For the Love of Biff.

Heather has inspired me. As she discussed her memories of childhood Christmases past, I got reminiscing about my experiences at Christmastime- or, particularly experiences with my little sister. Ah the years of torture I put her through. A chosen few of the stories follow:

The Story of "Diamond"

We all know this dinosaur is Little Foot from "The Land Before Time," right? But years after my sister got this giant stuffed animal for Christmas she decided that it not only was a GIRL, but her name was DIAMOND. What the ?????? Also known as "Dinosaur," Diamond/Little Foot was Biff's most beloved stuff animal. He/She went everywhere with her. One day I decided it would be funny if Dinosaur died. Sooooooooooooooo before Biff woke up, I retrieved the stuffed beast, hung it with a jump rope in the closet, and made a halo out of a hanger, yellow construction paper, and glitter. Amy the villan laughed devilishly as the younger sister made the discovery of the hanging dinosaur. It took some time for my mom to convince Elizabeth that Dinosaur wasn't really dead. Hee hee hee.

QUINTS. I LOVED these dolls! Even though I was getting older when they came out, I played with them constantly and had several different Quint collections. One day I discovered that the Quints fit easily into the check boxes that my mom would give us to keep things in. Now, being inspired by the previously mentioned Margaret O'Brien (Tootie), in Meet Me in St Louis, who buried her "dead" dolls in the back yard, I thought it was a great idea to "bury" the Quints in the check box. However, I certainly did not want to bury MY Quint dolls, so I convinced Elizabeth that it would be "FUN" to bury hers. We, of course, had a funeral for the Quints, buried them a whole foot into the ground, let them stay there for a few hours, got bored with the idea of dead Quints, and dug 'em back up.

Biff's Skipper wasn't black. Ha ha. But this is the beautiful Homecoming Skipper that Elizabeth got one year. The doll had BEAUTIFUL long, flowing blonde curls, and somehow I convinced my sister that she would look better with bangs. Elizabeth, trusting her wise older sister, took the scissors and snipped the hair off the front of Skipper's head. HA HA. After the haircut I also convinced her it would be REALLY neat if she held Skipper's hair up to the humidifier we had in our room. Steam+plastic Barbie hair= Froof. This is how Homecoming Skipper the Ugly Haired.

Here's the kicker:

As I was outgrowing Barbies, Elizabeth was at the height of her Barbie career. Truthfully, I LOVED playing as well, but thought I would be looked down upon by family and friends if anyone knew such a secret. Biff and I had a Barbie world in our basement. The entire back room was dedicated to everything Barbie- it was an entire LAND of everything Barbie we owned.

1993 was the 30 year anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. Amy the 12-year-old became fascinated with the story, and decided that when her little sister wanted to play the "house version" of Barbie (you know, Barbie dates, Barbie gets married, Barbie has babies...) , she would instead break into a Barbie version of the Kennedy assassination. Poor Biff was more than disturbed by her big sister's bizarre new version of Barbie.

... Are you disturbed by me now?

I am a blogging idiot.

Why is it that I am the queen of blogging and yet, I can not, for the LIFE of me, figure out how all of you make your blogs soooooooooooooooo cute. Will someone PLEASE gimme directions on how to make my blog cute like Kecia's, Jamie's, Jenna's, etc etc etc. PLEASE. I am going crazy here.

The Younger Years

For Entertainment:

Aubrey and Melissa's Baby Shower-September 2002

Melissa's Wedding- October 2001

Aubrey's Wedding- April 2001

Kensie Love

Attack of the Gummy Bears at the Golden Spoon on Harrison

When I was a kid I took dance classes. A LOT of dance classes (you'd never know it considering the awkwardness of my dancing now... SIGH). Yes, I took lessons from three different studios at one point- but my favorite was BALLET WEST at the Weber State campus. Why?

