Knitty Gritty

Jeff and I decided to make our own stockings. I never knew I was such a good knitter. We're excited to spend Christmas up north! I can't wait to see everyone.

Finals Week Returns

Well, in tradition of finals week, I have made myself addicted to a game. Freshman year it was Pac-Man on the Sega Genesis. Sophomore year it was Super Smash Brothers and Pokemon Snap on the Nintendo 64. Junior year...Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 on my computer. I do this. I get really stressed out for finals week, so instead of studying I become really good at video games to numb my brain and give me an excuse to do something else. I think I remember my brother Jacob once saying something like this regarding finals, "If you don't know it by now, why try?" Probably not the exact words, but that motto is ringing true in the Thomas side of me. 

Jeff is going to be done with his Bachelor in German in one week! Next semester he decided to start working for his Masters in Accounting. He was looking at job openings last week, and there were actually quite a few positions open in Utah where they need German speaking Auditors. My accounting teachers have all said there are a million jobs open all the time for accountants. Maybe that means one day we'll have a salary instead of hourly pay. That'd be the life.

It's getting kind of fun now that Jeff and I are starting to hit our one year of dating mark. We marked our 2009 calendar with all the significant events from the last year we could remember. I'm just realizing we forgot our engagement, though. This time last year Jeff was the one numbing my brain to finals as he was trying to sweep me off my feet. I remember I was studying for my Chemistry test in the Library, and Jeff convinced me to go to Denny's with him instead of study for my test. Guess what grade I got in Chemistry..."D" is for Denny's.

We are excited to have our own Christmas tree, and start some Christmas traditions. We went and cut down a tree about a week ago, and it is pretty obvious we are both amateurs at decorating a tree. Maybe we need to hurry and have kids so we can blame them for decorating it. 

Got Renter's Insurance?

A mere 4 months of marriage, and Jeff and I have already had what feels like a lifetime of adventures. It all started in church on Sunday. Priesthood and Relief Society was combined, and the topic was insurance. Jeff and I kind of zoned out because Jeff works at Allstate, so we figured we knew what we needed to know about insurance. The speaker mostly talked about car insurance, but for about 5 minutes, he really stressed that everyone needed to get renter's insurance. Jeff and I had talked about it before, but I didn't really think we would ever need it. 

Little did I know, the very next night at one o'clock in 

the morning, Jeff would wake up to banging on the door. He opened the door, and there was a cop yelling, "FIRE! GET OUT! YOUR FLOORS ARE CAVING IN! GET OUT, GET OUT! HUSSLE AND BUSSLE! YOU DON'T HAVE A LOT OF TIME." Jeff ran back to our bedroom to wake me up. When I woke up to the screaming, I initially thought our house was on fire, and we didn't have a way out. I grabbed my cell phone and ran for the door and realized the way was clear. I got to the bottom of our stairs, and the cop said, "Hey, go back up there, and get a blanket. It's cold out there." What happened to our "floors caving in, and get out as fast as we can?" 

Jeff and I ran across the street and watched smoke billowing right behind our apartment. I sat on the sidewalk and thought of every individual item in our house and how much money it would be to replace. Then we thought about our lesson on Sunday, and how Jeff was going to get renter's insurance on Monday at work, but he didn't want to do it without talking to me about it first. 

After we calmed down a little bit, we went to go see the fire and how close it really was to our apartment. This is what we saw. Our bedroom window is right above that fire truck on the right. 

We sat and watched 5 Buck Pizza burn to the ground for 3 hours just praying it would not spread two buildings over. They finally got the fire under control and contained to the one building, so Jeff and I decided to go grab some things from our apartment and head over to his parents' house for the night. Thank goodness they live in Cedar City.

We took these pictures as we were leaving. Yes, this is the fire under control. Notice the four fire fighters actually fighting the fire, and the other fire fighters putting the fire out by...standing around and looking at it. Gotta love the Cedar City volunteer fire department. 

The fire burned for about 12 hours, but we were able to get into our apartment the next morning. The first thing I saw when I walked in was our 5 buck pizza box from the Saturday night before. It has now become our shrine to 5 buck. Thanks for the good times, good food, and crazy adventures, 5 buck. 

