Mother's Day!

Me and my girls after church. :)

I had a wonderful Mother's day and I feel a bit spoiled. I was able to get curtains for my front room, a beautiful flower basket, a homemade card from Ammon and a painted picture frame with a picture of Amanda. :)

I have been looking, waiting, and budgeting to find some curtains for our front room for about 7 years. I finally found some and it was definitely not what I thought I would end up buying. Once I brought them home, I was so excited to see it blended so well with the colors in the room (especially our Greg Olson painting up above our fireplace). It is amazing how much curtains make a difference in a room...a lot more cozier. :)

I also was able to hear Amanda and the Primary children sing a song in sacrament meeting at church. It was Amanda's first time to really go up there on the stand and actually sing the song. She did a great job and she was smiling the whole time. :) It definitely brought a smile to my face. What a lucky mom! :)

Pictures of our April Adventures

Amanda, Jessica & Ammon coloring Easter eggs. :)

Amanda



Jessica & Ammon



Kaitlyn on the swings at Aunt Becky's Easter Egg Hunt

Ammon, Amanda, Jessica & Kaitlyn after the Easter Egg Hunt

Ammon :)

Kaitlyn finding the eggs, with Jessica's help. :)

Playing on the piano.

I normally don't have them play on the piano since they don't know how to play but when I saw both saw them sitting there...it made me smile. I do hope they will both have an interest in learning to play and bring more music in the home. :)

I had to chuckle on this one! I came in the famiy room and Kaitlyn had all of her stuffed animals all lined up on the couch to watch tv with her. I thought not bad for a two year old. She was very particular on where she put each one. :)

Little K :)

Amanda showing off her Cat mask that she made at Iliana's.

It has been a busy month. Roy and I also celebrated our 7th anniversary...although I was sick in bed for most of the day. We went to Sizzler the day before with Amanda & Kaitlyn. It was definitely an anniversary we will remember ...well at least the dinner at Sizzler. Amanda ended up eating too much from the salad bar that her tummy was so tight. She leaned back and said she didn't feel so good. So I took her to the bathroom. She was saying, "What is going to happen to me?" thinking she was going to blow up.. lol, but nothing happened. I even tried to prolong the visit in the bathroom. So we came back to the table thinking we were safe and the next thing we know she is throwing up. Roy caught most of it in the bread basket...lol. Gross I know!! We had a worker come and help us clean up the mess. Amanda was saying to me, "Is Sizzler going to be mad at me??". I told her that accidents happen and I am sure they would not be mad at her.

We did about two weeks later after I was all better from the flu go eat Sushi. That was one thing we were both talking about doing after Roy's competion. So we actually were able to enjoy lunch together with just the two of us.

I also just finished today the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon. It was very cold, and it snowed at different times. It was beautiful! I was able to run through the garden's and see the tulips, the other gardens, the golf course and the water falls. I have to admit the hills really got me though, by the end of the race I was sooosore especially my butt and back of my legs. I know it was from the hills. ;) I didn't have too much of an expectation on this race since I got sick during the training. It really drained me. I finished in 2 hours and the sun had come out at that point. :) It looks like I place 19th in my age division with 91 runners and to make myself feel really good...I came in second for the 37 year olds in my age division!! LOL

Motherhood: An Eternal Partnership with God

Parenting: Touching the Hearts of Our Youth

I love this short video about parenting. It really hit home with me with "Are you in there?" saying. My mom used to say that to me, to get a reaction out of me. Sometimes I would be cranky about it and other times I would laugh and say the same thing back to her. :)

Ward & Young Women Conference

I have to admit how motivating it has been to attend Ward Conference and Young Women Conference with Jessica this past week. I have felt the spirit so strong and yet I wonder if I have been spiritually starving. Lately I have been wanting to learn so many things and yet not much time. Just thinking about these things, I have realized I have known these teachings for a long time and these conferences are just confirming to me the words mentioned are truth. There is so much for us to learn and I have learned you definitely can't go wrong to put the family first. My brother, Doug, and his wife, Colleen, send over two well worth watching video clips of Motherhood and Family. I was so touched by these little videos that I had to share them with you!

NPC Body Building Competition 03-19-11

Roy is in the middle.

Roy is 2nd to the left.


Roy during his evening routine. Spotlighting just him.

The Latspread

Coming out on stage for his routine

Trophy time!

Trophy Time :)

Roy is the second on the left in the red posing trunks.

Me and my Muscle Man backstage. :)

Well we have had quite the exciting month! Roy competed in his 4th body building competition this last Saturday, March 19, at Cottonwood High School. He has been preparing for this one for 19 weeks and has been very dedicated. I have to admit when I would first think of body building I didn't have that high of respects for it, but after seeing all the work put into just competing, I am definitely amazed and realize it takes a lot of self-discipline...which Roy definitely has.

The alarm clock goes off at 3:50 a.m. so he is at the gym by 4:30 a.m. to get in his workout and back home so we can have scripture study/family prayer. Then I leave for work. His food plan is down to a tee on what he can and can't eat. Lots of chicken, fish, broccoli, string beans, avacado, almond butter or peanut butter, yams, egg whites, spinach...etc. :) We definitely have to go to the grocery store quite a bit to keep up with it all. Plus the last week of the competition is even more hard core...to tappering down the water intake and carb loading.

