M E R R Y  C H R I S T M A S

We went back to Utah and Idaho for Christmas this year. Being with family is all I wanted for Christmas, I couldn't imagine not being surrounded by family and friends for the holidays. Plus what's a Christmas without snow? And we got lots of it!

Winter wonderland. And I just have to brag... Doesn't my dad make beautiful homes! It fits so perfectly with this weather! So cozy in the freezing cold! 

This wasn't mom's most exciting holiday though she had foot surgery a few days before we got there so she was stuck in the house. Poor mama. It was fun hanging out and relaxing, just what I wanted to be honest. She did get a sweet scooter to roll around on and Addi enjoyed the rides :)

So with mom being out of commission she didn't want to deal with putting all the Christmas ornaments on the tree, which was fine by all of us, but was not acceptable to Addi! She was very concerned with why the tree had no decorations haha. So we had her decorated it. She put up a bag of gold balls, then she stepped back to look at it and realized the top didn't have any decorations and turned to Eric and said "you do up there" haha silly girl     


         

   

Warning: We are NOT dancer and this was our first time dancing to this song so it is really bad haha

My favorite tradition is Christmas Eve, we have a big dinner, we have always had my Robison grandparents over, give sibling gifts, and drive around and look at Christmas lights. As we were pilling into the car this year Hannah found some little boy clothes, turns out the Young men had done a sub for Santa and these had fallen out of the bag. So 10:30 at night we drove down to Spanish Fork to deliver the lost gifts. Problem: the family doesn't speak English. Do we just drop them on the door? Do we ring the doorbell and let Jack try his Spanish? We debated this for a while. We decided to just leave them on the doorstep. Well Jack goes up to the door and the whole family is sitting in the living room where they can see him so being the stud and unshy guy he is, he rings the doorbell to talk to the guy:

Jack: "Hola"
Man: "Hey"
Jack: "oh, Hey!"Yup the guy spoke English hahahahaha We all had a really good laugh about it in the car afterwords. Jack was actually a little disappointed he didn't get to try out his foreign language. Maybe next time :) Then we went and watched a Christmas movie to fall asleep. 

Christmas Day was fun, woke up with my two boys by my side, opened presents, had a big brunch and as tradition now, watched Dad's new snowmobile movie he got that day. This year mom put "jokes" in all the kids stockings. Jake and Eric didn't seem to find theirs very funny....

Hannah got a Justin Beiber singing toothbrush (not really a joke, she actually did want this)

Eric got baby clothes haha Mom really wants to be a Grandma! 

Jake got a nice dating book lol

Jack got a bag of coal (chocolate coal) for ALWAYS teasing Mom.

And these two are what I got to see first thing every morning... Love them both so so much!

We got the best best gifts this year from both our parents! A fancy camera and Costco membership! We really are ready to start a family I guess HA NOT! Sorry Mom... in due time ;)

Of course Max had to get a gift, but watch his little tail wagging in the begging haha he gets so so excited!

We went and spent a few days up in Idaho. We spent some time with Rose and John. They always make the best dinners when we go up, we had a full turkey dinner, Delicious! We went with the Hen House to their cabin for two days and had a blast! We played games, talked for hours, sledding, snowmobiling, and played with the kids! We love spending time with these guys, they are such good life long friends!

 

Baby Golden, most adorable little guy ever! Loved cuddling up with him!

Presley is back there, you can barely see her head poking out behind Eric before we went down the hill 

Drue, Grace and Presley

Cute Finn all bundled up

This looked like it hurt :)

We went to HangTime with Jack and Hannah, it's a big Trampoline/Tumbling place that is so so fun! Hannah learned to do a gainer, I learned to do a backflip (something I've always wanted to do) and discovered Jack is so good at doing tricks and flips! Hidden Talent?!

2012 was a no chocolate year for me :( but I finally got it back! I did it, 1 year of no chocolate was NOT fun and I DONT like it. Our NYE wasn't very exciting because we were flying home that night so the first day of 2013 this was my indulgence.... Heaven! Nothing could ever taste as good as chocolate, I am a true Robison through and through!

We got to get together with so many great friends we don't get to see very much and meet new babies in the families! We are so blessed to have such great friends and know that Heavenly Father leads us to certain people who we need in our lives and we are so lucky! This was a fantastic Christmas for us and am so glad we got to spend it with friends and family! I hope you all had a great one this year and Wish you all the best in the upcoming year!

XOXO the Peterson's

  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