Jess is getting home tonight.... sometime late. Yesssssssss! It's going to be nice to have him back.

I am starting to get stressed when I look at the calendar! Only 2 weeks left till school starts. Yuck. 3 till NAU starts. I'm teaching a new class- and want to be better prepared...so the next 3 weeks = crunch time. I like play time. I like summertime and SUNshine. School means fall and fall leads to winter. Which I feel like we've never really gotten out of up here w/ all the rain lately.

So I put the boys to bed- man. I think they were overly exhausted from the last couple days... And it didn't help that they had sugary cereal for breakfast and lunch today. They tried for dinner too, but I had to put the kabosh on that! Mahi Mahi little sirs & strawberries for dessert.

I started playing through some of the first songs I wrote... I could barely remember them - There were some I just couldn't remember at all. Weird. Then I just started playing this little riff and singing a few words... here it is. I love music so much. It is my outlet... What makes me unwind and relax.

HELP!

Never fails- I don't know how many "lines" or phrases I have for songs... This chorus came to me the other night- I couldn't sleep. Glad I wrote it down b/c I didn't remember it in the morning. :) BUT my re-occuring dilemma is that that's about as far as I get...

I'd like help finishing the song. I have the chorus and a bridge. So I'd need at least 2 verses.... maybe 3.

*POST EDIT: I THINK I'VE GOT IT! :)...but it's actually just a 1st verse, maybe could use one more verse...

**Post Post Edit... Done!

Sunday Morning

Lying next to you,
brings me such piece of mind
Listening to your chest softly rise
Two heart beats, bodies intertwined,
Feeling you next to mine

And where you go,
I know I'll follow you...
You're hard to get off of my mind
Cuz you take me, to another world
Only you and I can find. ooh, ohh!

chorus:
Love! like it's a Sunday morning
With the windows open, the rain is pouring down
It's free, it's a little bit wild
Release that inner fire and you'll see
Love like this is just a dream, completely.

It's hard for them to understand
What we have, between a woman and a man
Hold me here tonight, way to treat me right,
You know just what I need.

Love, like it's a Sunday morning
With the windows open and the rain is pouring down
It's free, it's a little bit wild
Release your inner fire and you'll see
Love like this is just a dream, completely oh, oh, wu oh, oh. 2x
Loving you is just a dream, completely

You take me, to another world
Only you and I can find.

"Wing Ding"

so, my music partner and I played at the wing ding this year. (We played last year too)
It was so much fun. This is me & Michelle doing a mic check before it started.

We were able to run through our whole set. And I THINK it was recorded.

That would be fun to get a hold of! We had a lot of fun harmonies & moving parts.

So I WASN'T even nervous when we got up on stage... Am I growing up!?? -With that said, it's not like you have a captive audience...Everyone is mingling and eating dinner. Very nice. :)

We were asked to sing at the flagstaff folk festival this summer... we just sorta looked at each other like, really? and then said YES! Sounds like a fun time- Mark your calendars!!!!!!

But if you can't wait 'till then ;) We'll be doing an open mic night at Charly's Downtown Tues. March 22. 9pm.... kinda late!

Pickin' In The Pines!

Wow- this happened way back in September... Jess just uploaded our smaller camera after his baja trip, and I found these on the computer. They made me S M I L E. This was a good time!

My neighbor brought over some tickets he had gotten from work- bluegrass "wasn't his thing" he told me. (SCORE!) I had been wanting to go to this for years - but never made it happen! The boys and I were packed up and ready to go in 20 min. flat.... (Jess was working...bummer for him!)

Ahhhh... Now is not the time to be looking at beautiful green grass! :)



Happy to be there!


Brock listening to the music


This kid belongs to me (no?)


Love it when brothers show some love!


Getting down w/ some bluegrass! These three put on a pretty good show. :)




There was a cute little singing puppet show for the kiddos - so we went over to check it out.


Brock was into it...


The other two not so much... they opted for the playground!


It started raining a bit so we bailed. But we made it a good 2 hrs! I can't remember which one now, but one of the boys picked me some flowers to put in my hair... sweet.


Oh - the joys of running wild! :)
I fell in love with the music too - Wow, there is some amazing talent!LOVED Crooked Still.... Check 'em out. (The second video is of them playing... I wish I could remember what Brock started doing for me to have to stop the camera! :) funny.

Free play Friday...

next week will be one of my own...but for now...

Freeplay Friday....

Gonna spice things up a bit and do a song each week, I'm thinkin'...



-So funny -Bodie was still up, and he of course loves to see himself in the camera. -So I have one take where I was totally elbowing him out of the frame... It's pretty classic. This one, however, was after he hit the sack.

