Seth's B-Day

Seth has been telling us for months that his birthday was coming up. Seth turned 3 years old on July 22. The night before he was having trouble going to sleep with all the excitement. Grandma Jenson was helping lie down when he said, "I go to sleep, I see the moon, I wake up and I see the sun." Then he rolled over and went to sleep.

He wanted a green bike helmet, so we spray painted an old one of Grandma's. He also got a Lightning McQueen video game.

Carter wanted to be just like Seth, so he found a helmet and got it on his head too. Carter does everything that Seth does; good or bad.

Seth also got a road rug to drive his cars on.

Seth wanted green candles on his cake, but we did not have any. He settled for blue ones instead. Seth was very excited helping his mom make a cake. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner and he said, "Chocolate cake." We ended up having hot dogs, potato salad and root beer. As I filled up his glass I said, "Here you go, Birthday Boy." He replied, "Thanks, Birthday Dad."

When it was time to eat cake and ice cream, Seth went around getting all of us to sit at the table. He kept saying, "Time for cake." I told him to wait a second for Grandpa, who had stepped into the other room. Seth grabbed him by the hand and said, "Come on, I'm having a birthday."

I asked Seth, "What kind of cake do you want, Chocolate?" He said, "No, brown." After the candles and the singing, Seth wanted a piece of cake and an ice cream cone.

Carter enjoyed the cake the most of all.

New Kitchen Flooring

We've been working hard on our house. We got all the mudding and screwing and painting done. Now it is time to install the new flooring. We started with the kitchen. We are using a product called DuraCeramic. It looks like natural stone, but it is warmer and more comfortable under foot than ordinary ceramic. It has scotchgard protection which has stain and soil repellents. It is coated with an aluminum oxide finish for added stain and antibacterial protection.

We measured all the edges and found a center point to start from. You must avoid placing a tile that is only 2 or 3 inches wide on either side. Adjusting your center line from side to side can make larger edge pieces smaller and opposite edge pieces larger. We used Dad's chalk line to set up a guiding line and then started laying tiles. Just spread glue, then lay them down. Make sure the seams are tight together.

We laid all the whole tiles first and then the cut one. The cutting process starts with measuring the depth needed. An eighth of an inch short is best and makes an easy fit. Plus, base boards and caulk will hide the gap.


Then mark the tile and score it using a razor blade knife and a straight edge. After scoring, snap off the extra piece. After the cut, I dry fit it into place. If it does not fit, I was still able to trim off where needed. Then Jennifer would put down glue and get it in place, while I started on the next tile measurements and cuts.

The straight cuts are easy. The most difficult are those that must wrap around the base of the door jam. You must measure and really think it out before you cut. I did mess up one tile trying to get this one right. I did not waste the miscut tile though. I used it on a different corner. I think this cut turned out great and I was very proud of it.

When we first got started, the tile went down quickly. They were full pieces. We were able to put them down as fast as we could spread the glue. Dad commented that we would probably finish the kitchen and the bathroom in about 2 hours. Dad has never laid DuraCeramic. Once we started making cuts, things really slowed down. It took time to measure and cut and think things through. I did not want to rush through things and ruin a bunch of tiles over stupidity. We started work at 7 pm. I asked Jennifer how long she planned on staying. She said that we should just work as long as we were enjoying ourselves and until we were tired. We could always finish another night. We must have really enjoyed ourselves, because we worked until 3 in the morning.

At about 2:30 am, Jennifer sat down on the step, while I cut a tile, with her head in her hands. I finished the tile that I was cutting and then we cleaned up and headed to bed. Jennifer cleaned the glue off the trowel with water and I cleaned up all the empty boxes.

Here is the kitchen all finished. It looks great and we are very pleased. We still need to lay a few more pieces in the bathroom and the pantry and then we are all done.

Critchfield Family Reunion 2011

The first event was a shower for Michael fiancee, Jen. Jen was so excited about all of the gifts. We also all enjoyed brownies and milk.
The party did not last long because it stated to rain, so we all returned to our tents.
The men went golfing during Jen's shower.

The next morning the reunion officially started with breakfast at 8 o'clock. For some morning did not come soon enough, because of all the wind through out the night.
The park was a very nice place for all the kids to play while parents visited. We also participated in several different crafts and water fun.

Jeff, as always, brought his water slide and all the kids loved it.

Tyler just wore himself out. He laid down on the sidewalk and fell asleep in direct sunlight. It was so warm and cozy that he would have slept and been badly burned. I found him there and moved him to the grass in the shade. He took a nice long nap.
The day was finished off with a great dutch oven cook off. All of the food was wonderful and we went home full. What a great weekend. See you again next year!!!

