Snow!

One of the best things about living in California is that most days this winter have been sunny and in the 60s.  Yet, we can drive 1.5 hours and surprise! we're in a Winter Wonderland.  On Monday we took advantage of Bryan's day off and drove to Lake Tahoe.

 It was so beautiful up there!

We bundled Jilly up and at first she loved it!

 After a while she wasn't so happy- I don't think she was cold, she just hated being so bundled up that she couldn't move at all!  

We love visiting snow instead of living in it!   

Croutons

I love croutons.  They're my favorite part of any salad, which tells you a little about my healthy eating habits.  But lately I haven't liked any of the croutons we bought at the store- too crunchy, too garlicky, too bland, etc.  This week I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I had heard of people making their own croutons and figured I would give it a try.  Turns out it is totally easy and cheap (Am I the last person to figure this out??)

I bought a $1 loaf of french bread at Walmart.  We ate half of it with our dinner and I ripped the other half into crouton-sized pieces.  I melted 4 tbl of butter, added some parmesan cheese, onion powder, and garlic powder.  I spread my bread pieces on a cookie sheet and poured the butter mixture over it then cooked them at 350 for 15ish minutes (I checked on them a lot to stir them around and see if they were ready yet.)  And, just like that, I am a salad lover again.

(not my picture, but mine looked very similar)

a LOVEly day

Yesterday I missed teaching more than I ever had before.  Valentine's Day was my favorite day of school- valentine's boxes, parties, handing out valentines, writing love stories- it was all so fun and exciting.  Nevertheless, it was a very wonderful Valentine's Day around here.

It started on Sunday morning when Bryan made yummy pancakes for breakfast.

On Monday we woke up to a great surprise- my cute new friends Miranda and Emily heart attacked our door!

After braving the rain to go to the grocery store Jilly and I cuddled up for a Valentine's nap- delightful.

When Bryan came home I made Chicken Bryan from Carrabba's (my mom gave me a book for Christmas that has recipes from lots of different restaurants.)  Yes, it really is called chicken bryan, that may be part of the reason why we like it so much.  The other reason is that it is what we ate four years ago on Valentine's Day after Bryan proposed to me!  We also opened presents- a bumbo for Jilly, a hat for Bry, and the Harry Potter cookbook and some beautiful flowers for me!

(that white blur is a pacifier falling)

When Jilly went to bed Bryan and I ate cookie pie, played Scrabble, and watched Enchanted, what a great husband I have!

Hope your day was lovely too!

Happy VDay

we love you!

three months

In the past month Jilly has become very social- she smiles, laughs, and talks to us all day long.  She also loves music.  When you sing to her she'll smile really big and sometimes sing along, and she loves to sing at the animals that hang from her play mat.  She rolled over for a weekend but then decided she was above that so she won't do it anymore despite all the encouragement we give her.  She is also very strong- when she's lying down on her back she lifts her head up so it looks like she's doing crunches.  She loves to sit up (with us supporting her of course) and look around at everything.  She is such a good baby.  I love that I can take her anywhere without worrying about her crying or being difficult.  Lest you think she's perfect we're still working on the whole sleeping thing.  She still wakes up two times a night to eat and for some reason is under the impression that 4am is an appropriate time to wake up for the day.  We're trying to clear up this misunderstanding and she's slowly getting better. Today she slept all the way until 8am which was heavenly!

I get more joy than I could ever imagine from watching this little girl learn and grow.  We love her more and more every day!

Jazz Game

On Monday night the Jazz played against the Sacramento Kings.  We went to the game with Bryan's coworkers.  I think it's funny that I lived in Utah for 6 years and never went to a Jazz game but now that I'm in California I got to see them play.  We had a lot of fun; it was a very close game but the Jazz pulled it off in the end.  

Jillian and Kylie are only 6 days apart- sure to be best friends 

Jilly stayed awake for approximately 15 minutes of the game then slept the rest, even through all the noise- what a champ!

Dad's Visit

We loved having my dad here for the weekend.  We wanted to show him everything great about the Sacramento area.  Almost everyone I've talked to associates Folsom with the Folsom Prison and Johnny Cash so I thought we'd check out the Folsom Prison Museum.  Turns out it's really not that great.  It was teeny tiny and very low-budget; it took us approximately 20 minutes to see everything there.  The most exciting part was when we missed the parking lot and almost entered the actual prison gates.  A friendly police officer authorized me to do an illegal u-turn to get back to where we needed to be.  It felt quite exhilarating to do something so risky right outside a prison!

On Saturday morning we strapped Jillian in the BOB (looove my new stroller) and went on a run together.  Bryan and Dad were very kind to go slow for me for the first few miles then I took Jilly home and the guys did their real run.

That afternoon we took advantage of the 75 degree weather (come visit us!) and explored downtown Sacramento.  Turns out it was museum day so we got to go in the Train Museum for free.  It was a great museum, but super crowded.  I think it may be worth it to pay and go back when it isn't wall to wall strollers and people.

Dad, Bry, and Jilly by the American River and some cool buildings 

Old Town Sacramento 

Our little family enjoying the train museum

Jilly loved having her grandpa here to play with her

Folding a Fitted Sheet

For years fitted sheets have frustrated me.  I could never figure out how to fold them, so they would inevitably end up wadded up in a messy pile.  I thought it was impossible to fold them nicely until I saw Martha Stewart on Oprah giving instructions on how to fold sheets.  Martha may be great at many things (like committing a felony) but she is terrible at teaching how to fold a fitted sheet.  I tried to follow along but she went totally fast and didn't even show how to do it.  She started the process then some helpful behind the scenes guy brought out the finished product. Lame.  But I decided that in 2011 I was going to master folding a fitted sheet and spotted this tutorial to help me.  I used it today and while it doesn't look perfect, my folded fitted sheet looks immensely better than it used to.

The best part of the tutorial is when she says, "One of the greatest challenges in your life will be learning to fold a fitted sheet."  Sign me up for that life.

Blessing Day

Jillian Kate was blessed in church yesterday. It was the most beautiful day we could have asked for, 74 degrees and sunny and Jilly was a perfect baby- no crying at all! We were so happy to have lots of family there. My dad flew in for the weekend which meant so much to me. Bryan's parents, brother, grandparents, aunts, and uncles drove from various areas of northern CA and helped provide a delicious feast. Bryan and Lisa were so nice to come as well, Jilly's boyfriend wasn't too happy about sharing his mom's lap so he kicked Jilly the whole time. Lisa, eight months pregnant, looks absolutely gorgeous.

It was lovely to celebrate this sweet little girl that we love so much.

Crafty

I've found time to squeeze in a couple of fun crafts lately.  First, I made these tissue paper kissing balls.  I found the idea here.  They were pretty easy but took me a long time. 

I put the kissing balls in this vase- hooray Valentine's decor!

Jillian's bows were starting to get out of control and I saw one of these "bow holders" at a store in VA for about $20.  I decided it would be easy (and cheap!) to make one of my own.

I just got 2 different sized ribbons and sewed them together every 5 inches and put a d-ring at the top to hang it by.  It is so nice to have all of her bows and flowers easily accessible now!

I didn't really do much for this but I finally hung my old pointe shoes in Jilly's room.  I found this awesome J hook at the dollar spot at Michael's (loooove that place) and I added a ribbon since my shoe ribbons were looking kind of icky.  

And, we finally have our photo collage updated and up on the wall.