The beginning of January was a whirlwind. We had some crazy flights to get home and by the time we settled back in Daniel had to leave to go to D.C. for a job fair. As he was away and I was alone I had time to think about how the day of reckoning was approaching quickly. Actually it would be Friday, the day Daniel got home. Thursday night I was kind of feeling jittery about the whole thing. I couldn't sleep and ended up pulling out the computer and looking at some of my favorite blogs. One of my favorite blogs along with her sisters blog share the huge struggle with infertility that they had. By the time I found the blogs one had a one year old and one had just been blessed with twins. I loved going through old posts and connecting with some of the emotions they felt while they were struggling to start their family. Maybe I am creepy but I went ahead and found them on Facebook and found out that the one with the one year old was pregnant with a miracle baby. My heart was so happy for her and so full knowing that miracles happen when it comes to creating a family. I checked out another favorite blog of my sixth grade teacher and she had just posted that she had just had her fourth baby. Again I was so joyful. I just felt like Heavenly Father was giving me this beautiful hope that I too could get pregnant. I had a nice long heart to heart with Heavenly Father about how much I wanted a baby but also just letting him know that I knew that his timing was the best for me. It was a wonderful time for me.

The next morning I really felt like maybe I was pregnant, but I didn't want to jump the gun, goodness all I needed to do was wait a day and see, but those 24 hours were the slowest of my life. I confessed to Daniel that night that my period had not come during the day. Having been trying for a baby for a year and three months I came to realize that my period came like clockwork. It was for the most part right on time every time, and if it was not on time it was early. So when it didn't come by 10:00 a.m. on Friday I was more suspicious than ever. Since Daniel and I had been through the past year and three months together I was pretty open with him by this point and I realized that I needed his support since my hopes were really high. I wasn't sure when to take a test, I wanted to take one immediately but we also didn't want to be disappointed or have a false negative. So I thought I would take one the next morning. I got so nervous though that I put it off. We went grocery shopping and when we got home I looked at Daniel and just said, "well should I go for it." I did. I read the directions, took the test, and came out to where Daniel was sitting on the couch. He looked at me and I said "well you are suppose to wait three minutes… but I think you can go look now." The test worked so fast I didn't even set it flat before I saw the two perfectly pink lines, and of course I knew that meant that baby was on the way. Daniel went in looked at the test and looked the the directions booklet and realized the same thing for himself. He came over and gave me a hug, a hug we waited one year and four months to share. It was so happy. We didn't know what to do with ourselves after that. We talked about baby things but we really didn't need to do anything immediately so it was just funny, something we have waited for for so long and now we just need to wait for 8 more months.

So here's to the joyous news that came on Saturday, January 11th 2014. I know 2014 is going to be a great great year!

On the day after Christmas we got up bright and early to leave for Idaho Falls where we would be spending a week with Mom and Dad Hart. Jord and Liz were already there so I was anxious to get there. We made it in the middle of the day and helped them eat some leftovers from Christmas Eve and Christmas. Yum. Then we opened our presents and had the family open theirs.
The rest of the time there included the following:
-Lots of movies-Frozen and Saving Mr. Banks
-Lots of food-Including my favorite mexican restaurant and Daniels favorite Cafe Rio
-Lots of football
-Lots of puzzles
-A few hours of ice skating
-A Bowling Competition where the parents won
-An anti-climatic countdown to New Years
-The News Years Day Rose parade
- Gathering lots of books to take home
-Four huge bags
-And a tearful goodbye
It was so fun to be with the family and I just love them so much. I'll miss them but I am so glad we got to spend a week together.
The only photo we took while there, a selfie in the kitchen :)

On Saturday December 21st, 2013 my dear friend and old roommate Ashley was married to a Freshman friend, Randy in the Vegas temple. Obviously it was the perfect weekend to make a roommate road trip down to Vegas for the event. So Daniel and I borrowed Daniels fathers car and packed in Vivian and Tyler and Brett and Katie. We headed down Friday afternoon, saw the Bellagio fountains on the strip and called it a night.

The next morning we headed over to the temple for the sealing. It was really beautiful and brought me to tears. We waited outside to greet the couple and cheered as they walked out of the temple together. Of course it was fun to have the roommates together again, and it called for a perfect kodak moment.

After the temple we made the hour and a half drive to the place the reception would be. We started trending the hashtag HappyHulets and then went to the party. We had a lovely dinner, a little dancing, lots of laughs, and all the traditional bride and groom stuff like cutting the cake and throwing the bouquet.  Overall it was just such a fun night.

I was ready to be back home though and the long drive the next day was tough. But we made it and it was worth the quick weekend trip.

