My life as the roaming Music Teacher.

Time to Catch Up - Goodbye 2010

2011-01-09T14:21:00.000-08:00

Summer time of 2010
We had a wonderful time this summer spending time with family and enjoying each other. Ratha tried to teach my how to golf, and I did a pretty good job. We saw the Blue Angels in Idaho Falls, and have had new additions to extended family.

Jessica and Branden had a baby boy on July 21, and named him Aiden Gary Keck. He was born with a full head of dark hair which is unheard of in our family. Until now everyone has been born bald. He is very cute and lots of fun.

We went to the Cook family Reunion in Heber Valley, which we thought would be laid back and relaxing but it turned into quite the adventure. Ratha and I met up with my Mom and the Barber Clan at Wendy's in Layton. Dinner was fun and then it was back on the road.....or not, the suburban would not start. Then it did yeah we were on the road. Then it died on I-15 a few miles down the road, lets not forget it was 104 degrees this day. Then it started and then it died on right at the exit. We finally got it to a mechanic, my aunt came up from Provo and rescued us and 10 hours later we made it to Heber Valley. Once there we had lots of fun as we hiked, did the ropes course, and had lots of fun together.

My grandfather was the oldest of 12 children so there was a lot of family members there that we got to meet. We had a great time!

In August my mom came and helped me repaint my music room. I was in the mood for a change, but the task seemed to big to tackle. I was glad she was up for the challenge and we got a lot done in one weekend. It is a big change but I have enjoyed the results.

Before: After:

I worked with my neighbor Rosemarie and attempted my first(and last) garage sell. It was fun, but not worth it. I think I will continue to just take my stuff to the DI in the future. It was however a great motivation to clean out all our stuff.

Fall 2010

In September we celebrated our 1 year anniversary.

Ratha gave me a set of my very own golf clubs, and I thought it would be fun to spend a weekend in Boise, so that is what I gave him. I got tickets to a BSU Football game, and made sure we looked like true fans and got two BSU sweatshirts. We headed to Boise to see the blue turf for ourselves.

Ratha had seen Big Judd's on Man vs Food and so we went there for lunch and split a big Judd. It was delicious and VERY filling.

We also got a chance to go golfing. This was one of our most exciting golfing expiditions to date. I beat Ratha by 1 stroke on hole number 4, Whaahoo!

Then right before hole 8 there was this marshmellow competition: Who can hit a marshmellow the farthest. Ratha hit it further then anyone else! He is truely amazing!

(sorry the picture is so blurry it is all I got)

We also celebrated our birthdays. September is a great month for us.

In school news the orchestra had its annual all night party. We stayed up all night practicing for the Cowboy Dinner, playing games, and having a lot of fun. This year we did have a little extra excitement as someone tried to break into the school and we had to call the cops. We ended the party with some yogo and a great breakfast. I was exhausted but it was great to see how well the students worked together and enjoyed being together. I truely have an amazing group this year and it has been so fun to work with them.

(I will have to post these pictures next week...)

In November we had the Cowboy dinner. This year we tried something new and moved the dinner to an outside venue. We had it at the Straw Maze and it was perfect. I had lots of great parent help and was happy that some of my family was able to attend as well. When I was cleaning up my niece told me this was her favorite one, I should have it here every year. They loved being able to play in the mazes.

We got to spend Thanksgiving in Logan. I gained a whole new respect for my sister in law as she prepared dinner, cleaned up and also went shopping on Black friday after having surgery on her foot. She is a driven lady! The food was great...and so was the shopping. People are always on their best behavior at 2:00 in the morning when it is freezing outside. I got some great deals and most of my Christmas shopping done and this is why I get up so early to go shopping in the frigid cold. We also added a new puppy to our family. Her name is Willow and she and Chloe get a long very well.

December deserves a blog post all to itself to I will end this blog here with the promise to finish catching up next Sunday.

I Have a Family Here on Earth

2010-07-06T09:15:00.000-07:00

I have a family here on earth

They are so good to me.

I want to share my life with them through all eternity.

Families can be together forever.
Through Heavenly Father's plan.

I always want to be with my own family....

And the lord has shown me how I can.....

The lord, has shown me how I can.

Our Cute Little Emma 2005-2010

2010-06-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Right now our hearts are broken but we put our faith in our Savior and know that the family can be forever. We will miss her very much.

Today I Was A Proud Teacher

2010-06-26T20:10:00.001-07:00

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.

Father's Day Weekend in Idaho Falls

2010-06-24T12:35:00.000-07:00

I went to Idaho Falls for Father's day weekend. It was packed with fun events. Saturday Jessica's friend Suzy had a baby shower for Jessica in my parents backyard. 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.

So...my New Years Resolution Lasted ONE Blog Post!

2010-06-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

Well I had great intentions, but my new years resolution lasted only one blog. I am now making a new summer resolution to try to update better during these summer months. So what have Ratha and I been doing the last 6 Months????
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.

February is a huge month in the wonderful world of strings. My private lesson students start preparing in September for the February strings Festival. It is quite nerve racking for those of us waiting in the hall. It is just as hard for the parents as it is for the students that are inside playing for the judge. 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
Yeah for Spring break. I got to travel with Stephanie and McKayla to TN to see the Ivie clan. We got to have a picinic in the park.

