Emma died from cancer yesterday, Sunday June 27th about 7:30 pm. It was two years ago saturday that we learned she had Neuroblastoma, which is a solid tumor of the sympathetic nervous system.
Emma was a very compationate little girl. She loved to help others, to have visitors, to play with friends and cousins, and she loved animals. 
She was a great example of enduring lifes trials with a smile and did not complain much about the procedures that she had to endure. We are very grateful for St. Jude's and the care that she received there.
I was asked to play with two of my students at a wedding. I met these two girls my 2nd year here teaching. They were in two of my 4th grade orchestras. It was fun for me to perform with them today realizing all the hard work they have put in through the years.
We got paid which they thought was a great benefit. I got to see they using their talent. It was a great teacher moment for me.
Erin and I were in charge of decorations. We decided to go for a safari theme, since the animal prints seem to be in this summer. We made a great diaper cake for Jessica.
The bottom layer is a bumbo chair, the middle layer is wipes and diapers, and the top layer was bottles filled with candy for the mother. We used the lanterns from Jessica's reception and hung them in the trees. It was great to finally use them outside.
Next we barbequed the Bahama Mama's that Ratha sent. Branden, Todd and my Dad all thought they were delicious. Branden even took a few for the road. 
Then we got to celebrate Father's day early by taking my dad to the David Archeletta Concert. My quiet, laid back father actually really got into American Idol and voted many times from any phone he could get his hands on for David Archeletta. He would even remind us to vote for him. So when Jessica heard he was coming to BYU-I to do a concert she thought it would be a great daddy daughter date that we could take our dad on. He loved it, and we all had fun too. When David came out on stage my dad said "It is good to see the guy I voted for a thousand times."
Ratha also got his long awaited father's day gift....his push cart...ok he cheated and has been using it for a few weeks, but he still loves it.
Oh and Chloe learned a new trick this weekend. She figured out how to let herself out of my parents house by using her paw to slide open the screen door.
I truely think she is a highly gifted and talented canine.
January
Ratha quickly went from skiing in the living room to speeding down the mountains at an alarming rate. We got to ski with Vatana, Danielle, Avery, and Brooke. We had a lot of fun night skiing together...and watching Twilight.
Febuary
After 5 long hard months of job searching, Ratha got a job working as the Store director for a Maverik. We were both so happy to find this wonderful job that gave him weekends and holidays off(mostly). As Store director, he is in charge of the store. He has done a wonderful job cleaning up the store and training the employees. We were diappointed to discover that there are no instore discounts, not even on gas, but we have also learned that Maverik really does treat their employees quite well. 
Orchestra students also prepare hard to play for the state Solo and Ensemble competition. We loaded like sardines onto the school bus and headed to the college down the road. We spent the day performing for judges, listening to performances, and playing around.
March
We visited St. Judes(and got to hear a visiting high school orchestra from TX), and see where Emma gets to visit with her doctors.
McKayla,Emma, and Abby enjoyed playing and dancing together. 
One of my favorite moments of the trip was when Stephanie met their new dog Bella. They did not like each other much from the start.
This was pretty much the scene of the apartment every evening at about 7 pm. Bella would all of a sudden get possessed by an alter ego and decide she needed to attack Stephanie. 
It was a wonderful way to spend Spring break.
We also got to go golfing. He was a little rusty but I did great :). Not really he is a wonderful golfer with a handicap of only 6. I think he should go pro so we can travel all over the world and golf.
April
I got to help out with Jr. Miss this year as a host mom. One of my cute students was in the pagent and did a wonderful job. We both had fun and learned a lot about the pagent world. She won one of the academic awards.
May
The orchestra had and end of the year party. We ate good food, played some fun games, and had lots of fun. My wonderful students introduced me to the game Fugative. They seem to think it is fun to run around in the dark in sub zero weather and crawl around in the mud with the soul purpose of being the first back to the nice warm house without being caught by the people who are lucky enough to ride around on four wheelers looking for us. All I can say is they are CRAZY!!!! Why not just stay in the nice warm house. When I hang out with my students I quickly learn that I am getting way to old :)
Then on monday we spent time at the Goodsell reunion. This is a reunion with my grandma and her siblings. She is the oldest at a young 99, and she only has two remaining siblings. All my dads brothers were also able to attend. It was nice to be able to visit with everyone.
Next we visited the Weston Cemetary. We saw Grandpa McFaddens grave
and Grandma McFadden walked us around and told us some great family stories about the people that were buried there. She has done this for as long as I can remember, but I always enjoy it. 
Ratha and I are very grateful for the past 5 months. We have been very blessed to be able to find a job, spend time with family, and learn new life skills. But most of all I am sooooo happy to have survied the school year, Hello Summer!
Once we got to this undisclosed location, we got to do a whole lot of playing. We played in the water, went to a childrens Discovery Museum, and made smores on the sidewalk. 
One night my mom and I went and visited the sites and got to see an amazing botanical garden.
We had so much fun that it was sad when it was time to leave.
The drive home was a great adventure as well. We stopped at this cmart for a pit stop and ended up staying here for 40 minutes. At this stop we had to convince my niece that it was ok to go potty in the stinky bathroom, we loaded up the car and realized that we had temporary lost a child. We all got out of the car and started the search in which case we found him and he told us he had to go the bathroom.....and "it was going to take a long time." (ha ha ha) It was the longest pit stop in history.
We got married in my parents back yard by Homely Haws (Mindy's father). Mindy and her mother made our beautiful wedding cake, which featured 150 cupcakes. They did a wonderful job we loved the cake.
The weather was perfect for our outside wedding and we enjoyed spending the day with family and friends. It was a busy day and many of us were very tired at the end.
November: We got to spend Thanksgiving in Logan with the Leuk Family. It was lots of fun and the food was delicious. We played games that night and got up early the next morning to hit the good deals. 
December: We set up our Christmas decorations and got ready for lots of Christmas fun. We got to spend time with both our families but forgot the camera so unfortunately we do not have any pictures of our first christmas married :( . Just pictures of the decorating.
Although we look like we are miserable we actually had a lot of fun. I guess we just were not photogenic that day. To busy making the house look festive.
January: Who know what this holds. We are hoping that Ratha finds his dream job this month. We have been searching since he moved here in September, I think at this point any job would be a dream job for us. 
It was a great way to ring in the new year.
Through Heavenly Father's plan.
