April Happenings...

Hey Everyone! Amazingly, it is almost May! April was QUITE a busy month for us! With only a few weeks left of school, Cory and I have both been busy with tests, papers, projects, etc. Thankfully, we still managed to squeeze in a little fun too :) Cory is still busy working in the call center for T-Mobile, and I recently started working at Chick-Fil-A again, but this time in the marketing department. (Cory sure is happy to be seeing a second paycheck come in!) This month we were able to go to dinner with some new friends, celebrate our dog, Lexi's, 1st Birthday, as well as our cat, Snickers', 12th Bday (you can tell we don't have children) and do some upgrades around the house we had been talking about for months!

One of the most exciting things Cory did this month was teach Lexi how to roll over!

(see video) It took him a while to teach her, but he is very proud!

I thought I should add in a picture of our new kitten, Allie. You cant see her face here, but I thought it was adorable how she was snuggling with Snickers. We were SO afraid Snickers would HATE Allie, which he did at first, but thankfully they fell in love <3

On one of our warmer days we took Lexi to a local park and let her run free, and she LOVED it! Sadly, we have a small backyard so she doesn't get to stretch her legs as often as we'd like for her to, so this was a real treat! Daddy ran around with her throwing balls and chasing her in circles while Mommy comfortably sat and took pictures :)

My project this month was trying to make the outside of our house look a little more welcoming! Cory and I went to Lowes and bought the supplies to plant flowers for the front railing. This was my first time planting anything and I have to say, I'm very impressed with anyone who can keep plants alive, because I cant! They looked beautiful for the first few days, and they look even better now! (But that MIGHT be because I replaced them with fake flowers..shhh!) Cory makes fun of me for this, but all that matters to me is that they look good! :)

So definitely the most exciting thing to happen this month in my book, was the birth of Alexi Marie Velez on April 20th! Alexi is the new daughter of Alex and Emily (Taylor) Velez, a family we go to church with. I helped throw her baby shower in March and have been SO excited to meet her! I was lucky enough to watch the couple's 1-year-old daughter, Eva, while they were at the hospital delivering Alexi. The following day I was able to go see Alexi in the hospital and she was just as perfect as ever!

I have to admit, spending time with baby Alexi has brought on a severe form of "the baby itch!" We look forward to starting our own family when the time is right :) For now we have a lot on our plates that we're looking forward to getting out of the way! After meeting with both of our school advisors ,we both found out that we graduate next May and are already counting down the days! We plan to spend our 1st Anniversary (May 22nd) at the Melting Pot where Cory proposed. A few days later Cory's parents and sisters will be here to visit for close to 2 weeks, (which I KNOW Cory is looking forward to--he misses his family :))

Well, thats it for April 2010 in the Barnhart home. We hope you all have had a blessed month! Love you all!

The Beginning

Hey Everyone! So, since we live so far away from so many family and friends I thought there wasn't any better way to keep in touch than with a blog! We are quickly approaching our first anniversary and so much has happened over the last 11 months so to start off, here's a recap of our story...
Cory and I met on Sunday, December 30th, 2008 when Cory showed up to visit Northside church of Christ here in Colorado Springs, Colorado. My family had been attending Northside for a few years while Cory and his family attended another church of Christ in the Springs. As soon as Cory walked into the room I turned to my mom and said, "I want him." I thought Cory was extremely good looking so I was immediatly interested in meeting him. It was a singing night and one by one men got up to lead a song and when this good looking young visitor got up to lead, I was VERY impressed and so was my Dad! When services were over my Dad walked up to Cory and introduced himself and said, "Have you met my daughter, Stephanie?" (Way to go Dad!!) Cory and I talked for a few minutes before my genious Father, who NEVER likes to go out to eat after church, started inviting people out to Chili's for dessert and then insisted that Cory come too. When we got to Chili's my dad was very sneaky and made sure Cory and I sat next to each other and we talked most of the night. The following night was New Years Eve and my good friend, Molly Taylor, invited me to a party she was going to. Coincidentally, that party happened to be at Cory's house! All that night I thought he was interested in Molly! However, the following Sunday he showed up to church again and asked me to dinner afterwards and from then on we were inseperable....

From January of 2009 to September 2009 Cory and I spent every minute possible together. We went to baseball games, out to Florida for my best friend's wedding, to waterworld, hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park, etc. Our favorite places to eat were Chili's, TGIFridays, and of course, our parents houses when they would cook for us!! I knew in March that I wanted to marry Cory and I made that desire known! :) We started discussing it seriously and we picked out a ring in August 2009. I chose a round cut stone in a white gold, 6 prong band. On September 7th, 2009 Cory proposed to me during our dinner at The Melting Pot in Denver, Colorado. Of course, I was thrilled and said, YES!!

On May 22nd, 2009 Cory and I were married in the base chapel at Peterson Air Force Base. The day itself flew by but we had a great time! We were married by our preacher, Jared Hagan and all of Cory and I's siblings were in the wedding party. We had a black and white theme and all the bridesmaids and myself carried white callalillies. It rained through our pictures and through some of the ceremony, but they say rain on your wedding day is good luck, right?

After returing home from a honeymoon in SanDiego, California, we settled into our newly purchased townhome and real life began! In June 2009 we bought an 8 week old female yellow lab and named her, Lexi. College for both of us started back up in August, Cory working towards a bachelor's degree in International Business and for me, an associates degree in Dental Assisting. Life has been busy and we have learned SO much about how life changes when you become husband and wife, and we continue to learn about each other daily. It's certainly not as easy as we thought but we wouldnt trade it for anything in the world!

Our first anniversary is now a month away, our family increased by one when we bought a kitten, Allie, in December, and Cory is now 9 months away from graduation. We have no idea where time has gone! Life continues to change and we look forward to what 2010 brings us!