Thanks be to my MIL for suggesting I play music tonight. It was one of "THOSE" days...and I really needed this therapy...and now I am THAT much closer to a new song. I put this up on Facebook too -do you facebook? I love it.

(probably will have to hit *pause* on the music player at the bottom of the page)



Yesterday I went to my music partner's house and we worked on one of her songs -she is good, and I can't wait to hear the finished version... and it made me want to get on track again with my own music. Afterwards Jess and I bowled for Big Brothers, Big Sisters (with the boys in tow... we could barely keep Wyatt contained and from running and sliding down the lane) I think I put up a whopping 70 points. Um... It's been awhile. I definitely could've gone for a second game -it was a lot of fun. And THEN we went out for Thai (w/out the boys) w/ Jess's crew from work and their wives. It was a lovely evening. Downtown is very fun in the evening. -Several places have live music -after dinner Jess and I bought truffles and met up w/ our friends again at "Rondevous" where they were having a drink. A gentleman was playing music next to us. It was soothing and wonderful "background" music. I chatted w/ him a bit, and told him that I'd love to do what he was doing someday, not that he really cared. Fun night.
Horrible next day, but ended on a good note. :) (punn intented)

Tomorrow is Jess's b-day. He wants truffles. :) I can do that. Then Tuesday is our 9th anniversary! NINE. Wow. It's almost hard to believe. We are in a good spot. I am in love. We work hard at our marriage. (emphasis on hard)

Goals this week:
-continue to keep the house clean -it has been a miracle past week! Something is starting to finally click!
-Re-do my calandar
-Get "work stuff" done

Looking forward to:
-Celebrating the husbands birthday
-Celebrating the day we committed to one another
-Seeing the in-laws
-Helping out in the kids class
-WHO ARE WE KIDDING - The Bachelor finale! :)

In my SPARE time (psych) -I like to get together w/ a friend named Michelle to sing & play guitar. It is basically a black hole that I could disappear into and not come out for hours, and hours and hours. We have to practice restraint! I'm so glad Jess is so supportive! Well, yesterday we recorded a little diddy... a Girlyman cover called 'Everything's Easy'. It was a lot of fun, I am only wishing I took my camera...next time I will! She has a sweet little recording set-up.

Click HERE to take a listen.... (You'll have to pause the music on this blog at the bottom of the page)

Michelle is singing the 1st & 2nd verses and then I come in....There are some fun 3 part harmonies toward the end...

W O W. Nearly two whole days w/out a post from my little fingers. :) I have been keeping busy, and busy is good...

Yesterday I worked on a proposal (work is always good in these times & it's gonna be a fun one!) And I discovered how FUN Facebook is!!! I love getting in contact w/ people I haven't seen in years! Very cool....I just don't like how it tells you every little thing your 'friends' have done or commented on or their friends have commented on...that's weird.

Last night I went to Jen's house...Jess is w/ her husband, John, down in Baja... We thought we'd get our boys together (she only has 5) for some dinner and a little Family Home Evening lesson...
EIGHT boys, and one sweet little baby girl. :) It was fun. I could not get a smile off my face watching all those boys have the time of their lives...Jen's backyard/driveway is AWESOME for riding bikes, and yup, we brought ours! (Even little Wyatt's) I was dying for my camera!!! We made spaghetti, salad & garlic bread which only took about 2 minutes (after we sat down of course, in the other room) to be thrown EVERYWHERE...thanks to my Wyatt for starting it, and McKay having to follow... :) They had a great time, I had a great time, and we 'kinda' had a lesson...I don't think we could've expected much more out of them...it was late -Brock was OUT before we hit the end of their driveway. :)

This morning a 'jam session' was held here - w/ my new-found friend, Michelle, and Ryan ended up joining in. We were able to harmonize on a couple songs I learned and we each played some of our favorites...it was SO MUCH FUN for me.

This afternoon I had a scare...I gave the boys popcicles and off Brock and Wyatt went outside to eat them. The next thing I know (5 min. later) I hear a man's voice (whose I recognize) and I look out back and there he is holding Wyatt, and Brock is with him...The boys had gotten out our back gate, and headed down the alley to a VERY BUSY STREET, and this man (my angel) saw them and stopped, recognized the rugrats, and brought them safely back. My heart stopped beating and my stomach lurched realizing what could have happened. I was so incredibly grateful that he had been driving by, and also felt like the most irresponsible, worst, (anything negative you can say) parent and incredibly embarrassed. He was so sweet to me, but told me, very father-like, to get a lock on that gate...which there now is. After he left, I dropped to my knees and said a repentant prayer, and one of deep gratitude. SCARY. I am still unsettled about it. Tonight when Wyatt was being a little stinker about going to bed, I just scooped him up and held him tight- thankful that I had him to hold tight...knowing that I could have been in a very different situation. blah! Makes me sick...

