Homecoming - Stillwater

Good morning! It is a great Thursday here in Austin. We are expecting a small cold front so 50s tomorrow. I CAN'T WAIT! 

These are the boots that are outside the Alumni Building on campus.

I wanted to give everyone an update of what I was up to last week. No big surprise but I went back to Oklahoma. I am definitely beginning to think that I live in 2 different states, it is a little difficult right now but it will all be worth it. While I was back in Oklahoma I got to go to Stillwater (the best place ever!) because it was Homecoming. If you have never been to Walk-a-Rounds on Friday night or to the parade on Saturday morning you are really missing out. The whole town shuts down and it is all about the OSU. You can feel the pride!Anyway, enough of that but I do want to share some pictures of me spending some quality time with family as well.

 I got to see this precious little one. She is so sweet, I can't wait to hold her again in just a few weeks.

 Ally and I were able to take Abby Lane to the park on Sunday when I got back from Stillwater. She of course had to have a popsicle afterwards. And this aunt can't tell her no.

We also went to the pumpkin patch in Piedmont where she was able to ride a train. She had to get in the very last seat and she did chugga chugga choo choo the whole time she was riding. It was so cute!

In Stillwater I was able to meet up with my beautiful cousin, Ally. It was such a fun time!! Joey, Elizabeth and I were able to relive our college days. Man, those were the good times! I couldn't ask for better people in my life. I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such fun and caring people.

I had a great time being home and seeing everyone. The good thing is that I am going to be home in just 3 short weeks for Abby Lane's 3rd birthday party! I can't believe that she is going to be 3 years old. She is such a blessing to our family. Just being around her makes you smile! I hope everyone has a great weekend!!! 

Love

Abilene

Good rainy Wednesday morning! (At least in Austin) The weather here has been amazing! Lows in the 60s and high in the 80s, you really can't beat that.

So the update for this week is ALL about the high school football game in Abilene. Okay, I know I have said it before but really high school football here is out of control. We went back to Abilene for the big cross town rivalry. It is Abilene Cooper vs. Abilene High. This goes WAY back, I mean the fans are die hard fans. I have never experienced this type of passion for high school football before. I hadn't heard the word HATE against another team that much ever. This goes beyond anything you could imagine - OSU vs OU; OU vs Texas; all of those kind of rivalries. I sat with my mother-in-law on the Cooper side and unfortunately 3 rows in front of us there was an Abilene High fan. I have grown up around OU fans so I know obnoxious, this guy was BEYOND THAT!!! I tend to get a little passionate at sporting events, I openly admit that. This guy was just trying to get on my nerves. I held it in as long as I could. So after Abilene High scored he turned around and started flapping his arms (they are the eagles) I told him that if he was a true fan then he would have set on his team's side and he needed to be respectful of all of those people around him. Let me repeat again, I was sitting next to my sweet/kind mother-in law. As soon as I got done, I looked over expecting to have her looking at me completely mortified but actually she was like "Yeah you tell him!". She never ceases to amaze me. Sad day for Cooper because they were ahead and then Abilene High marched down the field and in the last 2 seconds of the game scored. It was a hard fought game, the Cooper players have to happy with how they played. That is for sure! They will come back next year and win it! : ) GO COUGARS!!!

Then we watched the Tech/OU game at Buffalo Wild Wings. Talk about another tough loss! I just want to make sure that OSU beats Tech in November (It doesn't look like that will be too hard). : )

I hope everyone is getting into football season with this beautiful fall weather!!

Love!

Nieces

Happy Wednesday! Sorry, I am a little late blogging this week but I just got back to Austin on Monday.

As you know I went to Abilene last Monday and was supposed to come back to Austin on Wednesday.  I LOVED being in Abilene. Jane (my mother-in-law) went shopping in Albany, TX. I highly recommend going there if you have never been. It has the cutest shops! I really enjoyed spending some one on one time with the other side of the family.

Well,  my plans changed on coming back on Wednesday when I found out that my second niece is going to be born. So as any good aunt would do I got up really early and left Abilene for OKC. I missed her birth by 45 minutes! It's okay because mom and baby were both doing great and that is what really mattered.

Miss Emmalynn Grace Merveldt was born on September 27, 2012. 

Did I mention that I took a TON of pictures. I just couldn't help myself. 

 Here she is just a few hours old. 

 The next day.

Proud aunt.

