The Sawtooth Relay and Idaho

Jared, Ethan and I went to Idaho to visit my family and to participate in the Sawtooth Relay. We flew and Ethan did wonderful on the plane ride to and from Idaho. I was very nervous about how he would do but he was GREAT!!!

Our first stop after flying into Boise was to drive to Rexburg, Idaho to visit my sisters. 

The Banner Sisters...Jennifer, Marcie and Angie.

Re-visiting  the BYU-Idaho campus were Jared and I went to school was a delight. It was fun to visit the place where Jared and I met, dated, fell in love,  were engaged, and lived for a year after being married. AND we finally got to do a session in the Rexburg temple. The whole time we lived there we watched the temple being built but we moved to Arizona before it was completed. It is a BEAUTIFUL temple!!!  

Keith, Mom, Dad, Marcie and Jared in front of 

the Rexburg Temple after a session

Some of our friends that we met while attending BYU-Idaho were still around so we go to see a few of them. It was quite a nostalgic trip.

Ethan on his first carousel ride at Porter Park in Rexburg.

Ethan obviously having a blast playing with the croquet set. 

After driving back to my parents from Rexburg we packed the van and made another road trip to central Idaho for the Sawtooth Relay...the main reason for our trip to Idaho.

Each team in the relay is made up of six people and all together the team runs 61 miles. Each team member runs two legs around 5-6 miles each. We had three teams and we had a great time this year running in the Relay. 

Jared after his first leg. Way to go honey!!! 

Jared just ran a HUGE 5 mile hill.

Marcie celebrating after just finishing her last leg!

The whole crew that ran (except Aunt Melanie and Uncle Kevin)

Aside from Sun Valley and Rexburg we spent time at my parents in Nampa, Idaho (near Boise) were I grew up and that was very fun too. It is amazing how things change when you are gone from your hometown for a little while. When the trip was over we had visited almost every part of the state except northern Idaho. 

Ethan with Great Grandma Banner

Another part of the trip that was bitter sweet was saying goodbye to my little brother for two years. He will be serving a mission in Georgia and we had to say goodbye. Although it was hard I am trilled for my brother Keith. We are so proud of him and his decision to serve a mission. 

Uncle Keith and Ethan...together for the last time (for two years).

Thanks mom and dad for letting us come and visit. We miss everyone already! 

Surprise Grandma Austin!!!

Jared, Ethan and I have been up to a whole lot lately. First Jared's Birthday was on the 1st of June. HAPPY BIRTHDAY honey!

Then we decided to make a last min. trip to California to visit Jared's mom and so we left for CA the night of Jared's Birthday. We were in California until the 3rd. Then on the 4th we left for a vactaion to Idaho...which I will summarize later as to not overwhelm blog readers. Because of all these events there has been an absence in blogging for the last few weeks and I apologize.

Now with apologies out of they way I will go on to summarize of our trip to California...

While in California we had the pleasure of seeing Jared's baby sister Jenna Graduate from High School. Go JENNA! We are so proud of her.

We also took a short day trip to Yosemite and I must say Half Dome was even more breathtaking than I remember. I would have given anything to stay and camp for a couple of days.

We had a wonderful time and Ethan loved spending time with Grandma Austin, Grandpa Ed, Aunt Janae and Aunt Jenna.