Home Sweet Home!

After just a few short days of driving around Bakersfield, Cody and I found the perfect apartment complex. There was just once problem: we had to move in immediately if we wanted the apartment. So the very day we unload the u-haul at Jill's house and turn it in, we find out that we have to load all our stuff back up to move into our new place. (You can imagine how happy my husband was about this.) Haha! Life is great, huh?

Notice the beautiful mountains in the background! I see these out my bedroom window every morning. The picture below taken from the bottom of the stairs leading up to my apartment. We've got some great shade trees, a fountain, swimming pool, and hot tub just out our front door. OH! And the pond with the fountain has koi in it. How cool is that?

Our apartment is on the second floor, so we have great views. Below you can see our balcony and our front door.

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the apartment. We made the second bedroom our office, the better for me to sit and work on my blog. :) Remember, it's a work in progress...

Bakersfield or BUST!

Yeah, so I had this great post planned out about our trip out here, but then I really got to thinking about it. There was nothing really great about our trip. We spent twenty-four hours seeing who could spot the most trains. Oh, and thank God for walkie-talkies. Anyway here's a few highlights...

On the first day, we spent twelve hours in two separate cars and barely made it out of Texas. For the most part I saw only the back of the trailer Cody was pulling... What the heck is a custom hitch anyway?

The second day? Well, we left early in the morning from Albequerque. We loaded the cats and our suitcases back in the car and started out around seven thirty in the morning. For those of you who don't know, I'm NOT a morning person. The cats were not happy to be back in the car, and I was not happy to have them. The finally settled down after a while, but they let me know exactly what they thought about it first. We did get to see several hot air balloons taking off that morning, which was cool, but soon we got back to the boredom that is New Mexico. See below.

Arizona was somewhat better since the landscape began to change. Cody and I both fell in love with Flagstaff. It was an absolutely beautiful town. The mountains and trees were a great change of scenery.

Of course, the cats didn't care where we were. I did learn that they did better with a little air conditioning and that my Louie is WAY more needy that Madison will ever be. In between each new spot that he tried to sleep in he would come and sit in my lap for a few minutes. He eventually decided that no where would make him happy, so he rotated about four or five spots every half hour or so, stopping to visit me in between. Not that I'm really complaining because since we've been in Bakersfield he's been my bestest buddy.

Below is just a snapshot of me being bored. Nothing like the Mojave Desert to make a girl crazy.

We finally reached Bakersfield, California around eight that night. It was great to get to see our friends, Ben and Jill, who so graciously made room for us in their home. God truly blessed us with our friends. I nearly cried when I got there because they had gone over the top to make us feel at home. Dinner was waiting on the stove. We had a bedroom to ourselves, and they had even cleaned out a closet and a dresser for us to put our things away. I cannot say how much these people mean to me, but I hope that one day I will be able to return the kindness in some way.

Now we are here in Bakersfield, and we are happy as can be. The town is more than I had dared hoped it would be. The people here are nice, and I have friends nearby who have helped make it feel like home (Ben, Jill, Ashley, Jason, Laura, and Steve in particular). Thanks guys!

I'm a big bad...

GRAD!!! Yep! I know this a late announcement, but I did it! I finished my master's degree. I can now officially be called a librarian. Sexy, right? Anyway, here's a few pictures to commemorate the event. (Like my fancy words?)

My graduating class - August 2009

Waiting in line to walk across the stage!

The fancy announcements I ordered!

Then out to dinner with the family to celebrate! Aren't they a beautiful group!

My summer in pictures...

I know the last post was all words and no pictures, so I decided to do one that's all pictures and well a few words. :) These are just some snapshots of the fun things Cody and I got to do this summer.

We went to Shreveport, Louisiana to celebrate our anniversary! Here's the beautiful Horseshoe Casino Hotel where we stayed. We were on the 27th floor and the room and the view were amazing!!

While we didn't go down to the casino, we did spend some time betting on the ponies! Of course Cody looked at the statistics and all that jazz. I just picked the ones that I thought were pretty!

Afterwards, we went out to dinner (Mexican food, yum!) then went down to the riverwalk. The sunset was incredible, but mostly I just remember having a great evening with my hubby.

When we weren't off having fun, Cody was working from daylight to dark. His old boss loved having him back in the tractor. Some days I was lucky and got to ride around with him... it was just as much fun as it was in high school.

Since Cody got to work pretty much seven days a week, I took the opportunity to visit my friends. Here's one of Maisie and I. We met during college and worked together at Foley's.

Okay, so not the best picture of me, but this was too good to leave out. Cody and I went to visit his brother down near Austin. While we were there we got to visit one of our old friends who happened to have set up a deer feeder in his front yard. Now he has about a dozen deer who visit every evening to eat corn out of his hands.

One last thing I wanted to mention... I got to spend the summer with my favorite doggy! Bo is our dog who lives with Cody's parents. He is very lazy and absolutely loves green grapes. What can I say, he takes after both his parents. I like green grapes too!!

Ready or not, here they come!

Yep, I know what you are thinking... Who is this person that finally updates her blog? I know it's a shock, but I finally have my camera charged, my pictures loaded, and I'm ready to give you the epic tale of my summer. It all started long ago in a far away land.... Haha! What can I say? I'm in a good mood today! Life has finally put me in a place where I look forward to each new day. More to come on that. For now, we will start with the beginning and see how far we can get.

So I spent my summer in Texas visiting my family and my friends. I saw my Grandmother and Grandpa Duncan (you never ever ever call her grandma because that sounds "old"), my Grandpa Stiles, along with some aunts and uncles and cousins. I spent many weekends camping out on Robin's couch when I just needed a friend (thank you so much). My sister moved home, and I think we are both grateful for that time we spent together (even though there were a few moments where neither of us would have said so). I got to spend time with my mom and Cody's parents, all of whom went above and beyond to give us that great feeling of being home. Overall, it was a great summer and one I will never forget.

While I did lots of stuff, the time I spent with my family and friends is what made it so special for me. The next posts will be about the stuff, but I wanted to do this one as a big THANK YOU to everyone who made our summer what it was.