 Mom, Abby and Emma

Big sister loving on little sister

The great thing about the weekend was that I got to spend A LOT of one on one time with Abby. She is so cute! The things she says, the way she learns and just basically giving me unconditional love. There is NOT one thing better than that. I love her so much! She is about to turn 3 on November 9th and I can't wait to go back to Oklahoma to celebrate with her.

Making brownies.

Being a cowboy - She kept saying Yee-Haw

and yes that is an OSU shirt she is wearing. I taught her Go Pokes!

Today Reid and I went and registered our vehicles. One more step to making this move official. We are headed to Abilene tomorrow to watch the Abilene Cooper/Abilene High football game. Huge rivalry in Abilene! I hope everyone has a great rest of the week and weekend!! 

Love!

Week 8

Good morning! We have officially been Texas residents for a full 2 months. I can't believe it! It really has gone by fast. I miss my family by in Oklahoma City, but I am doing my absolute best to keep a positive attitude and enjoy all Austin has to offer. This week I plan on getting my Texas driver's license and Texas license plates for my car. That will make this move feel REALLY real. It is about that time though.

So, last week I have continued to do boot camp at 5:30 in the morning 3 days a week. It actually is really good for me to get up and get moving. Those are my most productive days. Monday I went to UT campus and visited the LBJ Presidential Library. It was pretty cool, they are doing some renovations so not that many exhibits were open but being on campus was awesome.

Reid and I also went to the Erich Church concert on Saturday in Cedar Park. As always it was AMAZING! He is such a good performer and Reid and I know ALL of his songs. This was our third time to see him. It is crazy because the first time was at the Diamond Ballroom in OKC, which is a small venue and now we are seeing him at the Cedar Park Center and the Ford Center. I would highly recommend seeing him even if you don't like country music. I will go with you! : )

There is just one more picture I want to put on here. It is Abby Lane in the shirt that I bought her. My brother sent it to me on Saturday and it really made my day. I miss everyone so much!!

I am headed to Abilene until Wednesday, Reid is out of town again and my sweet mother-in-law asked if I would come visit. Can't wait to see the family!! Then my mom and aunt are coming to visit for the weekend. I CAN'T WAIT!!! Hope everyone has a great week!!

Love!

The Name

Good Monday Morning!!! I hope everyone had a great weekend, I sure did. Did a little more exploring of Austin's downtown night life. Found a great very "Austin" restaurant and then went out on West 6th Street. So much fun!!!!!

So, I don't have any great things to talk about but I did want to write a post about how I came up with the name of the blog. Before I got married my last name was very hard to pronounce and even harder to spell. I thought marrying Reid and changing my name to Reagan it would be a breeze. Well, little did I know that there were so many ways to spell Reagan. Then after you spell it the next question is ALWAYS...."So are you related to Ronald?" My favorite response is one that Reid said once and it was "Do you honestly think that I would be working or living here if I was?". I thought everyone would like to know what the "Modern Day Reagans" actually did. The ones that aren't related to Ronald and don't get all those perks. By the way, I really like Reagans that I am related to so much better anyway.




I think this afternoon I am going to head to the LBJ Presidential Library and maybe walk around UT for a little bit. The weather this week is going to be amazing! Also, we will be attending the Eric Church concert this Saturday. This will make concert #3 of his that we have seen. We are super fans!

Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Love!

Texas State History Museum

Good Monday Morning! I feel so accomplished already this morning. I started Camp Gladiator (it is a boot camp) at 5:30 this morning. Yep, I was up at 5:00. The dogs and Reid were not happy about it but we meet right across the street at the high school so it will be perfect when I find a job. (When is the key word in that sentence.) I also went home this past week while Reid was away for work again. I LOVED being there! I miss everyone so much and I got to spend quite a bit of one on one time with my ADORABLE niece. I am beyond blessed with such an amazing family!!


So enough with the catch up on where I have been recently, the real reason for this post is to tell you about going to the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. It was okay, I liked the Capitol a lot better but I got a better understanding on Texas for sure. The museum starts when there were nomads that lived here and goes all the way until now. My favorite exhibits were a music exhibit that breaks down the different areas of Texas and explains the music influence it has. For example, Lubbock has more of a rock influence because of Buddy Holly starting his career there and Eastern Texas has more a folk type of influence because it is so close to Arkansas. It was really interesting! Then the last exhibit was cool because it went through all the areas of Texas and what type of agriculture is prominent there and then that lead into the oil exhibit. (Of course I liked that one. ) I wouldn't necessarily take anyone to it unless they really wanted to walk around, it is 3 stories tall but it was neat to check it out for something to do.

