23's Alright With Me

My birthday was last Tuesday, and oh what a birthday it was! I woke up to a baby who didn't want to sleep in, but he made up for it with darling, drowsy smiles.

 I ate a nutritious breakfast full of fruit and dairy.

 I couldn't have been happier to be living at my parents' house because the traditional birthday sign was hung in my honor.

 Not to mention I got to enjoy a day full of shopping with my mom.

 Then my sweetie came home from work early. I love salary jobs.

 Dinner at the Olive Garden? Yes please!

 And I finished the day off with more apple pie.

One of my favorite things that happened on my birthday is funny and will seem insignificant to most so allow me to give the background information to justify my excitement:

We have moved a lot in the last year. Each time we have moved, we have notified the post office of our new address. It seems like all the mail that has been forwarded from one address to another takes about an extra month or so to get to us.

I worry. Constantly. We are poor and were excited for our tax returns. Especially since we had a little bundle of joy that should provide us a hefty bonus this year. I have been so stressed the past month about my W2 because I didn't even know what address I had listed and I did not want to track that thing down.

I'm thrilled to say -- my W2 safely arrived to my parents' house on January 25th. I shrieked when I got it.  Thank you, Abbey Inn and the United States Post Office. You helped make all my birthday dreams come true.

Goodbye and Hello

Man moving is a lot of work. Especially with one of these:

As soon as we found out Jeff got the job with JD Clark and Company we started packing everything up. It was a slow and painful process. I was so happy when Mary offered to throw a little dinner party in celebration of Jeff. It was a pleasant break from our work.

Jeff's BFF Will was invited, too. I often joke that Will is my nemesis because I have to compete with him for Jeff's love. It will be sad for these two to be so far apart. I guess it's a good thing they have XBox Live to keep them together.

Moving day was actually a breeze. We ended up being three hours ahead of our original ETA. It was weird to move out of Cedar. I still feel like I'm on vacation and we're due back there any time.

Jeff and I squeezed in a weekend of house hunting and then he started his job first thing Monday morning. He has really been enjoying it so far. They have free M&Ms all the time. I think I would enjoy it there, too.

(Notice the key card clipped to the right-hand side of his pants. So official. I still can't believe he has a real job.)

Eli's been having fun at granny's. I don't know if granny has had as much fun constantly retracing his paths to clean up slimy mirrors, spit-up in the carpet and crackers mashed on the floor, but we're glad she's willing to put up with us for a little bit!

Better Late Than Never

For Christmas last year I thought I would do something really nice for Sarah. We were on a tight budget so I couldn't spend a lot of money on her. I was struggling to find the perfect gift for her when I thought to myself "I'll make her something."

Since we've been married we have had an old metal bed frame that has caused nothing but problems. A couple of months after we were married I sat down on the foot of the bed to put my shoes on and 'crack!' the box spring broke. Since then the bed has just been getting worse and worse. So, I had the genius idea to build Sarah a bed for Christmas.

This, unfortunately, was a lot more work than had I anticipated. I had planned it only taking a couple of weeks to finish, but instead it took a couple of months. My initial plans to give it to Sarah for Christmas were dashed. But I was determined to finish it and with our move coming up it had to be sooner than later.

That past couple of days my friend Will and I worked long hours and finally got it done. I have to mention most of the credit goes to Will. He is very knowledgeable when it comes to woodworking and he sacrificed a lot of time to make this happen. Here are a few pictures of the finished product:

So merry late Christmas/happy early Birthday Sarah!

Evidence of Our Excitement

I forgot to post these pictures with the last post. The first two were taken moments after we found out Jeff got the job:

 We decided to buy some sparkling cider a few weeks ago so we would be prepared to celebrate the moment Jeff received a job offer. We were tempted to drink it on New Year's Eve. I'm glad we chose to save it.

 This is me toasting. Here's to you, Jeff! Congratulations!

I do feel like I should say -- it is obvious Jeff is going to miss Cedar City, but I think I'll miss it more than I expected to. It took me a while to get attached to Cedar because it started as a short-term plan for me. I thought I would only be here for my college education and then leave as soon as I could. That all changed when I married a Cedar boy, so it's been interesting as this little town has slowly become my home.

I'm glad Jeff's parents live here so we have a reason to frequently come back to the place where we met, fell in love and started our lives together. It's sad to move on from a place that is now special to me, but it's definitely exciting to start a new adventure together.

JD Clark and Company

Jeff has just accepted a job offer from JD Clark & Company in Ogden, Utah. We are so excited for this opportunity. We have heard only great things about this company so we feel very blessed with our current situation. I want to thank everyone for your prayers over the last few months. We appreciate all the support from friends and family and couldn't wait to share the news!

Good For A Laugh

Whenever my mom is saying goodbye to us after a visit, she always says, "It was fun to see Eli. He's always good for a laugh." This kind of concerned me at first. What does that even mean? But I'm beginning to see what she's talking about:

Stories of Jeff Excell - Seat Swiper

Getting four girls to church early was a rarity. For some reason clothes never seemed to fit right on a Sunday morning.

But one Sunday (to Jeff's delight) we actually made it in our seats with minutes to spare. Jeff took the unique opportunity to strategically place his scriptures next to me. As he got up to pass the sacrament he said, "Save that seat for me. . . Unless you were saving it for 'You Know Who.'"

"You Know Who" is the "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" of our story. Jeff loved to tease me about Tanner. I always laughed and rolled my eyes. How many times did I have to tell Jeff that You Know Who and I were kaput?

Apparently I told Jeff one too many times and You Know Who not enough.

As I reached for the hymn book before the opening song, in walked You Know Who. We made eye contact. I quickly looked away. He didn't take my vague hint. Before I knew it, Jeff's scriptures were two chairs away and You Know Who had swiped my neighboring seat.

Jeff saw everything. And laughed. It was too good not to laugh. Even if you are the one whose scriptures were being tossed around and even if it was the seat next to the love of your life that was stolen right before your eyes. Jeff called it. He knew. He's seen it before. The risks of passing the sacrament I guess.

Jeff got back to his seat which was now two seats away from me.

We passed notes behind You Know Who's back the whole meeting. You Know Who didn't really appreciate that. But he was a seat swiper. He had it coming. And he finally caught the hint that we might be over.