Project Bandaloop

We found a free performance at the OC Fine Arts Center last week. It was a show where people dance outside, on the side of a building, hanging from ropes! They call themselves project bandaloop. It was really cool!

We were able to make a triple date out of it, so that was an added plus. We haven't done a group date in a really long time, so it was definitely a hallmark in our social life!

Seriously, how cool is this? I want to learn how to dance while hanging from buildings, too!

Laguna Wilderness Hike

Last week, we joined Jeremy's MBA friends on a hike through Laguna Beach Wilderness. The hike was short-5.5 miles- but it was 108 degrees out that day, with no shade on the entire trail. Plus, the night before the hike I got 3rd place in my school's teacher-pie-eating contest (out of 26!), so that made it pretty interesting.

Even though it was boiling, we had fun and there were wonderful views of rolling hills with deserty wildlife. When we made it to the hill that overlooked the beach, it was so relieving! We hiked into town and ate lunch together at a yummy restaurant.

Can you see Jeremy's beard in this picture (above)? He grew it out for an entire week to see exactly where his beard line is. Since he's a "ginger," his hair grows in red, and it has a funny pattern to it. Here's a closer picture for you to see the areas where the hair grows long and where he has what we call "desert patches."

ships, bouquets and cousins

Our Saturday, we began our trip with a tour on the USS Midway. Mom and Dad R were in town for the wedding, so they came with us and some of Jeremy's friends from work. It was really, really cool. I can't believe how huge the thing is and how they were able to get planes to take off and land on that thing. The craziest part is how they cram all the military guys into the ship. I would never be able to do that.

It was funny to see them show planes and ship technology from 1991...as if it was ancient artifacts.
There was so much to see and learn! I wish we could have stayed on the ship longer, but we had to go to a wedding!

The wedding was for a distant cousin on my mom's side. It was really nice, on a beach in la Jolla. The best part is that- thanks to Uncle Lyman- my cousin Amanda was there!! She has always been one of my favorite cousins because of her spunk and energy. I still laugh out loud thinking about her as a four-year-old sauntering around grandma's backyard, purposefully being sassy and silly all at the same time. Too cute! Anyway, Amanda has truly become a beautiful young woman. She is SO ambitious and proactive. It was awesome to catch up with her!! I love you Amanda!!!

books, projects and possibilities

Jeremy and I have officially made it through two weeks of craziness with the new school year. Other than me not coming home from work before 8:30pm, things are going pretty well. I've still managed to make us nice meals for lunch. I make 5 meals on Sunday and put them in lunch packs for the week. And I've kept up on laundry and housecleaning, so that's super!

Jeremy is in full swing with his MBA program. He is currently taking 3 classes: microeconomics, financial accounting, and management communications. He goes to class TTH nights and works with his group of classmates for projects and homework assignments on Fri&Sat.

He's been learning about some neat businesses, and today he read a chapter about the effects of child labor in developing countries. Now he is pretty convinced it's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be!

This week, things might get crazier because my new Children's Chorus will start. I have a whopping 62 students that have agreed to come before school to rehearse as a choir! We will meet 3 days a week, 40 minutes before school starts. The student hype is really huge, but several teachers are very doubtful the kids will stick with it. (I just love how supportive people can be sometimes, don't you?) We'll just have to prove them wrong! Granted some students will drop out, but I'm still really excited, trying to stay realistic with my goals, and overall just really gitty about the possibilities that such a huge chorus could have at our school! Please wish me and the students luck!

Getting Publicity

Since I was hired at my school, I've been very fortunate to have multiple articles in the press about the music program that I've built. It's a wonderful opportunity to be a part of it! I've had two neat appearances most recently...

In July, an article in the Orange County Register was written about a Preschool Music Event that I helped host at our school. You can click here to read it.

