Our trip out West

We left on Good Friday for Las Vegas to visit Kyle's Grandma and returned this past Wednesday. It was truly one of the best vacations we have ever taken! Grandma's house is beautiful and it was so fun to wake up each morning to sunshine and 75 degree days. We spent our time with Grandma eating delicious food, going to a cool church for Easter, learning how to play video poker, doing a little gambling at some casinos, seeing Cirque de Soleil, visiting the Hoover Dam, visitng Lake Mead, and visiting the Grand Canyon. We even got to see Grandma win a Royal Flush at a huge casino on the strip called Treasure Island! She definitely has luck on her side. Here are some pictures that depict what a great time we had with Grandma.

Here's Kyle at the Hoover Dam.

This is the typical post card picture of the Dam. It's huge!

This is an engineering feat if you ask me. They are building a TALL bridge over Lake Mead (above the Dam) so cars need not drive through the dam to get from Nevada to Arizona.

Kyle and I decided to go hiking on a trail around Lake Mead. Isn't it gorgeous?

This is the view from Grandma's back yard. The fountain is so fun and I think its so great that you can see both Las Vegas AND the mountains!

This one is of Grandma in the back yard. I think it was a candid shot.

Kyle and Grandma on our first night at the casino.

Happy Easter!


The flower garden at the Bellagio.

Walking around on the Strip.


We left Grandma at Treasure Island for 40 minutes and she won the Royal Flush!


We've arrived at the Grand Canyon!

Kyle's working on his photography skills. What a beautiful place!


Look how close you can get to the edge. Yikes!

Hiking down one of the trails. See the snow and ice? I was pretty freaked about this.

These crazy people are about a foot away from falling to their death over the edge. It made me nervous to look at them.


Breathtakingly gorgeous! Sunset at the Grand Canyon.

Kyle and I had the BEST time and it was all possible because of Grandma. Thank you so much for being so kind and generous to us and for helping us plan this trip. We love you and can't wait to come and visit again!

And the week of craziness begins...

The snow is starting to melt outside and thoughts of spring are starting to be in the air. Tomorrow night, I have my class at CSU until 8:00. On Tuesday morning, I will be back at school at 4:15 a.m. to leave for the 8th grade trip to Washington D.C. I went last year and it was a fun but not restful time. I am lucky to have many good students on my bus so I think it will be a good trip. We are returning on Thursday evening and then on Friday morning, Kyle and I will be leaving for Las Vegas to visit Grandma Cox. We are looking forward to that so much and we're hoping that its much warmer there than it is here. Let the traveling begin...

The HUGE snow storm

On Friday afternoon, the snow started. This continued through the night and all day on Saturday. We now have about 20 inches of snow on the ground. Its hard to believe that it was 68 degrees just a week ago. Kyle shoveled the driveway 4 times yesterday and it still wasn't enough to keep up with the snow. Riley has enjoyed jumping over Kyle's snow piles. Today it was sunny and it gave us time to dig out. Here are some pictures of our house.

The idea of Nation

In my class last week, we got into a huge discussion about the concept and importance of nation. I have thought about the idea of nationalism quite a bit since I studied music history in college. When I think about how I define myself in terms of culture, I have always thought "I'm an American." What does that really mean? Why is the idea of nationalism so important to us? Why is music so centered around the idea of nation?

The first thing that we must consider is the definition of nationalism and the definition of nation. The best definition that I could find for nation is "a politically organized body of people under a single government." I found 4 different definitions for the term nationalism: 1. patriotism (love of country and willingness to sacrifice for it), 2. the doctrine that your national culture and interests are superior to any other, 3.the aspiration for national independence felt by people under foreign domination) 4. the doctrine that nations should act independently (rather than collectively) to attain their goals.

These definitions left me a little more disturbed than satisfied. I could agree with the above definition of nation. However, if I went into a particular country and tried to characterize certain traits of that nation, I believe we would be at a loss with this definition. For example, I could tell you the different nationalities of Americans and describe our democratic government, but each region of the nation has different qualities and traits that do not necessarily match up. I find the definitions for nationalism particularly unnerving. As a music teacher, I follow the standards set by the national organization MENC which states that all students should know the words to the "Star Spangled Banner." I teach this song and "God Bless America" each year and make sure my students know every word in order to be contributing musical members of our American culture.

