H a p p y  T h a n k s g i v i n g!

This year we had the pleasure of welcoming Eric's family to Austin for this gluttonous holiday! It was so fun seeing them and showing them around our new home. As you can see from earlier posts, our Austin experience thus far has pretty much consisted of food :) so with no surprise, that is what we did with the family! We showed them to our favorite spots and got to add some new favorites to the list! First Hopdoddy seemed to win as the best on our trip, gourmet hamburgers, doesn't get much better then that! Hopdoddy is so popular, the line is usually out the door and wrapped around the building. We happened to just luck out and not have to long of a line, but having now tried the deliciousness I would stand in line down the road if I had to! Salt Lick takes the cake for BBQ, it's a bring your own alcohol place but they do have a winery next door for those who didn't bring any. John went to go get his beer and returned with a bucket! Apparently they only sell in packs of 6, so John was set for the next few nights. And for dessert, no question Gordough's is on top!

This is the picture you get when you ask your waiter to take it for you haha

He's one happy fella!

I say smile, this is what I get, "the Peterson smile" haha 

While the turkey was cooking we showed the Peterson's our favorite spot (that doesn't involve food).... Zilker Park and Lady Bird Lake. There were tons of turtles out basking in the sun while we were walking on the trail! It was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and unlike Utah and Idaho not a bit of snow, my kind of weather! And it has the best view of the city and the lake.

Watching the turtles and fish swimming in the river.

Family Picture time...again :) Haha John didn't know what he was in for when he welcomed me into the family! 

Beautiful fall trees

The handsome boys 

While we were on the bridge looking over at the turtles, I dropped the lens cover to our new camera into the water....oops! Poor Eric had to climb down and get it haha Thanks honey, you're the best!

He tries to make a mad face but he can't help but just laugh at me, he's not surprised something like that happened. 

When you have Leslie and John cooking Thanksgiving dinner you know you are in for a G O O D meal! The house smelled so delicious and the it took all my self control to just stay out of the way and not go stealing tastes! Everyone should be jealous that they don't have a professional Chef in the family like we do :)

The chef's hard at work

My favorite was the Asparagus! So so good! 

YUM! 

Carving the "Roast Beast"

We went and took a little tour of the State Capital building:

                                      

Mama and her kiddos :)

And no Thanksgiving would be complete without some Black Friday Shopping! After all, only in America do we celebrate a day of Thanks to follow it with a day of madness and selfishness haha

This year Target actually opened Thursday night, weird since the day is call black FRIDAY!? Being new to Austin we didn't know how big it was down here so we decided to go 3 hours early and hope the lines weren't to long. Ha were we in for a surprise! The parking lot was empty and we ended up being in the first 50 in line! Needless to say we were able to get in and get everything we had gone for :) Eric has turned into a Black Friday Pro! They gave out maps so you knew where they had put everything and he had our Plan of Attack all set!

Playing games while we wait in line

Planning our Attack

We had a G R E A T  T H A N K S G I V I N G with our F A M I L Y and R E M E M B E R I N G all that we have to be G R E A T F U L for! We are so B L E S S E D!

Home Sweet Home

We finally got a couch! No more numb bums for us! And the house is finally all decorated and finished, Eric is the best honey-do lister around!

We love our cute apartment and feel so blessed to be in such a nice place! Austin is feeling more and more like home everyday!

The biggest surprise for me in Austin was when we walked into Sunday school our first Sunday at church and who do I see? Shelby Pierson! What!!! Shelby was in my singles ward not to long ago and she is a sweetheart! She is on a mission, and in our ward double whammy!! Haha it was such a fun surprise and I keep forgetting to call her "Sister Pierson" she'll always be Shelby to me :)
We had "Sister Pierson" and Hermana Hopkins over for dinner this week. It is a fun blessing to have their spirit in our home and enjoy a fun evening with them. They are so great!

Sister Pierson, Hermana Hopkins, and I

The church is true and these girls are living it to the fullest!

Love,
The Peterson's

I took a little trip back Home this week to visit my family and big new....get my braces off! Yay, I'm a big girl now! Eric can now see what it's like to have a wife without braces haha

Yes I even voted :)

We have only been in Austin for 1 month and I couldn't believe how good it felt to go see my family! I miss them so much but am enjoying our adventure in Austin so much! Thank goodness for modern technology so I can talk to them everyday and do things like blog so they can stay updated in our lives! Love you Fam!

Eric was kind enough to let me stay longer so I could go run the Las Vegas Ragnar. I absolutely love these races and can't wait till I can have a van filled with my family, yes kids you will be running these with your mama one day so I hope you're lacing up your running shoes in heaven :)

This was the longest distance I've ever done. 26.1 miles. I honestly was a little worried I wouldn't be able to do it but I surprised even myself! We had quite the weather this time around. It was freezing cold and so windy for the first half! My first leg was a slight up hill 8.2 miler into the wind, it was crazy! I have never ran in that kind of wind before. It was like running while someone was trying to push me in the other direction. Needless to say it was a new experience. I had planned on it being chilly at night so I only packed 1 pair of long running rights and 1 long sleeve. I ended up wearing them the whole time and probably smelt so so bad!

