Christmas Cheer

Justin and I cooked and cooked and this is the result. . and now all the leftover cookies are gone! Time to start cooking again!

Another Stocking

Stockings and Quilt!!!

I've been busy sewing pretty much since we got to Portland. I've been sewing Christmas gifts, my quilt, and stockings. I'm going to post a few pictures so you can see what I've been up to, but the Christmas gifts will have to wait. :) I've been having a lot of fun learning how to sew a lot better than I could! I got the stocking pattern from a quilting magazine that Jami had and the quilt pattern I got from my Grandmother.

Thanksgiving

This past weekend was wonderful. I truly have so much to be grateful for. My number one thing that I am grateful for is my family. They are beautiful and wonderful in every way. Justin and I went to my parent's home for Thanksgiving this year. This picture was taken right before we ate dinner. We went to a nearby park and took a few pictures in the rain. We think we got pretty lucky considering we only took three pictures. :)
I went shopping with my sisters the day after Thanksgiving. We had fun and got most of what we wanted or needed to get. Audrey got a Wii. It was pretty fun to see the ENTIRE family get into it. Our shoulders and arms are literally sore from playing so much. I am looking forward to spending more time with my family soon! I love you guys!

Halloween

Halloween this year was pretty low key. I was sick the whole week and then Justin got sick the night before Halloween. . .so we ended up staying home for a good part of the day. Unfortunately we missed out on a Beaver game and time with my family. Sad. . but we didn't want to share this bug. Jaylen got to go trunk-or-treating and Justin and I stayed home. I worked on my quilt and Justin and Joe watched the Oregon football game. So exciting. . . we did carve pumpkins however and they turned out pretty cute. I designed mine. . It is a witch on a broom. :) I'll spare you the pictures with me in them.. I took to wearing my pjs all week and no makeup. . haha.

Logan

Justin grew up with a "brother" other than Jaylen and James. Brandon lived with him for quite a while when Justin was in high school and while he was on his mission. Point is. . Brandon got married at the Logan temple on the 24th of October and we were able to make the trip to be there. Here are a few pics from the trip. We had a good time with the family. We were only missing Jaylen and Mallorie on this trip.

Family time!

Mom called me one night and asked me if I would like to join Avril and the kids on a trip to La Grande to visit my Grandmother who has had some health issues that have gotten worse with time. I quickly jumped on board with the idea. We had a great weekend. I got to see a lot of family! It was so nice. Hallie was my little side kick!It was so cute she wanted to sleep next to me the whole trip. It was pretty sweet! Avril and the kids and I stayed with our Grandma H. It was so fun! Here are some pics from the trip.

School and Work

Well our life is about to get exciting and busy. Justin is starting school today and is very excited for his turn to go to school. He'll be working part time while he is going to school full time. Justin was also called to be 2nd counselor in the Young Mens presidency in our ward. He'll be very busy. I really appreciate him and all that he does for us.

I am loving my job at the pediatric office. I'm not able to get the hours I want yet, but I will be able to soon once the dentistry for teens side opens. That will be opening in November. In the mean time, I'll be working through a temp agency to fill my time until I am able to get the time I need and want at my office. Patience. :)

We are enjoying our time here. We love being so close to family. It has been a lot of fun to learn and grow together during this time in our life.

Going Private. .

We've decided to go private with our blog so if you want to stay in the loop with our blog please post your e-mail or send it to me via facebook or e-mail and I will make sure to add you so you can read it. Thanks all!!!

Living the Dream

Well, things are falling into place for Justin and I. I had an interview on Monday at a pediatric dental office and it went really well. They asked me to come back for a working interview for today and I went and worked for an afternoon. It went really well. It went so well that I got the job!! I will be working 25-30 hrs a week for the time being. After the "Dentistry for Teens" side of the office is opened I'll be able to get more hours, even 40 if I wanted it. So, I've gotten the job I've dreamed about my whole life. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to continue to learn!!

Here is the website for the office. . check it out. .It really is amazing!

http://www.dentistryforkidsonline.com

Hair Cut!!!

I cut off 8 inches of hair. . finally I don't pull my hair on accident anymore. :)

Left Idaho with a BANG!