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.

I also loved it when Emma and Mckayla decided I was in need of a makeover and proceeded to make me absolutely beautiful. They did my nails and my hair, it was lots of fun. It was a wonderful way to spend Spring break.

Ratha and I said goodbye to my beautiful Honda Accord with 250,000 miles on it, and bought a new (used) Altima.

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.
The high school orchestra students organized the second anual all night party where we were able to rehearse at all hours of the evening. We had an all orchstra rehearsal at 3:00 am. This was a first for me, I quickly learned that I do not think clearly at 3:00 am and therefor rehearsal consisted of a whole lot of laughing and nonsense and a little bit of productivity. We also played games and watched movies.

April

Ratha had to work Easter Weekend. I travelled to Idaho Falls to spend time with my family. We got to watch conference together, while Chloe peeked in from upstairs. We also got to have an easter egg hunt in the snow. It was a great weekend and fun to see my family.

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 :)

For Memorial day we got to travel to Logan and had a "Gourmet" Leuk BBQ at Mitch and Davy's house. I helped make all the sishkibobs by following Davy's strick food patterns. It was absolutely delicious.

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!

The Last Five Months

2010-01-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

Well I have been busy and a slacker. Mostly a slacker, and I have gotten a little behind in my blogging. It is the new year and I have made a resolution to do better in the new year. So this blog is a summary of the last five months.

August: I Went on a road trip with Erin and her children and my Mom. We went to visit Stephanie and her family in an undisclosed place far far away(and yes we drove,a drove and drove). there was a whole lot of "are we there yet" and "I have to go potty" It was tons of fun!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.

September: My last name changed in September to Leuk, when Ratha and I suprised many people and got married. 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.

October: We did the cowboy dinner again this year at Minico High School and had a great turn out. My parents came up to help and brought Karson and Kambree. Ratha managed the kitchen and helped clean up after. He is very excited to do it again next year.

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.

My orchestra kids also got to participate in the Rupert Caring and Sharing. We do this every year and our tradition is to go to Burgers Etc. after. We had about 80 kids this year and filled up the entire restraunt. I do not know if we will be able to continue this fun tradition. We are just getting to big...which is a good think.

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.

But we did ring in the new year by skiing up at Pomerelle. Since we are both beginners. We bought Magic Carpet passes and spent the day skiing on the bunny hill and getting warm in the lodge.
It was a great way to ring in the new year.

Teachers on Vacation

2009-08-27T17:22:00.000-07:00

In July I got to go camping up to Red fish Lake with some of my friends that teach school with me. I had been up there once before with my family and remembered having a good time, but this time I was really able to enjoy the scenery. It was beautiful.....and very hot!

Day one we drove up there and set up camp just past Red Fish but still by a lake. We walked around the lake and sat on the edge and put our feet in. It was fun to talk to all my school friends and hear about their summer activities. We also had a birthday party for Amy and played games like who knows Amy the best. I did not do so well at that game....well in fact I lost.

On day two we went on a 7 mile hike. It wasn't a difficult hike but it was a very hot day. As you can see from the picture below I had to move a few bolders and clear a path to our destination.

Along the way we were followed by a small fox, but we finally made it to the third Lake, which was our Destination.

It was a short trip but lots of fun, and one of the most beautiful places I have been so far in my life adventures. Hopefully I won't have to wait another 20 years before I go back.

Aloha!

2009-07-03T14:53:00.000-07:00

On my birthday last year I won a trip to Hawaii. I was excited in June when I actually got to use it and on June 14th, two days after Jessica's Wedding. I was on my way to the Hawaii Island of Oahu. I got to go with family and friends. Lacie, and
my sister Erin and her husband Todd
and Todd's sister Emily and her husband Matt all came along to enjoy the fun.

While we were in Hawaii we got to Hike both Diamond Head (an old Volcano) and Waimea Water Fall.

We stopped at food stands on the side of the road and tried fresh coconut milk.

We went to the Dole Plantation and became one with the landscaping as we took this picture.

We got to go snorkling at Hanama bay, and even though it took me awhile to get the hang of breathing through a tube while being under water. I am happy to say I finally got the hang of it and was able to see some beautiful fish underwater. I even got to meet a huge sea turtle which could manuver much better under water then I could.

We went to the PCC and learned about the Polenisian Islands and some of their culture. We were amazed with their strength, gracefulness, and musicality as they entertained us all day long.

We got to see the temple that is just down the street from the PCC and the BYU Hawaii campus.

Here is a picture of the Arizona Memorial from our Helicopter ride. It was fun to see it from the air after we had visited Pearl Harborthe day before.

We got to walk around and see the different ships that are at Pearl Harbor as we waited for our ticket time to visit the Arizona Memorial. This was one of the hottests days that we were in Hawaii, so we spent much time in the air conditioned gift shop.

But more then anything that we did my favorite time spent was at the beach. I loved swimming in the salt water, laying on the warm sand, and walking on the beach and feeling the sand on my feet. Why did I love Hawaii???

