Our Anniversary--6 years!!!

Jason and I celebrated 6 years of marriage with a wonderful day exploring Idaho. Jason got a babysitter for Faith all day on Saturday, while Jason and I and Julia took off on a fun exploration day of hiking! It was almost like when we didn't have kids, except Julia was there:) She was a trooper! Such a good baby. We love getting to do stuff like this, but it has been difficult since we started having kids. So this was a real treat for me! Thanks, Jason, for the idea and for organizing it! As you can see from this first picture, we started out on a trail that, well, wasn't quite a trail. What you don't see are the two guys "guarding" the entrance to this hike with their high-powered rifles sitting on their 4-wheelers. After hiking on an extreme uphill grade with underbrush and fallen trees, we couldn't find the trail. We decided this adventure was best done without an infant in tow (it was slightly dangerous)!


We all had burrs all over our clothes and socks...even baby Julia had burrs on her socks!




We decided that we would head to the Sawtooth Mountains. We heard they were breathtaking. On the way, we stopped to take some pictures of the clear blue water of the south fork of the Payette River.




And, wow! Here are the Sawtooth mountains! Isn't God creative?





We had heard so much about a city called Stanley, ID, and were really excited to see it. I thought it might be like the north Georgia town of Helen. We were surprised to find out that it had a population of 100 and very few stores ... and no paved roads except the state highway running through it. Why more people don't live here is beyond me though. It was awesome. Here is a picture of one of the stores. In these parts, stores aren't "closed"; they are "shut".


We stopped for at a pizza restaurant for a snack and then headed on our way to do a "quick" 4-mile hike (before sunset).




Here is a collection of baby Julia pictures. She is a wonderful hiking partner!





















































































Our hike was beautiful and easy...here is the end of the hike (it could go on for a few more miles, but the sun was setting very quickly, so we needed to hustle back.



A mountain lake...and reflection.


Driving home...