It's always nice when Heavenly Father confirms the answer to your prayers with a fortune cookie.

So as things have begun to settle down in other aspects of my life, I came to the realization that I was not happy at my job.  I thought for awhile that I was just stressed because of other things but I just kept feeling more and more that it was not a good fit for me.  It was hard because I really like the people there and I think its a good company to work for, but I was not happy in what I was doing, and really felt like I wouldn't be able to get out of this job the things I need in my career right now.  The feeling of wanting to quit came on pretty suddenly for me, it was something I didn't consider because I had not been there that long.  But I decided to start looking to see what other options I had and found a job listing that seemed to offer everything I felt was lacking in this job.  The next day I sent out a resume, the next day I had an interview scheduled and a week and a half later I had the job.  I know that no job will be perfect, but after a lot of prayers and fasting I feel that is the right step for me and I'm really excited about the change. (Especially after this weekend, don't ask).  And I'll have three day weekends every week, which I'm really excited about and hopefully that means more time for regular blogging! Here's some pics from lately (and not so lately since it's been awhile)

Our beautiful fall before the leaves all fell

Neighborhood trail

Early morning at the temple, too bad I didn't realize my recommend expired til I got there

Our trip to the pumpkin patch a few weekends ago.  We went to Roloff farms, the family on Little People, Big World (we don't watch it but it was fun!)

They had a baby lion, so incredibly cute!!

Did you know they use litter boxes without even training them to?

Feeding the wet and dirty lamas and sheep

Why don't they ever have adult pony rides?

I don't know if this chair was meant to make me look like a little person but it succeeded.

Picking out our pumpkins!

Random, but pretty funny.

Life is beautiful, right?

So I've really been struggling lately with a lot of things (the length of time between posts is always a good indicator of how crazy life is at the moment).  I could probably write a very long post about things I'm really not happy about lately but that probably wouldn't do anything but bring everyone else down to my level and, unfortunately it wouldn't change any of those things either.  So I want to take some time to list some of the things I am grateful for lately . . .

My amazing best friend and husband, Daniel, who will always be number one on my list of things I am grateful for.  I don't know how I would have gotten through things that have happened in the last few years without him.  I'm so lucky to get to fall asleep next to him every night and wake up with him every morning.  It amazes me that after two and half years,  I still cannot get enough of him.  I would love to spend every second of every day with him, and the awesome part is - he wants to spend every second of every day with me.  I'm so blessed to have someone who values the time they get to spend with me, who knows and helps me to remember that I am that special.

The sunshine.  I was so afraid that the rain would start here and I would never see the sun again and be miserable and depressed within a week.  But there is still sunshine, a little bit each day! And so far I am liking the rain.  Its made everything green again and even though I miss east coast falls, I am getting to enjoy some beautiful scenery here.

My friend Jenna and my friends Kate and Katie.  Even though life is ridiculous and I don't even have time to even hang out with friends, these girls have been so accepting and loving after just barely meeting me.  I feel like I've been so consumed with my own stuff to be a great friend in return, but I'm so grateful for them for welcoming me and making me feel that someone cares during what has been a really rough and sometimes lonely transition in my life.

My mom.  For making me and Daniel dinner this week, for loving Daniel and welcoming him into our family so easily.  For her generosity and teaching me what it means to be a good wife and mother.

The gospel.  Today we sang "I Believe in Christ" in church - it was the first time in probably a few years that I've sung it all the way through without crying, only due to some good distraction from my friend's babies.  Every time I sing that song, I am reminded of the sacrifice He made for me, of the chance I have to try again and again, how I really can make it through everything because of Him.  I'm so grateful for this knowledge, these words express better than I ever could the tremendous love and joy I can feel even in the midst of suffering, and there are few things I could ever be more grateful for.

I believe in Christ; he is my King!

With all my heart to him I'll sing;

I'll raise my voice in praise and joy,

In grand amens my tongue employ.

