Falling for Boise

We spent most of our fall in Boise playing hard, bbqing up a storm and exploring the city. It has been so much fun watching Avery continue to grow and learn new things. Some of the things we do to occupy our time are...

Check out the squirrels, bunnies and ducks in our back yard. We have two squirrels that hang out in the trees right out our back door that Avery has become pretty familiar with. Bbq and run around in the back yard. The sunsets are gorgeous over the pond every night. It's so peaceful. Avery worked on her walking skills on slopes doing laps up and down the hill in the back. She has now gotten to where she can run up and down without falling. Quite a feat since face plants were standard when she started. We spent many a Saturday afternoon feeding ducks and throwing rocks into the pond. It was probably one of Avery's favorite past times. Note the BSU gear above. :)We also read a lot of books and had a lot of tea parties. Dan joined an IM flag football team and we went to watch him play whenever the weather wasn't too cold (aka above 40 degrees). It was a great outlet for Dan. He was also able to reconnect with an old friend from UCD football that happened to coach high school ball with a guy on Dan's team. God was looking out that's for sure!Here's Avery cheering on her daddy on the field. She loves watching football and got a major kick out of watching daddy play. Avery was a garden gnome for Halloween. We went to a "Trunk or Treat Halloween Festival" at a local church and had a great time. Avery was more interested in playing in this little house than collecing candy. Fine by us!We had the privilege of having my mom come out for a visit while the weather was still warm. We went to parks, walked along the river, played games. It was a great trip. One of our many trips to the park with Grammy. Avery would only go down the slide if Grammy held her hand. I was apparently useless to her as long as Grammy was around. So cute. :)We stopped at another pond down the river on one of our walks and threw some rocks.

For Thanksgiving, we flew to LA to see Grandpa. It turned out to be perfect timing because the day we left a huge snow storm blew into Boise. It was a great opportunity to get out of the cold and get a little sun before settling down for our first official winter in Boise. We are notorious for getting stuck at the Boise airport and this trip was no exception. Our plane got a cracked windsheild from defrosting too quickly and we ended up having to wait for 5 hours for them to get us a new plane. Yuck! Avery loved it though. We played games and had a lot of races. Above is a pic of her and daddy racing. Thanksgiving dinner with the relatives. Avery loved playing with her cousin!We took a break from watching football and headed to the Long Beach Aquarium. It was pretty impressive. Avery loved all the fish!The boys checking out the seal show.

Avery and Daddy petting sharks. Guess who was more brave?

Boise Update!

Now that we live so far away from so many people we love I am attempting to recommit myself to updating this thing so we can stay connected. It should be easier now since I'm a stay at home mama... in theory. So here is a follow-up on the move and our first summer in Boise. Fall follow-up is coming soon!

Life in Boise is great. The city is gorgeous. The people are friendly. And there's tons for Avery and I to do to keep busy. Writing is intimidating to me (I'd much rather do a huge long math problem) so I'll just tell our story via pictures. Let's face it, that's what we all enjoy the most anyways, right? :)

Moving Day! It all went pretty seamlessly thanks to some incredible friends and family. It was of course followed by dinner and margaritas at Aqui. I think I ate there three times the week before we moved! :) Avery loved playing in all the boxes before we packed them up!

Tammy and Ed graciously allowed a pit stop at my favorite coffee shop in CA, Wild Cherries. If you are ever in the Truckee area, you have to check it out! We walked away with some delicious coffee and a shirt for both Avery and me.


We stayed overnight in Reno and finished the drive the next day. Ed hooked us up at an incredible hotel. It felt good to rest, go swimming, eat some good food, and gear up for the next day. Above is a picture of the troops just after pulling into Reno. Can we say exhausted?

After a good night's sleep we headed out. This is Avery at one of our rest stops on day two. She was having a rough day. Can you tell? Such a trooper!

Here's Uncle Mark taking a break. He was a HUGE help during the trip and the move. We couldn't have done it with out Uncle Mark and Aunt Tam!