We left our windows open all day on Tuesday, and then put our live Christmas tree in our house on Wednesday, so our house is losing its smokey smell. We're just happy that police man knew we lived up there, and that our things were all okay. And we decided it was probably better we didn't get renter's insurance on Monday since the fire was that night. With our luck, we would have been turned in for suspects. 

Well that's what we're up to. Pictures of our Christmas tree will be up soon!

Thank Heavens

Today in church, Jeff leaned over to me and said, "Oh, by the way, at Thanksgiving dinner, my family goes around the table and everyone says something they're thankful for." Since we will be spending Thanksgiving with Jeff's family, I decided to start thinking about some of the things I am grateful for...

I could always play it save and go with the cliche answer of "My husband!" Jeff is way too good to me. He cooks me breakfast on Sunday mornings. He tucks me in at night. He brings treats in to me while I'm at work. He is even patient with my crazy birth-control caused mood swings. I truly am grateful for Jeff. He's the cheese of my macaroni, the Biden to my Obama, the sunshine to my rainy day. But of course this is what the family would expect me to say.
So I could say I'm grateful for the Civic. It was a free car. And I have been meaning to share my gratefulness for it with the world. If it wasn't for that car, I would be walking to work every day, or we would be in debt another $5,000. So it has been a major blessing to have the Civic. Thank you so much Abe and Klarissa! And thanks mom and dad for bringing it down to us.


Or I could say I'm grateful for my job. Even though I never get to see that cute little husband of mine, Jeff and I are very grateful to both have jobs right now.

I could always mention Runescape. Because I know Runescape is going to make Jeff and I some big money one day. I could talk about Askaninja.com, Chuck Norris or Dwight Schrute because they all bring significant amounts of joy into my life. Ah. I can't wait to see what I come up with. And Happy Thanksgiving!

If You Had A Bad Day...

A few days ago, my Spanish teacher told the class that she keeps a picture of Fabio in her desk. He is there for her bad days, so she can pull him out and just have a good laugh.

She got me thinking about my remedies for a tough day, and this is what I decided helps the most.
I recently discovered this website called startsampling.com. It's great! Free samples. Nothing brightens my day like free stuff! Even if I don't need it. It's free!


My second guilty pleasure is frozen yogurt. One of our friends told us Maverick has this really good frozen yogurt, and you can get as much as you can fit in the bowl. I think last month we went at least 10 times. This one is more for a really stressful day. There's nothing quite like fat-free, sugar-free frozen yogurt after 3 tests followed by an 8 hour shift of work.


And who better to put a smile on your face than good old Tyra Banks. After 3 classes, I have a break from 11:00-11:50. By the time I get my lunch fixed, there isn't enough time to do homework, so I usually take a little TV break. Especially now that I know Tyra is on every weekday at that exact time. Oh. The Tyra Banks Show is such a nice break from school because you need NO brain power to watch it. Tyra is the least intelligent talk show host I have ever watched, which is probably why I keep watching. Tyra can fix any bad, stressful, or exhausting day. Just watch the videos below. It's only a taste, but it's Tyra at her best.





And if NONE of those work. This does. Knowing I'm not the only one terrified of cotton balls.

The Top 5 Reasons I Love Halloween

Number Five:
The Beard


Number Four:
The Pumpkins



Number Three:
The Costumes



Number Two:
The Treats


Number One:
The Tricks

A Merry Infomercial Christmas

Jeff and I are stuck with bunny ears on our TV. We can't afford cable. We definitely can't afford satelite, but we could afford the $10 antennas at Wal-Mart. One night I got home from work and we watched a little TV. At first, we were disappointed to find only infomercials on. Until we decided to really watch one. We were introduced to the "Miracle Blade." Jeff was sold in the first 10 minutes. I told him maybe I would buy it for him for Christmas. I saw a little glimmer in Jeff's eye as he said, "Let's have an infomercial Christmas!" And that is how the idea was born. The next time we saw Jeff's family, we suggested the idea to them, and it was a hit! So this year, the siblings of the Excell family are having a strictly infomercial Christmas, and we've been watching a lot of late night local television in anticipation. Here are some of our favorites:

NuWave Oven-Jeff and I love the "professional taste tester" in this one.


ShamWOW-Made in Germany. Enough said.


