Eye
Could be "pink eye"
Will it never end?
We made it!


It was a week ago when all the walls came crashing down. All that's left is an annoying cough.
IVs, Easter and Back to the living

To be honest the last four days have zoomed by and it's still a bit of a blur.
I missed work last Friday cause I wasn't feeling too well and when Saturday came all bets were off. I had a fever of 104.3, felt faint, very cold, and miserable. Steve packed us in the car and I went to the doc. After a strep test, a pregnancy test, and an influenza test (they all came back negative), Dr. Story said I'd be there a while and that I was going to be hooked up to an IV cause I was dehydrated. So after giving me two IVs I got a bit better and was sent home with a very expensive RX. Steve got one too, just to make sure he didn't get whatever I had. Everyday is getting better. I can actually talk a little now and clean a bit around the house.
The best part about being sick, if there even is a best part, is that I lost 5 pounds!
Gabriella and I weren't doing too well on Sunday but the Easter Bunny did come.

Thanks to our families for the great bunny treats, Ella Bella loved them!
no really she did love them, she was just feeling icky...


Last night we had a "Rock Band" party planned for the Young Women at my house. I felt good enough to keep it on and it was a great turnout.


Leaders can "Rock" too.
Not So Good...
As Gabriella would say,"Uh oh".
So after a fervent call to the doctor's office we left and took her in. I've noticed that the past 3 days have gotten worse and worse. Her lack of appetite and not drinking is the most alarming. The doctor couldn't do much for her but they did give us an RX for her cough, no ear infection for now and her lungs were good.
I guess I'm being a bit dramatic but that tends to happen when one is feeling rather lousy.
Update: She is eating a little bit and is playing with her baby Care Bears daddy bought her. He is so nice to our sick one. I'm the same but I've lost a bit of my voice so no talking on the phone for me. Poor dad couldn't make out what I was saying when he called me this afternoon.
Love you all!
*Sniff, Sniff*

The past few weeks have been pretty icky around here. It all started about two weeks ago. (For more about what happened that day see Shelly's blog: http://martineau--madness.blogspot.com)
Steve came home early from work not feeling well and after a few miserable days he got a bit better but then he bottomed out again. By the time the weekend came he was doing much better, unfortunately for me my good luck was running out. So here I am today surrounded by Gabriella's snotty tissues and cough drop wrappers from me.
Even though we feel "not so good", we still have fun. Nothing can stop a gal from getting what she wants: "Goldfish crackers"
M I C K E Y

It was so nice out last Saturday that we decided to walk around one of the outdoor malls. Guess what we found? A Disneyland liquadation store...
Here is what daddy found:



The best part is that she will keep this hat on much much longer than anything else I try to put on her head or in her hair.
Tagged
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
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
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?

(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"