The food was so good. I tried Thai food for the first time, we had the yummiest polish dogs at the Puka Dog, we visited Leanords Bakery and had Malasadas(YUM YUM, mango was our favorite), we also had great luau food at the PCC, and sometimes we just made sandwiches in our Condominium.

The flowers were amazing, the colors were viberant and they smelt wonderful.

It was beautiful

And a whole lot of fun :)

Brandon and Jessica's Wedding

2009-06-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

I recently went home to celebrate the wedding of my sister Jessica. It was fun to get to see everyone. I have four sisters and we all got to come home for the wedding.

They came with their cute families so let me introduce them for those of you who do not know and some of you who haven't seen them in a while.

Stephanie and Jason have two kids and live in....just kidding promised not to tell :)

Erin and Todd have three kids. One had just gotten up from a nap and was not into getting her picture taken, even after the promise of a new barbie. Can you guess which one this is?

We were all glad that Kerie got to come but sad that she had to leave half her family home. She came with one kid in tow and dad at home with the other. J

essica married Brandon K to add another in-law to the family.

My mom and dad right before the reception, looking very relaxed but nearing exhaustion.

Jessica wanted to be able to involve all of us in the wedding festivities so in the three days that we were at my parents home we did it all: shower, dinner with the new in-laws, hair, made food, decorate the gym and the wedding day rituals. WARNING: This blog is a little lengthy as I run through the days leading up to the wedding.

2 Days before the Wedding

Today we had much to do to prepare for the wedding. Jessica would like to have the reception in the back yard so we are preparing the house and yard for lots of guests.

Jill came to the house and we all got our hair done. She was at the house all day long.

Made dinner and ate with the new in-laws.

... and still had fun.

One Day Before the Wedding

Today we had the bridal Shower,

these are the moms with the bridethe quilt mom made for Jess

Bridal shower games! Make a wedding dress out of toilet paper!

Bridal Shower Treats...Yummy!

I went to Mindy's to make the piggy's in a blanket, But I did most of the work ;)

They liked doing it so much that they made more for themselves the next day...Crazy!

and we decorated the church because it was still cold and rainy and it didn't look like we would be able to have and outside reception.

the best wedding coordinator

The Wedding DAY

Jessica and her bridesmaids had a slumber party the night before the wedding at the house and all got ready together in the morning. That morning Jessica needed to be at the temple by 9:30, she was up at 5. A high school friend of Jessica's did her hair and

then it was off to the temple....in the rain.

When they came out of the temple it was still cold and raining but we were able to get a few pictures in before heading to the luncheon.

It was fun to see the nieces and nephews watch Jessica come out of the temple. They could not take their eyes off her, but that didn't mean that they wanted their picture taken with her.

The luncheon and reception were wonderful.

We got to see family and friends and have fun together.

Congratulations Bradon and Jessica, and thanks for a wonderful day.

My Week in Memphis

2009-05-13T20:03:00.000-07:00

Erin and I decided to take a long anticipated trip out to Memphis to Visit our sister Kerie and her family. We decided to go at this time so we could see our brother-in-law Jared graduate from Optometry School. Way to go Jared we think you are awesome for this great accomplishment.

We started our vacation off by driving down to Utah and stopping at Tai Pan, where we proceeded to spend all our vacation money before we even flew out of Salt Lake City. After shopping we spent the night our our Grandma McFadden's before boarding the airplane to Memphis by way of Denver CO.

Our flight from SLC to Denver was pretty uneventful however during our flight from Denver to Tennessee the flight attendant asked over the intercom if there was a doctor or nurse on board. We were then greeted at the airport by a fire truck,

a cop car, and ambulance.

We had to remain on the plane for about 1 hour after landing. They never really told us what happened, but we assumed from the action that someone at the front of the plane had a heart attack.
Once off the plan we got our rental car and we were off on the big bad road. Erin had to drive due to my huge ankle. She was NOT happy about this and after having a short 30 minute freak out we were on our way. Below is a picture of the big bad road and all the terrifying traffic that Erin had to maneuver through as she was slightly loosing her mind.

Thanks Erin for being so Brave!

We flew into Nashville, so while in Nashville we stopped at the Grand Ole Opry.
We were to late to get into the show so we watched the live entertainment outside and then looked around for a fun place to eat. We found the Underwater Aquarium across the street from the Opry house and decided to check it out.

We split a meal here and had lots of fun eating good food and enjoying the ambiance of the restaurant. We loved to see the fish swimming by as we ate but here was one guest that decided to stay put.

We got to keep the cups our drinks came in and they were our very first Tennessee souvenirs.

With our dinner we got food to feed the sting rays, so after dinner we headed over to do this. It proved to be much scarier then we first anticipated. I was a total chicken and could not quite get myself to stick my hand into the tank after I saw how large the sting rays were and how they swallowed your entire hand. Erin had no fear as she dropped the shrimp into the water.

From Nashville we headed over to Memphis where we got to visit Graceland, and learned all about Elvis.

We toured his house and were surprised to learn that he paid $100,000.00, boy have times changed.

