Tagged

So the time has come, I've been "tagged" twice.
Here it goes...the first one is Alane's and the second is Shelly's.

5 things on my to-do list today.
l. Get rid of my headache
2. Clean the bathroom
3. Do Laundry
4. Get gas for my car
5. Get to bed early

5 snacks I like
l. Kit Kat bars
2. Swiss Cake rolls
3. Doritos
4. crackers
5. anything with chocolate

5 jobs I have had.
l. Worked for dad
2. answered phones/made glasses
3. KBYU assistant producer
4. Optometric Tech.
5. currently insurance gal/optician/diaper changer

5 things you probably don't know about me....
1. How I broke my big toe (you'll have to ask)
2. All my many nicknames, Maj, Myrtle Sue, Mare (not my fav), Merry-death (thanks grandpa), there are a few more
3. Don't like raisins mixed with other things like in bread or muffins.
4. I have a really hard time eating yogurt...not sure why
5. don't like pickles and onions (another thing Steve and I have in common)

ON TO SURVEY NUMBER 2

What were you doing 20 years ago:
20 years ago I was eight years old playing with my Barbie dolls (some things never change.

10 years ago: I graduated from High School and went to college and met Steve on AOL (thanks dad)

3 years ago: Living in our apartment, working full time, got put in as MiaMaid advisor in Young Women's and getting ready for the Rocky Mountain Mustang Round-up at Steamboat Springs.

1 year ago: Ummm...I had a 7 month old, still kind of blurry. I was still in Young Women's but this time as BeeHive Advisor. We were getting the downstairs bathroom put together.

So far this year: Still in Young Women's, getting an exercise plan together, working on house stuff, went to Washington State, working a little part-time, and wishing for Spring.

Yesterday: Slept in till 8am, fix Gabriella breakfast, played with Gabriella, washed the food off Gabriella. Painted more of my downstairs bedroom while Gabriella was down for a nap. Saw Steve for an hour, made dinner, and went to Young Women's Presidency meeting. Got home a little before 8 pm, called my dad. Watched some tv with Steve, read another chaper from my book on Faith by "Elder Gordon B. Hinckley" at the time. Then I went to bed.

Today: Got up a bit earlier, can't remember what time. Fed baby, played with baby, went to Kohls and Albertson's (good sale by the way). Checked my email, saw Steve for 2 hours (went to Home Depot, TJMaxx and Costco.) Steve went to help a family move, he came back and I went back to cleaning my bathroom. Ella Bella is asleep and I am getting ready for bed.

Tomorrow: Get up at 6:30 am to get ready for work.

This year I hope to: Work on house, work on myself, work on being better mom/wife, visit my family and to "put my shoulder to the wheel".

Links and Chains

This blog/website started out in the beginning as something Steve put together for me to use as an outlet for writing, trying not to let all those writing classes and awesome news story skills go to waste. I never really got into it and so Steve was the main contributor, then we used it as a place to write reviews and finally it has become our family journal. Of course after Gabriella was born there were many more pictures to post and that made it easy for me to let our family far away see what we were up to. Lately I think I've felt the need to just write, it might have something to do with finding a stack of articles I wrote for NewsNet and the BYU newspaper the other day. (FYI: I Googled my maiden name and my articles still show up, crazy!)

Interview with President Bateman during BYU Women's B-ball game/ KMBC

Maybe a part of me doesn't want to let all that schooling go to waste, but if that was the case I would be working for channel 7 or Fox, right? I think about that once in a while and wondered why I wasn't so gun-ho, I think that the environment and constrictions of flexibility is what decided it for me. Working Sundays, no holidays off didn't sound very appealing, especially when my family was so far away. I wouldn't say living far away is great, indeed it is a double edged sword so I try not to get cut.

I thought about something Steven's father said when we were snowed in at their house having our own Sacrament meeting. It didn't really sink in at first but looking back I understand what he meant. He talked in essence about family. Keeping in touch with your family, being close to your family, creating and keeping those bonds intact with those who you may not see very often but certainly could call more.
I don't know of too many others that can say they got to eat lunch everyday with their Great-Grandmother who lived 2 houses down from the High School. Granted she tried to make Grilled Cheese by putting the bread in the toaster first, and who got locked in her bedroom one day, luckily I was there to kick the door down.

