Fabric Ribbon Thingy

Jillian has gotten to the point where she needs to constantly be entertained.  She's no longer happy to just sit and watch what's going on.  She also now believes that any item is best studied by tasting it.  The other day she was sitting in the bumbo on the kitchen counter and she managed to slide the lid off the sugar jar and had her hand in the sugar.  Luckily I caught her before that sugary hand made it to her mouth!  So I decided this new toy was much needed.  I have no idea what these are called so I call it her fabric ribbon thingy.  It was quite easy to make and, my favorite part, it was completely free!

If anyone is planning on making one, here are some tips:

- I put an old plastic wipes bag in between the fabric to make it crunchy, but now I'm wondering if it will be too loud for church

- After I finished I realized that my ribbon loops aren't all the same size which is annoying.  But ripping out the seam, re-pinning, and re-sewing are so not my thing.  So, we're going to deal with uneven ribbon loops.  But, if you want your ribbon loops to be even, just pin them to the right side of one piece of fabric (with loops facing in) and then once the ribbons are pinned you can pin the other piece of fabric on top (right sides together.)  This way you can see what the ribbons will look like instead of pinning them blindly in a sandwich like I did. 

- After I finished sewing the 2 fabrics together I topstitched a double layer around which did wonders to make it look more crisp.

I think she likes it!

Jelly Belly

On Saturday we went on a tour of the Jelly Belly Factory.  It was fun to see how jelly bellies are made and of course we enjoyed lots of free samples!

Us and the Yagers- don't you love our fancy hats? 

Please note the massive amount of jelly bellies Tommy is holding- because it was buy 3 get 3 free we each paid for a bag and got a bag free.  Also, please disregard how ridiculously small I look next to everyone- I blame it on standing behind the carseat!

If she thinks she's going to eat all of those herself, she's got another thing coming!

During the tour there is a room full of Jelly Belly art (see example of Abe Lincoln below.)  At the end of the room there was an easel covered with a sheet and they said that it was a brand new piece of art they were going to reveal for us.  When they took the sheet off there was a big heart and the words "Marry Me Karley" in jelly bellies. A guy in our tour got down on one knee, busted out a gorgeous ring, and proposed!  It was so exciting.

We even got to take our own Jilly Belly home!

Worth a Thousand Words

Bryan loves to play hide and seek- he hides Jilly and I seek for her.  This was the latest hiding spot:

Jilly's first hike- I wish Bryan would carry me in the baby bjorn!

She's figuring out fingers and all they can do- unfortunately the pacifier wouldn't cooperate

Visiting Bryan at work

And look what appeared outside his window; there are wild turkeys all over the place here

best friends

Yesterday we had our friends Christina and Kylie over.  Kylie and Jillian were born 6 days apart.  They were delivered at the same hospital by the same doctor.  Yet, they are very different.  Kylie is older, but Jilly is bigger.  Kylie has lots of blonde hair and Jilly. . . doesn't.  Kylie sleeps through the night and Jilly. . . doesn't.  Kylie rolls over from her back to front and Jilly rolls from her front to back (but after spending time together Jillian has shown interest in learning to roll the other way this morning!)

I think they're trying to figure out how to hold hands 

On try 1,264 I finally got both of them looking at the camera (I feel bad that I was at such a bad angle and Kylie is in a shadow) 

Kylie loved grabbing Jilly's little shirt (isn't her bracelet darling? She is so fashionable, I've never seen Kylie without a bracelet!) 

They are both such sweet little girls, it was fun to watch them play together.

ballin'

We have fully embraced basketball this March.  Last Wednesday we went to another Kings' game.

 We went with friends in our ward- Kiel & Emily and Miranda & Tommy

This is how Jillian spent the first half the game 

Then she woke up to enjoy the second half.

We've been watching lots of NCAA games and have decided that Jiller is an excellent new nickname for Jilly.  And what is our new favorite song we find ourselves singing and dancing to all day long?  Teach me how to Jimmer of course!  My bracket is totally shot (I had Pitt. and Notre Dame in the final four) so go Richmond, VCU, and BYU!!!

going green

I love celebrating holidays, and there's something about green that is completely irresistible to me. 

Can you imagine Bryan's delight to wake up to biscuits and green gravy?  

