Catch up on Cortney!

Ok, I am trying to catch up, and even though I feel like almost all of these deserve their own post I am just going to post them all together to get it all done.

Talking About School:
I was talking to Cortney about school.  We found a nice little preschool for her to go to in the fall and I was talking to her about listening to the teacher.  So I asked her:

"Cortney if your teacher says to stop talking, what are you going to do?  Keep talking, or stop talking?"

Cortney answered: "Dance!"

 Ronald?!

Before we moved we were having dinner at my parents house.  My dad was already working in Kansas, it was before they boys finished the school year so they were still in Utah.  We were talking about how everyone has real names too like mom is Kim, dad is Chris, nana is Nancy, when we got to papa and said papa's name is Ronald she said

"What?!  Ronald?!" and just started giggling.  It is funny to see her reactions when she learns new things!

Bacon Ham and other Delicious Entrees

So during the past couple months we have been working very hard to get Cortney to not be a picky eater, and we have had great success!  But to get her started eating new things, especially meat, would would say it was either bacon or chicken such as:

Bacon Ham
Steak Chicken
And pork chop bacon

Like I said before she is doing much better eating now.  She tries new food all the time and is finding out she likes almost everything she tries it has been so difficult because almost all she ever wanted to eat was bread, but now she is eating everything: meat, fruit, veggies (I even tricked her into eating cauliflower crust pizza that she could not get enough of!), and all kinds of things.

Reading the Scriptures

We were reading the "scriptures" the other night with Cortney (we read the picture scripture book at night as a family before she goes to bed).  That day was one of those days where she just didn't feel like listening much, and I had to have a lot of talks to her about listening to mom.  So in the scriptures it said something like:

The prophet was sent to tell all the wicked people to repent, but they would not listen.

We know Cort was listening because she said "Just like me!  I wasn't listening either!"  Not sure how I feel that she is comparing herself to wicked lamanites, but hey at least we know she is listening and trying to apply the things she is learning about.

Girls at the Park!

The other night we went to the park and some how Cortney got these 4 girls to follow her everywhere she went.  Did I mention she is 3.5 years old and all these girls looked somewhere between 10-12.  They would follow her and listen to her sing her little made up songs.  They would go down the slides with her and just talk about how cute she was.  Cortney was loving it so much!  Props to those girls by the way - they made her night.

When it was time to go the girls called out to Cortney:  "Bye Cortney!  We like the songs you made up!"

Cortney replied by saying "I love you too!"

Love my little miss Cortney!  We are super excited to start her ballet class in a week in a half and more excited for her to start preschool this fall!  Can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Welcome to Medford Oregon!

Woo hoo!  We are more than thrilled about our first "real" job where Chris gets to use his degree!  We found a job in Medford Oregon!  To be honest we hadn't really considered it at all, until they responded back to the application Chris filled out.  But everything just fell in place, so we know this is where we are meant to be!

I know I a super behind in blog wise and will probably post a lot more posts over the next few days to get caught up, but I thought I would show our home first!  We were blessed to find a nice town home to rent for a while!  It is brand new construction which I love!  It is two stories and we are the second and third floor of the apartment building as a whole.  (if that makes sense, the first floor beneath us is just a small 1 bedroom apartment).  But it beats our old apartment out already, we only have to bring groceries up one floor instead of up to the third!

Ok ok, here are some pictures.  We are still kind of moving in so there might be some boxes and other things might be out of place.  Also this is so much bigger than we are used to so our walls are a little bare, I will have to start collecting a few more things to put up on the walls!

First here is the basic floor plan of our apartment:

Three bedrooms!  Mostly we  did this because in Salt Lake we had storage in the basement of our building and had a storage unit at a storage place.  We figured it would be easier and nicer to have all of our storage at our house instead of all over the place.  Also this layout is not quite right...but you will see in the pictures, some of the closets are in the right space...or not even there in once case.

Now the pictures!

This is the view from the front door!

Another view from the living room:

When you come in through the front door immediately to your right is this little powder room.

It is a little bigger than a normal one, because of a washer and dryer!  Excited about this!  The washer and dryer we used in our old apartment was in the basement...and we were on the 3rd floor.  This is so much better!

It also has a nice storage shelf, which is nice to have.

 A view from sitting on one of the couches, notice the picture wall!  One picture isn't up there, it is in that bookshelf on the right, but we have 5 in all now, and will be taking our sixth this fall!  Cannot believe time has gone so fast!

A view of the dining room

Right outside the dining room we have this little balcony, Cortney loves going out there, I told her she could go any time she wants so she will randomly just say, "ok mom, I am going outside right now, I will be back later."  She draws with chalk and blows bubbles out there mostly.

Picture of Cortney out there!  It is a little dark, but she is still cute!

Now one of my favorite things...my kitchen!  In all the apartments we have lived in so far we have had tiny kitchens.  I am loving not having to prepare food on the stove or the table, but on the counter instead!  It is much easier this way!

There is even a little desk!  I use it for my cookbooks - only have 3 so far(never had room so never went out and bought any), and a fruit bowl.  I also like that it is lower than the other counters, I usually use it to stir food because I am short and it is lower and easier for me to mix it that way.

counter space!

 

We also have a little pantry which is nice!  

 (PS - those are cookies on the counter.  They are a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies...that I believe is better than my old recipe.  For those of you who have tried my old ones you know what I am talking about!  These not only look perfect, but are soft and chewy instead of crumbly...mmmmmm)

Right inside that door...

And double sink!  Our last apartment just had one and it has been nice to have 2!

And a dishwasher!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Can you tell I am excited about this!  I am!!!!!!!!!!  I so am!!!!!!!!!  Love it!!!!

 Now upstairs...this is the view right when you get upstairs.  The door on the left is the master bedroom.  The door right down the hallway is the office, the two doors on the right are Cortney's bathroom and Cortneys room.  (Cortney has been telling people she has her own bathroom, and she gets so excited about it, such a girl!)

Master bedroom!

Another view:

We have 2 closets! I gave Chris the "little one"

And I get the big one behind our bathroom! Our old closet was less than half the size of Chris's new one, and his suits took up most of the room.  I love that I can hang more clothes up now!

Cortney's room!

another view, should have turned the light on, it is a little dark. Don't you love how she has toys but the one thing she really wanted in her room was that box, I am amazed how much entertainment it gives to her!

Cortney's bathroom

The "office", basically the room where we put all of the stuff that does not belong anywhere else.  Chris won the bike at work in Utah from a safety bingo.  And we traded Jenn and Spencer for the total gym thing.  Cortney loves "exercising" on it!

Also we had to throw away our old bookshelves they were in storage so long because we didn't have room for them and they were basically falling apart (they were cheap in the first place).  So I just used a whole bunch of boxes to stack our books in instead.

I hung 2 pictures up on the wall in here, one is this  it has tickets going all the way back to 2003: (which I had the idea to make and made before I saw it on pinterest, we have almost have enough to fill another frame!  Instead of doing 1 big frame we are going to do a whole bunch of little ones.  I made this one about 2 years ago)

And this was a birthday/graduation parents to Chris from his parents.  Autographed picture of Barry Sanders - he is the reason Chris is a Lions fan - and yes he was still a fan through the 0-16 year, he is so happy they have been getting better the last couple of years.

Well that is it for now!  I was lucky that Cortney fell asleep (she never takes naps anymore), and I think I hear her waking up in her room.

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!