This September, in the Orange County Family Magazine, an article that I wrote was published on page 84!! It's an advertorial section called "Experts Speak Out." Don't get too excited for me, as "advertorial" means that our business paid the magazine to put the article there, but it's still pretty neat to see my words in print. The school marketing director said that she wanted me to be featured. That's quite a compliment considering there are 9 music teachers that teach at all of our school's campuses. Below is the page with a picture of my students and me drumming, and the text of the article. Enjoy!

Experts Speak Out

Music Boosts Brainpower

SarahLynn Zavoral is the Music Specialist at {school name removed by blogger}. She holds a BA in Elementary Music Education from Brigham Young University and has many years of experience sharing her love of music with children of all ages.

I have the best job in the world because I get to bring children joy through music! Children need the freedom to sing, dance, bang on a drum, and express themselves through music. It helps them grow socially and emotionally and does amazing things for the brain and for learning.

When children learn to read music, keep in time with beat, and improvise new melodies, they are developing literacy skills, mathematical skills, and problem solving skills. Scientists have discovered that when a musician is playing his or her instrument, multiple areas throughout the brain are highly engaged—a feat that few other activities can accomplish.

The music program at {school name} focuses on developing music literacy through joyful musical experiences. In our sound proof studio, students in JK-8^th grade sing, dance, and play a variety of percussive instruments, including our Orff xylophones and 20 African drums. Students also read, write, dictate, and compose musical rhythms and melodies.

While many public and even private schools are eliminating regular music instruction, our program is growing. This year, we are excited to start our first children’s chorus, which is already 50 students strong.

As a parent, you can greatly influence your child’s musical growth. Here are five simple ways to get started.

1. Spend 10 minutes a day singing folk songs, lullabies, or religious songs with your child. Children who are sung to are more likely to develop acute listening and singing skills, making it easier for them to read music and play instruments.

2. Create a music playlist for listening to in the car. Include selections from all genres, especially classical music and children's folk songs. Avoid music that substitutes real instruments for electronic sounds.

3. Sign yourself up for instrumental lessons. If you want your child to learn to play an instrument, the best thing you can do is set the example for your child by learning to play that instrument.

4. After you've set the example, a great time for your child to start piano lessons is in first grade or when your child can read. Make sure your child has opportunities to improvise and create his own songs at every level of instruction. This will help keep him motivated.

5. Enroll your child in a school that offers music education as part of the school day or choose an after-school program that offers developmentally appropriate music instruction.

We Got Married!! (4 years ago)

View on Catalina Island over-looking the ocean and toward the mainland.

We could see Huntington Beach from here!

Four years. That sounds like a long time. To us, it feels like it's only been one or two. And here's something to prove how newly-wed we still feel.

Things we said to each other our first month of marriage that we STILL say to each other:

• I can't believe I was able to get you to marry me.
• I love how we don't have to say goodbye at the end of our date!
• I'm going to be with you FOREVER? That's so cool!
• You are the perfect person for me.
• So who's gonna be in charge of taking out the trash?
• You are so hot!
• Being married to you is so fun. Did you think it would be this fun?

To celebrate, we were able to take a weekend trip to Catalina Island. We see the island almost everyday from our beach, so we decided it was time to actually go there. It only took 1 hr and 45 min to get there from our front door to the hotel on the island. Cool!

In addition to the pictures above, we went on a night-time flying fish tour and saw seal lions and flying fish, went to church-just a group of members (not even a branch), and stayed in a guest house/hotel that shared the toilet and shower with the room next to us. It was a really fun adventure!

