Traveling equals Tiredness

Still in Ohio and truly enjoy being here and seeing everyone! I had some wonderful visits so far with friends and I am so excited to see more tomorrow! Chad, hopefully, will fly in tonight to Indiana and we will be back again to Ohio to visit with my family and some friends. Besides visiting family and friends, I am very tired. I know I am out of my time zone but just tired yet have energy since I live at 9,500 feet. :) What a difference in how it is so much colder here in Ohio than in Colorado! I have really come to love Colorado but Ohio will always hope a place in my heart. sounds so cheesy huh? The ferrets are doing good and traveled well. I have Lago and Burton at my dad's house. Well I must go and probably visit someone or go sleep for a bit. Can't wait to see Chad!

Good Wishes from Ohio

Merry Christmas to all and a happy New Year!
If you couldn't guess from the title of this post, I am currently in Ohio! Chad doesn't arrive until Thursday night. I am so happy that he is currently working at Breckenridge! That resort is so huge! If you don't believe me, go online to their website and check out their map for all their ski runs...yeah, HUGE! but it is so pretty there and just wonderful. (and expensive!) I have only been there once since Chad worked on Christmas Eve teaching his first lesson while I slept in the explorer and made one run down the mountain. I have to say I did pretty well with only some falls due to losing my balance or not trusting myself on a certain edge. Lago and Burton are currently getting into all my stuff on the bed at my mom's house while I update this. They are such help!
Anyways, we are basically back out east due to Chad's niece's baptism this coming Saturday. We are all excited for her and for what a big step it is. And of course, we are hear to see family :) and friends. I am spending a day with my mom, my dad, and then hanging out with friends. It is wonderful to be back in Ohio. It is so strange how it can be 7 degrees at Breckenridge on a mountain and that is warm while 23 degrees is cold in ohio! I have to say I really like the weather in Colorado. The trip was long but not too bad. My father in law did all the driving! I sat in the back with all the presents, tools, bags, and ferret stuff. I watched three movies coming out! :) I had my own entertainment. The cats (Gladiator, Sam, and Jean Gray) were all left at home with my mother in law's cat (Chessie). My brave husband will take care of them whenever he is home from Breckenridge (he even said he'd clean their litter pans!) which is a big help and i'm so pleased with him for doing that.
Besides being in Ohio right now and Chad being in Colorado working, nothing else is new with us except we are excited to be back to our roots for a little bit of time.

Lots of Food

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had lots of food! :) As I am sure everyone else did. It was really strange this year to not go to three different Thanksgiving (my mom's, my dad's, and chad's parents). We had one of the Corder's friend's son over. It was wonderful to have him over to help eat the food and then hang out to watch tv, play the wii, and help the men put up some Christmas lights. So.. for food we had: a turkey breast, three different kids of potatoes, green bean casserole, green beans, homemade rolls, two pies, and two pumpkin rolls. That is a lot of food! :) And all of it was excellent, plus we made all of it with one oven. My mother-in-law thinks we need more than one during the holidays. I really did miss my family since this is the first Thanksgiving without them but it was still wonderful. Earlier during the day, I took Lago and Rocky out on the leashes to see Chad and Dad-in-law cutting firewood. The ferrets loved being outside and checking it all out.
There is really nothing to report on our end of things. Chad just got a call from a Sales Rep in Colorado Springs to have Chad do some installs. I am so excited about that! I hope he calls Chad back very soon! :) I am getting really excited about Christmas and going back to Ohio to see people!

