July 2010

So, yet another month has come and gone in the blink of an eye! July 2010 is now officially behind us. We were lucky enough to spend the month with family and friends, celebrating the 4th of July holiday, my little sister, Kellie's, 19th Birthday, and finally enjoying some summertime sports.


Sunday, July 4th ended up being rainy in Colorado Springs, so after evening church services we decided to forgo the fireworks show at the Air Force Academy, and go to TGIFridays with some good friends of ours. After all, there's no better way to celebrate an American holiday than over a juicy burger and a slice of vanilla bean cheesecake, right? :)


Our second big event of the month was Kellie's 19th Birthday on July 19th. Cory and I both had the day off and we took Lexi with us to Denver and spent the night. Cory and I spent the afternoon blowing up balloons and decorating the house for Kellie's party. Her birthday dinner choice was Outback Steakhouse, and afterwards we came home for cake and presents.


(I have to be honest, Cory blew up EVERY SINGLE balloon by himself--In 23 years I have never managed to be able to blow up a balloon by myself)



My beautiful parents who will be celebrating 26 years of marriage this August :)


Dinner at Outback Steakhouse


Here is a video of us singing Happy Birthday. (In the video is Kellie, My Dad, Cory, Kellie's boyfriend, Jeff, and my Mom--I'm videotaping)


So before we all went to dinner and after blowing up at least 30 balloons, Cory decided to take a break and rest out on my parents Hammock....and Lexi decided she needed to rest too :) Cory and Lexi are best friends.


Every summer some of the members of the church get together and form a softball team to play in the local Colorado Springs league, but Cory hasn't been able to play in years due to his work schedule. This year, however, Cory's hours allowed him to play! I have made it to all but 2 games and have enjoyed watching, as Cory has enjoyed playing and spending time with the guys. Another hobby Cory has been able to take up recently, is golfing. He bought a set of clubs a few months ago but has just recently found the time to enjoy them. He goes weekly with a friend from church to the driving range and is improving every week! :)



Once again, we have been blessed with a happy and healthy month and we look forward to the months ahead. In the month of August we will be starting back to school and our church family will be starting the process of buying our own building, which is something we have been wanting for years:)

We hope everyone else is blessed with as much happiness as we are!!

June 2010

Wow-June sure went by quickly for us! Cory's family was able to come visit us for the first part of June and we kept busy with fun activities planned! We hadn't seen Cory's family since Thanksgiving, so a visit was overdue!

Cory's parents arrived before his sisters, so the first day we just took Lexi to a nearby park and had a picnic. Lexi had a BLAST being out in the sunshine and enjoyed chasing the Frisbee with Cory and his dad.










June 3rd was my 23rd Birthday and so that day I asked if Cory would do a "photo shoot" with me. Cory's mom, Donna, has an amazing new camera and was our photographer for the day. We went to a scenic trail right behind the hotel where Cory's family was staying and took pictures for a little over an hour. I LOVED every single picture we took-which made it really hard to decide which ones to post! I used 7 of the pictures and put them in cherry wood frames and they are now hung on a wall in our bedroom. (We have done a lot of re-decorating to our bedroom and bathroom, so ill post those pictures next month when its all finished)








Later that night we all went to Dave and Busters in Denver for dinner and games. We came home to Coldstone Creamery's ice cream cake, which was was made with cake batter ice cream and butterfingers :) I was so lucky and got some great gifts; a new digital camera, new video camera, a gift certificate for a Sweedish massage, a new blackberry bold cell phone, and some clothes! Needless to say, I have been blessed!


Cory's Parents, Russ and Donna, at Dave and Busters





One of the highlights of the month for Cory was being able to take his family rock climbing in Garden of the Gods. Cory developed a love for climbing when he first moved to Colorado and is always looking for someone to go with him-the poor guy married someone who is afraid of whole idea!






A few days before everyone left, we asked a friend to take some family pictures of us In Garden of The Gods. It was hot, and the sun made it hard to keep our eyes open, but we managed to get in some really nice pictures. Here are a few of the ones we took on our own cameras.




Cory with his sisters, Amber (R), and Hannah (L)


The Last event during their trip was a stop in Denver for a Colorado Rockies Game! This was Cory's first U.S. Major League Baseball game and he was so excited! It was a HOT day and we all were sweating through the entire game, BUT..we got great seats, so I suppose it was all worth it!












Cory's family left the second week of June and I began summer school and continuing to work for Chick-Fil-A, while Cory went back to T-Mobile. It was SO nice having time off work and SO hard to go back! Before we knew it we were turning the calendar to July! We hope to have another enjoyable month and look forward to the rest of our summer!

May 2010

Amazingly, ANOTHER month has come and gone! Cory and I had both been looking forward to May for two specific reasons. First, we both finished the Spring semester the second week of May, and Second, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary on the 22nd! The month went by quickly as we studied for finals and turned in the last of our assignments.



For our first anniversary, we decided to make reservations for dinner at The Melting Pot, the same restaurant where Cory proposed to me on September 7th, 2008. With our ever changing work schedules, we were not able to go out on our actual anniversary, The 22nd, so we went out a week later. We were given a private room with a curtain that covered the entrance to the room, and of course, the food was delicious. :)

As we had been told, the first year of marriage was QUITE a roller coaster! We have learned a GREAT deal about each other, and in the process learned even more about ourselves. I believe that if prompted, Cory would tell you that he has discovered that wives are NOTHING like sisters, or the average female friend. Wives want FAR more of your time, attention, and affection, don't understand how a game on the computer could possibly be more interesting than helping her hang pictures, and are desperate for approval after using a new recipe or wearing a new dress. On the other hand, I have learned that I have a dangerous case of "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder" and that I didn't realize what a neat freak I am! I have learned that there is nothing better than being married to your best friend, and that husbands need to be reminded of how important they are to you. I have learned that being "right" doesn't make you happy in the end. Marriage is one of the many wonderful gifts God has given us in this life, and like any precious gift, it needs to be protected, treasured, and valued.



Our first year as Husband and Wife was blessed with many fun memories! Here is a recap of our year together.

Bought first house-Adopted puppy, Lexi-Traveled to Georgia for Thanksgiving with the Barnharts-Spent Christmas in Denver, CO with the Crosiers-Adopted kitten, Allie-Painted the house-Hiked Colorado's infamous, "Incline"-Lived one year without Health Insurance and survived :)-Cory took care of me through the stomach flu (first married "sick experience")-Bought and watched seasons 1-5 of "LOST"-Received $14,000 back in taxes...spent half of it in just a few months :(



We can only imagine that the second year will go by just as fast, if not faster, than the first. With the month of May now behind us, we look forward to a very busy June, including a visit from Cory's side of the family, and hopefully a very blessed and joyful year!

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!