Our time in Idaho came to a close fairly quickly. The last week there we help Justin's sister and brother-in-law move into their place and turned around and packed our place up. With little sleep all week we were anxious to arrive home in Oregon. Saturday night before we left Justin noticed the back right tire was loosing air quickly so he put on a snow tire just to get us home. And so our adventure began early Sunday morning. Joe, Justin's dad, was driving the Budget truck with Jaylen, Jami (Justin's mom) and Grandmother were in our nissan, and Justin and I were in his truck. We were traveling together but Joe was about 20 miles ahead of us. While Justin and I were driving we checked behind us to see if the nissan was there and much to our confusion it wasn't. Immediately we knew something wasn't right. Turns out that Jami and Nonnie had a blow out and ended up doing a 360 in the middle of the freeway going 75mph. Luckily they were being watched over because they were not injured at all. It is a miracle nothing really bad happened. We did what we could to fix our other tire that was loosing air and put that on the car. Justin and I drove the car the rest of the way home and Jami drove the truck. It was a long day. A 13 hr drive turned into a 15 hour drive, but hey at least we got good gas milage.

Yellowstone

Hot pots. . .The water is so hot that it kills all the bacteria in the water making it possible to see to the bottom of the hot pot. . so cool!

Jenny and I!

Another Hot Pot!

Rental Van+Kelly Family=Fun family vacation :)

Justin and I

Another Family Photo!

OLD FAITHFUL!!! The water comes up through 4 inches of space. . amazing!

Thumbs Up!

Nervous faces. . I think not!

Fun in the Van!

Getting Sentimental

Two years ago to the day Justin and I started to officially date. There is some debate on whether or not it happened earlier but regardless it was the beginning one way or the other. I remember the day well. It was a hard yet sweet day for Justin and I. I was moving to La Grande to start dental hygiene school and Justin was getting ready to begin another semester at BYU-I. The morning of the 31st Justin came down to Philomath to help my family and I pack up my Uhaul. . I can't believe I needed a uhaul, and then he went back up to Portland. I went up to Portland shortly after to spend some time with Justin before I left for La Grande. We went to the Rose Garden in Portland and wandered around and eventually sat ourselves down on a bench and took some pictures. That is where we had our first kiss :) I don't remember much after that other than we had to say goodbye for a little while. It was hard and we knew the long distance thing was going to be difficult, but we knew we were in for the long hall. Two years later I could not have asked for a better person to spend my life and eternity with. I love him with all my heart!

Something to Smile About

Justin and I have been so blessed in our life lately. We have had the loving kindness of our families constantly helping us and encouraging us through everything. As we are moving forward with our plans to go back to Portland things have been falling into place for us. As mentioned in a previous blog post we will be living with Justin's parents and we really appreciate them!! Also, we thought my Oregon license was not going to be effective until maybe October and turns out I'll be able to start working in the next week or two! I have also been corresponding with a pediatric dentist in Wilsonville and he still wants to meet with me! I am going to be going into his office during the week of the 14th and will hopefully also be able to set up a working interview!!!!

We feel so happy and blessed! We know we have made the right decision!

Money saving tips. .

Okay. . I have a yahoo mail account and saw a headline of an article that caught my eye. . It is twenty easy/lazy ways to save money. Since money is tight for us I thought these money saving tips were great. . too great to not share :)

http://customsites.yahoo.com/financiallyfit/finance/article-107581-2412-1-20-lazy-ways-to-save-money

Blogs. . .

Can I just say that I love blogs. I decided today that for the most part I usually have a good laugh from something that I have read on a blog on a regular basis. So I guess this is a shout out to my friends and family who have blogs just saying keep on doing what you are doing!!! I love it :)

Make decision. . . check

Justin and I have been having a very difficult time finding work in this area. We got to the point where we had to make a decision about how we are going to make our situation better. We prayed, fasted, went to the temple, and discussed our options. After making a pros/cons list we came to the conclusion that it is time to move home to Portland. We went to the temple the next day and received the confirmation that we needed that our decision was the right one. So, our plans have begun. I am working on getting my Oregon license, Justin is working on his fasfa and school stuff, etc. We've made reservations for a moving truck and have gotten some boxes for packing. We have even given our 30 day notice.

I talked to Dr. Baker today about us moving. He was very kind and sad that we are leaving. . unfortunately he now has to find a person to replace me. I am going to miss the office. The staff are amazing and very kind people who are so easy to work with. I felt like I fit right in.

Our game plan so far is I'll get my dream job. . :) Justin will be attending Clackamas Community College to get his automotive degree and he'll be attending a university at some point to get his business degree. We will be living with Justin's parents until we can get back on our feet. We feel so grateful for their willingness to help us. We are also so grateful for other family members that have done so much for us. We love all of you!

Mesa Falls Camping!

Justin and I went camping at a place called Mesa Falls. It was beautiful and a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of our adventures!

Upper Mesa Falls!

Inn at Upper Mesa Falls

s'mores

View

Justin and I at view point!

Lower Mesa Falls

Proving to Justin that I learned how to start a fire at girl's camp

Pretty View

We walked down this. . sooo steep!

Our Camp Ground! They even have spots designated for tents!