It would feel more like Christmas if we had SNOW!!

Well it's almost that time of year again-CHRISTMAS!!! Last night Bryan and I helped our church put on a free movie for our community called The Nativity. We didn't have very many new visitors but we did have some. I pray they return for service this morning.

We're not able to go home to Montana/Wyoming for Christmas this year. We're trying to talk our families into coming down next year since we'll have a little one but I think a Christmas without below zero temps and no snow would be a HUGE adjustment for them. We'll see.

Monday we'll be seven months pregnant! We can't believe how fast the time has gone by. The other night the baby had hiccups, what a weird sensation! His/her kicks and jabs are becoming more fierce and this is leading me to believe that the baby has our athletic ability!

Decorating for Christmas

Merry Christmas!

The day after Thanksgiving I cracked a bottle of Apple Cider and decorated the Christmas tree. Later that night Bryan arrived home to add his ornaments to our third Arizona Christmas tree!

Congratulations Lindsey and Chad

Congratulations to my best friend Lindsey Crawford who will be married this July to her amazing fiance Chad! Love you both!

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope everyone enjoyed a day filled with friends, family, and of course great food! I know Bryan and myself did. We had our favorite roommate Stoney over along with Scott & Stephanie Chism and James & Neely Brown our friends from NPBC. They traveled from all over the Valley of the Sun to share Thanksgiving with us. After stuffing ourselves and cleaning up we relaxed to the football game and "Black Friday" shopping ads. Later pumpkin cheesecake and pecan pie was enjoyed by all! To end our holiday Scott destroyed us in a game of BALDERDASH! We are thankful for our friends who are our family here in Arizona. We love you all!

Baby's 1st Decor

Well it's official, the baby's room has something in it! It's so hard to know how to decorate for an unidentified gender! Bryan and I picked out some stuff for our baby registry at BabiesRus and decided to go with the ABC's to decorate the baby's room. Or I guess I did. I wanted decor that would fit in with our old western look and the ABC stuff wasn't in bright primary colors, more antiqued reds, blues, greens, ect. like th rest of our house. Anyway it's a start, hopefully by the time the baby arrives we'll have a crib!

Monday is six months!

Well I am definitely having trouble getting out of bed, tying shoes, and exercising at the same intensity. I started going to a cycle class on Saturdays which I enjoy more than killing myself on the elliptical. Bryan has become an amazing back and belly scratcher! This week was the first time he could feel the baby move! "Whoa, whoa, whoa," was his reaction. As you can see from the picture Buzz is pretty amazed by it all too!

2nd Ultrasound Baby Pictures

Today Bryan and I had our second trimester ultrasound. Baby Barthelmess is right on track with his/her growth. We could have, but chose not to, find out the sex today. These are pictures of the hand, foot, and profile of baby Barthelmess. Please pray that the Lord will bless the health of our baby.

Ty & my dad

Back in Wyoming, mom and dad went out to grandma Miller's today to help remove all the fallen branches from last Friday's snow storm. Obviously the snow didn't stick around to help! Ty and dad wave to mom!

Toilet Ball!

"Buzz go get your ball! Where is it? Go get your ball!"

Day before they leave :-(

Thursday we spent baking Halloween cookies, decorating the house, walking the dog, and hanging out before we went to dinner. Enjoy some of the snap shots from mom and grandma's final day in Arizona.

Mom and grandma left this morning (Friday the 17th) at 4:30 AM. I can't believe our time together came to an end so quickly. I feel like I waited so long to have them here in my life and they are gone already! My heart aches for my family and longs to be closer than 17 hours and 1200 miles. I wanted to wake up and still have them here to hug, drink coffee with, shop, and love on. What makes this day worse is Bryan has to work so I'm home alone, all alone. The Lord has truely blessed me with an amazing family. My mom is my best girl friend and I couldn't have asked for a better example of a mother or a friend. I pray one day we live closer.

Getting Beautiful! Hair Day!

On Wednesday all three of us got our hair done by my stylist Gina! We spent five hours in the salon getting gorgeous! Here are our after shots!