We also got to see his cars, and walked through his plane. It really was quite interesting and a fun day.

On Sunday after church Kerie gave us a tour of St. Jude where she has been spending most of her days this year with Emma.

We were impressed as soon as we walked in with how welcoming it felt. It did not look or smell like a hospital at all. All the walls(floors and ceilings) are decorated in themes. We got to go back the next day with Emma for her check up.

She was amazing as she helped the nurse take her own temperature and blood. Emma was thrilled as we left the hospital because her counts were high enough that she no longer had to wear her mask. What a good day.

We also visited the Mississippi replica

and stood on the banks of the Mississippi River....in the rain.

Before leaving we got to have some good southern barbecue with Kerie and Jared. MMMM Good!

We had a great trip but were glad to come home by way of Las Vegas. We were not excited to spend 12 hours in the airport to get home but we were glad to make it home safely.

Yeah for Spring and A Fun Weekend in Idaho Falls

2009-04-13T19:11:00.001-07:00

Yeah for the sunshine!! Chloe and I walked outside the other day and look what what we saw...

my tulips coming up. I was so excited that I went right inside and took down all my Winter decorations(way over due),

and decorated for spring.

I am excited to be able to do things outside in the sunshine, easy driving on dry roads, and of course looking forward to summer vacation.

I did get to experience easy driving as I went home for Easter weekend. The roads were great, the traffic not to bad, and the Family was great. I went horseback riding with my dad, and to Monsters Vs Aliens in 3D with my mom.
Erin and I went shopping to get beads and then made watches. Ok Erin made the watches and I took pictures, but I did help pick out the beads.

Kambree and I did our makeup,

and had an easter egg hunt with Karson.

We had a great easter dinner and enjoyed each others company. We missed those that weren't there and look forward to seeing you all this summer. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter Weekend.

I love Spring!

Spring Break

2009-03-24T19:57:00.001-07:00

In the Fall of 2007 I got a brilliant idea to take the orchestra students to Disneyland. Though I have participated in many tours: Germany, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Italy, Denmark, Holland, and Belgium; I have never been the adult in charge of planning one. I was a little scared and didn't know exactly where to start so....I asked my co-worker if she would like to take the band too. She thought it was a great idea and we submitted the idea to the Schoolboard for approval. From there it was approved, the choir got on board as well, and then it was time to take action.

We told the students of our adventurous plans and some of the fundraising ideas we had to help them pay for the trip. We started by holding the first Cowboy dinner in Feb of 2008, and then the second(much more successful) Cowboy dinner in November 2008. We also had two Music Department carwashes and I signed the orchestra up to work for the Concession Store at the high school. After this the kids were on their own to raise what they were not able to through the fundraisers.

They were all excited and worked hard. I was so happy when I finally found out that all of my students would be able to go. Nobody would be left home. Well enough of the introduction...what did we actually get to do after all that hard work and planning???!!!???

We left the high school at 6:30 a.m and headed for Peter Prier's Luthier School.

Here we meet Charlie, the woodshop teacher for the school. He taught us about what the Luthier students get to do at school, what classes they are required to take, and how much it costs to attend.

He showed us the tools that were used to make the instruments, and how they were used, we learned what type of wood is usually used to make the instruments, what they use to varnish the instruments, and how long it usually takes his students to make their first and last instruments at the school. We saw some of the luthier students in classes and others working on instruments at all different stages.

After we toured the school we got to go into the violin shop. Here we saw violins and cellos of all sizes(and prices).

As the students (and I) explored the store in awe, the manager of the store came up to me and asked if we would like to see a Stradivarius violin. I could not believe what he was asking, I asked him if he was serious, he assured me he was....pause for a quick history lesson: Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) was and Italian violin maker. The violins that he made are famous for their beautiful wood work and wonderful tone. Violin makers have tried and tried, but have so far been unable to match the quality of tone of Stradivari's violins....I immediately became so excited that my eyes even started to tear up. I told him we would love to and he moved us into a room with a round velvet table. He went to a cabinent and pulled out the violin and set it on the table. We all stared in total unbelief, and then he asked if we would like to play it. I could not believe how kind he was being to us. Not all of the students were brave enough to play but most at least got to touch it. Below is a picture of the violin and one of my brave, and very lucky students.

After leaving the shop we went to the Prier Recital hall, another building right next store. When we walked into the hall, Peter Prier came up to me, shook my hand and introduced himself. Holy smokes, I could not believe all the wonderful experiences we were having on this the first stop of our tour.

Mr. Prier shared his collection of instruments with us. Spoke to us a little about his background, and then pulled out another stradivarius violin and played for us. He would have talked to us all day, I was sad and a little embarrased when I had to tell him we needed to leave. We had already stayed 40 minutes past our scheduled time. As we got on the bus to go to BYU the students told me how "awesome", "cool", and "spilago"(a combonation of two orchestra vocab words that this class has combined and uses to define totally amazing experiences or they will use it when they think that they have played extrodinarily well.) I was glad that they realized, and appreciated the experience.

