Boise, ID

It's actually a much better place to live than you would expect. When we first moved here in May I thought for sure this place would be terrible. The drive to Boise is the most boring, ugly, and empty drive I have ever been on. When we pulled into town and found our apartment complex, everything around it looked so desolate! (We live on the edge of the city, basically the last residential area so it looked pretty empty.) But after we settled in we realized this place is pretty awesome!

Boise has wonderful weather; its been hot some days but its always breezy and never scorching like Utah. The city has everything you could possibly want from stores to restaurants to things to do. Actually, there are some really interesting things to do here: lots of historic sites, water park, zoo, airplane museum, birds of prey habitat, etc. Oh, and LOTS of outdoor activities. Taxes are cheaper, its never too busy or crowded, even the speed limit on the freeway is 75. Property and houses are much, much cheaper here, and there are a lot of growing communities of nice places to live. I love how Boise is a big city (its the capital after all) but it still has a small town feel to it. Peter and I also really like that its not overly Mormon in population. I think I heard its around 30-40% LDS? I know some people love living in Utah where they can be surrounded overwhelmingly by fellow Mormons, but Peter and I like the variety much better. Oh, and there's a temple in town!

Everyone we have met here is very nice and friendly. We absolutely love our ward! Since we live in a newer residential area, there are a lot of young families. Our calling is working in the Nursery, and there are a lot of toddlers in the ward but we love it! Our apartment complex is also wonderful. Our apartment is much larger and cheaper than our old one in Provo. Plus, we get all the perks of the clubhouse, such as a pool and a fitness center. I wish we could find a place more like this right next to campus...

So our verdict on Boise so far--excellent place to live! True, Boise is kind of in the middle of nowhere and if we lived here permanently we would have to live in Idaho and not on the beach... but honestly, if Peter got offered a permanent job here at Micron, I wouldn't be disappointed moving here.

Now everyone just needs to come visit!