Halloween Photo Tricks

This is what happens when you have no Trick-or-Treaters and a husband studying for a big test on Halloween: photoshop sugar skull, zombie, and witch.

Pumpkin Carving

We had fun carving our pumpkins tonight.  Nothing quite like turning on Pandora Halloween Radio, listening to a variety of music including: Nightmare Before Christmas, Disney's Haunted Mansion ride soundtrack, Told the Witch Doctor, Devil Went Down to Georgia, Monster Mash, Thriller, among many other classic Halloween songs, and digging out pumpkin guts. I think they turned out pretty cute.  Happy week of Halloween!

When it is raining and the husband is studying....

In case you weren't aware, it tends to rain in Portland, and while we didn't experience this until this month, we are quickly realizing that this is a true fact.  I happen to like rain, a lot, especially when I can be home when it is raining and not have anything I have to get done or do.  Today consisted of cleaning, and once everything was nice and clean?  I started on projects creating lots of messes.  One of them was this banner/garland that I am in love with.  While enjoying Karate Kid III, I cut, pieced together, and sewed something fun and cute, for now it will be a cheery decoration for my cubicle at work.  Now I get to clean all over again.  Yippee!

Hello, Autumn

There are still many more to go, but how great it is to have the trees different colors!

Sunday Mornings

JD loves sleeping in, and only gets to do it once in a while.  Today in order to avoid waking him, I drove up to Cooper Mountain and walked around.  The leaves are beautiful and all over the place.  It was so peaceful wandering around pine trees and freshly rained on fall colored trees.  I love fall!

Portland

We went downtown today.  Portland is a much different place during the 'off season' but still as quirky as ever.  On the agenda was: Powell's Bookstore, Athleta (yay!), Willamette River Walk, and walk around Pioneer Plaza and Square.  We are finally offically in fall here.  Some of the trees have changed to bright oranges, yellows, and reds, with many more who have yet to even start changing.  I wish the quieter weekends with JD would last longer.  We have been super busy between him studying and my new job training. 

Take that Chinese Food

Guess what I made, all by myself, and it turned out delicious?  That's right, ham fried rice people.  For  whatever reason, cooking any form of Chinese food is scary to me.  I won tonight though: Natalie 1: Chinese Food 0.  I made a ton of it so it was dinner and lunch for both of us.

The Barber

I cut JD's hair for the first time today.He had gone since the day before we moved here without getting it cut and he was getting a little shaggy.  I found a nice clipper set on Amazon and went at it.  Not going to lie, it was a little scary.  I think it was worse this time because his hair started out so long that it was a little crazy looking at the hair pile up in the garbage can and around his feet.  Good news: he isn't bald, it looks really good, and that hair cut technically paid for the clippers, so from here on out we are in the plus.

I love the TEMPLE!

This is about as close as you can get to taking a full picture of the Portland Temple, any other angle consists of a lot of trees or not being able to get far enough away to fit it in.  It is beautiful and I love it. 

Commuting

Morning commutes vary by a lot. Some days it is bright and sunny and others.....it isn't. The pictures on the right is the sun coming up from behind Mount Hood, the other depicts what morning in the clouds looks like.

Birthday & General Conference

I love when my birthday is on General Conference.  We used to have a cabin in Heber and every conference weekend the whole family would go to the cabin, watch conference, walk around the lake amidst yellow quaking aspens, and have delicious lunches and dinners around the conference schedule.  It wasn't too uncommon to have my birthday fall on such a wonderful weekend so the combination is always my favorite.  After a busy day of going to the beach and hiking, conference was wonderful.  We got to relax and listen to the words of living prophets.  What an amazing gift it is to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life.  It has been a happy, peaceful, birthday weekend to say the very least.

Thanks for all of the birthday wishes through text, phone calls, facebook, and cards. We are also grateful to Tyler and Whitney Whiting who had us over for dinner twice this weekend.  It is nice to have 'new'ish friends (JD & Tyler served in India at the same time and know each other) here in Oregon.

Birthday on the Beach

Another block done means another weekend adventure for us!  This was a fantastic birthday weekend.  Today we went to Munson Creek Falls State Park followed by Cape Overlook State Park.  Cape Overlook was fun.  There were beached jelly fish so we had fun scooping them up with sand dollars and putting them back into the ocean.  It was so nice to enjoy a sun shiny day and be together after another long couple of weeks.  Before heading home we stopped by the Tillamook cheese factory.  Hopefully we have a few more weekends of sunshine before the rain comes.

Tualatin Hills Nature Park

I love the 'parks' here.  The pictures are from Tualatin Hills Nature Park, this 222 acre gem is about 2 minutes from where I work.  I love the mini forests that are all over the place.  I can hardly wait for them to start changing colors.

My Job Continued

This is my job in picture form.  I am the tech next to all the check marks.  I think long hours in a small room is making us a little loopy, that or the dry erase fumes.  Things are making a little more sense and I am starting to understand what is going on....a little bit.

Happy October!

Hello friends!  Guess what is exciting about today?  It is October!!!!  This is my favorite month and favorite time of year.  Oregon definitely has a different kind of fall.  Most of the leaves have yet to even start changing colors and when they do change, it is slowly, not all at once like in Utah.  Happy fall!  Happy October!  Happy season!