Tonight I had every intention of going to bed early (Heaven knows I needed to). But then I picked up Jess's guitar and found myself singing love songs into the computer...

This one is dedicated to my husband...

(Ingrid Michaelson cover..."The Way I Am")


I miss him.

THREE words made my day today...

(2002, San Diego...a time in my life when I noticeably overdid the highlights.)

I. MISS. YOU. (A text I received from Jess.)

We haven't seen each other very much this week....One day and 3 nights to be exact. It melted my heart. There is something about feeling needed by your spouse, which I interpret 'miss' to mean... It's different than saying "I love you." which I would have expected the text to say. And that (miss) was a sweet surprise.

We have been having THE best weather!!! I fear it is on it's way out, but have been loving every minute of it. I spent most of the day outside with the boys. They started their morning out by dancing like rock stars on our friend's trailer that is parked out front. It's a great little holding pen. Then Bodie asked to go to 'the dips', so I loaded the younger ones in the bike trailer while Bodie jumped on his bike and we were off. New and improved jumps everywhere. I took the trailer off my bike and decided to be brave. I had a lot of fun and only 'almost' ate it twice. phew. Not that I jumped anything *plz* I just went down the steep ramps and up the other side...and showed Bodie that he could do it too. After much persuasion, he consented. We started small, then he got pretty brave and said he wanted to go down one of the steeper parts... I was helping him get started and then sent him off with a slight push...*wipe out* He was pretty mad at me. Man, I felt bad -but got him up, brushed the powder-dirt off him and we did it again, this time with no casualties. Brock and Wyatt had a ton of fun getting dirty (it's super fine dirt...kinda hard not to...I was covered too), and Wyatt loved it when I picked him up and ran down the hills and back up. Bodie led the way home. It was a fun bike ride. We got home where the above mentioned text was waiting for me. It's the simple things in life.

I also had fun updating my ipod.... going back to the 90's - I suppose in honor of my H.S. reunion. Gosh- all the mixes I made...on CASSETTE TAPES! Very fun though.... here are a few:

-Stay, Lisa Loeb
-This Womans Work, Kate Bush
-Linger & Dreams, Cranberries
-Killing Me Softly, Fugees
-Closing Time, Semisonic
-Wake up Where you Are, Googoo Dolls
-Mr. Jones, Counting Crows
-Because The NIght, 10,000 maniacs
-Hand In My Pocket, Alanis Morissette
-Crash & Satellite, DMB
-3 AM & Real World, Matchbox 20
-One Headlight & Three Marlenas, The Wallflowers
-Found Out About You & Hey Jealousy, Gin Blossoms
-Crazy, Amazing, Cryin', Aerosmith
-Under the Bridge, Red Hot Chili Peppers
-When I Come ARound & Basket Case, Green Day
-I Try, Macy Gray

(okay, this was a lot...bring back any memories??)

Little ditty for Brock.
I was playing guitar and he came into the room w/ a sheepish grin.
I asked him what he got into.
"I just ate all the sprinkles, Mom."
"Get over here and give me big hugs" I said. And then I played him this spontaneous song.
He seemed to like it, because he kept singing it. - cute!

(think Saturday Night Live meets Friends (Phoebe)

I heart Dierks...There's nothing like being swooned (• to be emotionally affected by someone or something that one admires; become ecstatic) by this guy! And did he ever swoon the two of us last night!!Wow- he put on a G R E A T show!!
Right here in our little ol' town!! ...OUTSIDE, in May, at 8pm!! (coo coo)My favorite was in the beginning he said something like: "We're not gonna let a little cold weather get us down. I'm gonna give ya'll I got!" It was hot. And boy did he ever!
And no, these pictures were not taken with a zoom lens...we were that close!
(We had to throw some elbows)

I think I had this perma-smile the whole time...well, actually, I still have it.

Um. And I'm pretty sure he was thinking of me here, not his wife.

Alrighty. So we had some technical difficulties with the camera... Wow. I promise I will get the hair out of my nose and wax my eyebrows, well, my whole face for that matter.
I can't stop laughing at this picture.

Take two - that's better!

I really had the best time. And it was fun to catch up with Tia. -Thanks for the pics!!!

ENJOY! L O V E his voice!

Another ONe

N e w S o n g

"Stealing Kisses"

click HERE to listen

p.s. HapPy Conference Weekend!!

I have all the songs I've done so far up on my Podcast. I like what I've done, but GOSH I'd like to collaborate with someone who knows what they are doing!!!
This weekend I'm hosting a little party and am going to play these songs. The goal for me is to work up to an open mic night or something more casual like a coffee house where I'd really just be background (that sounds better)! The thought of performing - singing AND playing guitar is terrifying...especially when playing songs I've written. I feel vulnerable and silly and excited all at the same time. But I'm thinking it'd be SMART to mix in songs that people will be familiar with...
Here are some I can play/sing.... Let me know which ones you like!! (yeah, basically all country...)