I had fun making these cookies.  (I hesitate to add the link since Jaime's look infinitely better than mine)

No gross corned beef and cabbage around here (I've never actually had it, just sounds gross to me.)  We had homemade Cafe Rio salads with chicken marinated in salsa verde and with cilantro lime dressing- delish!

Because Bryan's company was incorporated on March 17th he got a day off!  We went on a St. Patrick's Day walk and enjoyed the beautiful green spring around us.

My little leprechaun girl

We finished celebrating St. Patty's in the very best way- watching BYU win!

Bracketology

In my family we don't take college sports lightly.  Every year during the football bowls and basketball tournament we have a competition among all the posterity of my grandpa and his siblings.  The prize?  Family honor, bragging rights for a whole year.  It gets pretty intense.

I have participated in the family competition since I was in high school and have done pretty well if I may say so myself.  I won twice, and this past winter Bryan and I came in at #1 and #3 (my stinkin' 8 year old brother sneaked in and stole position #2 from me at the last minute.)

My secret is this: the less you know, the better you do.  Seriously.  Here are some of the criteria I use to pick my winning teams:
- any school I have attended (which means BYU since Godwin High has yet to produce a NCAA tourny- worthy team)
- any school in Virginia
- any school with proximity to Virginia
- any school that someone I know attends
- any school that someone I know really likes (for example- OSU for my roomie Britney)

But this year I got an email from my brother-in-law-to-be (wow, what a title) that will save me hours and hours of research.  I am passing along this gift to you.

bracket by mascots
bracket by colors

Bring on the Madness, and Go Cougs!


(Did I really just write a whole post about sports?)

Easy as Pi

Happy Pi Day!
I hope you're enjoying a delectable slice (or slices) of pie.  We're having cookie pie because it's delicious and easy.

our stomachs thank you ourbestbites.com

four months

This has been the month of Jillian's hands.  She grabs onto anything and everything now- her toys, a plate full of food, flowers, her 4 month sign, and especially her mama's hair (so much so that I'm thinking about getting a buzz cut.)  She thinks it's really great that she can pull her pacifier out of her mouth.  The problem is that she doesn't know how to put it back in so she ends up crying for help.  She also loves to eat her hands.  She's constantly trying to choke herself by sticking her whole fist in her mouth.  Her fingernails grow at lightning speed and after one terrifying incident where she wiggled too much and I cut skin instead of the nail I have sworn off clipping her fingernails, it's Bryan's job.  Unfortunately we don't think about playing beauty parlor very often while he's home so she's gotten a few scrapes from those long nails.

She's so sweet and happy and we love her very very much!

Today

This morning I had a Relief Society Breakfast and I had to leave at 7:00am.  I realized as I walked out the door that I hadn't gotten any clothes out for Jillian, but I figured Bry would just leave her pajamas on. During the breakfast I got a text from Bryan that said, "Don't worry, Jill is dressed.  And she looks great as long as you disregard matching colors."  I was very nervous to come home and see what my little girl was wearing.

Santa Cruz onesie from Uncle Jeff that is size 18months, brown shirt with hearts (that is on backwards,) flowered pants, one shoe on, the other sock half on.  

I think they had a lot of fun together while I was gone.

no reply

Dear Friends,

I love to respond to comments on my blog, but most of the time when I try to reply I end up sending a message to noreply-comment@blogger.com and guess what, you don't get that message.  So, if you want my delightful, kind, and witty responses you need to link your email address to your blogger profile.   Kayla explains how to do it here.  (It's easy, and will only take 3.7 seconds, promise!)

Love, Rachel

Trash

Our apartment in Utah was on the third floor.  There was a trash bin in the parking lot below us and we decided it was absolutely ridiculous to have to walk down all those stairs just to throw away a bag of trash. So Bryan started throwing bags from our balcony down to the trash bin.  This provided hours of entertainment- waiting until the coast was clear so no one would witness our escapade, betting if the bag would actually make it in the bin, and watching as Bryan ran down to grab the bag when it wasn't on target.  Anyone else at Union Square enjoy this pastime?