Living at 9,500 feet

just an update on the travel to Colorado. We had three 26 foot trucks (two of which were pulling a Jetta and Passat), I drove the explorer filled with my three cats and two ferrets, and my brother-in-law drove my father-in-law's pickup truck. It took us about three days of travel. It wasn't too bad since I called people on my cell and we all had walkie-talkies. That was a lot of fun! My mother-in-law drove the 26 foot Uhal van with her cat in it while my father-in-law drove a Penske truck with their three ferrets. :) It was a zoo! We do have pictures of the road trip with our little group. I will have to get those and upload them.
Well the day we moved in on Sept 23, it snowed! welcome to Colorado! It was really pretty. We were hoping to have help the next day since we had already unloaded one truck. Thanks to one man who showed up, it made all the difference to unload the other two 26 foot trucks! That poor man didn't realize what he was getting into but he had the most amazing attitude of service to others. A great example to all of us. The snow melted like the next day which was wonderful.
Now that we have been here for almost a month, a lot has been unpacked. There are still boxes but all of Chad and I's stuff is unpacked or stored in the attic of our room. I love the house! It is so nice to see all the wildlife here. Chad has a job for the winter as a snowboard instructor at Breckenridge Ski Resort (thanks to him being a Level 3 Instructor!). He will have to live up there and I have to find some type of job. :( We had a rough summer with Platinum so we are really excited for Chad and I to start work ASAP! I am thinking of being a subsitute teacher in Cripple Creek. :) Me teaching? lol. Hopefully it won't be bad and hopefully they could use me otherwise I have no idea! Just to give an idea of our location is that Cripple Creek (a small town filled with Casinos) is like 5 to 10 minutes away. We live off a dirt road, cows are free range, and it is 45 minutes to church and the next big town called Woodland Park. :) talk about the middle of no where but the stars are amazing at night! I love being able to see the Milky Way!
Despite the lack of income, we are doing okay. the animals are great! My cats don't get along with my in-laws' cat but he doesn't like mine either. The ferrets are good! Yesterday we got about a foot of snow and we introduced the ferrets to snow (which Chad just tossed them into it! they didn't care for the cold and wetness of the white stuff). Chad and I were going to scrap off our snowboards and go in the snow since the dirt roads hadn't been plowed. Sadly, it was too late after the missionaries left and we were hoping to do that this morning but the roads were plowed and it started to melt. Next time we get snow, Chad and I are going to hit the road with our snowboards! I can't wait!
Miss all in Ohio but my mom was out this past weekend for a covention meeting. It was awesome having her here. :) We went to two museums and toured a gold mine. We went 1,000 feet underground as our third-generation miner showed/taught us the tools of the 1800s to 1960s of mining. it was awesome! and I have a new respect for my Grandpa Canter who was a coal miner in West Virginia. I never knew him because he got black lung from working in the mines but now i see some of the work he had to do for his family.
Well I will have pictures soon of the house, packing, road trip, and such. Miss family and friends in Ohio but I am enjoying our new home in Cripple Creek :)

On the Road Again...to Colorado

So it just seems like that Chad and I can't help but be moving all over this year! Or just can't seem to be able to stay out of the car. Four weeks ago Chad, Doc (father-in-law), Mom-in-law, and I were in Colorado to help them find a house. Why? Because we are moving in with them! :) I am actually excited because the four of us get along so well and all that jazz. The plan is to try to get Chad to school out there...thats if we a) have the money or b) find scholarships or grants. A new adventure for Chad. So why Colorado? Point a) the Corder family loves snow and mountains b) because we have wanted to move out west c) there is no jobs waiting there for us or taking us there d) see the first two points. Come this Saturday (the 19th) I will be leaving Ohio and not living there for the first time in my whole life. It's sad to leave Ohio because I do love Ohio (the seasons, family and friends). I'm going to miss lots of people who have had such an impact on me and I know my husband. Even though we are not living here anymore, Ohio is still my home and Colorado will become it too.
So onto more happy points about the new house. We will be living at the elevation of 9,600 feet! Talk about a rough first month (not just money wise either). Besides the four of us living there, we will have FIVE ferrets and FOUR cats! (as long as all the cats survive the trip which i'm sure they will). The house is old and needs work but that's okay! It has a three car garage which the men are excited about plus the workshop in part of the basement. Another bonus to the house is that horses are allowed. Only two of them, no stallions, and no other farm animals. But a barn and fence would have to be built and there is no way any of us can afford one, let alone two, right now. Chad and I want to get a dog! But sadly, we can't afford one right now but we know where to look for the type we want. :)
So that is really the only big news and adventure in our life right now. Tomorrow we head over to Indiana to stay with my sis-in-law for one night then go to church the next morning. And then it's back on the road again to our new home. I do feel sorry for my father-in-law and Chad because they are both driving the 26-foot Penske trucks plus dolleys for the Jetta and Passat while my mother-in-law and I drive the truch and explorer! We are just praying that we do NOT have to get a third truck!
Be back soon in Ohio and Hello colorful Colorado!

Moving Update

Yeah, so it has been a while since I last posted anything, espeically non-school related. Wondering what happened to Chad and I? For those who are interested... No, we didn't fall off the planet. Yes...we left Nashville TN. Long story short=our office got closed so we joined the Buffalo New York office. Chad is currently installing in Erie for the past week and two days while I've been in Ohio hanging out with family and friends. Hopefully I will be reunited with Chad this weekend and then we are off to New York for the rest of the summer. We are actually only 10 miles from Palmyra, which is awesome since I want to go back to visit some church sites.

Our little family is doing well.. Chad is just busy with installing as a technician. I am just reading a lot of books while trying to get over my dizzy spells (it is really odd for me having them!). Lago is still a little sick and under weight. She has a 9 am vet appointment tomorrow. Burton is doing well! she's not underweight at all! They are keeping me busy at times, like now. And.. thats about it really. We will probably be in Ohio for a bit longer since the summer hasn't turned out like we had originally planned. I can't complain too much because our family is safe and Chad is working (has a job).

