December 2010

"...and just like that, the holidays have officially come and gone!" December was a complete whirlwind for Cory and I, finding time to spend with friends, both sides of the family, and our monthly trip to the Obstetrician. It honestly feels like it was just a few months ago that were were celebrating the beginning of 2010, yet here we are, welcoming in 2011. This year is going to be the biggest year of our lives, Cory will graduate from college, and we will become parents. I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself, though, first, a recap of our December :)




Early in December, we attended our first "Ugly Sweater" party, which was a BLAST! We spent the evening with friends from church and enjoyed delicious food and played fun games. I went to a thrift store for the first time in my life, and found our outfits for the evening. For under $20 I was able to get a hideous turtle neck and denim vest for myself, and an 80's style sweater and scarf for Cory. Cory suggested the pigtails I sported that night, and I PRAYED no one would see us exiting our house! :)



We set up our Christmas tree around Thanksgiving, knowing we would be gone for ten days in December, and wanting plenty of time to enjoy it. As is a Crosier family tradition, I turned on the classic "clay-mation" version of "Santa Clause is Comin' to Town" while we set up the tree.



Since being married, we have taken turns spending the holidays with each side of the family. This year we had a Barnhart Christmas in Peachtree City, Georgia. We stayed for ten days and were able to eat, sleep, shop, play, and see Cory's cousin Kara, and her family for dinner one night. We all decided to open presents on Christmas Eve and had fun seeing what everyone received. Santa was very electronically inspired this year, as all the "big presents" were a new professional camera for Cory and I, a Wii Fit for Hannah, a new mini laptop for Amber, and a new computer for Russ and Donna. Needless to say, Santa did a good job :)



The night before we flew home, we made Christmas cut out cookies. Yes, a little late to give to Santa, but no one complained about eating them instead :)



The Barnhart Family 2010


The Crosier Family 2010

Despite the threats of the "snow storm" Georgia was getting, we made our flight back to Colorado in the knick of time for Cory to get back to work and for me to be able to do dinner and presents with my family before my brother headed back to Tennessee. It's not often that the "original Crosier 5" are together, so we enjoyed the time we had. Our "big present" from my side of the family was my parents buying all of the furniture for our baby's room! :) What a blessing it is to have family and friends who want to help!



One of the biggest changes we noticed in December, was my belly! Week 16 I was hardly showing, but by week 18, I finally began to pop! It's getting exciting to start looking a little pregnant, and not just chubby :)



December 28th was by far the most exciting day of our entire year! We were finally able to see more detailed pictures of our baby, and find out the gender! This is baby's sweet little profile, with fingers nestled on the chin and lips.




Baby's little face with fingers curled together as if in the middle of a prayer. I believe baby is in there praying to be a good baby for Mommy and Daddy :)



IT'S A BOY!!! No doubt about that one! Neither Cory or I could resist tearing up when the ultrasound tech told us we had a little boy. I guess this girly girl is going to have to learn to enjoy getting dirty!



Our start to our son's room. I cant wait to get it all finished so I can just sit and rock in his rocker and anticipate his arrival!



His first little outfits! With all the wild boys out there, I'm excited to dress him like a gentlemen and teach him how to be a godly man, husband, and father :)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and as wonderful a start to the new year as we have had!

November 2010

(Ultrasound of Baby Barnhart at 11 weeks)

I am so excited to finally be able to say, happy holidays! I will admit, I am a spring/summer girl, and mostly, I hate winter. However, I believe America has given us Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years to help us get through the cold! So thank you, holidays, for being so much fun! Cory, on the other hand, LOVES winter and everything it encompasses. While I'm loving the warmer winter weather we've been having this year, Cory is praying for below freezing temperatures and a blizzard :) Luckily, what we do have in common, is our love for Christmas lights, good food, and spending time with family.

November marked the third month of my pregnancy, and most importantly, the end of the infamous first trimester. We feel so blessed to see that this pregnancy has progressed as beautifully as it has. We went in for our 11 week visit at the beginning of the month, and expected to hear the heartbeat. The doctor moved the doppler over my stomach, but we didn't hear anything. After trying for another minute, she decided to do an ultrasound. Our doctor didn't seem the least bit worried, but as she left the room to get the machine, I started to cry. Of course, everything ended up being fine, and our baby had grown so much since the last ultrasound! It was amazing to see tiny little arms and legs moving around. What a relief it was to see our baby's tiny heart beating perfectly! So at three months along, everything was going beautifully and my pregnancy had been, and still is, incredibly easy! We both feel so incredibly blessed!


(Baby belly at 12 weeks)

Thanksgiving, second only to Christmas, is my favorite holiday! We were able to spend Thanksgiving with the Crosier side of the family this year, In Denver, Colorado. We are fortunate to live only an hour away from my parents, making visiting them very easy! What was most exciting in my opinion, was getting to see my brother and sister again. Clint and Kellie both live in other states, Kellie, in college in Kentucky, and Clint, teaching high school English in Tennessee. I was able to see Kellie a few times over the year, but Clint I hadn't seen since last Christmas! We enjoyed a perfect meal and then went to see the latest, "Harry Potter" movie. Cory and I spent two nights with them before heading home.


(This is how Clint and Cory bond :) )


(My two favorite girls in the whole world, my mom and sister)



(Lexi's favorite part of going to my parents house, is playing with her best friend, Madison.)



(Daddy and his perfect Turkey)



(Mom was here too, but she was our photographer :) )

Another month down, and only one more to go before 2011! I honestly believe that 2010 was the fastest moving year of my life! In December, we will travel to Georgia to spend Christmas with Cory's family, and when we get home, we get to find out if our first child is a boy or girl! We hope that December brings as much joy to you as it will to us!