We wanted to go spend a day with Grandma and Grandpa Hart in SLC. We headed down bright and early, a little too early and spent the first hour of the morning in the concierge eating our second breakfast. When the grandparents came up we went downstairs to the car to take Grandma Hart to her hair appointment. While she was doing that we went up to Grandma Garffs home to look at her Christmas decorations. Then we went to the hospital to visit with Grandma Garff during her physical therapy. She was so happy to see us and said she loved surprises. She was so funny and kept telling us that we are the best looking couple. She is too nice. It was so good to see her.

After the Christmas concert we stayed at the Barrick home until Christmas (with a little detour to Vegas). The first week they were still working but when they took some time off we were able to do some fun things like see Catching Fire and go to the Museum of Natural History in SLC.
One of the highlight though is that we were able to head to the Museum of Art on BYU campus and see their Sacred Gifts collection. It is a collection of paintings of Christ done by three artists that have all come together for the first time. They are absolutely beautiful. The three artists are Carl Bloch, Heinrich Hofmann and Franz Schwartz. My personal favorite was Agony in the Garden by Franz Schwartz. It really touched me at a time when I was feeling a bit down and hopeless. It is a picture of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemene praying with tear on his face and an angel is above him with her hand on his shoulder and head comforting him. It was just a testament to me that Christ felt sorrow so that he could be our angel, the one to put his arms around us and comfort us. I guess maybe before I saw this picture I thought the atonement was not easy but the fact that he is the Son of God would have made it easier. But this picture really testified to me that his sorrow was real and very difficult to bear. I guess it just means to me that he is really there and can really help us because he has really been through everything.
Christmas Eve was nice, the Valentes and their exchange students came down and we had a nice dinner as well as visited with family. Grandpa Damitz and Mitzi read us The Three Trees and Daniel and I played our Christmas duet. We also opened our Christmas P.J.s, it's tradition!
Christmas morning we were waiting for the Valentes to join us again. Daniel and I had just sat down for to practice our duet when my phone started ringing. It was a number from Michigan so I knew it was a favorite Elder. We got to talk to Stephen for about 20 minutes (he is serving in Detroit, MI).
Then we came out had breakfast burritos, opened presents for hours, watched some football, or basketball, facetimed in while Stephen called my parents and had a big Turkey dinner to end the evening.

Dear Mr. Barrick,
Today you are taking a short trip to D.C. and I will be home without you. My heart hurts just thinking we will have to spend two days apart. But I am so so thankful that I love you so much that it hurts when you leave. It is a much better feeling to have than being indifferent or ready for some quiet time. I can't wait for you to get back. It will be a wonderful reunion.
I love you to the moon and back. With all my heart. And for all eternity!
Love Mrs. Barrick

Well the Holiday season has come and gone in the Barrick home. We spent most of the holidays relaxing, but the new year is in full swing and it is time to get back to our regular schedule. We had a wonderful holiday season with family and are so thankful that we had the chance to see and talk to everyone.
Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had planned to just have a nice little turkey dinner at home just the two of us. Plans changed when Grandma Hart called and told us we had a Thanksgiving invitation. This invitation was to go to the Marriott's home in Bethesda and spend Thanksgiving at their family farm in Virginia. Knowing we couldn't pass up a chance like this one we accepted graciously. The next week was spent making a few phone calls with Donna and Bill and getting new outfits for the occasion.
We drove down to Bethesda on Wednesday afternoon. That night we had a delicious dinner of beef stew with Donna and Bill. Bill showed us his car collection and we talked about life before going to bed.
Thursday we got up and headed to the farm for the Thanksgiving meal. It was a very traditional dinner and set up. We explored the little farmhouse and talked about living away from it all someday. The family was all playing and enjoying the outdoors and it was fun to be with them. I played catch phrase with the ladies while Daniel watched football with Bill. We ended up being the first to leave so we could get home for more football games. When we got back we turned on a football game in their theatre room. The seats were really comfy. Then we had a quick bite to eat before heading to bed.
Friday we woke up and went to the temple with Bill. He did some sealings while we did a session. It was a beautiful day in the D.C. temple. That afternoon he got us a driver to take us into D.C. where we went to the Air and Space Museum. It was crowded but fun to look around. We were exhausted when we were done so we called up our driver and he took us around the city a bit giving us little tidbits. That night we went out to a nice Italian restaurant and enjoyed some good food.
Saturday morning we left pretty early but not without filling our car up with gas and the Marriott's very own gas pump. It was such and enjoyable weekend and we are so thankful that we were able to spend time with family.