29 and Lookin' Fine

You know what's great? Jeff's birthday always falls around Presidents' Day weekend so we're able to go down and visit his family for his big day. Which means I'm off the hook trying to come up with a wonderful birthday surprise for him.

You know what's not great? My husband is one year away from being 30. He's fine with it, but if you remind me of his age, it throws me into a midlife crisis. 30!

We drove down to Cedar City as I came to grips with the thoughts of my aging husband. Eli was such a good boy on the way down. I think the Starburst I stole from my parents' house helped.

As soon as we got into town, we passed Eli off to Jeff's parents and we raced over to Bulloch Drug before they closed so we could have a good old-fashioned malt. I actually chose to forego the malt, but Jeff wanted the malt to fully appreciate the old-fashioned experience.

When we got back, Eli was running around Grandma and Grandpa's house like a crazy person. He loves it there.

Mary got out a darling little tea set that he enjoyed all weekend. He didn't fully grasp the concept of a tea party, but he did enjoy putting raisins in the cups and carrying them around the house.

On Saturday we spent the day in St. George. The weather was so perfect. We didn't want to leave.

As we were driving around, Eli fell asleep clutching one of David and Mary's toy trucks. He loves trucks, and his love for them only grew after driving around in his Grandpa's truck all weekend. The day after we got home Eli yelled, "Grandpa truck!" whenever we saw anything with four wheels and a loud engine.

After St. George, the boys turned on the BYU basketball game and they found my Dad, Mom, brother and sister-in-law on the big screen several times. It was the first sports game on TV I've ever been interested in.

Then we went to dinner at a Chinese buffet in town. It's actually better food than you're probably imagining. And it's quickly becoming an Excell tradition. I don't know if eating with a pocket knife is part of the tradition, but if it's not, I think it should be.

Eli's favorite Chinese food is cold ham.

Sunday was Jeff's birthday. After spending an hour outside dealing with the foot of snow that fell overnight, he came inside to a nice, warm plate of bacon for breakfast.

Eli was such a good boy at church. He was the best he's ever been in Sacrament Meeting and he went to a brand new nursery without any problems. That a boy!

We had a pleasant afternoon watching Hoarders and Iron Chef. Then Jeff blew out his candle and he was officially 29.

On Monday we went to lunch at Brad's Food Hut (one of our most favorite Cedar spots). Eli learned how to drink out of a straw and drank about half of Mary's drink.

We had a fun time (as always) in Southern Utah. Thanks for a fun weekend of birthday festivities David and Mary!