However, the more I read into the concept of nationalism, the more weary I become. If a country emphasizes the importance of nationalism too much, this creates moral problems. This belief in nationalism implies that certain characteristics are essential and that each cultural background is already uniquely different. Some call this essentialism. In essence, ethnicity predetermines (speaking musically) what you compose. The concept of nation seems to make no sense logically now. Should we be concerned about the amount of nationalistic values we instill in our children? How far is too far?

No School Again - Day 3

Yes, its true. Now we have to make up 3 days more in June because we have missed 8 days of school so far this year. As far as my update from yesterday with the car, I am actually quite happy with Volkswagen. I took my car in to the dealer on a moment's notice this morning and they repaired my radio, washed my car and had it back to me in 10 minutes. All for FREE! I take back what I said about the car yesterday. I am still happy with it.

I have been doing more reading for my class and I have some interesting questions to share. You can look forward to that later on today. I have all of our tax information gathered and ready to go so I will take care of that today and I am going to the beauty school to get my hair done this afternoon before another wave of snow hits us this evening. I miss my students and if we have to use music on the concert next week, so be it.

Stupid car

Two days ago, my radio/CD player system in my car just decided to stop working. This is the second time this has happened THIS YEAR. Needless to say, I am a bit peeved at my Volkswagen. Whose radio really just quits? So, now I will drive to the sound of my own thoughts until I can take it to the dealer again. Grrr...

No school again

I am home again today because all of Madison lost power in yesterday's snow/ice storm. I spent the entire day yesterday cleaning our house, taking down snowman-themed items (yes there is still snow outside...I'm just trying to think about spring) and once again procrastinating my research for my paper. I am actually a little sad that we don't have school today because my spring concert is just one week away. I always get a little leery of their memorization of the music before each concert so I like to spend the last few days really working the nitty gritty aspects of the repertoire. But, the good part is that I can do some more research today and meet Kyle for lunch at Quizno's. Mmmmm...

Ice day

No school for me again today. Last night, we had a LOT of wind and freezing rain that coated every surface with a thick layer of ice. This then changed over to snow and made for a big commuting mess. Riley and I are home together again today and I think he is either getting extremely lazy or just plain bored. He is such a cuddly friend. Only 15 more days until we go to visit Grandma Cox in Las Vegas. We can't wait!

My cousin is on ESPN today!

Congratulations to Lindsay on winning 2nd place in the National Varsity Cheerleading Competition in Orland, Florida! She will be on ESPN2 today at 3:00. Here are 2 pictures from the competition. In the group photo, Lindsay is in the front row on the far left and she is the highest "E" on the other photo. We are proud of you!

New template

I was starting to get tired of looking at my pink background and thought my blog needed a face lift. Hence, spring-like green. Also, I am procrastinating my paper research. Can you tell?

The joy of Citation Machine

If you ever have to write a research paper, this website is the way to go! It has all different formatting (MLA, APA and Chicago style) and will basically do the formatting for you as long as you have the correct information. This has saved me SO much time typing papers and I wanted to share the joy of this website with you. Use the link in my Favorites to get there. Happy writing!

SNOW DAY...of research

I am so thankful that we have a snow day today. At my grad. school class on Monday night, I was reminded that we have an annotated bibliogrpahy and an abstract for my research paper due this COMING Monday. Needless to say, I was beginning to feel overwhelmed because I hadn't even begun to do any research for the paper and felt a bit crazy. After flying through the Mc Donald's at 8:30 that night on my way home from class, I flew upstairs to the computer hoping to find articles for my paper. So far, I am hoping to write about Nazi reception of the music of Schoenberg and Mendelssohn but the articles are leading me down a path of frustration. I spent all evening last night reading and scouring for articles and have now spent all of today until now doing the same. Have you ever gotten a headache from reading on the computer? If not, don't do it. Its no good. Thank you God for giving me this day at home because if I had to do all this work without a snow day, I think I might lose my mind.

Wicked

On Tuesday night, Kyle and I went to see the musical Wicked at Playhouse Square downtown. You might think that this sounds like a date and I guess it was, since we also had over 250 6th-12th graders along on the trip. This was the first time that Kyle and I have ridden a school bus together. Now how many married couples can say they've done that?