Golden Spoon. What seemed like often, my mom would take me and my dancing car pool-ey, Amber Owens (who actually gave me mono in the third grade when we shared a drink...) to Golden Spoon after our dance lessons. Every time I would order yogurt with gummy bears mixed into it. This quickly became known as "Attack of the Gummy Bears!" (But that doesn't really make sense since I was the one chomping on THEM, right?) Anyway, I would devour the gummy bears, my mom would make voices, and we would giggle hysterically. I remember wondering sometimes if Amber thought we were weird. Ha ha.

Maybe this is why I associate gummy bears with tutus and tights.

Happy Christmas to All... and to All a Good Night.

Should I be awake? Nope. Should I be snuggled in my bed dreaming of sugar plums and a fat old guy who comes into my house through a chimney? Yep. Am I? No.

I love Christmas. This year was so different in so many ways, but wow- it was so good. My life is filled with INCREDIBLE people and blessings and opportunities that I can NEVER give enough thanks to my Heavenly Father for. The last few days have allowed me to really reflect on all these blessings and on the Savior, and again, WOW, I have no words. Life is beautiful.

Now onto the short version of the craziness:

1. I became domestisized this holiday. I, Amy Diane Shreeve, roasted a TURKEY. Not only did I ROAST the turkey, but it came out perfectly, and best of all, none of the 17 people who ate it died! No one even got SICK! I AM DOMESTIC. Amazing.

2. I am tired. My mind has gone blank.

3. Thanks for all the presents and loves from people.

4. My niece is ridiculously cute. I love her.

5. Thanks to Aubrey who enjoyed rubbing my face in the snow that so delightfully fell in her front yard on Christmas Eve. Ha ha. (So fun to talk to you for a little while the other night!)

6. Steve the Christmas tree still lives.

7. Not only did I make a turkey, but I also made a fabulous "Stuffed French Toast Casserole" for breakfast this morning. Who knew that all it takes to cook is a recipe!! (Am I REALLY 26 and just figuring this out?? THAT'S what happenes when you're single for a long time, I tell ya!)

8. Pictures and whatever else later. I have to go rejuvinate myself with sleep so I can be prepared to prance and sing tomorrow at that job I have. LOVES. And MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I Sing for Famous People.

This guy was sitting in the forth row at my show yesterday.
I waved at Gary Sinese! YEAH!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

I will be the first to admit that I am sad about not being in Utah this Christmas. For the first time in I don't know how many years, its supposed to snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Sniffle. I don't like the cold AT ALL, but there's something about sitting by the tree as the lights sparkle and watching the snow fall. Maybe next year. Anyone wanna send me some snow?

Oh yeah- and people keep asking... next time I'll be home is the weekend of February 3. McKensie is being blessed! YAY!

A Floridian Christmas

There's no snow- but I gotta admit that this is pretty cool!

Not Christmasy, but hey, The Sword in the Stone is cool.

Duck Butt Hat

A Jazz game in Orlando! (Some would call it an Orlando Magic game... but for me it was totally a UTAH JAZZ game!) And we WON! Yeeeeah!

Christmas at Disney!!!

Osborn Family Spectacle of Lights at MGM Studios

Christmas show at Magic Kingdom

WOW!!! (Finale of the Christmas show)

Disney's 20+ Event

Disclaimer on this video: Trying to run in 3+ in heels and sing= bad singing. Ha ha.

Ode to the Classics

Now that it's a freezing 40 degrees in Florida, (Yes, I am trying to make you all jealous...) I am obsessed with Christmas music. Ahhhh... I love it.

Nothing beats Judy Garland's "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, (well, honestly, nothing beats the scene RIGHT AFTER the song in "Meet Me in St Louis" when Margaret O'Brian whacks all the heads off the snowmen in the back yard... does anyone know what I'm talking about????) Anyway, nothing beats that, Nat King Cole singing "The Christmas Song," and Bing Crosby crooning "White Christmas." Ah the sentiment.

... Then I get sad because it's winter, I am in FLORIDA, there is no snow, no family... nothing much to get me into the spirit. Sigh. I think I have compensated by going crazy with shopping. Hee hee. I have mailed lots of fun presents.

Tis the season. I love it.

The Insanity.

This is Chuck's step-brother, Todd.