We arrived at BYU a little earlier then expected and so the students were able to wander around campus. Of course they found a Guitar Hero contest and without hesitation jumped in to show their stuff. The student below walked away with the highest score of the day up to that point. If only I could figure out how to get them to spend all those hours and that passion practicing their instruments...I am open to suggestions.

Congrats G.

Dr. Dabczynski worked with the orchestra for 2 hours. Teaching them how to phrase correctly, picturing something in their minds to help them play with character, the importance of every player playing in tune, and how they need to protect their hearing so that they could be successful musicians.

Of course things could not run completely as planned....When we arrived in Las Vegas, we discovered that our bus was very close to giving up the ghost. We stopped for lunch, and 3 hours later we were still stopped. Finally the tow truck for the bus arrived, and after taking time to get pictures of us on the tow truck. Our bus was dragged away. Four hours after arriving in Las Vegas, we got a new Mercedes Beinz of a bus and we were happily on our way, but a little nerveous that we would miss our dinner appointment at Midevil Times.
Have no fear, our new bus driver got us there with 5 minutes to spare.....our hero. We were able to eat with no manners and cheer loudly for our Yellow Knight as he won and lost at jousting, racing, and sword fights.

My girls all thought he was the cutest Knight and were excited at the end when they got to meet him outside of the arena.

Next stop, Califonia Adventure and Disneyland. We spent the next two days playing in the parks.
My mom got to come, and I was so glad that she was able to help out. We had lots of fun, and she was a good sport to go on almost all the rides.

We were also able to participate in Disney Backstage, in which the kids were able to work in a real disney recording studio. They learned and recorded music from Emperers New Groove, Atlantis, and Fantasia. Unfortunately they did not allow us to take pictures back stage, but they did send us home with a dvd of the cartoon clips with our recordings.

After the recording session they let us back into the park by way of Toontown. I could not believe all the detail, we walked out and I felt like I was in a cartoon.

After the fireworks on Thursday night we said goodbye to the happiest place on earth :) and boarded the bus for the long drive home. We drove through the night.....

stopping for breakfast at Bambi's, where they feed us all in 2 hours flat....

eggs, bacon, pancakes, and juice. It was really yummy and nice to have a good breakfast, even if it put us a little behind schedule.

We said a teary goodby to our red hot bus and our nice bus driver, and boarded our new bus with Hitler as the bus driver. (Seriously, he was not nice. Later on down the road I had to beg for a bathroom stop, which he denied first and then finally stopped.)

Not long after leaving Bambi's one of my students began to yell that it was raining on him, then we started to hear more noise from other disgruntelled students in the back. Yep brown water was dripping out of the air conditioning vents and onto my poor students heads. No worries the bus driver just kept on driving. We were almost home when all of a sudden the bus lost power and we glided to the side of the road. When we looked out the window we saw that our bus was oozing water and creating Lake Powell right their on the highway. What did we do, well the bus driver just started the bus up and we were on our way. I still don't know exactly what happened.

After all this excitment at the end of our journey,(and we thought it would be a long boring bus ride), we did eventually reach our final destination; the high school. We unloaded and everyone was on their way home exhausted but happy.

With tour #1 under my belt, I am glad that for the most part everything went well. The students were wonderful, the activities a success, and everyone home safe. I love my job.

Living and Loving

2009-02-22T18:44:00.000-08:00

I love life!!! February has been a great month, what have we been doing...... We started February off heading to District Orchestra Clinic with the middle school kids. We got a real charter bus and that was incredibly exciting for the kids. Once on the bus we headed off to rehearse all day long and have a concert that night. I was so proud of all of them, they worked hard and did a great job.

Then we had an all night party at the High School to help us prepare for the upcoming musical. What did I learn at the all nighter???....That I am way to old to stay up all night long. What did the students do? Well...

They turned the music up in the auditorium and showed of the dances that they learned for the temple dedication.

We rehearsed from 3-4 am. Not the most productive rehearsal we have had but now they can say they have practiced that early in the morning.

We did yoga. At the end when you are suppose to relax and clear your mind they all fell asleep on the gym floor.

Then we had breakfast, which I burned because I was taking pictures of the yoga class, whoops.

I have also had many great visitors this month. Jennifer, James, and their daughter Mary got to come visit. It was fun to see old friends and they brought a great game called Killer Bunnies.

Yep, I am still skiing and absolutely love it. I am getting a little better and a little faster each week. My last trip on the ski bus was the most fun because dad got to come and join me.

We had lots of fun and were getting along fine until he decided we should attempt a little harder hill. A little harder, whatever. It was straight down. I was to afraid to even turn so I side stepped my way down the mountain, and informed him that I loved him much more before he took me on that adventure.

So now that February is coming to an end, I am sure thankful for family and friends, and the great opportunities that I have been able to have this month with everyone.

Ski Bus

2009-01-17T18:00:00.001-08:00

I have decided to face a long time fear of mine racing, or tumbling, down the cold mountain on two skinny pieces of wood. I knew that the only way to do so was to jump in all at once. I signed up for ski bus, along with this great opportunity comes free ski lessons once a week. I also have a student whose father owns a sporting goods store so I swapped lessons for ski equipment, and now I am off and running or rather skiing.