Good Is Good - Sheryl Crow
It Matters To Me - Faith Hill
I'll Stand By You - Carrie Underwood
Why They Call It Falling - Lee Ann Womack
Feels Like Home - Chantal Kreviazuk (Dene' the one I sang at the fam. reunion)
Cold Day in July - Dixie Chicks
Traveling Soldier - Dixie Chicks
Stay - Sugarland
Teardrops on My Guitar - Taylor Swift (kinda teeny-bopper)
Come Home Soon - SheDaisy
Concrete Angel - Martina McBride

Dedicated to YOU! If you're reading this, you're probably a wife and/or a mommy with a BUSY, hard working husband...and you know what if feels like to have to 'hold down the fort' while your man is away...on business, serving our country, or chasing his dreams! The latest - that I've recorded anyway. Click here to listen.

xoxo,
Sara

We've been busy! -Pictures to come - I'm too tired tonight!

Flagstaff has a way cool (fairly) new outdoor amphitheater/music venue

I just got back from watching the Indigo Girls rock it.(Can you believe it Dene'?!) It was a blast from the past - I haven't listened to them since high school - so I only knew one song (Closer I am to Fine)- but it didn't even matter because every song was great. It's just two ladies and their guitars and maybe a harmonica every now and then. WOW. I was blown away - We were like 4 rows back so it was really fun to watch them play. They can play! and sing. I love their harmonies. Ahh

It was pretty funny though -It was an 'Honor the Earth' Benefit concert. (A very crunchy granola thing) So when we got there, I was like, oh boy... this should be interesting. Never dull here in Flagstaff! It ended up being a way fun night!

Another song. Short one. I had to rework some things - didn't like the first version.:)
http://web.mac.com/maierfam/iWeb/Site/Podcast/26A51D4D-468C-41E8-BA42-D973334251BA.html

How cute is this?

Jess was playing his guitar out on the porch and Bodie brought his out to play and sing along. Of course, Brock started dragging my guitar out there (ouch) so I had to dig another one out of the closet. I didn't realize we had that many. Looks like we'll need them all before long though!

They were singing "Forever Young" by Bob Dylan - It's the song Jess sings them when he puts them to bed. Bodie is so cute singing it -well, so is Jess. (Note: Bodie can't really play...yet!)

Check out this podcast Jess and I created! I am singing the song I posted in an earlier blog. We got a new mac and have had way too much fun playing with garage band! :) Yes, it is very amateur.

http://web.mac.com/maierfam/iWeb/Site/Podcast/AC80F993-5D84-4495-8F3C-892B48269F77.html

Just to preface this - I said earlier that I wrote this because of my frustrations of not having quality time with Jess for a few days. After singing this to him he told me he really liked it, but it was kinda mean... I told him I wasn't trying to be mean - just venting on paper and this is what came out! :) It is a little sad though - mellow dramatic!!

capo 3rd fret

D A G D
You don't open your arms to me, anymore
D A G D
You don't open your eyes to me, anymore
D A G A G
You don't open your heart to me, anymore

D A G D
When our love was new, you’d hold me tight
D A G D
Look into my eyes, we’d talk through the night
D A G A G
Our passion was real, I swear it’d never end

D A G D
Now we're lying here, we seem worlds apart
D A G D
Why can't you talk to me, I want to hear your thoughts
D A G A
Am I dreaming this up, please tell me that I am,
G D
cuz I can't take this anymore

Chorus
D A G D
What's going on, how did this distance start
D A G D
What's going on, why are we falling apart
D A G A
We're leading seperate lives under this roof,
G A G A D
I need you back, please come on back, open your heart

Bridge
Am Em
Everytime you come around I want to be close to you
Am Em G
Look at me, smile at me, talk at me, love me

Chorus
D A G D
What's going on, how did this distance start
D A G D
What's going on, why are we falling apart
D A G A
We're leading seperate lives under this roof,
G A G A D
I need you back, please come on back, open your heart

D A G D
When morning comes, I turn to you
D A G D
No kiss on the cheek, no love from your arms
A G A
No good bye, cuz your long gone
G A G A D
I need you back, please come on back, open your heart

Chorus
D A G D
What's going on, how did this distance start
D A G D
What's going on, why are we falling apart
D A G A
We're leading seperate lives under this roof,
G A G A D
I need you back, please come on back, open your heart
G A G A D
I need you back, please come on back, open your heart

D A G D
You don't open your arms to me, anymore