Now we live on the first floor (hooray for no steps) and we have a long journey across the parking lot to our trash bin.  About a week ago our apartment complex started a valet trash program.  Every night we can put our garbage bag right outside our door and it will be picked up.  Do I feel incredibly lazy?  Yes.  But if someone else wants to (gets paid to) take out our dirty, smelly diapers, they can be my guest.

sick

Back when we were in Virginia I started to get a little cold but I had many willing helpers and it never got very bad.  My little sister asked, "what happens when moms get sick?"  My mom replied, "moms don't get sick."

"Awesome," I thought, "I've developed immunity!"  Wrong.  Oh, so wrong.  This weekend I learned that what she really meant was mom's choose to not be sick.  They're just as susceptible to germs as the rest of the world, but moms don't have the luxury of allowing themselves to be sick.  This weekend we've all been hit with a humdinger of a cold and as much as I would love to lay on the couch and watch Friday Night Lights all day long someone needs to feed the baby, change her incessant diapers (it seems like there have been WAY more than usual this weekend), play with her, get her dressed, wake up early with her, and generally keep her alive.  Besides that, all the good medicines are off-limits.  How I miss the days of popping a nyquil and sleeping to my heart's content.

Oh well, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.

a year later

Dear sweet baby Jillian,

One year ago today we found out you were joining our lives.  On that day I was wonderfully excited and overwhelmed at the big turn my life was taking.

Here we are a year later and you are the absolute best thing in our lives.  You make us smile all day long with your cute faces, your funny laugh, and the new tricks you learn every day.  You are simply wonderful, and we are so so glad to have you in our lives.  We love you!

Love, Mom and Dad

photosbymaddy.blogspot.com

In Our Lovely Deseret

Last weekend Jillian and I met my mom in Utah for a long weekend.  The first order of business was to find a wedding dress for my sister Katie.  Done and done.  It took us a day and a half and 2 trips down from Salt Lake to Provo, but we found a dress that is absolutely gorgeous on her.  Stay tuned July 1 for the dress reveal.

The bride-to-be at a shower we had for her at Macaroni Grill

Once we found the dress it was all fun and games.

 We cheered on Jimmer and the Cougs at Iggy's with my dad's side of the family.

Jilly got to meet Grana and Grandpa Anderson

We ate at all our favorites- Brick Oven, Cafe Rio, Crown Burger, and Grandma's House.

Jilly took her first trip to BYU.

in the Tanner Building- perhaps Jillian will be a brilliant accountant like her Aunt Katie

We got to see some of our favorite people.  Lots of cousins:

chillin' with Sophie 

 Chloe 

Ally

Ryan, Sarah, Jeffrey

(I don't have pictures but we also got to see Ryan's mad skills at his basketball game)

While down in Provo we got to see friends from our old ward:

 Emily and Elise (so excited to finally meet her!), Shauna and Corbyn, and me and Jilly

My lovely roomie Britney came to see us; we definitely don't get to see her enough!

It was a very quick and busy trip but we had a lot of fun.  I'm grateful that Jilly is such a rockstar on airplanes so she can be my little traveling buddy.

Motherhood

It's amazing to me how one little thing (a little Jillian to be exact) has changed my life so much.  I've joined the ranks of all those called Mother.  It seems everywhere I go I end up talking about feeding schedules, sleeping routines, and diapers.  People are constantly asking about my sweet little girl and, let's be honest, I love talking about her.

Just today I called comcast about my ridiculously high bill.  Jilly was sitting next to me "talking" to the animals on her playmat.  The woman on the phone said, "Do I hear a baby?  How old is she?"  Turns out she has a seven month old baby.  We spent the next 10 minutes talking about our little girls.  What started out as a boring and frustrating call became very fun.  As we hung up the woman said, "I hope you and Jillian have a great day."

All of a sudden I have a billion best friends- all the moms in the world- because we have something wonderful in common- we all love our babies.

Wahoo!

My sister Jenn found out that she got into BYU!!!  We're so excited for her, and proud that the Anderson Dynasty will continue in Provo.

It's a well-known fact that Bryan is Jenn's favorite person in the family- probably because he once made an ice cream cone and brought it to her for breakfast 

Jilly loves Aunt Jenn because they have matching red bows 

Perhaps she'll major in shepherding?

Congrats Jenn,  we love you!