One of the other huge benifits of ski bus is that I don't have to drive on the roads. Thanks to our bus driver Karen, who also teaches Math at the high school. She braves the snow covered curvy roads with fog, to get us safely to our destinations. I have let her know over and over how much I appreciate this bravery on her part.

Here are my friends from week one that made sure I new where to go and what to do. They could see the fear in my eyes. I was so scared!!!! So scared that these are the only pics that were taken on week one.

I only fell once my first day of skiing and that was getting on the Magic Carpet, a conveyer belt that takes beginners to the top of the bunny hill. Problem was that once I was down I could not get up and they had to stop the Magic carpet. All the students that were on kept looking down and yelling at me to see if I was ok. Then they lost patience and just got of the Magic carpet, walked up the hill and then skied down past me still on the ground trying to get up. Finally success and I was on my way again. I decided that I just wouldn't fall any more.

At the end of week one what had I learned???

I needed to have more water and tissues because I got really thirsty and my nose was constantly running.

I don't care if the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, I always looked for the safest, slowest route, regardless of if I had skis on my feet or not.

I absolutely love skiing and wish I had not waited so long. I wanted to head back up on Saturday morning.

And so ends week 1.

Week 2-I am so excited to go back up, and not so much scared this time....but I am still a little. I know that today I am going to conquer the ski lift, and ski down the much anticipated "Milk". I also know that my old singles branch is going to up here for an activity tonight and can't wait to see everyone.

When I first arrive I quickly change into my ski cloths and go to meet my ski instructor. We head straight to the Magic Carpet so we can head up the bunny hill. Rember the only fall I had last week was doing this very same thing. In my head I am thinking, "Don't fall, Don't Fall, DON'T FALL!!"

Steps to a succesful Magic carpet ride:

Step 1: Make sure skis are parallel and lined up, scoot onto the Magic Carpet. "Don't Fall, Don't Fall...."

Step 2: Stick ski poles behind me into the Magic carpet and then ancore myself so that I do not start sliding backwards. "Don't Fall..."

Step 3: Enjoy the ride. "Yeah, I did it!!!!"

Once I had one success I was well on my way to a terrific evening. Here is a video clip of me coming down the bunny hill. Enjoy, and notice the graceful way in which I turn, ha ha.

Click here to watch me ski!

Come and join me, we can race down the mountain, I am not afraid to lose :)

My Wonderfully Relaxing Christmas Break

2009-01-04T17:42:00.001-08:00

I woke up on my first day of Christmas Break really excited to go skiing, but I didn't have a camera to capture the wonderful event for posterity. I decided I would run to Walmart to get a camera, and hurry back to teach a lesson. An hour and 15 minutes later I had barely shovelled out 1/8 of my driveway and sidewalk. I still could not get out of my garage to get to Walmart. I had to give up shoveling to teach a private lesson, and my hope of getting a camera that day. No pictures of me tumbling down the hill this time.

As the lesson was ending I heard a great noise outside and low and behold the best home teacher ever had come to rescue me!! It took him minutes to clean out my driveway, I was so amazed and very grateful. I need to get me one of these for sure.

The ski trip was canceled due to all the snow closed roads, no camera no problem.

I was able to get out of my driveway and make it home for Christmas, which I spent at my sisters home. Santa knew exactly what I needed and I received this beautiful camera, and a pink tool kit.

After opening presents we proceeded with the next Christmas tradition: Dad makes omelets for everyone, yum! This is one of my favorite holiday traditions.

Chloe even had a little Christmas fun, and my niece and nephew were so kind to feed her everything they did not want to eat off of their plates.

During my break I also got to visit friends, help hang shelves,

and make pecan fudge with my grandma on her birthday. This is the best fudge ever. I am posting the recipe so that you can all give it a try.

1 tall can of evap mild

41/2 cups sugar

1/3 margarine

cook 6 minutes full boil, take off heat, add 3 pkgs chocolate chips and two pints marshmallow whip, 2 cups chopped nuts. Stir until smooth and turn into a pan until cold, then cut.

Yum Yum.

Overall a great break visiting friends and family. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season too. Happy New Year.

'Tis the Season, What about the Weather???

2008-12-07T18:20:00.000-08:00

It is time for the Holidays, and I got my very best Christmas gift a little early. My Grandma Cook has moved in with one of my Uncles and gave me her piano. I am so happy to have it and can't wait to get it tuned so that it will sound as good as it looks.

I once again was given a live Christmas tree by loving neighbors, and enjoyed putting that up when I got home from Thanksgiving in my Music Room to welcome all the students back and get them in the mood to play at Festival of Trees. To bad I still don't have my own camera or I would post pictures from our performance. Everyone did a great job, I was so proud of my cute students. They are wonderful!!

Here is the real news of the season. Mindy and I are still walking outside. Temperatures are still high enough that we can enjoy our morning walks outside. This is our second year walking this route at 5:00 in the morning so I thought I would give you a little glance at what our mornings are like.

I wake up happy and ready to go....ok well i wake up and get ready to go. I hate to wear hats so thus the bear head. As you will soon see Mindy is not afraid of layers, I credit her Mission for this.