So there is an update of where Chad and I will be for the next month or so. :) Hope all goes well in New York!

Annie Oakley Project

Here is my Ohio History Project which focuses on when Annie Oakley became famous during the 1880s because the American population was fascinated with the Wild West image. Annie Oakley became the most famous woman sharpshooter because of how she presented her image as a Victorian lady. She also contributed to society by teaching women and others how to handle firearms. Her legend is still famous today due to the broadway musical and television series that twisted events of her life to fit their story line. But, it gave young girls their place in the romanticized West.

Not much going on...

It has been a while since I've posted on here about what we are up to. Chad is currently down in Nashville since the summer has already started. They had their first week of work and have had a good start! Just keep up the good work. I really miss being with Chad, but I am planning to visit over Memorial Weekend. Needless to say, we are both looking forward to that weekend. Other news, I graduate WSU on June 13! I can't believe that it is almost over. This quarter seems to be going fast right now but I'm not ready for it to be over just yet due to all the homework I still have to do. :) Lago and Burton are doing well. I think Burton misses Chad since she has been acting up occasionally with me. They are driving me crazy but I love them! I guess that they are preparing me for future Corder children. :) Hopefully I can post videos of Burton playing with a cat toy (so cute!), Burton and Lago playing in the bathtub. They are so cute! Anyways, that is all that the Corder family is up to. I just can't wait to be down in Tennesse!

Trip to Utah

For spring break and for work, Chad and I went to Utah for a week. It was awesome! When we landed on Monday afternoon, we were greeted with snow! :) Talk about a wonderful sight since we wanted to have good snow for when we went snowboarding. A few things happened once we landed in Utah. First the bad news: our new suitcase was ripped!! And Chad lost his knife which was a Christmas gift from his parents (and his only knife since he lost all the others in attics and walls at customers' homes). Yeah, we were not really happy about that but oh well. Some good things happened to, the guy at the car rental place was really nice! He put me on as an extra driver for free and then we got upgraded to a jeep from a car because why...because our snowboard bag didn't fit in the car! Awesome! That night was fun, we got to hang out with the Nickel family, they are wonderful people! Tuesday Chad had to do a lot of driving for one, poor guy. He drove me to Provo to visit my best friend Rachael. While I was hanging out with her, he went to lunch and dinner with two guys for recuriting. Then we caught up later that night after dinner time and went to a bookstore. We walked out with SO many books! And I only chose two which is great for me cause I'm normally the bookworm. :) Wednesday was great! Snow snow snow snow! We went snowboarding at Brighton with Jaclyn and Andy! Yay! Brighton had like twenty inches or more of snow! My first taste of powder: now I can understand why Chad wants to be in the mountains so bad and why Andy moved to Utah. :) Jaclyn and I rode together while Chad and Andy went off to ride together. I am so much more comfortable on a snowboard and am really looking forward to next season! Crazy, I know. Afterwards, we picked up dinner and went to Jaclyn's apartment to meet her boyfriend and have dinner together. Then Chad took me over to one of his mission president's home. They were amazing, I can't even describe how wonderful they were! They were so sweet and it was great to meet them, even if I just came from snowboarding with a wind burned face. Beautiful! Thursday was all about traveling down to Zions Park since thats where we were going to stay for work. It was a great weekend, even if it was really cold. All the Platinum guys played baseball in the cold! Even Chad played, and I have pictures as proof! :) Friday, while the guys were in their meetings, the wives went shopping! It was long and frustrating at times...but it was great to be with Ariel and her kids! I miss them so much. Saturday, I went on a two hour trail ride with Ariel at the place we were staying. It has been so long since I've been on a horse! Needless to say, the next day and so, I was sore! But it was wonderful too. After Chad played a two hour paintball game with some guys from work, we headed back towards Salt Lake. We drove passed Manti temple, which was beautiful and a nice scenic drive. :) We then pulled up to the hotel we stayed in last year, which was so nice to actually sleep in a real bed. We were sleeping on airmattresses for the whole week, which wasn't bad either, but there is a difference between a real bed and airmatteress. When we left on Sunday, our flight was delayed which we almost, and I mean almost, missed our connecting flight in Chicago. Ah! Chad and I had to run all across that airport and made it just in time. With that, our bags couldn't get transferred in time, frustrating! we got our bags at like 4 am. Fun! But at least nothing was lost that time. The ferrets were so big when we got home and they changed! Lago has red in her color now instead of a chocolate color. Burton has just gotten bigger and then has a champange (spelling?) color a little more than just white. Wow.. that was a lot. :) Oh well, it was a great trip! I miss Utah! But I am glad to be back home in Ohio...

