Life is such a wild ride, and honestly I can't believe it's been almost 5 months that we've been in California already. I really don't want to forget these times, and I really want my kids and grandkids to be able to see a glimpse of what life was like for us during these years. I'm going to try and do my best to recap that intense time (although, haha, all of these med school years seem to have some level of intensity). I'll begin back at the last week in August...
Scout was brand new, we were all adjusting to life with a newborn in the home again (which quite frankly felt one thousand times magical, and still does), and I was feeling more peace with where we were at. There was one moment in particular, when Kevin and I had taken the kids to the outdoor track (on the BYUI campus), where Kevin was playing football with the kids and running "drills", and I was walking/pushing Scout in the stroller, the evening sky was showing off in all it's stunning Idaho glory, and I felt overwhelmed with SO much PEACE. I was so grateful for that moment, and for all the millions of tiny moments that had brought us to this moment. It was like heaven was letting me get a teeny tiny glimmer of what that inexpressible joy felt like. And it wasn't like Kevin had passed any big test or finished med school--no, this almost felt sweeter, because I was able to just feel so much happiness inside of this "med school/chaotic/newborn mom life". I was so happy with living in a small town, happy with my friends, and content with this life Kevin and I had built.
So I had that beautiful moment, and then the very next day Kevin got the email telling him he was going to be able to start rotations in LA. JUST when I had settled into the thought of never leaving Rexburg again, or being okay with the whole study-forever-for-STEP decision. Hah. The Lord definitely has a sense of humor with timing. Kevin was to start rotations Monday, September 25th 2023. That was in basically 3 weeks, and we were not expecting that (okay kind of we were, but kind of we are really good at not getting our hopes up at this point in our lives!).
We immediately start looking for places to live. Which is another insane adventure. We didn't have extra money to fly or drive out to CA and stay in a hotel and look at places, so everything we did was online(which I hated. I want to see things in person and get a better feel for the area-same with Kevin). And that ended up being way harder than we thought. Also, we knew that choosing CA was going to be pricy, but actually seeing the numbers was jaw dropping! hahahaha. For example, we have been blessed to still own our townhome in Rexburg and make that work for so many years while in and out of Idaho. For our 2 bed 1.5 bath place(1200 sqft) we were paying about $600 in rent plus about $150 for HOA fees. ANY 3 bedroom place we looked at in CA was at least $3200. Not including water/garbage/etc fees. Holy smokes!! We looked and looked and applied to soooo many different places and kept getting turned down. We also found out that we were applying with about 15+ other applicants each time (once a rental company told us 30 applications had been received!). It was wild and i just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that so many people lived and wanted to live in California, because I thought they were all moving to Idaho! haha ahh my naivety. On realtor told us that we wouldn't be good for a neighborhood because we had kids, and another because she could tell that Kevin was more "conservative" because of his voice. hahaha you guys. wild i tell you.
The weekend before Kevin was supposed to start, everyone except Scout became sick with the flu. It was so bad and Kevin was hit so hard. If you don't know him, he already has a horrible time sleeping because of his IBS which is awful, but to throw the flu and all this stress on top of the stress he already has because of studying for STEP....yeah, it was bad. We had really REALLY wanted to move all together, but it just was not happening for us. I even contacted several bishops in the surrounding areas asking for help or places to live or somewhere Kevin could stay...with no great options. So Saturday the 23rd Kevin packed himself up in the 4runner and drove away to California by himself, sick as a dog, with no place to stay lined up. He stopped in St George to sleep at Ang's house around midnight, but couldn't sleep except for maybe about an hour (surprise surprise), so he just got up and continued the drive at 2 in the morning to California. I literally don't know how he does it and functions.
We had lined up a walk through that morning I believe, so he parked in a church parking lot for a bit, drove around and looked at some neighboring areas with rentals we had been looking at, then went to the open house. There were about 8 other couples there he said looking when he was, which was discouraging, but we still tried to stay positive. It was hard because while we did realize we had high standards for where we wanted to live, we still felt like something was going to come up. We knew it would be okay and work out...even in the literal thick of nothing working out.