Anthem Outlet Shopping!!!

I couldn't pass up the outlet malls! Mom, grandma, and I spent Tuesday shopping again till we dropped!

18 weeks and counting!!!

On Monday our baby turned 18 weeks. He/she is now the size of a bell pepper and weighs 7 oz. Over the next couple weeks he/she will double in size and weight. On the 21st of October I will have my second trimester ultrasound. We will be able to find out whether it's a boy or a girl. . . but we're not going to!!!

Mema & G-ma visit AZ

On Friday, October 10th, mom and grandma Miller flew in from Wyoming. We've been enjoying the cooler weather all weekend. Currently in Wyoming it's snowing. So much that they've received 12 inches of snow since Friday! Billings got 22 inches and Red Lodge, Montana got 40 inches of snow! Dad said it's melting fast and might not even be there when mom and grandma get back. I sure wish I got to see it. I'll keep you all posted as our fall break continues!

Roommate, groomsman, Friend, Nate Marston

This Friday Bryan's college roommate, groomsman, and good friend Nate Marston flew into AZ from Montana to visit us! Yesterday was his 27th birthday so I made him a yummy chocolate cake and Bryan grilled up some steak! Nate will be staying with us till Friday the 10th when my mom and grandma get in!

"I wasn't in the trash! Promise, don't I look innocent?"

Buzz took another shower with dad a couple weeks ago! He is almost 4 months and 1 week old.

Meet my cousin Ty

This my little cousin Ty Miller. My mother wants grandchildren so bad she always wants to babysit Ty! Ty spent yesterday in the wonderful fall of Wyoming with my Mema! Sure wish I could have been there with them to play in the leaves.

Barely there baby bump!

Hey everyone watching! This is a picture from last week when I was going on 15 weeks. I didn't feel up to taking a more current picture for you all. Can you see it? Look hard it's there! This week will be 16 weeks on Monday! Four months!!! I can't believe it! Yes that is a belly button ring. . . :-p

Going on 15 weeks!

This week we'll be 15 weeks pregnant! Our baby should be 4 inches long and weigh 2.5 ounces. He/she is about the size of an apple!

I've gained a little over six pounds and that's been hard for me to handle! Bryan continually tells me, "there's a difference in being overweight and pragnant Laura, you won't be able to run it off right now!" I know it's for an amazing new Barthelmess life!

Outstanding Instructional Strategies Award

On Tuesday, Glendale American Elementary held their first "Amazing American Citizen" award breakfast. Once a month every teacher nominates an amazing student in their classroom and praises them for the job well done! Parents, students, and staff attend the breakfast. This time the administration decided to include three amazing teachers. One teacher was awarded for her amazing vocabulary instruction, a first year teacher was awarded for his amazing class management and I was awarded for my outstanding instructional strategies. We each got a framed award and our principal described why we received the award. I felt very honored and blessed that my administration had notice my hard work.

Monday is 14 weeks!

On Monday both Buzz and the baby growing inside of me will be 14 weeks old! My how time flys.

Another game, another doctor's appointment

On Friday night we joined our church, Estrella Falls Baptist at the D-Backs game. Earlier that day I had my second visit with our baby doctor! I got to hear the amazing heart beat of our first child. Also my headaches have come back and Friday I suffered from an extreme one. So bad that I wanted to leave the game and was sick on the way home! The doctor told me it was normal. . . everyday I thought! Luckily she said they should be going away since I'll be entering my second trimester soon.

Meet my AZ grandma!

Meet Connie Espinoza my roomie before Bryan and I got married. I lived with Connie from Feb. 07 to Oct. 07 when Bryan and I bought our house in Goodyear. She is one of my best friends here in Arizona and an amazing blessing from God. This picture was taken in her house last October when mom came out during my fall break. I sure miss her.

Mema and Pepa

Ahhhhh. . mom and dad, oh how we miss you! Can you believe you're going to be grandparents? Wow! Mom I can't wait until you and grandma come here in October! We're going to have such an amazing time together I won't want to let you go home! (This picture was taken at Westgate in front of the Jobing.com Arena in March when both mom and dad came to AZ)

Congrats to my friends Michelle and Jeff Swank! They welcomed their first baby boy into the Big Sky Country on Thurday night! Michelle was a bridesmaid of mine and I sure miss her smiling face. We're very excited for you two! Can't wait for our babies to meet one day. Love and miss you!

