Dear Flower Mound High School

The following is a letter, and a few pictures I am sending to Flower Mound High School - the high school Chris went to.  I think this is something they need to hear:

Dear Flower Mound High School,

Please find included with this letter 2 pictures.  One is of Christopher Nield holding his diploma cover, and the other is a picture of his diploma.   Christopher Nield was a student who went to Flower Mound High.  While attending school there a counselor told him that he should never go to college, that he was not college material.

If you cannot tell by the pictures, this degree he has earned is a Master’s Degree.  Not only did he complete all the requirements for the degree but he earned a 3.6 grade point average.  To get into a graduate program he had get a bachelor’s degree, and take the GRE exam. 

Let this be a lesson to your school and your counselors.  Your job is NOT to tell your students what kind of material they are.  It is NOT your job to tell your students something is above or below them.  Your job is to support them in whatever their dreams may be.  Your job is to inspire them and help them see the unlimited potential they have.

Luckily this student was not held back by what your counselors said.  He chose instead to be inspired by his family and friends who supported and believed that he could accomplish what he set out to accomplish and more.  Hopefully your counselors ended the practice of telling students what kind of material they are, and instead help them become what they dream to be. 

Solar Eclispe

Yesterday my younger brother Jake had the most awesome idea to use a welding mask so we could watch the eclipse.  It was pretty awesome.  Every 10/15 minutes or so we would go out and look at it.  For a while it was behind the clouds (sad), but then it came back.  It was pretty cool to watch!

Happy Birthday "Master" Chris!

Today was a most exciting day in our lives!  Not only was it Daddy's Birthday, but he also graduated!  Chris earned his Masters Degree in Occupation Health - Industrial Hygiene/ Hazardous Substance, I know super long name right?

 Chris is a big fan of the Muppets - we pretty much have all the movies.  So today I surprised him with the first 3 seasons of the Muppet Show (the only 3 that are out on DVD).  Guess what we will be watching for a while?!

The pictures in the place where he walked came out bad, so we are just going to order the professional ones that they take, but I did get some good pictures right after outside, here they are!

Even Cort was excited about his graduation!  She gave Daddy a big hug!

 Happy Family Today!

 This is all the people from his major that graduated today - not much but it is actually one of the largest programs in the nation.

 Cortney loved playing with his tassel

 This is him shaking hands with Dr Larson .  He was the professor who threatened to hold Chris back and not let him graduate because he wanted more of my banana bread and danishes...I made them all the time and had Chris bring them to school to share.

 Dr Pahler (AKA Leon) with Chris

 This is a picture of Justin and Chris.  These guys have studied so much together the last two years...they also knew each other a little when they were in classes together at BYU Idaho.

 Chris with his mom and dad

 Another shot of Dr Larson and Master Chris

 This is his sister Kim and her Husband Derrick (not 100% sure if that is the right spelling for his name)

 And here is all of us, my Mom and Ryan were able to come too, so that was pretty cool!

 

Afterwards we went to Red Robin for lunch and got mud pies for dessert in honor of his birthday and graduation!  All in all it was a pretty awesome day!  I know the next big question is what next?  Well when we figure that out we will be sure to let you know where we decided to go!

New Favorite Thing!

Every once in a while I stumble upon something I love - just found another one today - and I am excited to share it!  For a while I had stopped running and as of late - especially the last 2 weeks I have picked it up again.  The problem I ran into was shin splints.  So much so that I was just in pain constantly, I knew it wasn't good.  I didn't want to stop running again just when I got into it so I did some research online, and I have to say I am amazed!  Here is what my new favorite thing is!

A foam roller! Like I said before I am amazed.  I did two different stretches, one where I stretched the the calf muscle then where I would roll it on my shin.  It hurt something awful, but it worked awesomely.  And you only have to do it for about a minute!  Before I did this I could not squat, it was just too painful, right after I did this I could squat and it only hurt a little!  The article I found said to wait 24 hours then do it again if it still hurts and the pain will be all the way gone, if not already gone.  Like I said before love it!  Many articles say it is faster, much cheaper and just as effective as deep tissue massage for many different parts of your body.  And the best part - it isn't expensive at all! 

Little Update

I will call this blog post the little update because it is exciting that Chris has almost finished everything to graduate, but we are still waiting for the Big update that will be when we find out where we are moving to!  We have had a couple companies contact Chris, and one from Arizona even flew him out last week!  It is an exciting time and we are ready to get going with the next phase of our lives!  We are hoping to be able to buy a house soon, Cortney is very excited about having a backyard!  But for now it is a lot of waiting and praying.  I will keep you updated on what happens!