a LATE christmas letter

A Corder Christmas 2011

This year has been filled with new adventures for the Corder family.

Chad had a great season with Breckenridge and enjoyed the snow. With the ending of the snow season, he put in his application at the Cripple Creek and Victor Gold Mine to drive a huge dump truck. During the first physical, the doctor found that he had a hernia that needed to be taken care of before he got the job. He had the surgery, which went well. After his healing time, Chad had to take the new physical and passed! Since June, he has been driving the dump truck which means he sits about 20 feet in the air and the tire is 12 feet tall. A big TONKA truck as he calls it. Even with the crazy rotating schedule from 12 hour night shifts to 12 hour day shifts, he likes what he is doing. It is great to have a constant income. He is also part time at Breckenridge to have his snow days :)

Diana spends her days as a mom 24/7. Other than that, a few fun things that have happened are: the Robison family came out to visit and got to meet their cute little man; flew out to Ohio for a while to visit family and friends; Renaissance festival; went to Salt Lake City for a wedding.

Cameron has grown so much! He is now keeping everyone busy with his fast crawling and climbing moves to get to the ferret cage. His teeth started to invade in early November with three coming in at once and the fourth has just begun in early December. He turns one on the 17^th and it is amazing how much time flies by. Perhaps when this reaches everyone, he could be walking, or maybe running! He will walk along everything and if we hold his hands. He makes life fun and very busy for everyone.

It is amazing how quickly another year has gone by. The Lord has truly blessed us with the job at the gold mine and all the good health and safety in the family. We love you all and wish you a Merry Christmas!

December in a nutshell

Oh my goodness! December was crazy, espeically the end of the month! Here is what went down for the Corder clan:
My mom flew out to visit us for a few days.. mostly for Cameron's first birthday! It was fun. We had some people over, had food, and a bear cake (which Chad's mom made.. so cute! and Daddy helped to decorate it). When it was time for him to dig into the cake, he wanted nothing to do with it! Chad even put his hands in it to get it messy but that just made him cry. I think Cam was overwhelmed with everything going on. But he got some cute presents! I wish I could say that I had pictures to post but sadly, I didn't take any! But I have everything on our camcorder! Oh well, next year I will do both. :)
We had a fun time with my mom being out here. We even had a small Christmas with her here. That was the day that we gave Chad's parents their BIG gifts.. but.. they had clues to find which led to their gifts.. sneaky huh? It was so fun! Chad's mom recieved a dog shock collar for Bear, and his dad got new skis! He so wasn't expecting those.. and got them on the camcorder too! :) One of my mom's gifts from us was tickets to the local theatre which was performing "The Christmas Donkey". It was so much fun and way cute! Needless to say that Chad and I are playing on making the shows part of our date nights when they perform. :) Sadly, on my mom's last day Chad and I were sick! And.. we got her sick.. so she flew home being sick. :(
Christmas Day was a lot of fun: there was a baptism at church; came home to a wonderful meal! Had family over to do gifts. We all made out like bandits! Chad even Gorilla taped a whole box! So fun for me to open :) But it was a wonderful day. We ended it with watching "The Nativity", such a good movie to remind us all what the day really represents.
So after Christmas... life has been crazy! When is it every dull here? So Chad and I are going to get our transmission for the explorer rebuilt (there goes about $1500 to $1800), my sister in law and her family are moving into the basement for a while.. yeah.. this house is so FULL! But there it is: December and the beginning year in a nutshell. But the Lord has truly blessed us with so much!
Stay tuned for pictures and stuff.. and more info on us trying to get Chad to school!