October 2010

Yes, I know it is the middle of November and I'm just now making our October post :) Time has FLOWN this year, so I find it easy to get behind on things. October wasn't actually that eventful for us, but we enjoyed the few things we were able to do. I think it took until the end of October for it to finally sink in that we're having a baby, Cory worked hard on his work and school responsibilities, we were able to enjoy an evening of pumpkin carving with friends, and I went to a Halloween party while Cory spent the evening working :(



This is my "8 week belly" picture, though my sweater makes me look a bit bigger than I actually was. Trust me, I look smaller than this in my current 12 week picture. Weeks 7-10 are usually given a bad reputation, and are known for terrible morning sickness. I however, was very fortunate. I had pretty regular nausea every evening, but nothing more than that. No food cravings, other than just being hungrier than usual, and no side effects :)



A week or so before Halloween, Cory and I were able to get together with some friends and carve pumpkins, which is now a tradition for our little group! We had the most delicious supreme pizza, and my homemade butter finger cheesecake before we got the pumpkins out! :) It got a little messy, but our friend's dog, Jake, was nice enough to take care of the pumpkin seeds for us :)


Cory and I working on our masterpieces


I love how well this picture turned out!



The girls with their pumpkins



Our super manly and tough looking husbands with their pumpkins :)




The Saturday night before Halloween, a group of friends from church had a fun pot-luck/costume party. Sadly, Cory had to work, so I went alone. Still, it was a fun night with great food and even better company!

As long as I'm on time, my next post should be just around the corner. With Thanksgiving and more baby pictures and ultrasounds, November is looking like it will be a great month!

September 2010

Okay, so I know it's mid October and I am just now making our September blog post, but things have been a little busy! September was DEFINITELY my favorite month of 2010 thus far! Here are the highlights...




Over labor day weekend, Cory and I went with some of his friends from work to go shooting up in the mountains. I had never fired any sort of weapon before and always thought it would be neat, so when Cory told me he was planning to go, I had to ask if I could tag along! The drive up the mountain was NOT one I want to do again anytime soon! I have a terrible fear of driving on thin mountain rounds with no railing, and of course, the ENTIRE 45 minute drive was like that. After what seemed like an eternity of closing my eyes and taking deep breaths, we finally got to our destination! It was SO much fun! Each gun had its own recoil I had to get used to, but i loved it!




Cory, of course, handled the recoil much better than I did. It was nice to get away and do something neither of us had much experience in, and learn together. I was happy to spend the day with my husband, too!




My Dad likes to call this picture, "Stephanie Palin." :)




This is one of my favorite pictures of Cory! I'm pretty sure it's every man's dream to crawl in the dirt and shoot at things :)




Needless to say, we were enjoying this.




On September 17th, I was able to join my parents at the annual Air Force Ball. It was fun to get dressed up and go to a fancy dinner. I had planned to stay the night at my parents house, but I was feeling pretty tired and felt like heading home. Here's where we get to the reason September was my favorite month. When I got home, I decided to take a pregnancy test.....




SURPRISE!! I immediately starting sobbing and saying aloud over and over, "Thank you God, thank you God!" (I had been dealing with some fertility issues and had gone through some treatments over the summer, so this was such a blessing and a miracle!) It was midnight when I took the test, and Cory works a night shift a T-Mobile, so I knew he wouldn't be coming home for another 2 hours. I had always imagined I'd come up with some creative way to tell my husband I was pregnant, but my emotions were taking over and I couldn't think of anything. I had SUCH a hard time waiting those 2 hours for him to come home! When he did finally walk through the door, I told him I had something to show him. I told him to close his eyes and hold out his hands, and laid the test in his hands. When he opened his eyes, his jaw dropped! Of course then he smiled and hugged me and we talked about it the rest of the night.






A few weeks later, we were able to go to the Doctor and Cory and I saw our baby and its precious little heartbeat for the first time. There is not a more emotional or more satisfying feeling in the world than seeing that little blinking spot on the ultrasound screen. I am now 7 and a half weeks along, and our baby is due May 30th, 2011. Of course, Cory thinks we're having a boy, but I insist it will be a girl :) We know that we are very blessed and we cant wait for this amazing journey ahead of us!

August 2010

Hello everyone! So as it is already the tenth of September, you can see I'm a little behind at posting our August blog! School is now officially back in session, so of course, things are once again a little busy in the Barnhart house! Despite the sadness we feel over being back to waking up early, studying for tests, and hardly seeing one another, we are SO happy to be able to say that we are BOTH graduating from college in 8 months! We hope and pray that these next 8 months fly by, as I'm sure they will!



At the beginning of August, Cory finished up his summer softball season and had a great time! He was so thankful to have had a few days off during the week this summer, allowing him to play for the first time in years.



August 9th was my Dad's 46th birthday and although Cory had to work, I was able to drive up to Denver and spend the weekend with my parents and sister. My sister, Kellie, left for college in Bowling Green, Kentucky, just a few weeks later.







The 14th was our good friend, Derek Phipps' birthday, and Cory and I were able to spend his birthday with him and several of our church friends.



A few weeks ago we had some friends over for dinner and I tried out a new dessert recipe, which I loved! It was a pampered Chef recipe for Strawberry Cream Cupcakes. :) Over the last year I have discovered that I LOVE to cook and to entertain!


We hope the month of September allows us to slow down a bit and re-adjust to be students again. Cory is still employed with T-Mobile, but is looking for another job with better hours, so keep us in your prayers! We wish you all a happy September!

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!!