Not too many I guess have had the chance to have birthday parities where both sets of Grandparents came every year and who came to watch your basketball games even if you didn't get to play very long. Not too many can say they got to know 3 out of 4 great-grandmothers. On the other side of that sword sacrifices were made just to give their children that chance. I wonder how their lives could have been different. Were there negative effects right along with the positive ones of living in close proximity to immediate family. I think every family is different, location plays a big part of it and each has to make the choice for themselves. I am grateful for the sacrifice my parents made to give my siblings and I the chance to create those bonds. It is a little past due, but it makes me so happy to see them have the opportunity to finally go their own way and do what is best for them.

So I guess what started out as a whining note metamorphosed into a heartfelt thank you to my parents for their sacrifices and the chance to create bonds, now it is up to me to keep them strong or to be that link in the chain of generations that breaks.
Thank goodness for emails, "I Chat", and airports.

"Never permit yourself to become a weak link in the chain of your generations." (Keep the Chain Unbroken: Gordon B. Hinckley, Nov. 30, 1999 BYU Devotional)

A rather strange post

We all know that pregnant women can get some interesting cravings and who doesn't crave chocolate, but for me (by the way I'm not pregnant) I finally gave in.

Some people crave meat, some others dirt (inside joke) and last week I was craving salad wraps and cucumber sandwiches.


One of my favorite places to eat at BYU made salad wraps, and they were so good. So here is my attempt to make my stomach happy now I just need some chocolate.

What is your strangest craving?

Chopsticks

I thought it would be nice to document one of the fun Young Women's activities we did last month.
We decided it would be even more fun to combine the activity with the Mia Maids and Beehive class.

Me eating sushi for the first time...don't worry it was all cooked

The evening was centered around an article I found from the "Friend" magazine. Here is the link if you ever want to read it:
http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=21bc9fbee98db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=48238526addab010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1
It talks about the power we have and the force for good we can be when we are all united and working together.
We decided to expand the evening by eating Asian food. We had stir-fry, won tons, sushi, and Japanese candy. One of the leaders brought Hello Kitty chopsticks and stuff for the girls to make origami.

Gabriella really likes hanging out with the big girls

We had the lesson, ate and ended the night with a martial arts demonstration from Sarah, one of the beehives.

The girls left with a nice pair of chopsticks to use. They work really great for long hair.

Does She Dazzle You?

Yep, this little one dazzles me everyday.

(Will you by my Valentine?)




Gabriella is growing up (too fast for me). She is saying more words, making new discoveries, and getting into lots more trouble.

First I suppose I should start with our pre-valentine's day get-a-way. Thanks to Steve's many nights in a Marriott over the past year or so, we had enough points to stay across town at Cherry Creek in the JW Marriott. It is probably the second fanciest hotel I've stayed in, the first would our one night at the Ritz Carlton in Florida. That one was a bit too fancy but still very cool.





After we checked into the room we headed across the street to the mall and to let Gabriella play on the giant plastic breakfast food. Her favorites included the bacon slide, crawling on waffles, and walking on fried eggs.

(Me and my messy girl)
On to Valentine's:
This year I decided to make some cookies Steve made me when we were in college and I'm happy to say they turned out great!

After Steve got home from work I surprised him with the table all decked out with pictures of us from when we first met and from college. For dinner we had Tater-tot Casserole. YUMMY!
Here is Ella Bella eating her Valentine's day dinner. She dumped her dinner off her plate and here is what happened.

Let me leave you with this, we taught Gabriella how to sign "I love you".
"I LOVE YOU"

Visit To Washington

It feels like it has been so long since we last updated you on our adventures but at least I have a good excuse..."The Flu." Let me start at the end...on the way back from Washington State to Denver. After another delay we made it to our connection in SLC just in time. The plane was only half full and so we got 3 seats all to ourselves. It was great. Gabriella was fussy and climbing over us as expected but after she sat on me and got up there was the strangest smell. So I turn the light on and saw "stuff", okay diarrhea. Yes she had an accident that went up her backside and the majority of it ended up on me. To be exact the left side of my shirt and jeans...so gross! The next day I didn't feel so well and thought I had a cold, well as this week had progressed everyday has gotten worse. Steve's been great, taking care of us. Gabriella is sick too, only problem with that is that she wants me to hold her all the time. So I've succumbed to laying on the couch and letting her sit on me. Today is better but I feel so tired. Enough of that, time for a flashback.
Here are some pictures of our fun weekend with Steve's family.









"Pick a boo"