January: Part 1

Ok. So first of all in my last post I told everyone that I was excited for church. We thought it started at 2 o'clock but when we got there we found out that not only was it stake conference and it was over, but it started at 9 am. Bust. I joked with Mark that we were being tested because we are now on our second year in a row starting church at 9 am. Oh life is so hard!

Anyways fast forward to next Sunday. The ward is very small. A lot smaller than I'm used to. The relief society only had about 20 women in attendance. Much much different than my San Antonio ward or any Utah ward I've ever been to. And so far there are a ton of little kids. A ton. In fact the couple in front of us had two little boys. Super cute. One of the little boys was playing with his dad's zipper on his fleece pullover he was wearing and next thing I know the little boy has zippered his dads neck into the zipper. The dad was silently screaming and the child looked on in horror as his dad was grabbing his neck trying franticly to pull the neck skin loose. Can we all picture this? Hate to admit we were laughing, but we were. How could you not? Oh and there are no deacons in the ward. Well, there is one or two. So the sacrament is served by older gents which is great. I joked that Mark's next calling might be to be a deacon. He did not think that was as funny as the zippered neck. Our bishop is super young also. With all that said, I think I'm going to really like the ward. Everyone seems super friendly and they really are pushing for people to get involved. We will see how it goes!

After church we decided to explore a bit. We took the dog and we drove to a trail about half a mile from our house. Whats really cool is Lady Bird Lake is in our own backyard. I am so excited. The running/biking trails run all the way through the city. And its gorgeous.

The River!!!

Our backyard. Be jealous

Best.Picture.Eva.

I love where we live. We were there forever walking. It was great. I told Mark we are doing this every Sunday. If we ever get visitors, we will take you there. How exciting right? Don't everyone book your plane tickets at once! Oh and did I mention we live right next door to the livestrong foundation building? Some people say right next door but they really mean a block away. But I mean right next door. So I got to scope out the drama when I would run errands. There were cameras, news reporters, you name it parked out there forever.

Livestrong

The cyclists here are in a huge uproar. But thats old news. And do people have any tips on condensing stories? I just don't see how thats possible. I have a lot to say and this is basically my journaling. So...most of these will probably be long. Which I'm very sorry about but I must document.

Bonus material: People of Austin
1. Old man sitting outside of our building with a shaved head, gold hoop earrings and a red full body leotard
2. Girl in our complex doing yoga on the picnic table
3. Homeless vet in a power chair with no shoes
4. Guy with a sign on the road that read "Why lie, I just want beer"
5. And last but not least whilst my friend Mariel and I were walking back to my car that  I had parked a block away from the homeless shelter (big mistake) a tweeker running towards where my car was parked stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the road. Picked up a dead pigeon that had been run over, flattened, guts everywhere with his bare hands. He looks around very upset by the scene of the crime and while we are frantically trying to get into my car screams in a scruffy voice "Cat'll eat it" and takes off running into the ally way. Did I mention this guy was wearing a long leather leopard earring in one ear? It was blowing in the wind as he ran away with the dead pigeon.

2013 and a little taste of 2012

Well, its a new year and so I'm starting a new thing. I guess its not so new since everyone is doing it. Blogging. I don't know why I haven't started one before. That seems to be the criteria for getting married. Get married, start a blog. Am I right? So as I sit here watching TLC I have to think to myself, there has got to be something more I could be doing to stimulate the brain cells that are left. And that brings us to now.

Where to start....how about September 2012. Back in September my husband lost his job. He was working as a programmer at a start-up company in San Antonio. When he got this job we both knew that the company running out of money was a possibility. And thats what happened. So he went on the job hunt. This time he decided to apply everywhere else but San Antonio. If anyone knows about the computer programmer hot spots, San Antonio is definitely not on the list. He started to send out resumes everywhere. He had even sent a resume to a company in Canada! Um yeah. I tried to be the supportive wife buuut Canada was a bit much for me. Anyhoo, he started getting calls back for interviews. Phone interview after phone interview and on and on. He finally got 4 in person interviews. The catch was they were all within a span of two weeks. Well, while that was going on, my family was going through a bit of a crisis. My grandma had passed away mid-September from pancreatic cancer and it had gone into her lungs. So I had decided to go to the funeral which was in the middle of October. And yada, yada, yada I had bought my tickets before all of this happened with my husband.

Ok are we all caught up? So. Here was the following schedule:
October 9th- Mark interviews in Austin
October 10th-Mark flies to San Francisco at 6 am. Interviews at 1 pm
October 10th- Sadie flies to Utah at 6 pm
October 11th- Sadie and her family start driving to California at 4 am
October 11th- Mark flies back to San Antonio
October 12th- Sadie's grandma's funeral. Drive back to Utah at 6 pm.
October 13th- Arrive back at the Hansen home around 8 am. Sadie catches flight at 2 pm back to San Antonio.
October 14th- Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep
October 15th- Mark flies to San Francisco to interview with another company
October 16th- Mark flies back to San Antonio
October 18th- Mark flies to Philadelphia to interview with another company (and is getting tired by this point)
Sidenote here. Marks brother and his wife live in Philadelphia so he extended his trip a couple of days to hang out with them. Meanwhile, my good friend Allison was coming to do a Zumbatomic training and was going to stay at my house so I wasn't lonely. Thank Allison! Perfect timing.

So. As you can see, we were pretty stressed. Mark ended up getting an offer from one of the San Francisco companies. He also had gotten an offer from the Austin company. It was a really tough decision. We weighed out all the good and bad. Went to the temple numerous times and prayed that Heavenly Father would help us make our decision. We finally decided(after much prayer and warm fuzzy feelings) to move to Austin. Yay! And there you have it! That is how we ended up here.

We live in a condo on 6th street downtown. It is completely different from the San Antonio suburbs we were living in. But its an adventure. And isn't that what life is all about? Since marrying mark life has been nothing but an adventure. Last Saturday I witnessed my first drug deal go down. Monday I walked outside and was greeted by sidewalk vomit right outside my building. And of course Friday we were stopped by a couple of hobos who practically kissed us. We rode in a rickshaw on the way home to avoid the hobos, and Saturday we went to the original Chuys! Always amazing. Today we are going to our new ward and I am excited. I wonder what life has in store for us here. I'm excited to find out. And that my friends is the first blog post of 2013 for me. And boy its a long one. Hope you enjoy our crazy ride!