Start line, it even started to snow for Shawn our first runner...poor guy

Good ol' Syd and the outfit I wore the whole time haha

This team was put together by Dr. Graf's family and they were kind enough to let me in on the fun. This was their first Ragnar and they did so good! They were such a happy and fun group! They do Ragnar with style, that's for sure! We had plenty of delicious food, a clean nice hotel, a luxury van (15 passenger vans are luxury in the Ragnar world), cow bells, and they were enthusiastic the whole time! A great group is what makes these races so much fun, after all your stuck in a smelly van with these people for 2 days straight! Thank you Graf's for ALL that you did for us! Go team Joggernauts!

I finally got my Saints to Sinners medal!
Look at the beautiful view!

I should note that I have the best husband in the whole world. He was willing to let me go do something I love so much and leave him at home in a new city. He always supports me in everything I do (even though he doubted me since my training wasn't up to par ;) but he still wished me luck and encouraged me) Honey, you mean the world to me and I hope I can be as good a spouse as you are to me. I love you to the moon and back!

XOXO

The Peterson's

Happy Halloween 2012

Halloween has come and gone. Being in a new city for such an awesome holiday was gonna be a bummer but we have the nicest ward. We got invited to a little pumpkin carving party with some couples in the ward. Having 2 days, being on a budget, and no great ideas, our Halloween costume was a cheap and easy one....thieves :)

Eric showing us his artistic skills

Of course I cant finish a blog without a food post, we are the Peterson's after all. While our friend Joel was staying with us we started a new tradition, "Sweet Saturdays" every Saturday we go try a new breakfast place. Our first stop was the crepes. Holy moly they were delicious!

Look forward to many many more Sweet Saturday posts :)

With all our love,
The Peterson's

Another great week! We are finally settled in and it feels more like "Home" each and every day. I got a job this week! Two actually... one is Orthodontist Assistant and the other is coaching a cute 12 year old club volleyball team! We had tryouts for the team on Saturday and these girls sure are adorable, can't wait for season to start!

PLUS i get to wear scrubs! So comfy and easy to get ready in the morning :)

Austin has the most YUMMY food so just get used to lots of food posts and pictures! This week we discovered Rudy's, The Cupcake, and a new staple Torchy's Tacos.

Rudy's is the most amazing BBQ and they are typically located in Gas stations, yes you read right, gas stations, weird. But if you like meat and BBQ this is a place for you! They serve your food on a piece of waxed paper as your plate, you eat on checkered table clothes like a picnic, and they have their signature Rudy's BBQ that everyone loves.

If you are in the mood for Mexican and the most delicious queso, Torchy's Taco's is where you want to go, Eric is obsessed with the queso haha He loves going to Torchy's. 

For dessert, we finished it off at Hey Cupcake!, one of the many many food trucks on Congress, but oh so yummy, below you can see Eric devouring his delicious piece of heaven. 

Red Velvet... my delicious pick!

Literally trailers, but don't be fooled.

 

Austin does have other fun things besides Food, my favorite place is Lady Bird Lake Trail. Lady Bird Lake runs right next to downtown and has so many gorgeous trees that the trail is just beautiful! I love going running there, and it's become a favorite place for Sunday walks :) There are always people canoeing or paddle boarding along the river and it's fun to look for fish and turtles. There are a lot of turtle swimming around!

We have heard about the "Austin Bats" so this weekend we thought we'd check it out. Supposedly, at dusk if you are standing on Congress Bridge there is a swarm of bats that fly out for the night to eat. We've heard so much about it that we thought we should give it a whirl. We went excited to see a few bats... oh my... there were a MILLION of them! They just kept coming out from under this bridge! I guess they come out in 3 columns, the first 2 go off to feed and they don't know how far they travel but they flew way out of sight, the last group stays around the bridge and lake to eat the insects. Its fabulous because they eat all the mosquitoes so we love the bats :)

It's kinda hard to see in the pictures because the sun is setting but the line across this photo is from bats! The video is much better at capturing the effect! It's kinda long, I don't know how to edit it haha But these bats come out of the bridge and literally just went in a line to who knows where! It was insane! As your standing on this bridge just waiting you can start to hear them like chatter, it's almost like a clicking noise the just gets louder and louder. Then they just take off! We watched for a good 15-20 minutes and they were still coming out of the bridge!

The lady next to us is from Austin and she said this is actually a small amount. They fly to Mexico the middle of November for winter. This time of year they are starting to thin out, she said come summer time, particularly August they come out and just form tornados of bats because they have all their little babies then too, it just covers the sky. I can't even imagine there being more then what we saw!

Waiting for the Bats to come to feed :)

Until next time, 

XOXO the Peterson's