Barefoot

I have decided to have a complete blog makeover. Why you ask? I felt a lack of intrigue and luster from my old blog, and since it is a new year...why not make a new blog? My thoughts exactly :)

   Where is the new name from you might ask? Well, I hope someone cares enough to wonder, I am faithful in you, my dear little readers that you do care :)

    Being barefoot to me is freedom. Who doesn't love to have their little piggies free to wiggle and feel the earth between them? Being barefoot reminds me of summer, my favorite time of year, when it's warm and your feet can be free for months at a time without the constriction of shoes. Although Lord knows how much I love shoes! Mercy! Don't think I am all of a sudden a shoe hater...quite the opposite.

   Anywho, I also think of the beach, which is where I would rather be than in the cold snowy place that is Utah right now.

  So, there you have it my lovelies...the reason behind the new look of my blog and it's new name, respectively.

 

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All Signs Point to....MORE

It amazes me how smart Calvin is!! I have been trying for a few months to teach him sign language.

And here I thought he wasn't absorbing anything..and then two nights ago out of the blue he signed "please"

And last night he about floored me when he signed "more"

and now "more more more more more more more" is all he signs now with a "please" thrown in there

every once in a while.

Gotta love my little monkey :)

And his actual words he says now have expanded:

Momma

Daddy

Doggie
What

Wow

Yeah

Hey

LOVE HIM TO DEATH

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Throwback

 I came across this picture of me on my first birthday and thought I looked alot like the buddy in this pic we took in Alaska this summer! See the resemblance?

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Our Little Patient

Here is a pic from Jess' I-phone when Calvin was waiting to be taken back for his surgery. He had tubes put into his ears to get rid of those pesky ear infections!! I was pretty nervous, but all went well and it was so much faster than I thought! He looked so dang cute in his little hospital gown (it tied up the back just like an adult one and his little diaper was sticking out). He was pretty upset when he woke up from the anesthesia and it took him a while to calm down even with me there, but once we got him home he took a 4 hour nap (which meant Mom and Dad took a 4 hour nap since we had to be at the surgical center at 6:30!) and a full belly he was back to normal.

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Cruisin 2010

What better way to start off the new year than with a cruise? Yep...definitely the best! Although it ended up being super cold (Miami was 24 degrees!) we had so much fun. It was the annual Homeshield Cruise, and this year had the worst weather by far, but I have never had that much fun on a cruise ship before. All in all...it was great to get away for a few days. Sorry for the overload of pictures...but hope you enjoy :) The first day in Miami..waiting to take off

Love the towel animals! Here is our monkey and our elephant
From Miami we went to Key West..not my particularly favorite spot ever (this was my third time), but we had fun regardless! Don't we always??
our boat docked in Key west
This was our only nice and sunny day, so we all rented scooters and drove around the island for a few hours. I got a teensy bit of sun too!

After a few hours we all met up at a beach and played some sand volleyball. My idea of fun for sure
That night was formal night. It always amazes me how some people go all out on this night (like prom dresses and tuxedos!), but it is always fun to dress up this night. Although, as soon as dinner was over at least half the girls in our group went and changed :)
My friend Jenna and I. Met her this summer and it has been love ever since :)
Our table on formal night. Starting bottom L and going clockwise: Austin and Carrie Ethington, Cristina and Jeff Greatorex, Jess and I, and Trevor and Emily Jones

So, if you have ever been on a cruise you know that there are constantly annoying photographers taking random pictures of you. I have never bought one, nor know anyone who has ever bought one. So, instead I took pictures of our pictures. I couldn't find them all, but here are a few that I happened upon.



Kyrsten and I watching our hubbies play blackjack

Next stop Cozumel, Mexico! I had been here once before with my family and wasn't really impressed. This time was better, but the weather did not feel like cooperating. It was terribly windy and raining the entire day we were there...but we made the best of it! Everyone rented jeeps and we drove around the island looking at the ancient Mayan ruins. Then we ended up going to a local restaurant on some back streets where we had AMAZING (I'm not kidding) AMAZING Mexican food. YUM!

