REAL Salt Lake Soccer game

I won some tickets from work for the REAL Soccer game on the 4th of July and we gave the girls the option to go or to do our standard thing. I was so happy when they decided that they wanted to go. I can TOTALLY see why people are "groupies" with the Soccer team. Our seats were great, the weather was perfect (we were seated where the sun had already gone down) and it was the perfect amount of time!

 

We got to see fireworks, ate hot dogs, popcorn, drinks and chanted ALOT! All for free!! Loved it and loved even more the memories we made as a family.

 

This chant is the anthem. The essence of Real Salt Lake and its fans. You'll hear this chant prior to and during kickoffs, when RSL needs to rally, and even when RSL scores.

 

Lyrics and Melody Written by Branden Steineckert:

IF YOU BELIEVE THEN JUST STAND UP ON YOUR FEET
AND SHOUT IT LOUD "REAL!"
HERE AT THE RIOT THE BATTLE HYMN'S BEGUN.
WE'RE HERE FOR RSL!

 

4 days, 3 states (besides Utah), 2 kids and 1 tired Mom....1400 miles (23 hours) in the car but it was WORTH IT! Grand Canyon Trip 2014

If you take a look back at the Martushev Family Goals in the years past- starting when Artyom and I got married in 2005- you will see one ongoing trend...I have had "Visit the Grand Canyon" on each and every one of them!

I can't really pin down why...It has just been something I have wanted to do for SO long and I have actually been PULLED to that place. Well. This past weekend I was able to cross it off my bucket list! And I gotta tell ya- it did NOT disappoint!

Artyom was scheduled to be on "emergency call" the weekend of Memorial Day, so I figured that I would plan a few things for the girls and myself and if he could come, then great! Well Artyom gave me the best surprise when he called and said that someone at work wanted to switch with him and he now had Memorial Day Weekend off! And to top that-he asked if I wanted to go to the Grand Canyon!!

I went into FULL PLANNING MODE and found the best hotels and best travel deals with the ones that gave us the "biggest bang for our buck" and we were a go!

Our plan was to do a big LOOP from our house, South to Farmington, NM and visit the 4 corners Monument, then drive West to the Petrified Forest, and into Flagstaff. Visit the Grand Canyon and drive home through Zion's National Park.

And we pretty much stuck to it!

As with any well laid out plan, we had a few hiccups along the way and had to make a few minor adjustments, but they were not a bit deal. Some included:

• Not driving BACK to the 4 Corners Monument since the girls would have visited all 4 states anyway on our trip! DONE!
• We had to call the hotel in advance in Flagstaff as there was a Forest Fire in Sedona (a place we were going to go visit) and the hwy was closed. But good news, the hotel was fine and aside from some overcast skies with forest fire smoke, we were good!
• We had also wanted to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon and see the skywalk, but unfortunately it was another 100 miles roundtrip out and we simply did not have the time to do so...NEXT TIME!

All in all, I could not be happier with the way it turned out. The girls had an AMAZING time, we were able to spend some much needed quality time with our family, swimming, hiking and taking pictures, and we captured some awesome memories.

NOW ON TO THE PICTURES!

Mother's Day 2014

This year I got myself a gift and bought a night at a hotel. Artyom and I have been SO busy and have literally seen one another only an hour or two a day. So I booked a night. We had always planned on taking the girls, but it was tempting to just have a quiet night with Artyom. We ended up going as a family and it was a blast!

 

I made sure the hotel had free breakfast and an indoor pool. It could not have worked out better! The weather was COLD and stormy and we just smiled as we looked outdoors form our hottub. AHHH!

 

The next morning the girls gave me a special gift from each of them. (Thank you Betsy!!). I love them! I cannot remember a time when I did not want to be a Mother. I am so grateful for these two who made that dream a reality. I have really struggled for quite some time about expanding our family and I need to remember more often how blessed I am with my girls. I would not trade them for the world. Its not about quantity when it comes to kids. Its about the quality you give them.

In case you can't read what it says: "My Mom is the Best Because...you take me out on my birthday and you spoil me. You are the Best mom ever."

And Miss Ella's reads: "My mom is the Best because she snuggles with me and she lets me pick my clothes. I love you Mama!"

 

The Tooth Fairy visits- May 2014

Sofia lost YET another baby tooth and although her front ones have not decided to make their grand appearance as of yet, she was pretty excited all the same.

This time around she decided to ask for something more than just the standard dollar bill that she has been given in the past, so she decided to write a note to the Tooth Fairy and see if that helped out her cause. She even set up a little desk with a piece of paper and pen for the Tooth Fairy to write her a note back.

Here is the note she left and what it said (just as she wrote it):

Dear tooth Faery,

what i want is a alorm clook. And plecse make it Hello kitty.

PS. write  letter back

From: Sofia

And you can GUESS how excited this little Miss was when she found that the Tooth Fairy had written a note back! I think that toothless grin pretty much says it all! Here is what the Tooth Fairy had to say:

Hello Sofia,

I heard you lost another tooth! That is so exciting! I have been so busy that my helpers are visiting children as well. Have a lot of your friends lost baby teeth? Good for them!

Thank you so much for the wonderful note. It was so nice of you to write it and although I didn’t have a Hello Kitty alarm clock when I read it, I will do my best to get you one. I hope you found the dollar I left.

