Fall Fotos

My cousin Josh has started a Photo business-www.jsnowphotography.net. He has done a few photo shoots of us in the past and I am excited to see his work come to life. These were a few of the "Fall Fotos" we were able to get of the girls and fam. Go check him out!

I love looking at pictures of the girls when they are side by side. One- a brown hair/brown eyed beauty, the other- a blonde hair/blue eyed cutie!! Love it!

Got Milk?

So here's the thing...I work. I love my job, but it does not allow me to be home all the time and sometimes it is up to the Red Flame to take care of our darling little angels...THIS is what happens when you have 1 Russian Red Flame (who was not watching very close), 2 little angels turned heathen and 3 pounds of trix that they found in the cupboard. Artyom greeted me with the pics he took of the girls and as I looked to Sofia for answers, she said. "But Mama, we just wanted a snack...." When Artyom's back was turned trying to clean up the mess, this is where he found Ella. She was probley going after the Cocoa Crispies next!

Yep. A kitchen scattered with TRIX. And we don't have the smallest of kitchens...

Sofia doing her best to "rid the kitchen of evidence" before I got home...

Nursery Rhyme Halloween

I DID get the girls' outfits to both go trick or treating at my office and then that night. We went as Mary...and her sheep! Thank you Martha Stewart! I always had this "dream" of sitting at a sewing maching and humming along a Disney inspired tune as I so delicately made my children's costumes filled with a mother's love and tender care. The reality?! I was still sewing a few mintues before we walked out the door and mumbling profanites under my breath, swearing I would NEVER try this again. Fast forward a month-I'm over it now and will indeed attempt the making of costumes again. Iloved how they turned out too much not to. I just may have to start making them in November next time around....Its all about that learning curve folks!

The girls with THIER Betsy.

Trick or treating fun at the office.

Mary and her lambs

Only Sofia and I were brave enough to face the DOWNPOUR of rain and wind and go out to a few houses. She had a blast though, and it was all worth it. She and Ella were adorable and it was so fun to have another set of memories with our family.

Halloween at preschool

Yeah. Still behind. I had to get these up for Grandpa-if no other reason! Since I was not quite done with the girls' costumes when Sofia had preschool, we had to make do and come up with something quick! Call me "catty" but I thought it was cute!Sofia could not be outdone and decided she wanted to be a cat too. Pardon the "no pants" we were trying to potty train!

Take 5!

Yep. 5. That is how long the Red Flame and I have been married. We celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary on December 10th. What is funny, is the number of years that I have actually known him...That number is a bit more impressive...a whopping 12! However, there were quite a few things that needed to happen in between that first meeting and the "I do's". They did and here we are. Since you may not know the many things that makes Artyom, well the Red Flame, I decided to share the list I gave to him for our Anniversary. Following the top 10 list, Artyom is getting one a day, so if he has decided to check our blog and read ahead- well so be it!