Standing in the middle of the ruins
This was the largest ruin on the whole island
The beaches here are beautiful! The water was like 83 degrees...warmer than outside!

Here is our jeep. It was a complete piece of garbage! The ceiling leaked, the windows leaked. Basically we were soaked by the end of the day!

This night the boat took off back for Miami. We were to be at sea all night, then all the next day and night. Unfortunately Poseidon was unhappy with our ship for some reason and the sea was angry!. I have never been on a cruise ship that moved that much! You couldn't even walk straight! Luckily Jess and I don't get sea sick, but a good majority of our group got really ill. So, we decided to make a game out of it. Some of us had contests to see who could stand on one leg the longest, or would run down the hall to see who would fall last! Then some of the guys had a trust circle where you would fall and the people around you would catch you..sort of random but guess you had to be there!
They had a sweet fruit bar at midnight with this fruit man!
The trust circle
That night we also played this super fun picture drawing game that I have never heard of but am going to play all the time! It was hilarious
How sad is this...this was the ONLY time we were in the water the entire cruise! We all decided to go hot tubbing our last night!

The dance club was always a good time. This picture is Jess, Gavin and Jason trying to be candid. This was the last night and we stayed til the club closed! Good times :)

On the last night we also played this game with basically our entire group (we had 70 people). We all crowded into the library and played this dice money game. You roll dice and whatever numbers you roll you either have to put your money in the pot, pass it left or right or keep it. You start with three dollars each, and whoever ends up with the last dollar wins the entire pot!


Last night at dinner :)

Although it basically felt like we were on an Alaskan cruise, we had a blast! I can't wait until next year when we get to all get together again because Jess really works with some great people.

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Master Bath

You know it's amazing what just a little paint can do to a room...... Master bathroom then





Master bathroom now

Ta Da :)

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Happy New Year!

Jess and I threw a NYE party this year. We had a really great turnout and the night was just non stop fun! We had lots of yummy food and played some Mormon drinking games (drinking games minus the alcoholic beverages of course). What a great way to say goodbye to 2009 and ring in the new year! Thanks to all who came...you really made the night so much fun :) Calvin even stayed up well after 1:30....despite not having taken a nap that day. He was beyound exhausted and you could clearly tell it, but he was so afraid he was going to miss something. Once everyone was gone he was immediately out. Oh my little party animal :)
Some of the goodies. Much more once people started showing up!
Elise and I

energy drink pong anyone?
it was a fierce match!

We had a really fun few rounds of Flip Cup. I haven't laughed that hard in a looong time! Girls vs. boys made it extra hilarious!

the ladies team :) L to R Jamie, Me, Elise, Abbie, Sarah (minus Jana Lee)
the men's team. Aren't they all so cute? L to R Phil, Jess, Nico, Craig, Jared, Chad, Randal
Abbie and Jamie are two of my oldest and closest friends! They are sisters, and we all grew up in Philly together! I am so grateful for both of their friendships and that we all still live super close to each other in Utah :)
My friend Anny came! She lives in Colorado now going to Vet school, and we used to be roommates at Utah State. I am so glad she was able to come especially since the holidays are lonely for her. Her hubby has been in Iraq as a firefighter since June!
Chad and his daughter Leighton doing their Lady and the Tramp impression! Too cute :)

Okay...so we played this really fun dice game where you roll dice and the certain numbers you roll you either have to give your cards to other people, keep your cards, or throw them in the discard pile. Every round someone gets to put a random food item in the blender and whoever loses the game has to drink the disgusting blended concoction. So fun! Jess was the leader and taught us all how to play. So, in the blender went ketchup, chocolate milk, cheese, spam, guacamole, m&m's, and barbecue sauce. Sounds appetizing right? Yup, and you want to know who lost and had to drink the disgusting thing??
THIS GIRL. I was NOT thrilled. In fact, as the game was getting down to the wire, I had Abbie grab our truck keys and she sat right behind me so that if I did lose I could run out the garage and drive away! I attempted but Jess tackled me by the back door and wrestled me back to the table. I yelled some idle threats, but nothing seemed to work, so I gave in.