A couple hours and a few major meltdowns later, we made it to Boise!

Our apartment complex is right on a pond just next to the Boise river. It took us about ten minutes to walk around the pond and get this view of it. We love living on a pond! There are always ducks around for Avery to feed. Triathletes come and train in it on sunny days. And you can always find someone fishing along the banks.

We also have immediate access to the Boise green belt! It's over 20 miles of bike path that runs along the Boise river. This is what was behind me on the other side of the path as I took the picture of our pond. Summer was so amazing. Every night after dinner, we'd go for a walk along the river. There is another pond just west of us that is about the same size, but has these incredible rope swings. It really is like something right out of a movie!

I think because of our location and immediate access to downtown, we have seen and done things that we might never have discovered in Boise. Living on a pond has provided some much needed rest for my soul and I feel so blessed to live in such an incredible location. We are so grateful!

For the remainder of the summer we spent as much time as possible outdoors going to parks, playing in city fountains, and bbqing up a storm. It was the perfect way to start off our stay in Boise!

Checking out the fountain at Ann Morrison park.
At a fountain in the middle of downtown. Avery went for a dip before we headed off to dinner at our favorite restaurant, PF Changs. One of our many summer evenings hanging in the back yard bbqing.


The ducks benefitted fairly regularly from our bbqs. Gotta keep the locals happy!

Vacation!

In anticipation of big changes ahead in our little family, we planned a week long trip to Mazatlan. It proved to be a ton of fun, a nice change of pace, but not so much a relaxing trip, as anyone who has traveled internationally with a baby knows.

Here is Avery cruising around geting her jitters out before we get on the plane. We were picked up at 3:40 am. I would've loved to stay in my pj's too.

This is a picture of our resort. It was beautiful and we absolutely loved it. We definitely plan on going back somtime in the near future! It was right on the beach, had amazing restaurants, and a HUGE pool. We spent most of our time at the pool. It turns out Avery loves the water and is an avid swimmer! Who knew?

When we arrived, everyone recommended that we take a taxi into town and stock up on grocerys at Wal-Mart, so off we went. This was our taxi driver. We realized after the fact that he had one of the most run down taxis around. His door would open every time he took a sharp turn. Good thing he blared the BeeGees the whole way or I would have wanted out!

Avery and Dan at the sister resort in town. They had free shuttles between the two resorts. We went one day to give Avery a chance to experience some good waves in the ocean. There were a lot of iguanas on the property, but one night while walking back from dinner, Dan looked up and saw a couple chilling in the archway. Big mistake. They were hiding amongst the ivy in every archway we walked through, just hanging out above us and we never knew. Creeeeepy. Collecting shells on the beach in the morning.

Hanging out collecting shells and playing in the waves. She loved it!

It took a little while, but Avery did get the hang of picking up shells and putting them in her bucket. Here we are on the shuttle to the sister resort to go swimming in some good waves. Avery loved the shuttle because she could sit on our laps and say hi to everyone we passed.

This is a picture of the jellyfish we unknowingly went swimming with. Luckily none of us got stung, though I'm sure Dan would have saved the day and peed on one of us if he had to. He's very sacrificial like that. :) Where most days were spent... at the pool.
A mid-afternoon snack before hopping in the pool again. I just really like her face here.

A sweet moment with daddy looking over the infinity edge at the beach.

Avery discovered birds on this trip. Here are Dan and Avery checking out a few flying overhead. Notice that they are making the exact same face. :)

One last family pic at the pool before heading home!


The view out of our bay windows every evening. Heavenly!

Woodleaf

Every year my school takes the high schoolers up to a Young Life camp called Woodleaf. The teachers become the camp counselors and it's a weekend of crazy competitions, relaxing afternoons, and spiritual refreshment. This year Dan and Avery came up too. Avery did great the whole weekend even though she was fighting a little cold. Here are a few pictures taken by my good friend Tina while Avery and I were watching Dan run the blob.