2nd Apartment - February 2005 - May 2006

So we finally decided to leave our very cheap rent and move to a new place. Fortunately for us it was only 2 miles away and in the same ward. Our new apartment was a two-bedroom, two-story apartment that had a balcony that overlooked downtown Boise and the foothills. It was a beautiful view, but our neighborhood wasn’t that great. We lived right next to the city’s biggest homeless shelter. When deciding to move there that was one thing that I did not like at all, but after talking to a few people in our ward they said they never had any issues. We sure did see some interesting people though!

Here’s a picture of our apartment. The big tree in the middle hides the courtyard area. Because our apartment door was in the courtyard area, I think we were safer than the apartments that had doors on the street of in the alley. I believe our rent here was $525/month, which was actually a very good deal for a 2-bedroom apartment in Boise at the time.

Some of the things that we loved about this apartment was that we were so close to the two biggest parks in Boise, Julia Davis and Ann Morrison. Ann Morrison was about a 5 minute walk and then you had to cross a bridge over the Boise River and we’d be at the playground, which Dillon loved! Because we were so close to the Greenbelt (bike path that goes along the Boise River) I was able to ride my bicycle to school every day. It was a good workout for me! I guess not too much though, since BSU was only a mile away.

We also had some good friends that lived close by. In our apartment complex was the Brandon and Michelle Booth and the Hugentoblers. Later the Espinozas moved in. Less than a block away were probably 10 families from the ward, including Brandon and Aubri Johns and Ricki and Tamara Southwick. I knew we weren’t living in the best location, but I always felt safe knowing we had so many friends close by.

Above is a little tunnel on the way to Ann Morrison Park and the other picture is of Natalie and Mackenzie on our Balcany. On that balcony, Natalie attempted a container garden, but it didn’t work out so well.

Above is a picture of me in front of the fountain in Ann Morrison park and another picture of Natalie and Dillon on our balcony. While in this apartment, I bought a bicycle at a pawn shop (bad idea) and bought one of those kid trailers that hooked up to my bicycle. Dillon loved it when I would take him on bike rides to the park. Another thing that I absolutly loved about Ann Morrison park was the Disc (Frisbee) Golf course. I had never really played disc golf before, but it soon became my favorite sport. I was introduced to it by some of the guys I worked with, but after a few months I had converted my entire ward to playing it. Natalie and Dillon would even come play sometimes…okay not play exactly, but they’d walk the course with me…or until Natalie got tired.