Braden's Primary talk

Braden is now in Sunbeams and he was aked to give a talk next Sunday.  It is supposed to be on families.  I sat him down at the computer with me and asked him to tell me what he would like to say in his talk.  I typed it word for word:

I love my brother Austin. I like my mommy and daddy. And I love them too. I love Brooke and Grandma and Grandpa Smith and Grandma and Grandpa Critchfield. I love to shower myself. I love to sit down in Primary. I love to play Playhouse Disney. I love to take pictures and I like to see videos. And I like to do funny faces and I like to go to the digging park and Austin was naughty. I love to write on Mickey Mouse and I love to watch Mickey Mouse. I love to see my pictures and I can watch my shows on that other tv. I love to vacuum. Austin screams for daddy and he goes for a nap. I can go to pictures all by myself then mom and dad get on and I am all done mom.

I thought that was a very fine talk written by a 3 year old.  Now if I can just convince him to actually stick to the topic and stand in front of the primary.  He is so fun and we love him!

Pictures of our new home

Here are some pictures of our new home.  We got word from the bank today that they have the paper work ready for us to sign and we had the final inspection today.  So as soon as we can get things cleaned up there we can move!  

This is the front of the houseThe garage is on the side of the house
After spending 5 hours cleaning the kitchen it looked descent enough for a picture.

This is a picture of Braden's room

This one is Austin's

Here is the entry way.  Didn't Aaron do such a good job?

This is the living room/office. It looks way better in person. Aaron did the venetian plastering on the entry way and office. He is amazing!
Here is the shower and tub in the master bathroom - all done by Aaron!

The long awaited post . . . .

Honestly I don't even know where to start.  I think I will just keep it as brief as I can for now so that it won't be hanging over my head to get this post done.  Okay . . . . .  (deep breath) As most of you know Aaron is a contractor.  He has had his business for 15 years and has mainly done sub-contracting for exteriors.  Stucco, stone, etc.  If you have seen his work you know he is very good at what he does.  He has always wanted to build homes.  He is very good at seeing something in his head and putting those ideas to work for an outcome of a beautiful home.  Some of you saw the home we lived in and can testify to that.  He had someone approach him in the summer of 2007 and asked him if he would be interested in buying some lots and building homes since the market is (was) "hot".  He asked me and being the supportive wife that I am I said that he could do what he wished to do and that I would stand behind him.  Okay that was a lie, but it was hard for me to put the reins on him knowing that he has always wanted to build homes.  I didn't want to hold him back from pursuing what he had a passion for.  Next thing you know we have 2 lots in Herriman.  Keeping in mind that the market was great at the time.  If my dang crystal ball wasn't broken . . . . .well anyway.  He has spent the last year and a half building these beautiful homes.  (I will be sure and take some pictures and post them so you can see the finished homes)  Life is going along and the first house is nearing completion and the market is starting to slow down and we start to get a little nervous.  So meanwhile the 2nd home is underway and we start talking about different possibilities that could happen.  We had talked about worst case but didn't think that really was ever going to happen.  So we decide to put the house we were living in on the market and see what would sell and have faith that the Lord would direct us to where we should be.  Keep in mind that we DID NOT want to move from our current home, the area and the ward.  We loved where we were.  We had 1 offer on our home, but their financing fell thru and after 7 months we decided that we would take it off the market.  Meanwhile the first home is finished and the 2nd is about half way done.  So after praying about what to do - and let me tell you how hard it is to pray about this knowing full well what I WANT to do and knowing that what I want is probably not going to happen. But the time came and we decided to rent out the first home.  Then a little while later after fasting and praying again we decided that we would move to the 2nd home in Herriman and rent our home out.  I was a little nervous because it is a good sized home (4100 sq. ft.) and I worried if people would be willing to rent it for what we needed them to.  We put it up for rent and within a week or 2 we found some people that would be a good fit (at least we hope they will be).  They moved in the last week of February and the 2nd home was about a month from being finished so we are living in the basement of Aaron's parents until we can move out there.  It makes me so sad to drive by that house.  It was way harder than I thought to see other people living in that house.  It just must be the emotional attachment I have or something because I didn't have any problem with seeing renters in the 1st house or the duplexes.  It will probably take me awhile to get over that but I still get a pit in my stomach just typing it.  I know I am crazy.  

I know that it all seems so simple but let me tell you that it has been ANYTHING but that.  I didn't go into any "personal" details but it has not been an easy 18 months for us.  The home we are going to be living in is 2 times the size(and payment) we need but beans and rice are good for you, right?!  I sure hope so.  I will not lie to you, the home is GORGEOUS.  Aaron did a superior job.  He has such a skill for it.  Next time I go to the house I will take pictures and post them.  