Tanya's Visit

Tanya came to visit us with her boyfriend a couple weeks ago!! We had a very fun time together. We all got along really well. Here's the highlights:

• Downtown Disney. We began to discover that all 4 of us are easily entertained by water fountains. And Chris was the only guy who could climb the jumbo legos.
• The beach and boogie boarding. The boys spent a lot of time in the water while Tanya and I talked and tanned.
• Main Street. Too much walking for Tanya.
• Movie night at home.
• Church.
• Venice beach. Those skateboarders are so entertaining! But that freak show was kind of scary.
• Hollywood. Tanya was so excited to find Harry Potter's hand prints! Hopefully it made up for all the walking.
• Griffith Observatory. We had a little kissing photo shoot. First Tanya and Chris, then me and Jeremy. And we also learned!
• Thai dinner. Yum!
• Chili's lunch
• Music Around the World Day. Tanya came to my school with me to see me teach a Mommy and Me music event. She seemed to really enjoy it.
• Tanya and Chris also went to Duke's and Knott's Berry Farm by themselves.

We are SO glad they came to visit. They were really fun to be with and made us feel really cool.

Live on NBC

"We're live in 20 seconds!!"

That's what we heard as we rushed into the studio where the live filming of America's Got Talent, Week 8, Night 1 was taking place. With only 15 more seconds left, the stage crew hollered at Jeremy and me to get to our seats.

A few weeks before, I found the show on hulu.com (since we don't have real TV) and soon became an avid viewer. When I found out that the finals would be filmed in Hollywood, I went online to get tickets. They were free! All we had to do was show up no later than 4:00 pm and wear "hip" clothing (yes, that was in the instructions, mentioning that we could get turned away if our wardrobe wasn't cool enough).

Not sure if our clothes were up to par, we panicked when we were still on the highway at 4:30. LA traffic sucks. When we finally got to the studio, we were shocked that they still let us in, but it was standing room only. I guess they figured our clothes were more of the second-class type.

As we were led into the studio, a stage manager kept waving her arms for us to come up closer to the stage. The director counted down from 10 over the loud speaker as we climbed over bodies in the center isle to our new places. Before we new it, the show was in full swing and we were watching it from the VIP balcony with a family that was related to one of the producers!

Above: Train is playing on stage. Judges Sharon Osborne, Howie Mandel and the other guy on the right. Me and Jeremy are smack dab in the middle of the screen. Can you see our silhouettes on the center of the lowest balcony?

Below: A cheer squad performing. My head is just to the right of the cheer leader's bum and shoulder. Jeremy is to the right of me, directly under that blue light in the balcony room.

We could see everything perfectly--the performers, the judge's faces, the cameras, even the words on the teleprompter screens for the host. We could also see how that danger guy did his stupid tricks (he shouldn't have made it to the next round), the tech crew prepare for each number, and the make-up consultants assist Sharon Osborne and Howie Mandel during commercial breaks. The only annoying part of the show was the fidgety kids next to us who did not seem to realize the magnificence of where we were seated! (that's rich kids for you).

After the show, they told us to stick around for the pre-filming of the next night's feature. The band Train would be playing for us, and we would be on another night of NBC TV!!

The whole experience was awesome. I was really intrigued how the "theatre" was just a bunch of platforms hanging from metal lattices in a giant room. How amazing that they can turn a giant empty room into an auditorium, or city, or school, or outdoor set! Hollywood is pretty cool like that.

Feeling famous after the show, we decided to do what famous people do. We went to the Grove. (it's a really fancy mall that actors shop at). We pretended to be rich by eating at Magianno's Grill (luckily, we had gift cards) and then played Train during our car ride home!

Wild Animal Park

Highlights included:

• Three itty-bitty baby elephants, 4 older baby elephants
• Watching the elephants for a LONG time, splashing, walking, nursing, taking mud baths, creating mud-sunscreen, beautifying their bodies with mud, eating grass, shaking the dirt off of their grass heaps, chomping, pooping, bellowing, trumpeting, and more.
• The "journey into Africa" ride
• The steel band performance
• Being hot (it hasn't really gotten hot yet in HB, so it was nice to feel some heat!)
• Drumming with the African acrobats. Jeremy and I actually gained a little audience as we jammed out with one of the African drummers. And I learned a few new patterns!
• Nature Walk
• Making clay figurines
• Watching all the kids' different reactions to the animals, performers, plants etc.
• Critiqueing the variety of parental strategies displayed throughout the park- something very easy to do when you don't have your own kids :-)
• Not rushing

Psalms

In Sunday school, we studied Psalms in the Bible and then we were given time to write our own psalm. Mine ended up rhyming:

Psalm of Independence Day

By SarahLynn Zavoral

Land of freedom, land of choice,

For thy sake I sing and rejoice.