Anyway, the musical was FANTASTIC! It is the untold story of the Wicked Witch of the West before Dorothy dropped in. I had seen it 3 years ago in Chicago and I love this show not only for the music but also for the witty characters and creative lighting and scenery. This show is touring the country now for its third year in a row and if it comes to your city, go and see it! Maybe not with 250 kids though.

Hope's Chapel CD

If you have not heard Hope's Chapel CD from this past year (2007), you really should! It has such a different sound than what they did when I was there but still quite reminiscent of the dreams I had for that program my senior year of college. The new CD is called "Awake My Soul" and can be bought at the bookstore or online. I think that the new worship director Josh Banner is doing great things for the campus ministry program.

My trip back to Hope

This past weekend, my college room mate Amy and I went back to Hope to give a short presentation to the current music education majors. We had such a great time! I woke up early on Saturday and drove to Amy's house in Detroit where I left my car and she and I drove to Holland. We walked around downtown on Saturday afternoon and then headed to Dr. Sharp's house where we stayed for the evening. The Sharps treated Amy and I better than family! They made us delicious food including chicken marsala, risotto, stir fried veggies as well as a home made pear tart. We each had our home room to stay for the night and our own bathroom. It was great! We stayed up eating and talking to them until after midnight. They taught us this great game with dice called Farkle. I can't wait to teach you!

On Sunday, Amy and I woke to the sound of choirs and organ music and the smell of frsh crepes. It was so wonderful to stay with the Sharps and they were so generous to extend the gift of hospitality to us. That afternoon, Amy and I talked for an hour and a half to the music ed. majors and shared some of the things we learned in our first two years teaching that no one shared with us before we started. My professor and coopoerating teacher, Mr. De Boer is now in charge of the Hope chapter of MENC so I got to see him too! I love mentoring students and I hope that this made them feel not only empowered but that they can call me if they need to vent about teaching. It was great to be back. Amy and I left Holland that afternoon and drove back to her house in Detroit. I drove back to Cleveland Monday morning and I am happy to say that my friend Amy is only 3 hours away. It was a really easy drive. Coming back to Hope couldn't have been better!

Cold and snow

I told you that I'd hoped school was cancelled yesterday and it came true. Over 600 school closings took place yesterday due to sub zero wind chills. I still had my class last night at CSU but thankfully the drive there are back was pretty good.

Today, we did have school but now we have a LOT of snow. Its still coming down outside and we are under a winter storm warning until 11:00 tonight. My happiness of this day is that parent teacher conferences were supposed to happen tonight and luckily that got rescheduled. On conference night last year, we also had a huge blizzard and I was never more terrified to drive than I was that night. So, I am home and warm now and Kyle should be home soon. Now to try to tackle the driveway...

Cold in Cleveland

This past week has been busy but all in all, it was quite good. Thank you to those that sent their well wishes and prayers for my family. We could feel your love so much and I think that the funeral couldn't have gone better. My parents' long time family friend was the minister for the service and spoke very highly of my grandpa and presented the message of salvation through Jesus Christ in a way that I know many found accessible. It was a military funeral with a 21 gun solute and at the end, one trumpet played taps while the ROTC members folded the flag and presented it to my family. I know that my grandpa would have been pleased. It was great to see my family in Kentucky again and really great that Kyle got to meet many of my relatives that he'd never seen before.

This week was the first full week of school we've had since the start of the year. Between snow, power outages and holidays, its been a slower start to the new year. Although we lost our soccer game on Friday, no one got hurt (unlike last week when my friend Becky broke her arm). Since this, I have been a little more cautious in my playing but I now have 2 black and blue knees as a souvenir of our loss.

Kyle and I had a real bargain day yesterday. Great Clips has a promotion for $6 haircuts this week so we both got new hairdo's and got more FREE Applebee's at another restaurant opening last night. If you have never tried a pomagranate margarita, it is the best! Despite the cold weather, I felt like I was on vacation. It is REALLY cold and windy out now (-15 wind chill) and I am hoping it remains this way by tomorrow morning...

Grandpa

My Grandpa passed away last night. He was 87 years old and my dad said that it happened quickly and peacefully. I love him a lot and I will miss our conversations on my drives to school and the daily "I love you" to start my day. Kyle and I will be going to Kentucky on Thursday to be with my family and to celebrate the life of a man that I admire and love so much.