31 Reasons of why I love you- A TOP 10 and one for each remaining day of the month!

1. You always say you love me before hanging up the phone.
2. You do the right thing...regardless of the consequences. What an example of how loyal and how much integrity you have. I hope the girls learn that about you at an early age.
3. Date nights are important to me...I am SO glad that they are importnat to you too!
4. You are not picky about my cooking, even when it's hot dogs and mashed potatoes (a staple from both our mission days!)
5. You are true to the covenants we made in the Temple together. We are in this together and I would not have it any other way.
6. You are determinded to have the girls speaking Russian. It was one of the many reasons I married you. I love Russia, I love the language, the culture and you keep it alive in our family.
7. You would take the shirt off your own back before you would let another person go without one.
8. You tell the girls how beautiful they are every time they show you what Mama has dressed them in and how she has done their hair for the day. It means the WORLD to Sofia.
9. I know, without a doubt, you love our girls. Even though they drive you crazy sometimes, you still love being thier Papa.
10. We will make it to the place where we want to be. We WILL be an Eternal Family.
11. You eat leftovers for lunch, even though we just had the same thing for dinner.
12. You buy me flowers (on occasion) even though before we got married, you said you never would.
13. You stayed with me ALL 3 DAYS in the hospital when we had Sofia. I have not forgotten how nice that was having you there.
14. You let me go on my "Girls Night Out" to have a break.
15. I can count the number of times I have ever vacuumed since we have been married, on one hand...and I LOVE it!
16. I have yet to mow the lawn...even though I KNOW I could do it to your satisfaction.
17. You let me dress the girls in the matchy-matchy dresses and you never make fun of me for it.
18. You read Russian stories to Sofia every night. I know how much it means to her.
19. You have successfully (by this point) potty trained Ella. That is a HUGE thing off my shoulders.
20. You trust me with the coupon shopping-knowing that I really am getting the best deal.
21. You love being with my family- all the brothers, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins that you married into. You really love going to the many events that we have.
22. You let me clutter the kitchen table with all my sewing stuff, and never put up a fuss. Thank goodness we have the bar to have meals at!
23. You let me take over the TV on Thursday nights, so I can see my favorite shows.
24. You hand over your paycheck when you get them, no questions asked, knowing Ill take care of what needs to be paid. I may not like all the responsibility, but I am glad you trust me to do so.
25. You take care of the girls when I go out of town on business and make sure they are fed, dressed, loved and tucked in at night.
26. We may not have the biggest house, but we have a home and that is what matters to you.
27. I know you go without things you would like at times, but you never seem to complain or let it bug you.
28. You never raise your voice to a point of yelling. You may tease an awful lot, but you are never mean.
29. You love parties (Russian or American filled ones) as much as I do, and leave our home open to everyone you meet.
30. You remind me that even though I think we may not have enough...it is always more than you ever had growing up. And it is plenty.
31. When my request of "I need attention" is heard, you answer it with a hug and let me know that I matter too.

Sunny (memories) in December

As I am trying my hardest to catch up, I failed to post these of the girls at the bouncy houses in Park City. It was during the Pederson Cousin Reunion and we tried to hit the Alpine Slides. The line was SO incredibly long, we would have been waiting all day for the 10 minute thrill ride. Luckily, they had some bouncy houses set up and we used the money instead to by the 3 girls (Sof, Ella and Mady) a wrist band for an hours worth of jumping, sliding and as Sofia says "getting the wiggles out". Mady was not too sure about the slides and very quickly vetoed that one and stuck to the jumping house. Ella however, could not be "one-up'd" by big sister Sofia and had to climb the ladder and go down the big kid slide, over and over and over and over... well, you get the idea! Sweet Mady...Look at that little champ! She could barely reach the ladder rings, but she did it!This was Ell and Sofia each time after they literally ROCKETED down that slide. Sof was always all smiles and Ella? We could never tell if she loved it or was terrified!! Probley a bit of both! But she turned around and did it all over again. That girl is a ROCKSTAR.This was Mady's one and only attempt at the kid slide. She was screaming the whole way down.

They had a fantastic time, and I needed to post them. So I figured with the foot and a half of snow that we have at our house, I needed some warm thoughts coming my way. Happy December!

Family pics...revisited

So, here's the thing. We ATTEMPTED to do some family pics in the Fall, the weather was great, we went up a canyon, the girls looked cute, and nope. There was no WAY we were going to get them to both look at the camera. Smiling? That was not an issue. It was that they would say "cheese" to thier little heart's content, but with eyes darting every which way...it was disheartning.

So we tried again. This time in the freezing cold (I believe it was about 25 when we were out) and I am hoping for ONE good family pic. We did get some cute ones of the girls though. Even if they were'nt looking directly at the camera. ")

Man. Pictures were SO much easier (not as much fun- but definitely easier) when they were babies!

1st Bi-Annual Pederson Cousin Reunion

We decided at a random family get together that we needed to get the cousins (both us "grown-ups" and our kids) together much more often than we do and decided a reunion would be the way to do it. So the plan is to have a Pederson Cousin Reunion every other year.

For our first one, we headed to the condo in Park City (Thanks Trice!!) and had a blast. The girls had so much fun with the other cousins and we grew closer as an extended family, cause really? Is'nt that what it's all about anyway?!

This was the saving grace with the kids at times. Here Sofia and Sam are "taking turns"

As you can see- it was not ALWAYS good times. Sofia had just been given a time out. She recovered quickly though. She learned that bouncing the girls who were littler than she in the bouncy was not the best idea...