During this whole time we had been looking at areas around LA. Not super close to Los Angeles. We really didn't want to live close to downtown. We looked at and loved the Santa Clarita area, heard good things about Rancho Cucomonga...but ultimately they were all an hour+ drive to work for Kevin, which he was honestly fine with as long as we could find a better/safer community that we loved and were happy with. We kept looking and kept getting denied. Expanded our search even further and this is when crazy ideas started happening. Nothing was off the table. And I mean NOTHING. I was fully prepared to just stay in Idaho while Kevin did rotations here in California (and really that was my anxiety/nerves talking because I was SO scared to put the kids into public school in Cali!). Kevin even looked into the idea and started crunching numbers for how cost effective it would be to live with my parents in Lehi, and then have him fly-yes FLY-into LA everyday or each week to do his rotations that way. hahaha it was honestly not that insane price-wise...but ultimately we just wanted to be together.
So going back to Kevin. He had decided to get a hotel. A random hotel off the freeway in West Covina. Side story: The best part is that he needed to wash his clothes, so he ran to Target and grabbed some Downy(fabric SOFTENER) thinking it was laundry detergent...and used that all week!! We still laugh about that one because I didn't realize it was fabric softener until I used some myself and immediately realized something was wrong/off! Obviously we are really good at reading labels, because I couldn't figure it out and thought our washer was broken, but instead my mom (who helped us move-don't worry I'll get there!) pointed out that we were in fact using a fabric softener and not a detergent bottle!
I digress. So Kevin is still sick as a dog, going into his rotations feeling like crap, not being able to sleep, in a random city and area he knew nothing about. Everything felt foreign and like too much. Like, will the Second Coming just happen so we don't have to deal with this nightmare anymore?! Please?! We even considered options for quitting medical school, and what that would look like. It was a new low, and it felt like everything was going against us. I think we've both felt like this when going through pregnancies and loss, but this was a totally different level. I think part of the trouble was just trying to figure out what to do and what we wanted, and what the Lord had in store for us. We knew that there's always going to be opposition in all things, and that sometimes ya just have to leap before He'll intervene and let us know if we are going in the wrong direction. BUT THAT IS WHAT WAS SO HARD. I was tired of trying and feeling like every door was closing. And it was hard to discern if it was the adversary making it difficult, or just life, or Heavenly Father trying to tell us this wasn't meant to be. Super personal right?!
And then a tender mercy happened. (This was still within that first week Kevin was in California and I was in Idaho with all the kids) A listing appeared. It looked too good to be true. New build, new gated community, pool, playground area, clubhouse, 4 bedrooms...we immediately got a hold of the realtor and Kevin drove over to look at it in person. We put an application in and then held our breath. I remember praying so hard that if this was where we were supposed to be to just let us get this new place. It checked all our boxes that seemed impossible to do, and while it was definitely still pricey ($3400/month)everything about it made it worth it to us. We were accepted. FINALLY!!! I remember not believing Kevin when he texted me. I was so happy and we were so relieved. I promised Kevin I was going to make an extra $400/month to help out with his stress level, and somehow so far I have been able to deliver on that promise. We also joke about how everywhere we live from now on will never be able to compare to prices here, and will look like cake! hah!
In true Kevin Fuller fashion, we decided to move that weekend. Kevin was able to get off the following Monday and Tuesday to move his family, so he drove to St George, left the 4runner at their home there, and rode with his parent's back to Rexburg. So this was the weekend of General Conference, the first weekend in October. We were crazy to think we could make that happen by ourselves. And lucky for us we have family and friends who realize how insane we are and who dive in to help us anyways. My parents and Taylia came up from Utah to help pack everything. Our good friend Betsy Armstrong came over and helped clean, as did Kevin's mom and Bird. We could have NEVER done it ourselves, saved the money we did, and had it looking so nice without them. Zero chance. From getting the Uhaul and everything loaded, we had help from family. I know I've said it before, but again: we would NOT be where we are without the help of family and friends. There is just so much that goes unseen, and we make sure to tell our kids who and how people are helping us. I hope my kids grow up to be angel helpers like that.
We made it safe and sound to California. My parents drove with us the whole way. We stopped in Lehi for a night, stopped in St George the next night, and then on to CA and landed in a little city called Upland. It's been the perfect fit for us, and the neighbors/community/ward has been so welcoming. It's not Idaho, but we are so happy to get to experience the beautiful weather and opportunities California has to offer, and are especially glad Kevin has started year 3 of rotations! One of the biggest blessings! We've already made trips to different beaches (which I should write about!), and been to Disneyland. The kids are making friends and have great teachers, and it's not like the challenges have stopped (nor will they ever haha!) but we are facing them head on and getting through them. Some days with more grace than others.
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