September

Every year there is a hot air balloon festival.  Boise has the perfect climate and wind patterns for it.

First day of school.  Ethan in 2nd grade, Nick in his last year of preschool.

Ethan with his class in the garden they help grow.

Sprinkler on the trampoline.  I don't know how we ever survived without one.

All the kids have used the bunny costume.  It's one of my favorites,

At the women's conference with my beauties

We saw the blood moon with Amanda and her kids

At the botanical gardens with Lisa

Ella's 2nd birthday.  I painted this kitchen for Ella.

Nick with his preschool friends at a birthday party.

We termed this the "Mega Carrot" from my parents garden.

I don't see how this could not end badly

Ella chose to keep her baby warm instead of wearing her coat.

Sometimes we bring Snowy in the house when it is cold

I love Ethan's drawings

Ella loves to hide in my sweater 

July

At a bike race downtown called the Twilight Criterion 

The 4th of July with the neighborhood kids.  

We visited Logan for the first time with the kids.

Where Matthew and I became "True Aggies" 12 years ago at Himecoming.

Ella loves carrying Snowy around

Nick is so happy to finally have a pet.  He would go and eat lunch outside with him almost every day.

In Mcall, I tried stand-up paddle boarding for the first time.

Bob reading with Ella

My dad and sisters and I at a play at Hales Theater in Orem.

I made this pikachu cake for Nick's 5th birthday.

Remi's and her kids were visiting from Virginia and got to spend Nick's birthday with us.

Ella was just sitting in this chair drinking her milk and the boys came and covered her in blankets and pillows.

July

Our first family pet (mostly Nick's)

Shakes at Fancy Freeze at Veterans Memorial Park. We were trying to kill time on summer afternoons while Matthew was in DC.  He negotiated working in Idaho for 3 weeks a month and one week in DC for the next couple months until his contract is up.

Most days after dinner we go for a walk to the YMCA or park.  Ella watches her brothers on their scooters all the time and she rides her 3-wheeled one pretty well for a not-even-two-year-old!

Playing Box Trolls while we unpack boxes 

Our dream home!

Matthew quit his job in DC and now works for St. Luke's as the Project Manager over the tele-health program there and loves his job!  He is surrounded by kind and compassionate nurses and Doctors who love and care about others. Matthew is such a service-oriented person, so it is a great place for him to be!

Saying goodbye to Maryland

Walking around the pond and swinging on the swings was one of our very favorite things to do!

One of our last Ward activities in The Montgomery Village Ward.  We brought Giselle and Mateen with us.  It was a raingutter regatta- and Nick raced one of his best friends, Max.

Our favorite times were on the deck out back eating Popsicles.

Matthew and his friend, Kevin at an Orioles game in Baltimore.  The were quarantined inside the stadium while there were riots against the police officers there for the Freddy Grey incident.

Sunday dinners on the deck

Seeing how many people we could fit in the swing at Cabin John Park

Meeting friends in Georgetown for a "French Day of cuisine and art".

At Nick's preschool for a Mother's Day Luncheon.

We miss all our friends in Maryland, but had such wonderful experiences there and great memories!

June

We took the kids to the very first place we lived in DC.  We wanted to show them before our move to Boise.  It was almost exactly 10 years ago.  4607 Connecticut Avenue.  Our efficient (studio) apartment was 450 square feet.  We absolutely loved living there!!

They put a park and splash pad in the back of the apartments that used to be an open field.  A couple weeks after we moved to the city, our car was broken into.  The only parking was on the street, next to this field.  One night we decided to see if we could catch the criminals who had broken into our car.  We saw a group of guys hanging out by where our car was broken into and so we hid in the field and talked about how we would catch them.

We hadn't riden the metro for a while since we had moved to MD.  The noise bothered Nick.