BlendTec Blender-A $300 dollar blender that blends anything. And if you visit willitblend.com, he proves it.


Miracle Blade-The only thing Jeff wants for Christmas. Because if we want pineapple one night, all I have to do is throw it at Jeff, and as long as he has a blade in hand, he could slice it midair.


Ellen shows her audience the truth about infomercials...but that won't stop us from buying this year's most useless products for our loved ones in just 4 payments of $29.99

To add onto the post before last: Last year my best friend and I dressed up like Jim and Dwight on the Office for Halloween. This is what we came up with.

A Weekend in Southern Utah

Working at Abbey Inn, I hear a lot of reasons why people decide to come to Cedar City, Utah. If it's not for SUU football games, the Shakespearean Festival, or a family reunion, it's definitely for the National Parks. Travelers from Germany, Israel, England and Canada make their stop in Cedar City as a nice central location to Bryce and Zion. As each one of them asks me which park I like better, and how many times a year I go to each park, I usually put my head down in embarrassment as they realize I have only been to Zion once and never to Bryce. So finally, on Saturday, Jeff and I were able to get a weekend together and see the beauties of Bryce Canyon! We went with Jeff's parents. Jeff's dad gives tours at Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, so we even had our own personal tour guide.

It's that Time of the Year

It's my favorite time of the year again...the air is getting crisper, the leaves are changing colors, and everybody is stressing to find a Halloween costume. For the first time ever, my Halloween costume partner is a boy. He can't be the other half of the double mint twins, or my fellow shooting star.


My creative juices just haven't been flowing like they used to. I guess when it really comes down to it, I work Halloween night, anyway, and I don't even know if we will have somewhere to show off a costume if we do come up with something, but I just can't let a Halloween slip by with me not dressing up. So here are the candidates:

Mario and Princess Peach: My mom made the mistake of bringing me our Nintendo64, so we are constantly playing mario kart. Then this idea was born. The only problem-I don't know how to sew. The costumes might end up a little hard to recognize.


Dwight and Angela: Ah. Our favorite TV show. I feel like Jeff and I could strongly resemble this attractive couple. The only problem-Jeff was already Dwight for Halloween...Just last year.


The King and Wendy: Our first idea, and possible our most promising. Still quite an extravagent ensemble for Jeff, but as long as he's got that mask, the rest doesn't really matter. The only problem-we haven't ordered a mask. And I don't know if I want Jeff to have access to that mask for the other 364 days of the year.



I'll give you a hint: They start with Nin, and end your life. A quick, easy, very uncreative costume. The only problem-I don't know if we can live up to the incredible ninja reputation.

Wide World of Sports

The long wait is over! After months of not blogging I am coming out of retirement to bring you this wonderful post. As some may know I am quite the sports fanatic. This time of year happens to be one of my favorites with baseball coming into the playoffs as well as football starting up.

I don't want to talk to much about the dodgers (my favorite team) and the amazing Manny Ramirez (he's amazing, because as you can see by the above picture he can make a bat float between his hands) so that I don't jinx them on their run to the playoffs, but they are currently 2.5 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks coming into the last few games of the regular season. This will definitely be a nail biter. Let's hope Manny and the boys in blue can keep up the good work.

On the other end of the spectrum BYU has amassed a full assault in College football. Playing 8 straight quarters of shutout football, bumping their national ranking to 11. What a sight to behold! Let's hope that they keep up the good fight and get a better bowl bid than the Las Vegas bowl.

I don't find it to important to mention SUU's football team, well because they really don't have one. They allegedly have something called a "football team," but I don't consider what said "football team" does football. But maybe someday they will get better... maybe.

Other than intensly watching the scores and looking up stats of my favorite players I am busily study for my classes and trying to find all the time I can to spend with Sarah, which doesn't seem to be much, or at least not enough. But we are happy and love each other! Till next post.



Oh, and I got a haircut

A Humble Home

Here are some pictures of our apartment. We have been painting, cleaning, and decorating like madmen, and we are pleased with the results. The walls used to be insane asylum white. The kitchen cupboards were lime green, and our inherited baby blue dresser is now jet black. We love that we got to do whatever we wanted to the place. And now it really feels like it's ours. Let us know what you think!