I believe in Christ; he is God's Son.

On earth to dwell his soul did come.

He healed the sick; the dead he raised.

Good works were his; his name be praised.

I believe in Christ-- my Lord, my God!

My feet he plants on gospel sod.

I'll worship him with all my might;

He is the source of truth and light.

I believe in Christ; he ransoms me.

From Satan's grasp he sets me free,

And I shall live with joy and love

In his eternal courts above.

I believe in Christ; he stands supreme!

From him I'll gain my fondest dream;

And while I strive through grief and pain,

His voice is heard: "Ye shall obtain."

I believe in Christ; so come what may,

With him I'll stand in that great day

When on this earth he comes again

To rule among the sons of men.

we survived our first day of primary.

daniel and I complained several times to each other about how boring our ward at church was.  a word to the wise . . . be careful what you wish for.

Portlandia

Well we finally got around to exploring Portland!  I've been wanting to for weeks and we never got around to it with all the craziness, and the next few weekends we'll be moving so this weekend was perfect.  We started off at the rose garden, which was absolutely beautiful! The roses in my backyard look nothing like these beauties, they had them in every color you can think of.  There were at least 6 weddings we saw there I think, it was a little difficult to get pictures without other people in them but such a pretty place.  Then we tried to go to a cute little Italian restaurant, but they weren't open yet so we walked around a bit, found some random shops and happened to end up in one of the places on my list, Powell's city of books, the largest new and used bookstore in the world!  It was quite overwhelming but fun to walk through, and I think we'll definitely be there again sometime.  We ended up eating at Henry's 12th st Tavern, which we just thought looked yummy but found out it was the old Henry Weinhard brewery - I sent my bro a pic of my delicious root beer to make him jealous.  We headed to Salt n Straw for some homemade ice cream but not before picking up some cupcakes at a random cupcake shop we happened to park in front of (nothing special) and some voodoo doughnuts (so good i actually considered giving up cupcakes for these).  After lots of driving around, we headed to Cedar Crest Park (which was supposedly a good makeout spot - LIES).  But apparently its one of the (maybe the) highest spots in portland, a pretty view but not as great as I was expecting.  Might have been because it was hazy too.  It was a fun day getting to see a little bit more of Portland (other than the airport and ikea that I see everyday).  We did come to an understanding of the bumper stickers "Keep Portland weird."  Portland really is strange.  Philly definitely is a better fit for our normalness, but we had fun exploring!

Such beautiful roses!

Ginormous plant

For a second I thought I was in Philadelphia . . . 

Ginormous bookstore!

Salted caramel and chocolate with gooey brownies . . . yum

We definitely did not leave the city empty handed. 

'

Life

Home early from church with a sick hubby which means a little extra time to blog.  I usually only blog about whatever I take pictures of, but I wanted to start this one out with a little update on the adjustment to Oregon.  I thought I'd be way less stressed just working than I was with school but I pretty much reached what I think is close to my maximum stress threshold the other week (aka what I can handle without a complete mental breakdown).  Don't get me wrong, I was very close to a mental breakdown. I'm pretty sure I cried multiple times a day for at least a week straight.  Everything just kind of hit me all at once - I feel like I was grieving being done school forever, leaving Philadelphia, leaving my friends and family and on top of that being uber stressed over trying to figure things out with my new job on top of being completely triggered by things that were happening with my clients, and still feeling a little out of place living in a home that's not really mine.  And I got in my first car accident ever.  Not even a fender bender, just a trailer hitch- license plate bender thank goodness but still shook me up.  But things have been slowly getting better - not really calming down but I feel like I'm adjusting a bit more and learning a little more to just go with the flow.  We've had a little time to do some fun things amidst the craziness, including the air show a few weeks ago and visit my sister and her family in eugene.  Hopefully things continue to look up, I know that I just need to trust in the Lord that everything will work out in the end no matter what challenges come my way we'll be able to handle them.