2011 Re-cap

Here is our sorry and late attempt at our 1st "Annual" Christmas Letter...I'm thinking in order to get it out before Christmas I'll have to start in like October this year. We'll see if that happens..

Barnes’ Blessings of 2011

1. Began a part-time job at a Skilled Nursing Facility in January (Ashley), thanks to wonderful babysitters (Grandma Murphey and my sis-in-law Ashley). It’s the perfect job...5 minutes away and awesome hours. It’s good experience for taking care of our parents someday…

2. Brooklyn celebrated her 1^st birthday in animal-print style on April 1st. She was cracking everyone up with her clapping and throwing her arms in the air while her presents were opened. She has the sweetest, most fun personality and is our favorite source of entertainment!

3. Brainiac Curtis successfully completed his 1^st year as a Physical Therapy student, and has begun his 2^nd.. Only 1 ½ years to go! (June 2013 can’t come soon enough!)

4. Boise Internship--we survived 5 weeks apart while Curt was doing an internship in Boise. Luckily, in the middle, Brooke and I were able to visit for a couple days and we celebrated our 3^rd anniversary!

5. Busted out of Spokane to the East Coast to visit my sister and her cute family. In 10 short days, we visited Philadelphia, Niagra Falls, Palmyra, New York City, Washington D.C. and State College. We had SO much fun (especially with our 3 strollers with kids ages 1,2 and 3 on the streets of NYC!) Alyssa and Spencer were such good sports and we are so grateful that we were able to spend such a great vacation with them!

6. Brooklyn started nursery!! And she might cling to us and cry every week when we drop her off, but she has stayed every time and we have never had to go in with her. She seems like she is liking it more every week.

7. Birthday Party for Curt’s grandpa Barnes’ 90^th. We traveled to Utah and had a great time spending Thanksgiving down there. The entire Barnes’ family was together and it was a lot of fun! (And we got to go to many of our favorite restaurants and stores!)

8. Busy serving in the church...Curt was just called to serve as the Teacher’s Quorum Advisor (and is excited for camping adventures) and I’ve been serving as the Primary Secretary

9. Being so close to our families! We are so spoiled and are loving it!

10. Beach bums--We spent the week after Christmas with the Murphey fam at the Oregon Coast. The house was right on the beach and we had so much fun playing games, shopping, celebrating Ash’s b-day, and playing on the beach. Brooke loved the “osha” (translation: ocean). It was a blast!

11. Baby Barnes --Coming this July! We are so excited and know that Brooke will be a great big sister.

Blessings, blessings! That is the overwhelming theme for 2011! We are grateful to have such wonderful family and friends in our lives and wish everyone a happy 2012!