Sweet Ella. I tried to mimic her "dazed" look from the parade that morning. We had been up many hours already by this time. She took it like a champ though and loved it.

Mady Mae at the BBQ- we were lucky enough to get the last of the summer warmth and the kids all had a blast picking up as many pinecones as they could find.

Sofia on my shoulders-her much preferred way of travel.

It was so much fun watching the girls anxiously await what was coming up the street. They love parades and we had so much fun watching it that morning.

Heeeerrres Woody! Paul and Liane's newest addition. Woodrow Paul. What a doll that kid is. A chunk and a half, he is the easiest baby to get to laugh. Its awesome.

This was game night. We played the game "Celebrity". So much fun! All the kids did really well. Here is Paul with his two. Mady and Woody. Check out Woody's stare down of his sister's sippy cup!

Sweet Ella. Right before she decided to put one of the dried pine needles in her ear. We didnt know it until she came in and pressed her cheek up aganist mine. Screams errupted, and we figured out what it was. Thank goodness for Patrice's tweezers! No harm done and she has not put anything foreign in her ear since!

Sofia LOVED this cow! We went to ice cream after dinner and the line being pretty long, the cow was a much needed distraction.

This place was soo good. The girls ate up this pizza and loved it!

If Only...

That has been the question on my mind pretty heavily as of late. If only is a pretty bold way to start off a thought, and it can get you into trouble if you let it! Case in point: Life has happened once again and as my Dad has said to me more than once in my life "It could always be worse." Yeah, Im in a "the glass is half empty" kind of mood today. He is right. I have been looking at all the "if onlys"
-if only Artyom would find a job that were supposed to get
-if only I could leave that 2nd job behind once and for all
-if only we could expand our family NOW instead of later
Then I was once again reminded...instead of if only, why can't I think "only if".
-only if we do what were supposed to do will we see the blessings.
-only, if I were to have left that 2nd job behind when I wanted to, we would not have the tiny extra we DO have to keep us going right now.
-only, if we would have expanded our familiy when I wanted to, we would be in a much different place right now.
I just dont know how y'all do it. I love reading the many blogs that friends of mine have and it seems as the woman of the house does alot of it. I know these women. They have kids, they have daily duties, they have errands to run, mouths to feed, children to teach, houses to clean, how do you do it?! I am in humble awe over you. And thought that holiday or not, you deserved a shout out.
I know alot of people are posting the things they are grateful for this month, and I did last year. I think I need to do it again. I may wait till December...one reason being that I feel like enough of a slacker as it is! hehe. And the 2nd reason being, I want to start the month off fresh!

So stay tuned. I'm still around, just a bit overwhelmed at the moment!

Way TWO fast

Really?! We brought you home 2 years ago?! Hardly seems possible that 2 years (well over 2 since your b-day was over a month ago!) have come and gone and that the time just keeps speeding up on me!

You are such a blessing to us and I think back about how much I wanted you in our family. I could not be a happier mama.

You had a great time at your party. Although you were a bit shy when it came to being sung to and blowing out the candles. You DID however, feel better once you started to eat your cake. Aunt Diane made you a cake reminiscent of a b-day I had in Utah when I was about 5? I thought it only appropraite you have the same. Circle of b-days past- complete.

Archived

Ok. I admit it. I am not the greatest at keeping up on our blog, althought I have every intention of doing so...I know, I know, no need to remind me where good intentions lead. I had to dig in my archive of pics to find these and am just now getting them up for Grandpa and whoever else might feel so inclined to look at them. (all 5 of you!) hehe.

So here are a few of our 4th of July parade morning. Ella was so mesmorized my the marching band that she decided to become a part of the parade itself and walk along side them for a few hundred feet or so. She would have for the duration if her mean mama did not make her come back to our group. Not before she basked in the compliments that were given her over her outfit which one mother stated, "was SO americana". Hmmm. Ok. I just thought they would be cute to make (and cheap to boot!!) Who knew 2 bandanas and some ribbon could look so adorable?! Maybe it was the kids that were modeling them...

I came out the good mama when I let her keep the slightly too big cowboy hat on, because parting with that erupted in screams louder than other onlookers were wanting to hear. Ahh, the joys! On that note, Happy August and I hope you had a great July!!