House Remodeling

 We purchased a house and closed on it on Wednesday and were able to take possession on Thursday. We wasted no time getting to work. The first thing we did was pull the kitchen cabinets down from the middle of the ceiling.

 We then cut the counter top by the sink to move these cabinets to the front wall to open up the kitchen. This made a huge difference in the size of the kitchen.  Our kitchen table will go in the middle.

The next step was to remove the old flooring. We used every tool we could find. 

 We had different techniques but after several long hours we had all of the flooring up.

This had to be the worst part, removing the old vinyl.  

 Now it was time to patch up the wholes and spaces left behind by the demolition.

 Carter could not be left out of the sheet rocking fun

In the boys bedroom is a very pretty mural and I tried to talk Thomas into letting it stay. We figured that if we are going to put in new carpet it needed to be painted first. The big tree had to go. 

The first time we showed the room to Seth he turned and ran the other direction. He was not happy with it.

 He really enjoyed painting over the tree.

Carter also took part in the painting fun!!!

Cars 2

The movie Cars 2 came to theaters last Friday, the 24th. Seth loves the original movie, so we decided to take him. I had heard on the radio that they were giving away free tickets to a special showing at 10 am on the release day. They were giving tickets to people that called in and people that showed up at their live events. On the 23rd I heard on the radio that they had extra tickets. They had not been able to give away all the tickets. Some people that won had not come by the radio station to claim theirs. The radio said to show up at 9 am and they would start handing out tickets. We got their at 8:30 am and there was already a line. They told us that they were not just going to give the tickets away, but that we would have to earn them. Since Lightning McQueen is a race car, they would have the kids race for tickets. Seth took dead last. He was the youngest in the group. They gave him tickets anyway. We got our tickets and got in line to go inside. The radio station then came by handing out raffle tickets for more prizes. One lady saw my shirt and said, "Oh, we're not letting BYU fans in." I said, "You have to. It's Cars 2." They let me in. We sat in the middle, on the 5th row from the front.

Before the movie started, they drew tickets and handed out prizes. Some kid up in the balcony had his number picked. The same lady that gave me a hard time for being a BYU fan said, "If that's that BYU fan, he's not getting this prize." I stood up and said, "No, I'm right here." They laughed and continued. Then came the final prize. It was a $100 prepaid Visa card. My number was drawn. The look on that lady's face when she saw that I had won was great. She said, "No way. Let me see that ticket. Is this a fake?" I just laughed and gladly accepted the $100.

We enjoyed the movie and had a great time. The tickets were worth the cost. Seth had too much root beer and had to go to the bathroom 3 times.

Happy 1st Birthday Carter

Carter turned 1 year old today. He is such a little cutie. He does everything that his older brother Seth does. He may not have understood everything that went on, but he had a great time anyway.

He started with some sliced chicken nuggets and ate them all.

Then he had a coconut flavored sucker. It was the first sucker of this little suckers life and he loved it.

One candle for the birthday boy. Jennifer wanted to use blue frosting, but could not find any. She used white vanilla frosting and mixed in a blue popsicle. It turned out great.

This may look like a party hat, but its not. Seth wanted an ice cream cone and then once he got it he decided that he did not want to finish it. I told him to eat it or I was going to stick it on his head. As you see, he did not eat it.

Carter enjoyed his cake. He ate every crumb.

Carter got a little train for his birthday. Seth was very jealous and had to be sent in the other room so Carter could play with it.

Cutting Down the Neighbor's Trees

The neighbor had mentioned to Dad that he wanted to cut down his trees along the property line that he shares with Dad. He had planted them too close to the fence. Dad offered to help. He just wanted Dad to know what was going on if Dad saw him in Dad's backyard. Some of the branches started to touch Dad's roof and the wind was making them scrape on the roof. Rather than let the neighbor get to cutting them down, we stepped in. We did not see any major damage, but it was good to get those branches before they ruined a few shingles.

The branches came down pretty easy. They were only about 4 inches thick.

Some of the branches were hanging over the house. We cut the end off the first branch and tied a rope to it. Then we threw it through a higher point in the next branch, so we could pull it and make it fall where we wanted.

Seth was there to help. He loved the crashing of the branches.

I was not sure if we were supposed to be smiling or grunting in this picture.

Timber!

Then we cut all the branches into 6 foot lengths, so they would fit in the back of Dad's truck. We put in as many as would fit and the rest on my trailer.
It's fun to build things and see improvements. Sometimes it is even more fun to tear things down. Demolition has it's rewards too.