Road Trip to Sun Valley

We had a fun day yesterday driving to Sun Valley, ID. We had a nice drive and enjoyed the day. Our first stop was at my mom's cousins house. She has a place up in the mountains. It was great to catch up with them and visit. We then headed to a taco truck for lunch and onto a house that Jim's boss has along the foot of the mountains bordering the river. Following that, we hit the brewery in town before we headed home. It was a fun day of exploring Idaho!

 View from my mom's cousins porch in Sun Valley. Literally at the bottom of the mountain.

We ate lunch at a taco truck, excellent food!!

Blake ate all the chips and salsa up!

We stopped at the Brewery in town for beer and root-beer :)

Jim's mentor has a cabin outside of Sun Valley, we stopped by to visit.

Sawtooth mountain foothills on the way  

Fires in the distance

Forrest fire in front of the incoming clouds

 We saw lots of fires along the the way and this was one of the bigger ones. What looks like clouds is actually smoke. The road that we drove was actually closed the day before due to the fires.

This is how Ethan rolls...

This morning Ethan came to me yelling, "My tooth!" as blood was coming out of it. I quickly pulled it out before he even realized what was happening (it has been hanging on by a thread for days and he would not let us pull it out). Once it was out, he was so happy and relieved! Another visit from the tooth fairy tonight!

Potatoes!

Few people from Michigan know much about Idaho other than the famous potatoes. We went to the Boise farmers market over the weekend to check out the much recommended produce. Well, they definitely have potatoes. Beyond that, we have been fortunate to have lived in Michigan most of our lives. Here are some of the exotic potatoes. They sure aren't anything I have ever cooked with before! My favorite are the purple...

Exploring Boise...

The boys and I went to this neat part of the river in Boise called the "green belt" where people can tube, raft and swim. The boys had a blast and said that the water was really cold, but that did not seem to stop them from getting wet!

 The view!

 Kids would jump off the other side of this rock and not even come close to touching, it got deep fast. My kids however, would not even consider jumping off of it!

 Ethan used a huge log he found as a flotation device:)

 Caleb was getting cold so he decided to climb all the big rocks!

Movie Night

First movie night in our new home complete with milk and popcorn!:)

Best Buds

Ethan and Blake are two peas in a pod. They love playing, dancing, and getting into trouble together! I must say, Ethan is so good at being a big brother and is always there to help me if need be. It is not always easy being the oldest, but he sure does a good job! 

 Can't forget Caleb, he is a great brother too!

We Have Landed!

We are officially in Boise, ID and it is feeling more like home everyday. A huge thank you goes out to Grandma and Grandpa Jastifer for driving the 2000 miles out here with all of our stuff and two of our kids! It was 2.5 days of non-stop driving and we could not have gotten here without you! Another huge thank you goes out to Grandma Sowerwine for letting our family invade your home for 2 months for the in-between time of selling our house and waiting to move to Boise. We had a wonderful time staying with you! Blake did great on the way out here on the plane and I could not have asked for a better boy. So all in all, we made it to Boise with no hiccups, which is a huge blessing!

We had a wonderful time with Jim's parents for the first few days we were here. After taking them to the airport yesterday, it sure seems weird to have no family around. I am so glad that we were able to soak up so much time with our friends and family before we left, not that it made it any easier to say good-bye when the time came. I know it is only for a year, but when you are used to seeing them on a weekly basis, it is a big transition for us and the kids. We are making our place here in Boise a "home" and are going to have a wonderful time here this year.

Jim has started his fellowship and is really liking it and the boys and I have been exploring the city. We have already hit three parks! Caleb is already signed up for preschool and Ethan is going to be signing up for 1st grade (can that really be?!?!) next week. We have been to both schools to check them out. The boys are enjoying riding their bikes and playing with all the toys that I hid from them from Christmas and their birthday! 

We just got internet today and hope to post weekly if not more! 

Jastifer Pig Roast

We had fun at another Jastifer Family pig roast! The boys were able to connect with almost all of their 2nd cousins, some for the first time ever. Good food, good people, good times.

Fishing, exams, and berry picking

 Jim officially finished his orthopaedic surgery residency at the end of June. Since then, we have been living with Grandma Sowerwine (Laurie's mom) and Jim studied for and took his orthopaedic surgery board exam last week. Since then we have been doing lots of activities around here, trying to catch up with friends and family and getting outside before the big move next week.

Ethan loves driving the pontoon boat to the bluegill honey hole

Blake literally runs to the berry patches at Grandma and Grandpa Jastifer's house.

The hot weather couldn't keep Ethan, Caleb and Jim from fishing and then picking blueberries

Ethan lost his first tooth! He did not want us touching it, so he pulled it out himself in a very unconventional way of biting down on his seat-belt and pulling it away from him. But hey, it worked! Our little guy is growing up and there was definitely some inflation from the tooth fairy since I was a kid! Congratulations Ethan!

Our Time in Grand Rapids

Our time in Grand Rapids has been great! We have been able to spend a lot of time with friends and family and we are really getting our fill before heading out to Boise, ID in a little over a week. Jim, Ethan and Caleb, along with his parents are taking off on a 30+ hour car ride to Boise next Tuesday the 23rd. Myself and Blake, who does not do well in cars, will be flying out five days later and meeting everyone in Boise. I can only hope that Blake likes planes more than cars!

The other night we were able to hang out with our good friends from high school, where we always begin right where we left off! Between the three of us, there are 8 kids, so it gets really busy, but really fun all the same. Thanks for hosting Annie and Tom, we had a great time!

 What a fun night!