Here is Mindy on the same morning layered up and ready to go. As we walk the layers will come off, one by one because she always dresses for the worst and then gets hot, lol, it cracks me up. I am laughing even as I write about it.
After walking past Mindy's we round the corner and pass one of the many Churches in the area. Please notice the Manger and still no snow!!!
We continue to walk many many blocks and past many many houses and round our last corner at the Catholic church. Here is our last corner marker....

and as we finish walking on December 4th I still wonder how it is that there is no frost on the windows or snow on the ground, but truly enjoy the fact that I am still walking outside because I would much rather do that then walk inside any day.

I have been tagged....

2008-11-12T21:43:00.000-08:00

I have been tagged, which in the blog world means I have to finish a bunch of statements and let you all know exactly who I am...and my deepest darkest secrets. So here goes and I hope you still like me at the end :)

I am a child of god, and and glad that I know this is true. I want everyone to know that this is true, it is a great comfort and guide to me and I am very thankful that I know this.

I have a dog named Chloe and she is a papillon. She loves to have lots of attention and love and to get her hair done. She also likes to go to Four Paws on Tuesdays and Thursdays to play with all her other doggie friends. I dislike it when she attacks the door with her "I am going to kill you" bark. We are working on this and hope that it will soon be resolved......HOPING HOPING HOPING!!!!

I miss Logan. I lived in Logan for four years and still love it. I love the mountains, the canyon, and the shops. I miss my really good roomates and friends that I had there. I love it when I hear from them or about what they are doing. You guys are all awesome!!!

I feel tired, satisfied, and happy most of the time. I can usually be found teaching violin. I love my job but sometimes I forget that their are other things in life that I can do. I posted some of the things that my students and I have been involved with.

Twin Falls Temple Youth Cultural Celebration. We practice for months and when the time came they could play and dance at the same time, which is way more then I could ever do.

Private lessons in my teaching studio, which is a huge room in my house that use to be a garage. It is perfect for what I need. I can use it for private lesson or it can also hold lots of kids in their at once for group lessons, which are held once a month.
Do fundraisers to help my students raise money for our fun fun trips. This year the high school is going to Disneyland and the middle schools are going to Lagoon.

Car Wash(above) and Cowboy Dinnner(below)

I smell very poorly (ok this statement sounds totally wrong....I personally smell really quite good, but my sense of smell is bad). I really do not have a very good sense of smell. I blame it on a series of very bad sinus infections, but that may be to much information.

I crave chocolate in all shapes and forms.

I wonder and I worry about my future. I hope that I will be able to continue to support myself, and have money for retirement and health care. I worry that I will be old and alone. I am scared that when I am old and need love, support, and extra care that no one will help me because they will have their own family members to worry about.

I wish that I could loose weight but still eat chocolate :)

I'm happy most of the time. I love my life, my friends, my family, my job. I believe that happiness is a choice. There will always be challenges but we always have a choice in what kind of an attitude we decide to face our challenges with. I regret that sometimes I forget that I know this great advice and choose just to cry about it.

Well there you go. Now you know way more about me then you ever wanted to. I have actually learned a few things about myself that I need to work on...mostly my addication to chocolate. Now it is my job to tag someone else so I am going to tag my Mom. Good luck mom, can't wait to read all about you.

The Cowboy Dinner

2008-11-03T18:51:00.000-08:00

Yeah it is over and it was a success so let's move through the evening backward (only because I loaded the pictures in the wrong order....whoops). Here I am at the end of the night. The dinner is over and I am happy because it went so well. No major disasters or problems, everyone enjoyed the food and the entertainment so that was a great relief, but mostly I am happy to take off my boots and put on a comfy pair of flip flops to start the clean up.

This year we used 42 bails of hay, lots of scarecrows, 9 cornstalks, 31 tables with cowboy boots and hats, and feed 250 people. We had enough food for people to get seconds and the kids did great serving the food. There was a choice of luau pork or bbq chicken and both I heard were very good.
As a pre-show I had my little private students serenade the tables with their favorite fiddle tunes. They were so brave and really the highlight of the night. Way to go guys!!!

Here are all the cute cowboys and girls out in the hall waiting to go in and perform for the hungry crowd.

Before the show we had a dress rehearsal so that everyone could get use to playing in the gym, great acoustics...ok not really. It is very difficult to play in there because of the echo but they adjusted quickly and did great job when the show went on.

I could not do any of this without my family and parent committee. They were a huge help getting the food organized and ready, so that I could work with the music and any sudden problems that should come up. For some reason this night everyone was missing their bows or their music yikes, don't worry we found everything in time for the performance. I love teaching!!! and the sudden surprises that always occur.

I even got help from Karson and Kambree. I think they just wanted to eat the brownies and the candy off the tables.

Here are our cute tables before everyone arrived. My parent committee put these together as well. Thank goodness for them, they helped relieve a lot of stress before and during the event.

Yeah the second annual cowboy dinner is over and what a huge success, lots of money raised for our orchestra program. Many people told me they would return again next year, hopefully they bring their friends. The kids were happy and I was very happy that all went well and that it was time to start planning for next year.