That is my update in a large nutshell.  Trust me - if I would have gone into all the details it would have been a 14 page post.  My journal would prove that!

Still here

I really am still alive.  We have been in a whirlwind lately.  We are moving the end of this month and trying to pack our house with the boys has been way more work than I thought it would be.  So for those of you who have asked why I haven't updated lately - there you have it!  But would everyone please do me a favor and give me your email addresses because I am missing several of them and I am going to email our new address and such to everyone.  You can either leave a comment with it or email me (acritchfield@msn.com) - Thanks!

New Christmas Tradition

One of the huge benefits of living where we do is being able to see Temple Square this time of year.  We wanted to take the kids there for Family Home Evening last week but for some reason we didn't go and put it off and said we would go the next week.  Thank goodness we waited so we could go in 20 degree weather right?  It wouldn't be that same chilly feeling you get when you go there that leaves you craving some hot chocolate.  

But - this year we started a new family tradition.  My brother called us and asked if we wanted to go to the Christmas Sing-Along at the Energy Solutions Arena that is sponsored by Larry Miller and his family.  Can I just say what a special treat we had last night.  Larry Miller has contributed so much to our community and state.  I can't believe how much planning went into this event.  It was beautiful.  

We were able to ride Trax downtown for free and when you got to the door (free admission) they gave each person a voucher for a free hot dog and drink, a free popcorn at any MegaPlex theater, a voucher for a free ticket to a Bee's game and a voucher for a free ticket to see the NASCAR at the Motorsports Park in August.  So we enjoyed our hot dogs and drinks then we went in and got seats for the sing-along.  They give you a program with all of the words in it so you don't have any excuse not to sing.  Am I the only one that didn't know there were 2 verses to Jingle Bells?  Anyway, there was an orchestra and a conductor and it was so much fun.  

Larry Miller was able to attend (his health is failing him fast) and talked for just a few minutes.  He brought a spiritual side to it without making it feel like church (I am sure the majority of people were LDS but not 100%) and it set the tone for a perfect evening.  He looked terrible and I really don't think that he has much longer to live.  He was very emotional and he said that his wish before he dies was to see the arena full.  The lower bowl was full and the entire floor was as well.  They had an entire section reserved for the families of Soldiers and it was broadcast live to them in Iraq.  Just seeing them gave me chills.  I can't imagine having Aaron away from our family and especially at this time of year.  I had to fight off the tears at times.  There was little kids holding signs that said Dad we Love you!  Thanks to those men and women who are protecting our freedom.  Santa even made it there!  It sure brought the Christmas spirit into our lives and it is something that we will be doing every year now.

Next we went to see the lights at Temple Square.  I have not been there in years so it was nice to go back this time of year.  It was cold but we bundled up and we were just fine.
As we were leaving Temple Square we saw Santa and Mrs. Claus come out of a back door at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and we were the only ones on that back part so called them and they came over to say hi to the kids.  Austin was just fine looking at him from a distance and then Santa went to shake his hand and you can tell by the look on his face he wasn't pleased at all with that gesture.  I love it!  Those are the best pictures . . . . Braden was quick to tell Austin that Santa is not scary.

It was a delightful evening and it is now our new Christmas tradition!

Long time - no write

Okay, 5 weeks since my last update?  Come on.  I can do better than that.  

A special visitor came to our ward party last week and Austin didn't want anything to do with him.  But I had to have a picture of him screaming on his lap because I have one when Braden was this age doing the same thing.  I actually think that Santa was more afraid of Austin.  When we ask him what Santa says he will say mooooo and then start laughing cause he thinks it is so funny to tease us.  He is such a tease these days - I don't know where he gets that from unless he picks it up from Grandpa Smith!



Braden talked about seeing Santa all week long and of course when it came right down to it he got a little nervous and the cat got his tongue but he managed to do fine.  This time he asked Santa for new Nike shoes.  I think it changes daily what he is asking for but Santa had his (let's be honest it should read HER) shopping done 2 months ago and he will get what he asked for the very first time.  

We have a Christmas Party to go to tonight with some friends and we are supposed to bring a white elephant gift.  If anyone reads this before 7 pm tonight, why don't you throw me an idea or 2.  I always seem to have a brain cramp when it comes to these types of gifts.  I guess I could go see what is in the storage room - I bet I could find a slew of them in there.