Roy competed in three different divisions, Junior Masters, Ironman Natural, and Heavy Weight. We are pleased to announce (this month) he placed 1st in Junior Masters, 2nd place in the Ironman Natural and 3rd place in the Heavy Weight division. So exciting! In his past competitions he has received a trophy for 4th and 5th place in the Light Heavy Weight division.

Hats off to Roy for all your hardwork, plus being a good dad, husband, and all the other many responsibilities he has. You are truly amazing!

FULL Potential, Part One

FULL Potential, Part One

A friend of mine had posted this on her blog. She is so amazing and loved her input on what she has discovered and willing to share to everyone. I feel it is so important to know who we are and not have the world try to control how we should be. It is definitely one of Satan's tactics in distracting us to reach our full potential and accept who we are.

I thought I would share this link. Enjoy!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

We have had quite a bit of snow in January and in the middle of the month it was actually sunny, comfortable to be outside, and still snow outside. I figured it was a good time to attempt building a snowman. I found a cute little snowman kit in the store back in November and thought it would be fun to put one together as a family. So the weekend of Martin Luther King holiday, we did it! It was actually a lot of fun! Ammon found twig arms for the snowman, Jessica, Amanda and Kaitlyn helped with the accessories. A big thanks to Daddy & Ammon, with their big muscles, helped to get the big snowman body stacked and ready. Hopefully this will be a fun memory for the kids. :)

2011 Pictures

New Pictures have finally come! We finally were able to get some fun pictures of Amanda & Kaitlyn. I realized I hadn't had any nice photos taken of them since they have had their birthdays and figured I better get that completed. Kids change so much year to year that I try to keep this up until they are in school and then we will do the school pictures. :)

Here are a few pictures of Amanda and Kaitlyn. Amanda is 4 and Kaitlyn is 2 years old. Enjoy!

Happy New Year!

It is hard to believe another year has gone by and thankfully we can look back on it feeling blessed and full of gratitude in our hearts. It is always fun to look back and see what we have done or accomplished in the past 12 months.

Jessica - 12 years old. Her personality has blossomed so much especially over the summer and very happy. She had braces put on in July and isn't afraid to smile! :) She has been in choir at her school. I think she really enjoys it. She is always singing the songs they are learning and even brought the piano music for me to play for her. She had a choir performance in December and did a great job! She is a excellent student and quite the leader. She is a big helper to play with the younger kids and has matured quite a bit.

Ammon - 10 years old. Enjoys math and recess, likes to play with nerf guns, really wants a air soft gun...but still hasn't gotten one yet. :) He loves playing electronic games. He played flag football this year and was able to make some touchdowns. :) He is always wanting to do the cool stuff and definitely all boy!

Amanda - 4 years old, full of spunk, always smiling, doesn't walk just runs. She loves doing crafts! She is quite the singer when she wants to...yet if you sit by her...she is always humming. Not sure if she knows how to be quiet. :) She loves hearing stories and her favorite movie right now is "How to Train a Dragon". She will even try to act like Toothless at times. lol She is anxious to be in Kindergarten already. She asks me to pass by the school and always gets excited to see the playground. She will be going in August of this year. I definitely think she is ready. She is very smart!

Kaitlyn - 2 years old. Always saying "thank you", very gentle, when sees someone sad she is there to comfort them and share her blanket with them. Her vocabulary is growing. Some of the words she says is "Manna May" (Amanda May), "Essca" (Jessica), "Hi", "Bye", "Thank you", and just started potty training. So far she has gone potty 3 times! Hoping this year will be the year to have no one in diapers! :) She loves bubbles, "Caillou" & "Barney", playdough (still learning not to eat it), very busy getting into things and dragging it all over, she likes her snacks, and always has a big smile.

Roy has been working hard as ever trying to keep a income for our family. He is a consultant in Telecom. It has been rough at times, but we have been blessed. He has been partnering with a good friend from a previous employer, Angelo. They work great together and are seeing progress step-by-step. Roy is also Mr. Mom and always being dedicated to exercising. He is aiming for another body building show in March. This will be his 4th competition! He is always good at whatever he puts his mind to.

Linda, well I have to admit I had a fun year. I cut back on the shorter running races and aimed for a few bigger races. I ran the Utah Valley Half Marathon and the Spanish Fork Half. I was lucky to come in 3 place in my age division! I also had some fun doing a Mommy Model Shoot. It was around Mother's Day. It was a blast to get all dressed up and just have fun! Then the competition on voting for shoes was in September with the pictures. There were around 25 women in Utah County who ran and I came in 4th place. Not bad! Thanks to family and friends!

We are excited to start a new year! We hope this year brings happiness and many blessings to each of you! We are grateful for such wonderful family and friends!

Love, Roy, Linda, Jessica, Ammon, Amanda, and Kaitlyn Critchfield :)