Guns and Walls

Okay. So we had an interesting night Tuesday to say the least! First, I had one final, which I took very quickly, and made it home in time to see Chad off to work. Well, he was exasted from Sunday and Monday when his dad and him worked and finished building our new ferret cage! It looks awesome by the way, once I figure out how to get pictures up here, they will be up. Anyways, I decided to go with Chad to Indianapolis so he would make it there safely and back. So we left at 5 and it took about 3 hours of him being on the phone to get what he needed done! It was totally frustrating and I was thinking about the poor little ferrets at home in a cat carrier. :) Eventually the problem was fixed and Chad went to a customer's house to install equipment. We then went to Outback to use a gift card. Finally we headed home about ten o'clock. About one hour or so into the drive, we pulled over at the Speedway at the Brookville exit because I needed to use the restroom. (I sure know how to pick them) Well, I got straight for the bathroom while Chad is parking the car and what not. When I get out of the bathroom, I see the cashier and other customers standing at the doorway mentioning something about "having no cash" and "red bag" and something about a guy having his hoodie up and then I see a cop pull up. And I have no idea where Chad is at! Scary!! And I realize as I listen to the people talking that the place had gotten robbed when I was in the bathroom! So I run around Speedway trying to find my husband and my car, because I can't see it. So I begin to think that "oh no, i hope the guy didn't force chad to drive him any where" because man, that guy would have been in for a surprise in more ways than one! So I walk around Speedway and find our car, but I can't get into it because my keys are in the car! and so is my cell phone so i can't call chad! So i go back into the store to see if Chad is somehow in the restroom too. Well, he wasn't. So I go back out to the car and walk around near the semis. And Chad comes walking up saying I got to go talk to this cop, who just pulled in. Umm, okay? So then I find out the whole story. While Chad was getting hot chocolate waiting on me, he sees the guy forcing the cashier at gun point to put cash into the red bag. Wow! So Chad thinks of what he could do and decides once the robber ran out of the store to follow him (with a safe distance so he doesn't get shot) and calls the cops. Another man did the same thing too. So anyways, no one was hurt! which was great. Chad had to give his statement and then we left. We got home after midnight and I decide to let the ferrets out so they can run since they've been locked up for six hours. Poor things! Around one thirty, I notice that Lago, my ferret, is missing and can't find her! So I get Chad to help find her. Then Burton goes missing. And then Chad notices that they are in the wall with Rocky trying to get in too! AHH!! Lago had found the hole that the installers of our "updated" wall heater had put in to run wires (it was huge!) and my smart ferret was able to pull a little bit and get in. As did Burton! So I throw Rocky into the cage as we try to get the others out. Burton was the first pulled out by chad as I held the heater up since we didn't unscrew it. Then Lago didn't want to come out and all the time we are calling and making noise so she doesn't move anywhere! Evenutally Chad just shoved his hand in the hole and yanked her out! She was filthy! I gave her a wet rub down and they were put up for the rest of the night. Oh if we only had the new cage! Its big enough that they can run around when we can't get them out to play. So now Chad is working on removing the last old piece of heater that we didn't remove (since the apartment complex wasn't going to do it! grrr!) and is moving the "updated" heater down to cover the hole. So yeah, Tuesday night/Wednesday early morning was interesting to say the least. All I have to say is Thank You Heavenly Father for blessing everyone at Speedway with safety and for not letting our ferrets be stuck in the wall!

Here is Lago! She is hiding under the cedar chest.

Meet Burton playing in her daddy's shoes!

Newest Family Additions

So I decided that we would also have a blog to share stories with friends and family members. It will come in handy espeically when we evenutally move out West.
Let's see, the newest additions to our family have been three baby ferrets! They are about 8 weeks old. Two girls and one boy. I know...crazy! Since now we have to train them (fun!) with potting (just like REAL parents) and that bitting is NOT a good thing (hehe...some parents don't have to teach that). But its great, just got to build the cage. But their names are: Burton (white with a gray stripe and tail), Lago (chocolate with white on her neck and toes), and Rocky aka Chunk (dark with the large stomach). You might wonder where the names come from: snowboarding! Chad and I decided that we wanted to do a snowboard theme: Burton is a brand and Lago is a crazy awesome snowboarder that we like (yes, we would have gone with white but Burton was the white ferret's name). Rocky is kinda chad's mom's ferret, but we are holding onto him right now since they are all family! so we have our hands full at the current moment, but they are so cute when they play together and explore the room.
Always, Chad and I are doing great! We are just waiting for the summer to start: for those who haven't heard, we should be in Nashville! I am excited for that and can't wait to be there after graduation! Anyways, we are doing good and love being together! :)