I hope everyone is out enjoying this BEAUTIFUL weather!!! Have a great week!

Love!

Together Time

When Reid and I decided to move down here we made a pact that we would find some activities to do together. So our first one is....trail running (more like hiking with me) but it is so much fun!!! 

We went out bought me some new trail running shoes at REI. It is the coolest outdoors store! 

It even got me excited to maybe start camping, yep you hear it right CAMPING. I signed up to get a magazine all about Austin and it gave 30 camping sites that are all 3 hours or less from here. This area is so great with being active. If you can't find something to do here then you are trying not to do anything. 

Austin has a ton of trails that you can go hike/run. Most of them are dog friendly with some being no leash which is nice because if we step outside the door of the apartment then they are on a leash. So far we have experienced........ 

Emma Long Metropolitan Park, it is a no leash 2.5 mile little trail that is about 10 minutes from the house. It follows Turkey Creek which is right by Lake Austin. Beau LOVES the creek! I can hardly keep him out of it. Needless to say we don't go on that too often because it is bath time every time we get done. 

Here are Charlie and Beau right before we get out of the car.

Here they are AFTER the trail. They are always so tired! It is wonderful!

Reid and I have done Bull Creek, we plan on going back because it started raining. The weekend we decided to start this it rains. Of course. The same day after the rain stopped we went to Barton Springs Greenbelt. We hiked there roughly 2 hours or so. We kind of got lost so that is why it took so long. 

Last weekend we went and ran/walked about 3 miles at Lady Bird Lake. Paddle boarding/canoeing/kayaking are extremely popular at Lady Bird Lake. It is on the south edge of downtown and it is really a pretty run. 

I took the dogs to Zilker Park which is really close to Lady Bird Lake. It is the most popular park around Austin. It is HUGE! The field that I took the dogs to is a no leash zone so they could just run and run. Unfortunately, it came to an abrupt end because Beau likes to chase birds/bugs/really anything that flies and he ran into the road so the leashes had to be put back on. 

Reid and I one night last week took the dogs to Mount Bonnell. It is about 15 minutes from the house and is the highest point in Austin. The views from up there are AMAZING. On one side you see downtown and then walk a little way you have a great view of Lake Austin. 

This is one of the views from the top. 

So here is one activity that Reid and I have already picked up and it is so much fun!! I try to do at least on activity outside everyday, it is just too pretty here not to. 

Hope everyone is having a great week so far!! Stay safe on Labor Day weekend. Reid and I are planning on heading to PK to spend some time with our Lubbock friends!

Love!

Good morning!! Reid is out of town again, this time to Houston just til tomorrow so at least it isn't a week this time. (Always look on the bright side). : ) I think tomorrow night we plan on heading to the Vandegrift High School football game. We live RIGHT across the street from the high school and the stadium so we might as well enjoy it, right?? Also, they are playing Lake Travis which is like 6 time state champion in 4A but just moved up to 5A which is a huge deal down here. Okay, you have to at least be a little impressed that I knew all of that.

Anyway, to the point of this blog. Last week my mother-in-law, Jane, who I love to death came to keep me company. It was awesome because when she got here I mentioned maybe going to the Capitol, the Presidential Library or the Texas History Museum. She was like I would love to go to the Capitol, she thought about asking if we could go but thought I would think she was crazy for wanting to do that. Poor Reid sometimes I think he married his mom. : ) (In a good way of course.) Anyway, we went and ate at Oasis (like I have said before it is a must if you come to Austin) and then headed downtown with strict instructions from Reid to leave by 3:30 at the latest just so we didn't get stuck in traffic (always worrying about me).

I must say the capitol is ABSOLUTELY one of the coolest things. We followed a public tour guide that was hilarious. I think she kind of made the tour, but all the history that is in the there is amazing. I couldn't stop taking pictures. So here are some of them.....

 This is the rotunda. Along all of the walls leading up to this are portraits of all the governors of Texas. Once Rick Perry's term is over they will move everything single picture to the left to accommodate his. There are 4 stories of them!!

Congress is not currently in session so we could go in and see where all the legislation happens. This all the names of the Senators outside the Senate chambers. 