This picture was taken this summer at Bryan's parents house in Condon, MT. We were enjoying a cool summer night on their deck. Cinde made me sour cream chicken enchiladas for my 26th birthday which was the next day.

BUZZ gets a shower

Isn't he lovely! Stinky doggy gets a shower with dad on Wednesday night. Buzz was so mad that dad put him in the shower but it was worth it!

Now he's squeaky clean!

BUZZ-lightyear!

Finally our last baby! This picture is a couple weeks old but it will do. Buzz is now 11 weeks old, same as the growing baby inside of me! He just got his second set of shots last Sunday and he was a trooper! Go Buzz! He is a great friend to have when Bryan is gone, although he does get me up too early still on the weekends. I thinks he's just preparing me for our baby.

D-Backs game

The same day as our first doctors appointment we took in a baseball game at Chase Field. Bryan's favorite team the Florida Marlins were playing our hometown Diamondbacks. One of the guys Bryan works with and his girl friend joined us. Good times!

Say hello to baby Barthelmess!! He/she is 11 weeks old and 1.25 inches long! Can you believe it! We actually found out on our one year anniversary in July. He/she is due on March 16th, 2009. What a little miracle. Bryan and myself had our first doctor's appointment on Friday. Our hearts melted as we saw for the first time what only God could create. Thank you Lord and Savior for the miracle of Life.

Flagstaff Blessing

Last weekend we were blessed by a couple from the PPC to join them at their home in Flagstaff, AZ. Bryan went golfing with the husband while I enjoyed Mamma Mia! with the wife. What a blessing to get away from the hustle of the city. It certainly reminded us of home. One of my favorite parts was that it rained! Poured rain, so much that the men had to quit golfing(I didn't enjoy the rain couse of that though, it just never happens here).

WANTED: A wild and crazy Barthelmess family!

We finally got our pictures from this summer back(Thanks Darrell)! This was our splurg during vacation. Don't we look dangerously dangerous?!?!

God's country

Here's one last picture from our trip north. This was taken the day after we arrived in Condon, right out the Barthelmess' back door. Isn't it beautiful there. God's country that's for sure! Miss and love you all

One year!

We arrived back in the Valley of the Sun on July 14, 2008, our one year anniversary. Since we had just got home and didn't feel like doing anything we thawed out the top of our wedding cake. HORRIBLE! That's all I can say. I knew we should have eaten it long before that but my traditional husband wouldn't let me. So after two bites each we threw the cake away and went to get Quiznos! Funny I know.

Well I don't have any pictures of my family from our trip but I do have pictures of our new addition.

"BUZZ"

Thanks to my dad encouraging my husband we bought a mini Australian Shepard while we were home.

Buzz was a tiny six weeks old when we got him, now he's almost 10 weeks. He's still in potty training mod but we've almost got him there. He sleeps through the night but only until 4:30-5AM! He hates the heat which really doesn't work here in Arizona.

This picture is the day after we got Buzz.

Montana/Wyoming Vacation

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to blogging, the last few weeks have been very busy.

Bryan and I left for Bozeman, MT on July 3rd. The trip home was amazing. I wish we had more time to spend with our families. It's never enough and this time was it was harder to leave them all.

We arrived in Bozeman on the night of the 4th and attended the rehearsal dinner of Bryan's cousin. This picture was taken on the 5th at the reception. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding, perfect weather unlike our extremely hot wedding the summer before. Cinde, Bryan's mom is on the left, then Bryan, Mike his dad, and then Blair, Bryan's younger sister.

The next day we drove four more hours north to Condon, Montana and stayed two days with Bryan's parents. The boys golfed one day while the girls hit up the local shops. The following day we all went golfing at the Double Arrow.

We left on July 8th and drove eight hours south/west to my hometown in Wyoming.