Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, CAN'T LOSE!

Sheesh! You know you've gotten behind when your husband repeatedly reminds you that you need to blog more. I didn't know that he cared? To be honest, the "fourth trimester" with Rose has kept me extra busy, and the idea of uploading/posting a billion pics often just seems like a hassle. But lucky for ya'll, I finally got around to it. Here's the latest and greatest photo dump + commentary:

Like I said, we've been extra busy over here. Me with the baby/growing into this whole full-time mom thang. Jacob with his internship—and man, they have been working him hard! With NI Week 2013 just around the corner they've had a crazy amount of projects and deadlines. Still, we've managed to get out and have some fun here and there. Most of our outings have been centered around food, naturally.

cool lil' burger joint downtown

someone recommended Hut's Hamburgers, and it did not disappoint! i got some kind of "beach boys" burger that had grilled pineapple and bell peppers on it. yumm-o!

After getting our burger fix we headed over to the Bullock Texas State History Museum. In true Texas fashion, it's bigger and better than any state museum I ever hoyd of. It was pretty fun getting educated on the ol' Republic of Texas. I admit that I really didn't know much about their history, but it became very obvious why Texans have so much dang pride. They've earned their stripes! The fightin' Texans!

They had a live  blues band with an amazing female vocalist playing outside the museum. Apparently Austin is supposed to be the "live music capital" of the country, and there is certainly a lot of music here. I love it!

Unfortunately the night at the museum wasn't one of the best nights for Rose. She was tired, but had a really hard time falling asleep and so she continued to stay awake right up until it was about time to feed her again—and this, my friends, is what I like to call "THE PERFECT STORM." She's tired. she's hungry. She's over-stimulated. She has no idea what-the-crap is going on or why her parents are so incompetent! To put it nicely—she let us have it. At this point, she is so angry that she wouldn't even take her bottle, and I knew there was only one way to console her. I don't really feel that comfortable with breastfeeding in public yet (even with a cover—mostly, i'm just not that good at it), but a mom does what a mom has to do. I found a bench, threw on my cover, and gave my baby what she wanted! Thankfully, she fell asleep within minutes. Poor baby.

This has been one my new challenges with motherhood. Sometimes I get a lot of anxiety when we take her out. She's almost always happy and content, but there's always the chance that something like this could happen. The flight I have back to Utah in a few weeks? Already stressing over it. I think I'm still just learning how to adapt and have more confidence in my mothering abilities. Ironically, experiences like this have helped build that confidence.

Every night you can see this huge swarm of bats! This pic only represents a tiny fraction of the gang!

Okay. So Austin has a bit of a reputation for being a little food haven, and so far our favorite find has been a taco joint called Torchy's. Ahhhhh... love it so much! We almost don't even bother trying new food because this place is so freakin amazing! I normally don't think tacos are that incredible, but these people have seriously taken them to the another level. For those of you who know Slab Pizza in Provo, Torchy's is kind of the "Slab" of Tacos (Or maybe Slab is the "Torchy's" of Pizza? One of those chicken and the egg kind of things...). For example, last time we ate there I got a taco with fried chicken + pineapple cole slaw + chopped bacon + jack cheese + pico de gallo + cilantro + chipotle ranch + avocado. It was THE-BOMB-DOT-COM.

That little baby devil is kind of the Torchy's mascot/logo. There was a "starry night" one like this as well.

Eatin at Torchy's for the nth time. 

Did I mention the chips and queso are the best i've ever had?

Speaking of local food, we found a place called Moonie's Burger House that has what Jacob would define as "the perfect french fries."Which is, you know, a HUGE DEAL and a major win. The only problem is that fry sauce does not exist here. Fry sauce... Utah's most treasured commodity... why doesn't the rest of the world get it? *huff*

During the summer, there is a series of free concerts and performances in Zilker Park. Back in June, we went for a pops orchestra concert and a few weeks ago we saw the musical "Little Shop of Horrors." Yay for free stuff!

It was cool to see all the people who came out for the show. A lot of them were in bathing suits and looked like they had just taken a dip in the springs.

Mine and Jacob's latest obsession? FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. A few of my friends of are huge fans of the show, and since it was filmed in the Austin/Pflugerville area we thought it would be fun to start watching it on netflix. You guys. I love it so much. So much that I had to go visit the high school where they filmed the first season. Turns out it's just a few miles from our apartment, and we pretty much pass it every week on our way to church. GO PANTHERS!!!

Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, CAN'T LOSE!

The show adopted the team's colors and mascot from this school. 

Street, Riggins, Smash, Saracen, Coach Taylor... the fightin panthers! Never knew I could love a show about football so much.

I'm pretty sure that this was the little ice cream place that you see in the opening credits. sadly, it looks like it's closed down :(

As for our little Rose, here's a few updates:

She is always surprising us. The other day Jacob was holding her while eating his breakfast, and she whacked his bowl of cereal right off the table!

She loves sucking on those hands, and you should hear the incredibly loud noise she makes while doing it!

She still has the biggest, cutest smile I've ever seen.

This past week she mastered the art of rolling over. She worked and worked really hard at it, and now she's basically a pro. I guess babies usually don't start rolling until about 4 months. She's so strong!

She's a True Blue Coug!

Jacob likes to do this kind of stuff.

Wellp, those are all the updates for now. Crazy to think we'll be heading back to Provo in a few weeks. This summer has just flown by. As much as we've enjoyed it here, we're a little bit homesick and I can't wait to come home to a beautiful Provo Fall!