Constituted with wisdom from God,

By thy beauty I am awed.

Jeremy is not one to write lovey-dovey stuff, but his psalm ended up that way! He will KILL me if I post it and he will swear never to write anything from the heart again. So that's why it's here, too. Please don't say anything to him about it in person or on facebook/email, and I might get away with it:

Psalm of Gratitude

By Jeremy Zavoral

Praise the Lord for blessing me with a wife who is as pure on the inside as she is beautiful on the outside. And how grateful I am for the opportunities the Lord has opened for me in my career and education. Amen.

Our Fifth 4th of July

Fourth of July is by far my favorite holiday! (Easter is also a favorite, but I think I love the 4th even more).

It's the holiday of pancake breakfasts, concerts in the park, red white and blue parades, summer sweat, national anthems, historical reverence, BBQ's, watermellon, fireworks, homemade ice cream, family and cousins, and that intangible thrill in the air of pure summer joy and American pride...never to be squelched by the falsehood of a fictitious character or pagan tradition. So forgive me if I get a little nostalgic.

Our first 4th (2006) was spent in Utah shortly after we were engaged. We ate pancakes in the street, watched the parade with Jeremy's family, strolled around the craft fair on main street, and took a nap in a park near my apt. We also introduced both of our parents to each other! That was a big moment, very successful. Our families played football together and we watched fireworks from Squaw Peak. (no making out though, cuz our parents were there). We also went to Great-Grandma June's 90th B-day hosted by Uncle Jim's family. Perhaps one of my favorite 4ths ever.

The second 4th (2007) was spent in Austin, Minnesota, cuz we were living there while Jeremy did his internship for Hormel Foods. We entertained all the kids in our ward by collecting fireflies at the town party. The firework show was accompanied by the city band playing on the park stage. For sure one of my favorite 4ths ever.

Our third 4th (2008) took place in Huntington Beach. It too, was perhaps one of my favorite 4th's ever. You can read more details here.

Our fourth 4th (2009) was also in Huntington Beach. We took Ashlea to the parade on our new bikes. We ate lunch at Wahoo Tacos, spent the day on Main Street and the beach. We watched fireworks at the pier again. The bike ride home in the dark with all of the bonfires was really cool. I was having too much fun to take pictures. This was one of my favorite 4th's ever.

How weird to think that it's now our fifth 4th of July together (2010)!! This year, we drove up to Sacramento for the Great-Grandma June Family Reunion hosted by Grandpa Bob. WOW!! This was FOR SURE one of my favorite 4ths ever! (can you tell that I love the 4th of July?!)

On Friday, we went golfing with 9 people from the family. I was the only girl and I rocked!! We played "best ball" and competed as teams. It's now my favorite way to play golf. Matt entertained us the rest of the day with guitar hero, pool basketball and Godfather's pizza. Then, we all cuddled outside with the cousins for an outdoor movie night.

Saturday was filled with really fun get-to-know-you games and competitions that MomZ organized. Highlights included relays and egg toss. We visited, ate, visited, and played more games. Dinner was at the church with a special night of Davidson Family Feud and Aunt Sheri's famous "Great-Grand Mom" song that I've had stuck in my head since the first time we heard it 4 years ago. Then we had a special firework show with homemade ice cream in Suzie's back yard. We only got attacked by the fireworks 3 times!

Sunday, we went to church and visited with family. We drove back home and made it in time for our third year in a row of watching the Huntington Beach firework show from the pier. It was a perfect way to end the BEST weekend of the year!