Portlandia update

Warning this is just a long boring update post, you are welcome to read or just skip ahead to the few pictures.

When asked how we are doing in our new home of Portland, our answer usually is we are surviving :) haha and completely enjoying it.  Yes, it has been a huge change and has taken some adjustment for both Kevin and I. The hardest part is of course being away from family. It is hard for me to think about how big all the nieces and nephews are going to be when we see them next. Skype however is lessing the blow. But don't worry I still talk to my mom and sisters quite often (as in almost daily ha).  Another hard part about leaving Idaho was leaving behind a great job that I loved. The job search here has not been very friendly to say the least. For a very long frustrating month there was absolutely no news to report about the job searching. Nothing at all. Then all of a sudden there was a mad rush of job interviews and job offers within a week of each other. Kevin never could keep them straight so if in the mad rush you heard about the jobs but you got confused as to where and what I was doing, don't feel bad. In a nutshell I am now working at Sunset High School as an instructional assistant. I am also still working part time at an after school program until they find a replacement. So 10 hour days for another week or so. I am happy to have the job search over with and am really enjoying the job so far.

So now on to Kevin's short update. The good news is he is staying afloat. He stays really busy. He is in his second semester and it has thus far proved to be a lot more intense then the first. I would tell you all the classes he has, but I can't keep them straight, so the simple version is he has a lot of lecture classes and lab classes, and he also does some dental assisting in the clinic. He is enjoying school, just not all the studying and tests. He usually gets home a little bit before me and we are able to spend an hour or so eating dinner and relaxing before he locks himself up and studies for another couple hours. Besides going to school and studying he is also on a Volleyball and Basketball team with some of his classmates.  Lets just say we are both a little bit excited for Christmas break and the extra time we will have to spend together for a couple weeks.

Even though we have both been crazy busy though we try and make sure and explore Portland a little on the weekends with the many great friends we have made here. So far we have really liked what we have seen. This past weekend we hit up Voodoo Donuts with Jared and Nicole. It was a fun place for people watching, and the donuts were very yummy and uh... interesting.

Old vs. New

Kevin has always been a big Jazz fan. Which of course I didn't mind because I had always been one too. Since moving to Oregon Kevin has thrown around the idea of following the trail blazers a little bit more. So we thought it was a win win situation to go see the Jazz play the Trail Blazers preseason game. We invited some fellow Jazz fans Nicole and Jared, and headed down there on the max train, after work.  The game was a lot of fun. We had lower bowl seats so it was fun to see the players close up. You don't realize how big they are when you just see them on T.V. The Trail Blazers pretty much ruled the game though, and the fans were kind of obnoxious (especially the couple in front of us who were either making out or hitting people with the blow up noise makers). The Jazz came back at the end but did not quite pull it off.  We left happy though even though I was really starting to come down with a cold (so don't mind how deathly I look in the pictures).

Even though they lost we still left Jazz fans, and probably will remain so. But I guess as long as the Blazers aren't playing the Jazz we can cheer for them.

Deja Vu'

These pictures might look oddly familiar. Probably because I posted ones, from the same spot a week or so ago. This time however these pictures were taken with Kevin. I loved the hike so much, that Saturday when the rain broke for a couple hours I convinced Kevin to go on a hike with me to council crest. Once again it was beautiful, and cloudy.

Plumper Pumpkin Patch

In the two and half years Kevin and I have been married we have done a lot together, as in I could make a very long list of things we have accomplished off of my bucket list. We however had never been to a pumpkin patch together. Kevin said it had been years since he had gone to one, and I admitted that I had never been to one (unless you count my parents garden as one). So when some friends from the ward invited us to a pumpkin patch we were both really excited to go. The weather turned out great. We enjoyed walking around the pumpkin patch, going on a hay ride, and picking out our pumpkin (which still needs to be carved).

The view from the hay ride

Before the rain starts

Before winter and the rain decided to show up here in Portland we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and scenery.  So Brianne and I went on an adventure and explored Portland. First was Marshall park which was a beautiful little park with little creeks and stone bridges and did I mention a giant "Warning, man hole sign" haha.  Overall a great little park.

Next we hiked from Marquam Hill to the zoo, in which we travelled through Counsel Crest. It was absolutely stunning up there, and although it was a cloudy day so we couldn't see the view of the city the fall colors, and sun shining through the trees.

Don't mind the lack of make up

View of city (so much fog)

Sun finally came out