 Here is the where the Senate meets. They have tried to make it look just like it did in the 1900s.

 Not sure if you knew this or not but Texans are pretty proud to be from Texas. I mean they made the lights in the chandelier say "Texas". I asked Reid if he wanted to get this for our house when we buy one and of course he does. : )

Everything you could touch or see either had the Texas star on it or said Texas Capitol. These are door hinges! They weigh 8 pounds a piece. Everything is bigger in Texas.....

Sorry my finger is a little over the lens but this is where the House of Representatives meet. 

 Here is a picture of us below ground, they had to build down because they just couldn't pack anymore people into the capitol.

Here it is the Texas Capitol in all it's glory. Pretty cool huh?? 

 I really enjoyed going and seeing a little bit of Texas history. What I really learned is that I needed to get a little caught up on what has gone in this state so I figured with Reid being gone, I will go down and try to educate myself a little more at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum (another blog to come, I promise).

I hope you enjoyed the quick Capitol tour. If you want the real thing, you will have to come down here and see me. I can't just give everything away.

(Hope this was enough pictures for you Dad. : ) )

Love!

Week without Reid

You may or may not know but the reason why Reid and I made this move was because he got an INCREDIBLE opportunity to work for a company down here. It's one of those things that kind of just fell into his lap and it is pretty much his dream job (who can say no to somebody they love's dream, right?). Anyway, the second week we were here he had to go be in the field with the guys. Yes, that means that I was going to be left ALL ALONE in a city that I didn't even know. Luckily, I had the dogs and I have an AMAZING best friend that was like GIRL TIME! : )

Reid left early on Monday morning and Elizabeth flew in on Thursday afternoon. Perfect right?? So we did the normal girl things......shopping-laying out by the pool-and more shopping. Reid came home Friday night so Saturday we decided that we HAD to go downtown. Not to 6th Street, because that more of the tourist/college people go, we had to go where the locals went so we went to 5th Street. We found this cool little country bar where we could sit outside right next to the street to people watch. You know that never gets old! : ) All in all I was so glad that Elizabeth could come down. It meant a lot for me to have at least one person I knew here besides the dogs.

Here are a list of places we ate and where we went shopping:

Shopping:
Round Rock Outlets - they are only about 20 minutes away from us.
The Domain - a great outdoor mall that has some awesome shops and eating places


Eating:
Oasis - this is a must do for everyone that comes to visit me, it is at Lake Travis which is about 10 minutes away from our apartment. (Did I mention that Lake Austin and Lake Travis are about 10 minutes away from us in either direction??)

(This is a picture of the outside of the place and the view of Lake Travis)

North - it is an Italian place at the Domain, I wouldn't recommend it but everyone here said that we needed to try it so we did. 

That is week 2 in a nutshell. We are still adjusting to life in an apartment, but I think we are getting there slowly. : )

Love!

Unpack...Unpack...Unpack

So, I am going to get all caught up week by week on what I have been up to since we got here on July 27th. To start we closed on the house and had everything packed up into a huge 18 wheeler to make it down here.

A little side note on the way down here I was following too close to Reid (I was just driving like any Texan would do) and ran over a HUGE piece of wood in the middle of I-35. Picture of what happened below......

Needless to say Reid was NOT happy but couldn't get to mad with my mom standing right there.... Lucky for me! : )

So back to the move....
We live in an apartment on the third floor and there was no way that we were going to be carrying our stuff up that many flights of stairs. The big problem was that our stuff was not going to get here until the following Tuesday!! Yes that was 5 days of us being down here and not having our things. But everything got here and the movers were ABSOLUTELY wonderful (highly recommend them). Luckily my mom was here to put away my kitchen because we all know that I couldn't have done that. : )

That is really what my first week entailed was box after box after box of unloading things. Oh and sitting out by the pool. No work and all play makes things really boring around the Reagan household!

Love!!

The Big Move....

Okay so you may or may not know that Reid and I made the big move south to Austin, Texas. It is absolutely beautiful here! I honestly didn't think I would like it as much as I do. That is why I wanted to start this blog, so everyone back home can keep up with us and what we do on a regular basis. My goal is to blog AT LEAST once a week, but since I am currently unemployed it may be more. : ) I plan on putting all the cool places we eat, all the activities that are available and basically how we are making the most of this move. Stay tuned for all the fun stuff in store for us!

Love!