Life in Bakersfield

A couple days before Derrick's wedding Kyle came out to California to start his internship. I had school until a week after Derrick's wedding, so I stayed in Utah for a little while longer. It was pretty great to see him again!

As Kyle says almost every day, it still doesn't feel like real life. Our week days are pretty routine around here: we wake up early, Kyle makes breakfast, we get ready, read scriptures, pray, and head out the door. I take Kyle to work then come back to get things done around the house for a few hours. We don't have Internet in our apartment, so I go to the library pretty much every day but none of the libraries open until 11. I work on research and other things I need to get done during the day and go pick Kyle up when he texts me. He usually gets off about 5:30-6:00, but there have definitely been some later days thrown in there. We make dinner, write thank you notes, and watch "Harry Potter" movies pretty much every night.

I won't lie, it has been hard sometimes for me. I almost had a break down the other day after the dinner I made didn't work the way it was supposed to (I have made it so much!). I think it was the straw that broke the camel's back. I often feel like I'm not doing a lot to contribute, so when I felt I failed at one of my few contributions, it was hard. It didn't help I have very little human interaction throughout the day. Most of the time I really am just fine, I just have my moments. And Kyle has been so wonderful about it and always finds a way to make me feel better. He really is the best!

The weekends are where the fun is really at. The first weekend I was here was the only one we haven't gone somewhere else for at least part of the weekend. We have been to St. George, Oceanside, LA, Valencia, and Oregon so far. First up: St. George.

Kyle's grandma died just about a week after I got to Bakersfield. It was surprising because she was at our wedding and was totally fine. A couple weeks later she had two strokes within 24 hours and she never recovered from them. It was nice for her kids to have time to say good-bye without watching their mom suffer for too long. Her funeral was on Monday, June 29th. We headed down to St. George early Saturday morning (which was only about a 6.5 hour drive for us). 

We stopped at McDonald's and had to document it since I
 don't remember the last time I ate there

We gave the girls our phones to entertain them

Cute Adalyn's face

When we got there all of Kyle's aunts and uncles were headed to the St. George Temple, so we grabbed Audrey, Adalyn, Cody (Kyle's cousin), and convinced Jordan to come with us and we headed down to the pool. We got showered and cleaned up, then met up with the whole big family to go to dinner at Golden Corral (sidenote: I ate more buffet food this weekend than I ever have before in my life). It was fun to actually get to talk to everyone that I originally only met at our wedding. 

Sunday we went to church at Kyle's aunt and uncle's ward. The rest of the day was spent eating up the chance to be with family. The hotel we were staying at had a conference room that we reserved for most of the day. We had food, played games, talked, and laughed. Throughout the day more and more family showed up until there was quite the crew there. Kyle's dad went around and asked everyone what question they wanted to ask Grandpa. We all gathered around and asked him the questions. It was so neat! He is a funny guy and has lived a really interesting life. Kyle's dad is the 11th of 12 kids, so his parents certainly had their hands full! He bore his testimony to everyone and we pulled out the ancestor fan and posterity chart Kyle's uncle had blown up. It meant so much to Grandpa. We also got everyone together to take a family picture (not everyone was there, obviously, but that's okay). I never knew my grandpas, so it was fun for me to feel like I was part of something so great, even though I barely know the man. Grandpa has Parkinsons and Alzheimers, but he was miraculously lucid throughout the weekend.

The funeral was the next day. There was a nice viewing beforehand and I loved getting to see old pictures and some of the incredible things Grandma had sewn. Grandpa gave the Family Prayer and it was emotional for everyone. The funeral itself was really nice. Again, I didn't really know Grandma, but I loved hearing stories about her. She was a feisty one! Actually, the description of how she raised her kids reminds me a lot of Kyle's dad. Near the end, they had all of the grandkids and great grandkids stand and sing "Families Can Be Together Forever." It was pretty much the whole audience, but it meant a lot to Grandpa to get to see that.

Kyle's dad dedicate the grave and it was really nice. It was St. George in the summer though, which means it was SUPER hot! Cute little Audrey is just at the age to understand what happened and she was pretty upset about her grandma dying. She is just so sweet! It was heartbreaking to see her so sad. Afterward we went to Chuck-A-Rama because that was Grandma's favorite place. 

It was a short visit, but it was so great to get to know Kyle's family better. I got really lucky marrying into this amazing family!