My Gigantic Pain in the Neck!!

2008-10-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Ahhh! This has been a very very long, boring, and painful week. I woke up Thursday October 9th with a little stiff neck. I wasn't at all worried because this is something that I have experienced before and was fully prepared for it to be gone by the end of the day or at least by the next morning. Unfortunately this was not the case. As the day wore on it got worse and by Saturday morning I could not move my head in any direction. I was ready to give up the fight. I called around to get a massage or go to a chiropractor. Of course no one was available on a Saturday (especially this in this crazy weather) so I had to wait until Monday. Thank goodness my beautiful and very kind and nurturing sister Erin got snowed in at my house. Yes this is a recent and up to date photo(thanks Mindy), crazy huh.

At this point I need to jump stories...yes folks Burley got 16 inches of snow within a 24 hour period. The roads going into and out of Burley were closed, and my power went out 2x on Saturday. Erin came to visit and got to stay longer then she expected and a little longer then she wanted to. Anyway back to my pain in the neck. Above is were I slept and spent my week, and below is where I spent all my tears and money. Don't I look pretty...yikes can you see the pain!!!!

Ok, so now it is Sunday, a week and 4 days later and still I have a pain in my neck. Any remedies would be welcome. Hopefully I will have better news, and pictures to post next week.

The Orange Potluck

2008-10-13T19:11:00.000-07:00

It is October and time for the anual Orange potluck. This is a tradition that started quite a few years ago when I lived in Utah. My very creative roomates, Anne and Diana, thought it would be interesting to see what kind of food people would bring to a potluck in which everything had to be orange. It turned out to be lots of fun and we decided to have do it annually. So... this year Chloe and I greatly anticipated this day and the wonderful orange food that we would be able to eat.
When Sunday finally came I was lucky enough to have such a stiff neck that I couldn't even bend down to pick up the dog toys off the floor to prepare for all of our orange food making friends. Lacie took pity on me and my absolute pain and came over early to help get the house ready for our dinner guests. Then they began to arrive with all the yummy orange food.
I must say this year topped many of the orange potlucks that I have been able to be a part of. The food was delicious and very creative. For the first time no cheetos, and no one brought cooked carrots to my suprise. Of course we still had lots of cheese, sugar, and food coloring.

After we were quite stuffed, to stuffed to move, we decided to play some games while we let our food digest.

Mindy even came dressed for the occasion.

And that was the end of another succesful Orange Potluck. Next months potluck- foods we are most thankful for, so fellow potluckers start making your decisions now. This one may be difficult, then again maybe not of course there will be chocolate.

2008-09-28T17:56:00.000-07:00

Chloe and I had Sunday Dinner Guests Today I had Mindy and Adelle over for Sunday dinner. We had southwestern sandwiches, salad, fruit, and apple pie(this thanks to Marie Calander). After eating I introduced Adelle to the Wii. First we had to create Adelle's Mii, doesn't she look cute!! We all thought so until she started winning at all the games, ok not all the games but many games.
Winning....

Mindy's not winning. In fact she was very proud of the fact that she really could not play or win any of the games.
We played Wii sports and then I put in the Bejiing Olympic game I got for my birthday. Finally I had a chance, to take it all and I was quite humble about it as you can see.
Quick note yes the washer works and it did not flood the basement so I think things may be looking up this year. I still need to get a new plug for the dryer.

Changes for Fall!!!

2008-09-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

Yes it is real....ok and fake...a little of both and some wire too.

Well it is time again to figure out what wild and crazy thing I can do with my hair to try and promote the excellent orchestra program and upcoming concerts that we want everyone to attend. Last year was my first attempt at the wild hair thing and I think the braids did the trick. As you can imagine I had many questions as to what was coming up. This year I decided to go a little less drastic.... just a layer of fire red coloring to show my school spirit. I did get the hair done just in time for the big rivalry game, I fit right in at the football game. The orchestra sold concesions and made $450 for our program, way to go everyone!!!

In addition to the hair change, which is rapidly changing from fire red to hot pink, I also said goodbye to the laudramat this weekend. Yep I purchased a used washer and dryer set and hope that all goes well when I try to use them. The plug for the dryer does not fit into the plug that is provided in my house so I will have to go buy and new plug for the dryer, hopefull after that all will run smoothly.

to be continued........

2008-09-14T15:15:00.000-07:00

On Friday I had another great birthday. I spent the day teaching at school and then took a trip home to Idaho Falls. Little did I know that it would turn out to be the best birthday ever!!! On Saturday I went to a meeting with my parents for their time share. Checking things out to see if it was something that I would be interested in doing. The time share company was giving out trips in Hawaii and Mexico and I was a winner. I am going to Hawaii. I could not believe it but YES I was actually one of the trip winners. After the meeting I went with my parents and sisters out to dinner where they gave me some great gifts that I cannot wait to try out with everyone the next time we get together.
Sunday I had a great get together with friends and got to celebrate again, a 3 day birthday. I think it is the longest I have ever had. Thanks everyone for a great birthday.