Big girl...

We took Sofia to Gardner Village the other day and let her ride the horses. To say she loved it would be an understatement. My friend Plaksey got this one of her as she tried to escape back into the horse arena to get another ride. She is growing up too fast.

Now it is just a memory....

I looked at Sofia today and I just got teary eyed. I am not sure what it was, but she looked liked such a big girl...I honestly thought she was ready to grab her backpack and head out the door to school. It just made me a little sad that I will not see her like this again.. All the firsts of having a baby and glad that she is growing up to be such a cutie. Now this pic is all I have for a memory when she was our "little" maka.

Thank heaven for little girls

My friend Emily that I used to work with is now into photography and took some pics of Ella and our family for us. Such a talented friend I have!! If you want her info. (and I know you will) let me know. Here is one that I just love that she caught of Sofia and Ella.

Ella's Blessing

Hello Friends and Family!

As you may know we have added a new addition to our family, Ella Diane Martushev. This Sunday, September 7th we will be blessing her at our ward in West Jordan. If you can (and would like to of course!) join us for the blessing and a light luncheon afterwards at Paul and Liane's new home, we would love to have you! Our sacrament meeting starts at 3pm and we will be heading to Paul and Liane's following the sacrament meeting. As an added bonus, were going to have Russian and American cuisine to eat. Come join us for some good grub and a chance to get the family together. Here are both the addresses if you can make it.

Our ward building: 7255 South and 2200 West. If you go on I-15 you take the 7200 South Exit and head West to 2200. Then take a left at 2200 West and our building is 2 blocks on the left.

Paul and Liane's house: 4425 South 1300 West Taylorsville, UT 84123. You can either follow us from the ward building or check with us for directions.

Let me know if you can make it! My cell is 597-9110 if you have any questions.

Charity, Artyom and Family

Amazing...

Ok. So I normally do not post links, but a guy at work who will be taking part in a mini-triathlon sent this out to us and I thought it was worth it. Here is the background in a nutshell...

Rick and Dick Hoyt.

Maybe you already know of this story, and if you do, sorry for the repeat. If you don't, then I think you will find this quite inspiring. Dick is the father, Rick is the son. Dick has competed in several of the Ironman triathlon's and so has Rick. What makes them different is that Rick has cerebral palsy and can't do much of anything on his own. In fact, he only communicates in 2 ways. He can communicate now through the wonders of modern technology, but before then, it was basically non existent until one day when Dick discovered something. What Dick discovered was that Rick would get very excited when he felt the wind in his face. It brought a smile to Rick's face and his eyes would light up. I don't know all the details, but Dick found a way to bring this excitement to his son's life by running with him, or riding his bike with him. It then became a goal to do a triathlon, and then the Ironman. Keep in mind that an Ironman involves an open-water Swim (2.4 miles), Bike Race (112 miles) and the Marathon (26.2 miles) Take a look at this video and then just remind yourself that you can do great things!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRHxHapwirw

Got cousins?

So with every large family there comes a time (ususally at weddings or funerals) that you all get together. Well one happened to be last weekend when my Aunt and Uncle came home from thier mission in Africa. So the invite went out to all 33 cousins to come and hang out. A few were not able to make it, but we had a great time.
Here were the members of the Pederson Clan that could make it. Artyom's mom is on the far left and Jon's fiancee Heidi on the far right.

My counsin David and his wifeCheryl graciously let us crash thier house with thier other 7 kids and we had a blast at thier house. Thanks again guys!

This was just a sampling of meal time as we all came for chow time.

And this is the new bouncing baby boy of Dave and Krystals, at only 6 months old, and weighing in at almost the same weight as his 22 month old cousin Sofia. Such a cutie!

Summer Fun...Reunion Pictures

Just some more cute pics I caught at our reunion...