Idaho Reunion 2015

This was the year for an Idaho trip, and boy were we looking forward to it!  We decided to include the western side of the state on this voyage so that we could revisit our old stompin' grounds in Boise, Twin Falls, and then onto Pocatello and the beautiful Palisades!

We flew into Boise and stayed just long enough to grab lunch downtown in a little strip mall where our whole experience started.  We remembered meeting Janet Holmes (Mark's grad director) before coming to Boise to live for grad school at a coffee shop in the same area in '99.  Wow, seems like forever ago! 



We drove straight through so that we could get to the cabin in the Palisades early enough to see everyone.  It was so awesome to all be in one place at the same time!  The only one missing was Dylan (on his mission), and of course Grandma and Grandpa Brown (but I'm sure they were there with us in spirit.)



One of the days there, we did a family beach trip.  The reservoir was really low for this time of year, so we had to search for someplace that had enough water, but also enough shade.  Crazy to see these cousins playing together after 3 years!

On another day, we did some outdoor games that were fun to get everyone hanging out together.  I'm glad we did, it was fun to see everyone working together!

We had lots of chances to just hang out and visit, cook out together, and go on hikes (where we got absolutely eaten alive by mosquitoes!).  It was great!

I'm so sad we never got a chance to get a picture of the whole group.  We should've asked a neighbor or something.  Oh well, we always have next time! 

After the Palisades, we went back to Rigby and spent the night with Dave and Mel's family.  We also had some visiting time with Dan and Shalee's family again.

That Monday we spent visiting Rexburg.  We walked around campus a bit (but it was sooo  hot), and got some swag at the bookstore.  We got some pizza at the Pizza Cafe and ice cream across from Porter Park, and then headed to I.F. where we had dinner with Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob.

 

We spent Monday night in Idaho Falls with Lesli and Scott Pennock.  That was fun because we have developed a friendship with them from living in Midland together.  It was nice to see their new house!  We made a stop at the new IF Temple Visitor's Center and got some breakfast at Great Harvest.

After Idaho Falls, we headed towards Twin Falls again.  That afternoon we stopped for lunch and did some sight-seeing of our old house and where we used to work, etc.  It was crazy to feel like sooo much time had past, but no time had past.  The girls barely remembered living there.  We stopped off at the Snake River Bridge, which was so pretty, just as I remember it.

After sight-seeing in TF, we headed to Boise.  We had a lot to see and do there, and wanted to get in as early as possible!

We got to hang out with some old friends from our married student ward that Tuesday night.  We swam and had a picnic at their swim club which was perfect because the weather had been so hot.

Such a fun way to spend our first night back in Boise!

The next day we stopped by the old house, which is in the middle of the freaking hood now!  We had no idea we had bought our first sweet little house in such a crumby neighborhood!  It was kind of appalling.

After this, we stopped by the downtown area to go to the museum, the Capitol, and the Boise Train Depot.

We were so sad to have to say good bye to Idaho.  We had such a fun time.  It was awesome seeing family, and it was great to be able to revisit all of these important places in our own little family's history.  Boise is where Maryn and Avery were born, Twin Falls was where they were littles, and Idaho is where we began. 


Until next time...