diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index 58756b98..0e9217ac 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -13,6 +13,11 @@
 
 module Vellum
   class Application < Rails::Application
+    # Observers will not be invoked unless they are instantiated first. If you are 
+    # using Rails, Mongoid will instantiate your observers automatically as long 
+    # as you register them in your config/application.rb file.
+    config.mongoid.observers = :doc_observer
+    
     # Settings in config/environments/* take precedence over those specified here.
     # Application configuration should go into files in config/initializers
     # -- all .rb files in that directory are automatically loaded.
diff --git a/config/environments/development.rb b/config/environments/development.rb
index e9a0b9d5..c952b7f4 100644
--- a/config/environments/development.rb
+++ b/config/environments/development.rb
@@ -21,11 +21,4 @@
 
   # Only use best-standards-support built into browsers
   config.action_dispatch.best_standards_support = :builtin
-  
-  # Raise exception on mass assignment protection for Active Record models
-  config.active_record.mass_assignment_sanitizer = :strict
-
-  # Log the query plan for queries taking more than this (works
-  # with SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL)
-  config.active_record.auto_explain_threshold_in_seconds = 0.5
 end
diff --git a/config/environments/test.rb b/config/environments/test.rb
index bb510480..0168c6a0 100644
--- a/config/environments/test.rb
+++ b/config/environments/test.rb
@@ -33,12 +33,6 @@
   # This is necessary if your schema can't be completely dumped by the schema dumper,
   # like if you have constraints or database-specific column types
   # config.active_record.schema_format = :sql
-
-  # Print deprecation notices to the stderr
-  config.active_support.deprecation = :stderr
-  
-  # Raise exception on mass assignment protection for Active Record models
-  config.active_record.mass_assignment_sanitizer = :strict
   
   # Allow pass debug_assets=true as a query parameter to load pages with unpackaged assets
   config.assets.allow_debugging = true
diff --git a/config/initializers/devise.rb b/config/initializers/devise.rb
index c2654ddd..6ea2c905 100644
--- a/config/initializers/devise.rb
+++ b/config/initializers/devise.rb
@@ -90,7 +90,7 @@
   # ==> General configuration
   # Load and configure the ORM. Supports :active_record (default), :mongoid
   # (requires mongo_ext installed) and :data_mapper (experimental).
-  require 'devise/orm/active_record'
+  require 'devise/orm/mongoid'
 
   # Turn scoped views on. Before rendering "sessions/new", it will first check for
   # "sessions/users/new". It's turned off by default because it's slower if you
diff --git a/config/initializers/observers.rb b/config/initializers/observers.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 159f9856..00000000
--- a/config/initializers/observers.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-ActiveRecord::Base.observers = :doc_observer
\ No newline at end of file