I made the deal that I only took one big gulp. Boy it was sick...one big mushy meaty sour gulp that slowly trickled down my throat. I immediately took a chaser of Dr. Pepper and felt tons better :)


Calvin was so nice to Jess and I he slept in today until noon! What a great way to start off the new year! 2009 was an amazing year! Bring it on 2010!!! :)

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4th

Then Dec. 30, 2005
Now Dec. 30, 2009

Wow 4 years and one 1 year old adorable boy later! These past four years have been the best of my life! And this past year has been an incredible journey. Being a Mom for the first time has offered me some of my greatest challenges and also greatest joys. Being parents together has brought Jess and I so much closer ( if that was possible ) and has strengthened our marriage, as well as faith.

Jess wouldn't tell me what we were up to this year...and although it was driving me nuts I love surprises! So, we dropped Calvin off at Abbie and Nico's (thank you thank you thank you guys so much for babysitting!!!!) and we headed off to Rodizio Grill...a Brazilian delicious restaurant! We went to another one last year for our anniversary called Tucano's, so I think we'll just make a tradition out of it every year! After our yummy dinner I stupidly thought we were going back to the truck to leave, but Jess grabbed something out of the car and then go out as I sat inside like a dummy. Eventually I understood that we weren't leaving yet, and to my joy we went to the movie theater in the same complex! I love movies and now that we are parents we rarely get to go...and joy of all joys we went and saw "Sherlock Holmes"! I have been wanting to see this movie since the middle of the summer when I saw the trailer. And although I am a fan of the original and old school Sherlock movies....this one was great!!
So, after a fun date with my sweetheart, we headed home where our monkey was having a blast playing with Abbie, Nico, and their two bassett hounds having the time of his life!
I love you baby...our first 4 years have been amazing...and I cannot wait for 94 more + eternity!

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Christmas!!

This year we headed up to Idaho for Christmas! In typical Idaho fashion it was cold Cold COLD!! We had so much fun though staying up late playing board and card games...Calvin had a blast playing with his cousins...adults sneaking out to see Avatar late and night (awesome movie by the way!) ...and just good times all around. I can't wait until next year when we get to spend Christmas with my family though! Lots of pictures so I will be brief....favorite presents? Reebok Easytone sneakers from my lovely hubby :) and my new Olympus waterproof digital camera from my parents!!! Favorite part of all? Watching Calvin LOVE Christmas!

rees and his new horse Bojo hooked up to the sleigh! He took the kids for rides :)


we got to go to the Rexburg temple and do a session which was amazing...and afterwards we hit up the Taco Bus! What is a taco bus you might ask? A school bus converted in to a fully functional taco joint! Yum!!
Calvin looking studly at the Butikofer Christmas party!


Calvin and his cousin Trevon! they are two weeks apart :)



The kids all loved playing in the snow! Here is Cal (or should I say Ralphie?) suited up and ready to go!


For FHE we did our own Nativity and Jacie brought some really adorable costumes. Calvin was the donkey :)
Christmas Eve...we went to Jake and Jacie's new AMAZING house to have some fondueeeeee! I LOVE fondue..can NEVER get enough! Here is Calvin opening his Christmas Eve present!
As is always tradition...it's always pajamas :)
Feeling full after all that fondue and watching "up"

Me, Mary, and Jacie stuffing our faces
Christmas morning!!!
We had a second Christmas with my parents and Aly when we got back to Utah on the 26th. Here is Jess in his new Steelers snuggie! My sis in law Melissa figured out how to make them! I got one too! So comfy :)
Jess is starting Calvin young..making sure he loves the same team! Go Steelers!
Calvin excited for more presents!!!

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