Life Changes

Well I have learned the only thing that remains constant in this crazy life is change.  I have had many changes in my life since I last posted on my blog.  One of the changes that I am really enjoying is the big move.  I have had a chance to heal, grow, and just really enjoy life again.  Here are some pictures of the wonderful adventures that this "Roaming Music Teacher" has experienced.

I saw my first Vegas Cirque Show.  It was good but I have since seen KA which I absolutely LOVED.

 I have had time to try out new recipes that I find on Pinterest.  This is one of my new favorite things to do on the weekends. I dare say it is becoming an addiction.

I have reconnected with great friends from college!  This I have really enjoyed and it is like we never lost touch.  I love all my great friends.

My cute orchestra kids (who's identities are being protected) are raising money for our trip to Disneyland.  We have sold popcorn at all the basketball games and had lots of fun working hard.

 I have experience the winter temperatures.  Which I love but can't quite believe that this isn't heaven, due to the beautiful sunshine that seems to occur almost daily.  The temperature below was on a beautiful February afternoon...unbelievable... but oh so true!!

 I have spent time exploring the strip and love being with family.

Sometimes changes come our way that are totally unexpected and maybe not even invited but thank goodness for a loving Heavenly Father who always knows what is best.  I have been very blessed to see multiple miracles in my life as I watched things change  in a very rapid, and drastic way.  I cannot believe that things have happened so quickly and smoothly.  I love being in love with life again!! 

Time to Catch Up - Goodbye 2010

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

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

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

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

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!

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!