The Three of Us

If you had asked me when I was 9 years old what I would be doing when I was 25, I would have told you about exactly what my life is like right now. My older siblings were getting married and having babies when I was around nine, so marriage and babies had always been on my mind. I loved my American Girl dolls, and my prized Doll House very much. My friends and I always "played house" when we played together. I, of course, was always the mother...or the cat...but we're not going there today.

Sure, there were a few years in high school when I wanted to marry a beach bum, move to Hawaii and never talk to anyone again. But those fleeting stages in my life always passed and I always ended up at the same thing for my future life: a stay at home mom with a fabulously romantic and loving husband. Fast forward 16 years and here I am... stay at home mom (well, really "work at home") and wife to a fabulously loving husband.

Some days, I will wake up and tell Bobby, "let's just pack our life up and move to Paris!!" Others, I just don't feel like leaving the house. I get romantic thinking about the charms of the "greener grass" sometimes, but then I have to ask myself if I would trade my life now for all of that. No. Then I'm brought back into reality by a tug on my hair and some big, brown eyes looking up at me from my lap. I am so richly blessed and I would be a fool to trade all of these blessings to chase some fleeting fantasy. That's not to say we won't go on some adventures one day :)

We just had our family pictures taken and it made me fall deeper in love with our little family we have. My handsome husband, our sweet little boy... it makes me swoon to look at these pictures. Photo credit goes out to the amazing Gabe Aceves, who is seriously amazing. Seriously.

Oh dear. These boys. I love them so.

My favorite.

How I love these little hands and toes!

Happy Birthday, Bobby!

I was 18 when we met. Bobby was 22. It's hard to believe that it was only 7 short years ago that we met. He was cute, in a nerdy kind of way. After all, he was an engineer. Later in the evening he announced that he was an Eagle Scout and that confirmed it. He was a nerd. But he was still really cute. And funny. Being the *mature* 18-year old that I was, I decided to overlook his boy scout background. I'm so glad I did.

A few months past and I never heard from Bobby. It wasn't until New Years Eve, when my sister, Christina threw a little get-together...Bobby was also invited. My best friend, Karoline, went with me. We played games that night, watched some movies and went to bed way too late. Bobby and I stayed up much later talking the night away. The next morning as Karoline and I were driving home, I whispered to her with a huge grin on my face, "I think I really like that guy!" Four days later, it was official. I was Bobby's girl.

Over the course of our dating period, I was so intrigued by this guy. He took me to nice restaurants, bought me my first Tiffany's, took me hiking (yea, I was trying really hard to get this guy to like me!!!), wrote me long e-mails about who-knows-what, and always held my hand. After spending time with Bobby, I would always marvel at how smart he was - he knew so much about everything! He wasn't ostentatious or a know-it-all, and was very humble. Before I knew it, I was head over heels for him. The rest is history.

Now that we've been together about 7 years, we've both changed so much, and so much has happened in our lives this far: our first house, vacations together, new baby... I am always amazed at what an awesome man I married. Lord knows that I would be lost without this man. Now, when I see him with our son, it makes me love him even more because I am so confident in what a great Dad he will be for Camden. I am so thankful that Baby Cam will have Bobby to look up to, and to model after for his whole life.

Happy Birthday, Love. Twenty-Nine years young and going strong. I'm so happy I get to spend the rest of our days together!

The One Where He Turns 27

Happy Birthday to Bobby:
My Groom
My Love
My Best Friend.

It's been only 5 years since you came into my life,
but I look forward to spending the rest of this life
knowing you, encouraging you, supporting you, teasing you, playing with you, and loving you.

Happy 27th Birthday, B! (Oh, how I love this picture of you below!)

Birthday Boys

Last Wednesday was Bobby's birthday, as you saw in the previous posts. He's been wanting to learn how to play the guitar, so I bought him one to try things out. He's been trying desperately to play Dave Matthew's Band, but he just needs a little more practice :o) It's actually really nice to see him learn how to play! I'm sure we'll be the VonTrappe Family "players" in no time!

As another part of his birthday present, he wanted to get Killian groomed since the cat throws a mild temper tantrum anytime you put him near the bath tub. We took him to the local Petco to have him bathed, "blow-dryed," ears cleaned and nails trimmed. I dropped him off in the morning, felt terrible for leaving him there, got myself a Starbucks to make me feel better, bought the cat a new collar and some treats and picked him up 3 hours later. My poor baby was soaking wet because he was deathly afraid of the blow-dryer after his bath. I toted him home and he's been asleep ever since...

My other baby is now sick and has been sleeping almost all weekend. To give them their "space" and to not make any noise while they are trying to recover, I went to Starbucks to make myself feel better.

Hello, my name is Melissa, and I have a Starbucks problem.

New to the blog

This is Bobby, guest blogger, husband of your usual author. I can hear the groans...but lets take a hack at this thing and see how it goes. Its actually pretty strange sitting on this side of the Barrick Times. The editor in chief is in bed asleep. She's been recently asking me to support her in this blog and post occasionally...the idea honestly first hit me as less desirable then that time when I...well never mind. I digress.

Since this is my first blog entry, and MC has worked so diligently to maintain this blog to keep our family and friends who live far from somd connected with us...I'd like to dedicate this to the world's biggest Martha Stewart fan, my southern belle wanna-be, the beautiful and talented Mrs. MC Barrick.

This is one of my favorite pictures of my bride. Its been nearly 14 months that we've been married, and I still can't believe all of the effort she put in to pull off our wedding day. Her planning was meticulous and her design ideas made the day as memorable to me as my first glimpse of her at the end of the isle. Thank you honey for all that you did for us and our guests.

Next we have a rare glimpse of Melissa in her natural habitat:


Well, maybe not. Lets see...oh yes...the kitchen is where you can find MC making some of the most wonderful baked goods and baseball snacks that you've ever tasted. These poppers she's making are a favorite of the Crab Pot in section 7.


When not in the kitchen you can find Melissa skiing... she's the girl with the bright red cheeks to match her gloves.


Or she can be found at the beach...(but rarely in the ocean)...


Or at the ballpark...


But wherever she is, she can always be found with a happy heart and a big smile that brightens every room. She certainly has brightened my life. I love you, MC.