Make sure to take extra good care of your teeth. Brush twice a day, floss and go see Dr. Tew. He is a wonderful dentist and will help you to take care of your teeth. I will see you next time!

Love,

The Tooth Fairy

 Man. That Tooth Fairy is quite the lady! ;)

Easter at Nana's

Aunt Nannette is great to always have get together's at their house. We did our Easter dinner a week later this year, which the girls absolutely LOVED since it only extended their holiday another week. Always fun, it was filled with egg hunts, easter baskets and YUMMY food.

Pictures of the Annual Egg breaking! Ella used my egg and got all the way to the finals! Then Artyom beat her...

All the kids got swim goggles in their Easter Baskets and decided it would be a GREAT idea to wear them most of the night. So funny!!

Our girls- getting so grown up posing with the Easter baskets they got from Nana and Papou.

EGGS-tra Easter fun

We were SUPER lucky to get to go to a FEW egg hunts this Easter year. Ill blog about the work Easter egg hunt first. CompHealth (my great company) had an egg hunt at Wheeler Farm, which was great fun! They always go ALL out with treats, music, fun and even the Easter Bunny- which Sofia would not go near...:) They had hot chocolate, juice, donuts and then the hunt began. It was literally a free for all with the eggs in different age groups. I went with Ella and Artyom took Sofia to her age group. It was hilarious! Ella was a bit overwhelmed at first and did not know quite how to handle it. But soon she was going NUTS gathering the eggs. I had a great "Mom moment" when it was all said and done, there was a boy that looked a little upset as he did not have as many as the other kids. Ella walked right over and asked him what was wrong. When he told her she didnt miss a beat and started giving him eggs out of her basket. I was able to catch a pic of her doing it and I was SO proud of my little Miss!

 

I need to let it go...not grow

I just need to let myself let her have her short hair. Ella looks SO cute with it and it really does shape her face better.

We went back and forth with Ella over a few weeks on whether or not she was going to let her hair grow or cut it short. She kept on saying long, and I think it was because "Sister" had her hair long. But once we cut it, I remembered how much I love her with an A-line cut and was SO glad we did it.

She's such a cutie and that hair style just fits her to a "T"!

 

It's all about family!

I am so grateful for my family. Not only my siblings, but the many extended family members I have. I'm in a great time of my life where memories of us as kids come up as we see OUR kids playing together. It's hard to believe sometimes that WE are now the parents.

 

One of my Demars cousins, Damon was making his way back to Des Moines, IA for his residency program in Internal Medicine and so as they always do, Uncle Kent and Aunt Betty had an impromptu BBQ at their house. My girls LOVE to go there and play with Kenzie and Cameron and they were thrilled to have other cousins to play with. Most of the time was spent outside on the zipline and playing on the fort. I had to laugh when Sofia said as Tyler was about to go on the zipline- Mom, All the adults are doing it. You need to! Adults. Wow. Yep. WE are the adults now.

 

I was able to get a quick pic of the cousins and spouses as well as some of the kids. What a great night. I simply ADORE my family.

He's back home

Artyom was able to go home again (twice in 10 months!) for a neice's wedding. We were bummed that we could not all make the trek over the ocean, but we knew it was important to his family that he be there. The girls missed him and even though I did my best to help them get through it, they were SO excited to pick him up. Sofia was just crawling out of her skin waiting to get the first glimpse of him on the escalator. When she did? She busted through the waiting area and was on him in a second.

These were the signs that the girls made. Ella would not let go of hers- even when Artyom was hugging her. She was GROUNDED.

I LOVE seeing Sofia just running towards Artyom. I wish I could have seen Sofia's face but looking at Artyom's makes me feel like I kinda did...And cute Miss Ella. STILL holding that sign till he sees it.

I waited back and let the girls have their moment with their Dad. I was so teary eyed, Im surprised the pics even turned out. But man. It was just so sweet to witness.

Welcome Home Artyom- you were MISSED!

 

First staycation of 2014

With Artyom gone visiting family for our neices wedding, I decided we needed a fun weekend to break things up a bit. So it was off to our first staycation of 2014! I got a great deal (and got some airline miles to boot!) on a hotel downtown right by the outdoor mall. It was great!

The girls went into the hot tub (it was outside so the pool was still closed) we went to the mall and did some shopping, we painted our nails,  we walked around in the sun (although it was still a little chilly- it was great to see the sun out!) we even got some FREE HUGS that a few guys wer giving out (Sofia went back twice!)  The girls decided they wanted to "get to know the hotel room better" so we took our dinner to go and went and watched Shrek. Breakfast the next morning was served downstairs and they were THRILLED at all the choices to be had.

It was an exhausting but WONDERFUL weekend with my girls. I so love being their mom.

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2014!

With Artyom gone visiting his family in Russia, I was on my own this St. Patrick's day. Well how "LUCKY" we were that a tricky, little leprechaun visited our house and played some tricks on us, as well as left some treats for Sofia and Ella. He even "kissed" their hands while they slept (they woke up to a green 4 leaf clover on their hands where he kissed them!) From green milk and a green toilet bowl, so all our cupboards being opened, shoes in the FREEZER, and many other little tricks, he could not disguize his trail he left of shamrocks and gold coins to the couch where the girls found their own Pot O' Gold! We all even sported green today- the girls in green shirts and I wore my green pants!

Happy St. Patricks Day!