They expect to be home in time for the 6:00 kick off, but just in case they're not, they're Tivo-ing the game. When the funeral goes longer than they expect and they miss the game altogether, Ted proposes that they watch the game on Monday night in eighteen hours to keep the tradition alive, but also to avoid finding out who won the game before watching it. It's difficult enough for Robin to avoid knowing since she works in the media and Ted since he is tasked with buying the hot wings at a sports bar for the game, but it ends up being just as difficult a situation unexpectedly for Marshall. Barney, on the other hand, does whatever he can to find out who won since he's got a lot of money riding on the outcome. Written by Huggo

Ted has an interview in Chicago for what he considers his dream job. But he and Robin have just missed their flight and are trying whatever they can to catch another flight to get to Chicago in time for his interview. As they go on their quest, they reminisce about the events that led up to them missing the flight. The story started six months earlier, the story elements which involve the two of them, Barney, Marshall and Lily, and which include a court date that morning, a subway ride gone wrong and jumping the turnstile, training for and running the New York City Marathon, a wedding dress sale, a never ending car alarm, a hot dog dinner and a found 1939 penny. Ultimately, who will Ted trace the missing flight back to? But as Ted recounts this story to his children in 2030, he considers the penny to be his lucky penny for the destiny it brought. Written by Huggo

Robin comes to the realization that many of Ted's possessions are gifts from old girlfriends, which makes her feel uncomfortable since now when she looks at them, all she can picture are his old girlfriends and them mocking her for what they may have had with Ted that she doesn't. Based on the vote of the majority of their friends, Ted agrees to get rid of those possessions to please Robin. But Ted feels cheated when he learns that Robin, who had previously stated that she has kept nothing from her old boyfriends, has indeed kept very important possessions from them: all her dogs. Like Robin, all Ted can now see when he looks at the dogs are all Robin's old boyfriends. Will Ted ask her to get rid of the dogs and if so, will she? Meanwhile, Barney doesn't appreciate that Lily expects her friends to attend her performance in an amateur play. After watching it, Barney tells her exactly what he thinks: he hates it. Lily is angered since friends are supposed to provide support. So Barney ... Written by Huggo

Marshall loves his car, a Fiero, which he got when he was sixteen. The car represents his youth, which he is slowly losing to being a suit wearing corporate lawyer. So he plans on celebrating when the Fiero hits its 200,000th mile. With less than a mile to go with Ted already breaking out the cigars, the car dies. While the gang waits at the mechanic's shop to see if the Fiero will survive, they reminisce about memorable incidents that have happened in the car, in particular ones that bonded certain friendships. When Marshall learns that the car is repairable but will cost more than it's really worth, Marshall has to decide if the money is worth holding onto his past. Written by Huggo

Ted is getting ready to move into Robin's apartment. Marshall and Lily don't look at it like they're losing a roommate, but gaining their we can do whatever we want freedom. But as they spend more time alone without Ted, they come to realize what Ted actually brought into their household. Barney on the other hand is trying to prevent Ted from doing what he considers the worst mistake in his life by moving in with Robin. As such, Barney hijacks Ted's moving van with all of Ted's possessions inside. Barney is holding Ted's possession hostage unless Ted does whatever he tells him to do on what was supposed to be Ted and Robin's first night as roommates together. As Ted and Robin are not together for the evening, they both have time to think about what moving in together really means. Written by Huggo

Ted and Marshall have agreed that there will be no strippers at Marshall's bachelor party which they plan on holding in Atlantic City with their friends Stuart and Brad also invited. Barney plans on hiring a stripper anyway. But when Ted tells Barney on the way that they are not going to Atlantic City but to Foxwoods instead (since Ted knew Barney would have a stripper waiting in Atlantic City), Ted thinks he's pulled one over on Barney. In turn, Barney pulls a maneuver which he thinks has outfoxed the fox, although Barney's new plan doesn't come off quite the way he or anyone else quite expects. Meanwhile, Lily is having her bridal shower. Barney talks Robin into buying Lily a vibrator as a gift. When Robin arrives at the shower, she sees that it is not the vibrator type crowd. Feeling embarrassed if anyone at the shower sees what she's bought, Robin does whatever she can throughout the evening to retrieve her gift from the gift table without anyone seeing what she's done or worse ... Written by Huggo

In the two weeks before Marshall and Lily's wedding, the gang believe the two of them have become co-dependent on each other. To prove that they aren't, Marshall and Lily decide to go ahead with their original plan of not sleeping with each other until their wedding night. Can they hold out that long? Ted and Lily are facing two other issues regarding the wedding, Ted's being that Marshall is continually censoring Ted's toast, and Lily's being that she needs to gain about five pounds to fit into her wedding dress properly, or else pay the $300 to get the dress altered. Both problems seem insurmountable as the wedding gets closer. Meanwhile, Barney is preparing for his upcoming appearance on the game show The Price Is Right (1972). Although Barney is certain he can win all the prizes he wants (with the exception of not mastering how to spin to the $1 space on the big wheel), he confesses that he has an ulterior motive to be on the show: to meet his biological father, Bob Barker. Written by Huggo

The closer and closer it gets to Marshall and Lily's wedding ceremony, the less and less it looks like the intimate outdoor wedding with only a small number of family and friends (and an acoustic guitarist) in attendance that they had originally envisioned. In addition, one problem after another seems to be rearing its ugly head, including: Lily's veil being destroyed; their pregnant harp player being overdue; their photographer being injured; the flowers not scheduled to arrive until half way through the ceremony; Lily's high school boyfriend Scooter being there, he who still professes his love for her; and Marshall having an even worse than bad hair day. Lily doesn't want to be the type of bride who complains about the ceremony since all that should matter is her and Marshall's love for each other, but does she really care about having the perfect wedding? It may be a moot point as Ted thinks he's got the solution to make it a perfect day for his friends. Meanwhile, Barney figures ... Written by Huggo

Marshall and Lily are having problems at their wedding reception. Whether they want to or not, they become so caught up in their roles as the center of attention of the event, that they have no opportunity to eat. Since they chose the meal, they are even more perturbed that they don't seem to be able to enjoy any of the food. As the reception progresses, the want to taste the food changes to the need to eat or else die of hunger. Meanwhile, Barney overhears Ted and Robin say that they have something important happening in their lives that they haven't wanted to talk about until after the wedding as not to overshadow the event. As Barney won't let it go, Ted and Robin are forced to tell him. The story relates to their one year anniversary dinner two weeks earlier, the day when they rushed into the apartment with their clothes covered with food. As Ted and Robin progress with the story, which has something to do with them being at a crossroads in their relationship, Barney comes to ... Written by Huggo