The Great Outdoors

I'm usually adamant about posting in chronological order ... but I missed blogging about one great weekend we had this summer, enjoying the great outdoors, and figured it was worth sharing.

Back in August, we joined some friends from General Mills for some 4-wheeling just south of Fayetteville. I have ridden 4-wheelers before (the first time was the first weekend I went to Chetek with my boyfriend!) but I had never actually driven one. Here I am after conquering a short trail ... complete with mud splashes! I know, I look pretty tough.

Bella Vista has 10 golf courses and we have yet to go golfing! Now, I'm not complaining cause I've golfed one time in my life and that was more than enough, but we figured we should take advantage of what our new city has to offer ... so we headed to the golfing range for the afternoon. Here we are, perfecting our swings. We each made it through a bucket of balls and called it a day.

We headed north to Missouri another weekend in August for some canoeing on the Elk River. It was a beautiful ride and literally 15 minutes from our house! We have some practicing to do so that next time there is less shouting and more rowing. :)

The Natural State sure is beautiful! We're excited to explore more of it this fall, now that it's not 95 degrees. (Most of you know that Kyle's not a fan of the heat ... to the point that I have to wear sweatshirts in the house in the summer because we keep it so cool!) We're planning to do some hiking, camping and drive some scenic routes to enjoy the colors. The invite is on the table for anyone who wants to join us!

Livin' the Dream

Not much in the way of adventures this week, but thought I'd post with a few pics about life around the Petersen house.

I was blessed with a husband that loves to cook. Not only does he enjoy it, he's good at it! Here he is with one of his specialties, the Chicago style pie. Our toppings of choice are ham, pineapple, black olives and mushrooms. Yes, mom, I eat more than cheese on my pizza now that I'm all grown up! :)

**Speaking of pizza, quick side note, we hung out at Gusano's tonight, the little pizzaria in Bella Vista. We have been going there pretty regularly ... there's a good atmosphere, good beers, and good pizza. But, last night was the first time we sat at the bar. Only to find that 4 of the people also sitting at the bar were from Wisconsin! An older couple from Whitehall and two younger guys from Milwaukee. Small world. We also met the bar tender that takes good care of all of us Northerners. It was nice to finally make some friends in this town!**

And, here I am working off that pizza on our new treadmill!! Kyle and I have started a weekly workout challenge to see who can earn more "workout points" each week. I get up and workout before work ... Kyle works out on his lunch hour. I must admit, he's winning this week, but we're both doing well staying in shape.



Here's what Kyle does most nights when we don't have plans ... surfing the net on our new laptop. Not quite sure how he does it, but he can get sucked in for hours. Literally. He gets in this zone where he can't even hear anything around him. Or, to be more specific, he has learned how to tune me out while he's researching things online. :)

Here's one of the pages he often checks ... our blog! That's because out of the gazillion times "we" have posted, my hubby has written once. So, like all of you, he has to check the blog to see what's going on!

Woo Pig Sooie!

Kyle and I joined some friends to experience our first SEC football game and cheer on the Razorbacks. We had an "only-in-Arkansas" moment when we pulled in to park and noticed the sign out front.


We thought it was a joke, but right when we stepped out of the car, we were greated by a cute little Asian girl with a big smile and an even bigger tray of warm egg rolls. Hilarious.






We had heard how crazy SEC fans get, but while we enjoyed some tailgating, it was nowhere near the madness that ensues in Columbus, Ohio ... and during the game, the fans were nowhere near as insanely excited as a stadium full of Badgers.

We do think we may have found the president of the Razorback fan club next to our tailgate.

In order to fit in, we had to learn the Calling of the Hogs ... raise your arms above your head and slightly forward and wiggle those spirit fingers while belting out a high pitched drawn out "wooooooo" ... then you pump your arm in two movements with an accompanying "pig sooie!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWMynRGeR88

Unfortunately, Georgia beat Arkansas, 52-41 ... but we enjoyed our first visit to Razorback Nation!

Our Song, LIVE!

Arkansas is not generally on musicians' lists of hot spots when they are touring ... but we are lucky enough to have a few shows on occasion. The LPGA is in town this weekend, which brought with it activities for the community throughout the week. Are you sitting down? One of those activities ... was a FREE concert by TRAVIS TRITT! Ok, so I know most of you are not country fans and probably have never heard of the guy, but he sings the song that brought Kyle and I together down in Panama City, Florida and became our first dance song at our wedding. Now you can appreciate my excitement. :)

Dinner before the show ...

Good tunes and good friends ...

"It's a Great Day To Be Alive!"

An Archer Farms Visit

Our good friends, Jim and Rebekah, drove down from Minneapolis to spend Labor Day weekend with us. I've never seen Kyle so giddy ... the poor guy is stuck in the house all day, with little opportunity to meet friends ... so having Jim visit (who, by the way, is Kyle's long lost brother) was his dream come true. Can you blame him?!?! Of course, I was also super excited, but I'm a little more giddy by nature, so my excitement was nothing out of the ordinary.

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I'm not really sure where to start, but let's just say it was a weekend packed with some of our favorite activities with some of our favorite people, so in a word, it was A-mazing!

Let's start with the boat - fishing (for the guys) and sunning (for the girls.)

Here we are in a cut throat cornhole tournament. By the end of the weekend, we probably came out even, Petersens vs. Archers. But boy was there a lot of advice being dished out to the ladies. We either got better as we continued to drink, or we just cared less ... not sure which one. :)

We caught dinner at the local Catfish Hole with bottomless hush puppies and stumbled upon a free country concert at the Arkansas Music Pavilion (aka tent in the mall parking lot.) It was actually a pretty sweet show. Here's Collin Raye on stage, for all you country fans!

Sunday, we squeezed in a visit to Mr. Sam's museum, grabbed some margaritas, chips and salsa at Abuelo's ... then headed to Macadoodles to refill the fridge with tasty beverages. Are you picking up on a theme to our weekend?

We seemed to get much better at Rock Band as the evening progressed ...

We were SO lucky that our friends made the 10 hour drive to spend some QT together. It's almost uncanny how much Jim and Kyle are alike ... and same goes for Rebekah and Tracie ... so we just have a blast! Thanks J&R for visiting ... the door is always open for you to return ... or for anyone else who is brave enough for an Arkansas weekend!