California Here We Come!

Jared and I decided that we wanted to take a road trip to visit Jared's family. We haven't seen most of his family since our reception. Janae, Jared's sister, just returned from her mission so we thought that that would be a great reason to go visit the family. We drove all through the night...a good ten hours. We arrived in Manteca, California very excited and a little worn out.


We spent the day playing games, going to the mall, and enjoying each other's company. We watched "Flushed Away" on Saturday night.


Sunday we went to church together and Janae reported her mission. It was such a beautiful talk. Jared and I were both amazed by her testimony and understanding of the gospel. It was so neat! Jacob and Jenna were so much fun to be around too. Jacob is getting ready for a mission and Jenna is a junior in high school and has turned into a beautiful young woman. We also got to meet our new step-dad Ed. He is a really good man. We are very happy for Jean, Jared's mom. She married a great guy. Everyone is doing so well.

Of course before we knew it the weekend was over. With heavy hearts we said goodbye to everyone. It was sad but the good news is that we will be in California for Christmas. It was such a wonderful weekend. I hate to write about it because I can't do it justice but it was a great weekend. So California here we come...for Christmas!!!

Ward Trunk-or-Treat

Our ward trunk-or-treat was last night. Jared was asked to do face painting all night and I ran the "lolly pop pull" booth. We also decorated our trunk and handed out candy to all the cute little kids. It was a lot of fun seeing all the clever and fun costumes. Jared and I dressed up as cowboy and cowgirl because we had already gotten costumes together for the murder mystery party. Jared talked to all the kids in a western accent and he called himself "Billy Bob the Cow Boy". The kids in our ward loved him! He was busy all night painting faces. He got some funny requests for face painting. One little boy wanted a potato chip on one cheek and a Cheeto on the other. Billy Bob was quite the hit!


This is a picture of Phil and Holly North. Phil and Jared were in the same mission and when we moved down here they were in our ward. It was a pretty cool reunion for Jared and Phil. Their daughters are Natalie and Elana. Holly sewed their super cute costumes.

Dog Bite

Jared was riding his bike to work this last week and just before he got to the school he passed a man walking his dog. The dog got a little scared and bit Jared on the leg. It was more of a scratch than anything but it sure scared Jared. When he got to school he went and asked the nurse about it. She said he should go get it looked at right away. Jared had to borrow a car from a fellow faculty member and drive to quick care. He got a tetanus shot. Meanwhile his art classes were canceled for the morning. When Jared arrived back at the school it was announced that art would be in session again for the rest of the day. It was quite the morning! Jared is hoping that this is his first and last dog bite.

Wild Wild West

Jared and I got invited to a Mystery Murder Halloween Dinner Party. Finding costumes was the biggest challenge. We ended up with costumes that came from Walgreens, Wal-Mart, the dollar store and Good Will. The party was on Friday night and it was so much fun. Our friends Colin and Ginny Moses hosted the party. There were eight characters in the story. Jared went as Elias Truest Heath (say that one fast and you will understand his name) and I went as Butch Chastity. Jared had quite the accent. He did great staying in character all night. Everyone acted out their parts well. You should have heard my attempts at sounding like I had a western accent. The murder mystery took about four hours to solve. There was a lot of good food and it was a grand ol' time. I love Halloween parties!

This was the whole group.

Colin was and Indian Chief and Ginny was a...well you can tell from the picture.

It is me ...Butch Chastity

Pumpkin Carving

We had lots of fun carving this pumpkin. We are rear'n and ready to win our ward pumpkin carving contest. Jared did most of the carving but all together it was a joint effort. Last year we didn't have time to carve a pumpkin so this is our first pumpkin carving together! It was so much fun as you will be able to tell from the video. Enjoy!

State Fair

Jared is such a sweetheart. He took me on a date last weekend. He picked me up from work with a change of clothes. Then we went to a great spot near the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport where Jared put some boards on top of the luggage racks so that we would have a great place to sit to watch the airplanes take off. He also managed to transport two delicious bowls of ice cream topped with wipping cream all the way to the airport from our house in a cooler. Some great planning if you ask me! We sat on top of our Jeep and cuddled while eating our delicious ice cream.


Part two of the date we went to the Arizona Sate Fair. It was opening night and the place was jam packed. We got in for $1 each! We went to the rodeo and watched the cow boys. I felt like I was in Idaho again. We also went on a few rides and ate some great food. Jared won a cute suffed dog for me. I loved the date! We both had a blast! I love sate fairs!

Banner Family Fun!