I always thought of him as the one who could open and fix anything. He carried a pocket knife everywhere he went and could always open the presents that Santa brought me. He could fix any appliance and told me stories of some of the tough times he had in the Army during WWII. I didn't even know that he was one of the first to land in Normandy until just last year. He taught me to fish and told me that he loved me all the time. He had a strong love for my Grandma and was still deeply in love with her when she passed away 6 years ago. I pray that my marriage has the strength their's did.

He was a man of few words but he is probably one of the strongest men I know. When I asked him whether or now he believed Jesus Christ is his Lord and Saviour, he answered, "I'm alright, Sarah. I'm okay." I trust that God knew his heart and my prayer is that I will see him again someday. I love you, Grandpa. I am so blessed to have had you in my life.

Please pray

My Grandpa was taken to the emergency room last night and my dad spent last night driving from Chicago to Kentucky to be with him. We are not sure yet if he fainted or what exactly happened but he in still in the hospital and my dad is there with him. Please pray for strength for both of them and that God's peace and comfort would be with them both. Thank you for your prayers.

New friendships forged

This weekend was pack with more friends than we have ever had here in Cleveland. Besides seeing Abbie and many of my teacher friends from work on Saturday, today I got to spend the evening with two other teacher friends from school who I am finally getting to know better. Sarah teaches 8th grade special ed. and Teresa teaches 8th grade math at my school. This evening, Teresa had us over to her house to eat a delicious pot roast she prepared for us and to play with her two dogs and 15 month old baby, Claire. We had some good laughs because little Claire is OBSESSED with babies. She knew that my cell phone had a camera on it when I took her picture and the whole evening she chased me around (more like my phone) saying inquisitively "Baby? Baby? Baby..." That girl has a good memory! I am so glad to finally be making some friends here in Cleveland. Kyle is skiing with his Dad, Chris and Uncle Bob and I am glad this has forced me to forge new friendships. Hooray!

Isn't this a cute mix?

This is a bulldog/beagle mix. I'd never seen one before but she made me smile. Isn't she cute?

Our first win and free Applebees!

Last night, the Edge-U-Cators (aka the teacher soccer team) had their first win of the season 6-4. The team we played was called Progressive so I am assuming that they probably work at Progressive Insurance and are in about the same shape as we are. I am playing defense again and it is good to be back in the same position I played in my childhood soccer years.

I spent the day with my friend Abbie (trying to stave off the winter blues) and we really took the grande tour of Cleveland. We started the day at one of the bigger malls in the area. I bought Kyle a pair of dress pants for Christmas (which I was so excited about because they were on sale) only to find out that I had a 38/32, NOT the 33/32. Maybe I need new contacts. Then we went on an adventure without maps to the Aurora Farms Outlet Mall and although we took a small detour through Summit county, we found it with the atlas and got some really great bargains.

This evening, Abbie and I had a FREE 4 course meal at Applebees in Cleveland's newly built shopping area Steelyard Commons. As you can guess, this area was formerly part of the Cleveland steel industry and is still surrounded by steel mills. We wouldn't have been able to have this great free meal if my friend's husband hadn't told us about the new restuarant opening. He works for Applebees and his job is to train, build and open new franchise Applebee's restaurants in the area. I love being a part of the training/teaching effort (hence going to the beauty school for my haircuts) and I was very satisfied with my meal and the great wait staff. Thanks for inviting us!

SNOW...and cold

This has been the first significant snow storm to really pound the Cleveland area (and by that, I mean the east side only because we live in the "snow belt"). Unfortunately, this snow did not come on a school day but since it was so cold abd blustery, I couldn't resist a few photos.

Here is the view out our front door of my neighbor Gloria's house yesterday morning.



This is Kyle shoveling. Riley came to help too.

Finally, here is my strong feathered friend who stayed here and tried to stay warm at my bird feeder.

Long overdue holiday pictures

My parents came to visit us a few days before Christmas and we decided to check out one of the local tourist attractions: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We had a good time there, but if it weren't for the free tickets that the Rock Hall sent in the mail, I don't think that I would pay the $20 admission fee to go again.


Kyle's family came to visit after Christmas and it was fun to have everybody at our house. I put some of the classics on here: Amber's new bathrobe and Ryan's new fleece and who could forget the cool gold thing (I'm sorry...I forget what its called) that Chris got to enhance his photography skills. It was a good time had by all!