Mom, Dad, Jennifer, and Keith drove down to Arizona on Wednesday and we had an awesome time together. We went to the Diamondbacks vs. Cubs on Wednesday night. The Diamondbacks won! 3 to 1! It was a great game. We were in the nosebleed section but we really didn't care.


Thursday morning we went to a beautiful park in Tempe and had a picnic. After we got done eating we took some funny photos. It was quite entertaining.





We went miniture golfing after that and ended the night with a big birthday celebration for Jennifer and an evening swim in the pool. Jennifer turned 20! I can't believe it...I feel so old! She got an MP3 player that she was very excited about. Now she will have tons of music for the trip home.



Friday morning the family had to leave to get going to St. George, Utah where Mom and Dad are running a marathon. That was the sadest part of the whole vaccation. I hate saying goodbye. However, Jared and I are driving up to Idaho for Thanksgiving so we will see everyone again soon!

What an awesome weekend!

Labor Day

Jared and I had a fun on Labor Day. We go together with Andrea (my cousin from the Banner side) and we went miniture golfing. Andrea beat both of us but we had a blast. We also went to a game center where we played archade games. It was fun. I love having a day off once in a while. We had a really good time and it has been fun to live close to Andrea. We are loving Arizona. The heat is still something we are adjusting too but other than that we are settled in. Now all we need to do is figure out how to convince our friends and family to come visit. :)

Doing Great!

So Jared and I have now been in Avondale for about four weeks. We have loved getting to know our ward and meeting new people. Jared got called as a teacher in the Elders Quorum. Jared is also really enjoying working and at Country Place Elementary. Every time I pick him up and ask about how work was he says he is just loving it. I am working at a place called Cox Printing. I am a graphic designer for them and I design mostly wedding invitations as well as business cards, flyers, books, etc. I work in Mesa one block from the temple. That has been great. I have also started my first freelance job. That is exciting. In school I have been designing and all I get is a grade. I am a lot more excited about designing and getting money for it. :)

Our ward is amazing. We feel very welcome. We got a couch, loveseat, coffee table, and a bookcase from a family in a ward for free. We have had two home teaching visits and a visit with cookies from a young couple in the ward. We have met with the bishop to be welcomed into the ward. We have been so welcomed that we had to turn down a game night and dinner because everyone wanted to welcome us all on the same Sunday. Needless to say we have been looked after. The church is so amazing that way. We both miss all our friends and family but somehow there is one place that feel like home and that is being at church. It has been an answer to our prayers.

Another blessing that has come from us moving down here is that we have had a chance to hang out with Andrea Banner (for those of you that don't know she is my cousin). We did baptisms at the Mesa Temple with her twice last week. It has been great to have a family member close by.

Things seem to be falling into place. We are both so glad that the fears and apprehensions that we had about moving here are subsiding. We have been so blessed. Hope all is well with everyone. We love you!

Hiking the Canyons

We went on a really neat vacation with Marcie's family to southern Utah hiking in Zion's National Park and Bryce Canyon. It was a very fun trip to say the least. The vacation began on July 21st and ended July 23rd. It was a quick trip but like we said, it was a blast.

Jared's highlight of the trip was a hike called "Angles Landing" at Zion's. Jared, Keith (brother-in-law) and Neil (father-in-law) hiked it with him. The estimated 5 hour hike took these guys about 2 hours. Pretty impressive. This hike takes the hiker to the top of a very tall ridge or cliff that gives a beautiful view of the canyon. The pictures are breathtaking.


Marcie's highlight of the trip was being with her family as well as going camping. It was so much fun to talk and enjoy her family. To Marcie nothing is better than being with family. Marcie also really enjoyed hiking the narrows. This hike is at the bottom of a canyon and the we hiked in the river that cuts through the canyon floor. It was so much fun!


Both of us agree that this trip made us grateful for the beauties of nature and for wonderful family. Thank you Banner Family for putting in all your time and effort to make this trip so memorable and exciting. We had a great time!

We Have Moved!

Well the Austin Family has arrived in sunny Arizona. It is pretty hot here but we like it. We have gotten all unpacked and now we are ready to meet our new ward on Sunday. It is sure different than being in Rexburg but we are very excited for the future.

Jared has started teacher orientation and the school year will start on August 7th. He is very excited to be teaching his own class.

Marcie has decorated the new apartment and unpacked almost everything. Jared helped a lot in unpacking too. Aside from all the unpacking and moving she is working on getting her portfolio together to show to potential employers.

Hope everyone is doing well. We would love to hear from all of our friends and family. Have a great day!