Don't worry, last night he was awarded a MILLION DOLLARS when he won season 15 of SURVIVOR! HOW FUN TO WATCH!!!

Goings on as of Late

I did it again. Another long week at work. Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuut I am thankful for the great paycheck, and most of all, I am thankful for a GREAT experience in working on the Disney 20+ Awards here. Since I got here in August, I have been really blessed to be pulled into other projects for the company. A month or so ago I did an awards celebration called "Partners in Excellence," and this week I was able to perform in front of all kinds of important people and cast members in the "20+" celebration. It was event with lots of food, drinks (for those who do that stuff... ha ha, and great entertainment... provided by yours truly and some other outstanding performers. It's a huge party and show for people who have been with the company for twenty or more years. What fun! I'm hoping to get some video up soon...

Oh yeah, and this week I took my hair back to it's God-given color. Hmmmm. I freaked out for the first few days because it looked REALLY grey. Luckily, I am happy to report that it has taken on the more natural, golden-but-mousy blonde color that I was born with. Even though I was born with black hair. Whatever.

Pictures from the show:

Getting ready

The cast! Jarrod, Juan, Jackie, Anna, Me, Aaron, Suzy, and Victor

Hee hee. In clothes I never wear in real life!

My Sanity After a Week of Insanity

I worked 55 hours this week.

Now, to the normal, hard working American, this really may not seem like SUCH a huge issue- but for me, being the princess that I am, and living a life of luxury (I am paid for 40 hours when I usually only work 25 hours a week), this is a PAINFUL thing! Honestly though- it was a great opportunity. I paced myself through the week, got through it, and I have NEVER been so excited for Saturday! I thought I'd be exhausted and want to veg around all night, but I played and played and it was FANTASTIC. YAY for productive, busy weeks.

Chuck took me to Bubba Gump. I am obsessed with this place. Ahhhh... memories of Hong Kong. When I was there it was the only place I could find REAL, good American food. Yup. I love me some Bubba Gump.

STEVE the Tree

Shopping for a Christmas tree with the roomies. And two boys.

Spencer analyzing the branch reverb.

This is it! Our tree. His name is Steve.

The cute little high school boys putting the stand on Steve.

Loading Steve into the truck! YAY CHRISTMAS!

More pictures to come when the tree is decorated.

Why is our tree named Steve? No reason. Just is.

Hoop Dee Doo Review at Fort Wilderness

One night after work a group of us Beauty and the Beasties went to see Zack- one of our Gaston's, in another show on property- "Hoop Dee Doo Review." It's a fun dinner theatre show and there's lots of noise and hooping and hollering and yup- I had my years of that at the Playmill. Nuff for me. Ha ha.

Noisy washboards!

Me, Zack, and Lindsey

Beauty and the Beastie people.

Friiiiiiiiiied chicken!

The National tour of

HAIRSPRAY!

And on random notes...

I was thinking about several different things this week:

* Target brand cottage cheese is MUCH tastier than Wal-Mart's brand. The Wal-Mart brand sometimes tastes like mold. Blech.

* I was excited to find a radio station akin to 106.7 in Salt Lake City here in FL. 24-7 Christmas music doesn't run rampant here in FL like it does at home, so when I found 94.9 here it was a lovely thing. The only downside is that blasted "Christmas Shoes" song was on when I tuned in... and honestly- I'm so over that kid wanting to buy shoes for his momma. Did you see the movie? The shoes weren't even that fabulous!!! Ha ha.

* OK- Christmas music IS NOT effective here in FL. Driving on the freeway at 60 mph with the 80 degree winds blowing in my hair some DOES NOT correspond with "Oh the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" I MISS UTAH. I want the snow falling, hot chocolate, apple cider, and the Christmas tree next to the fire. Sigh.

* I LOVE BARRY MANILOW. Yep, I just admitted that online- but I DO! I grew up on Barry's music and ah... I love the sappiness and sentiment. My cousin Melissa and I used to have "Barry Nights" when we lived together. We'd shut ourselves in her room an listen to Barry songs in the dark when we were mad at men. HA HA. This thought was sparked by the music playing at Bubba Gump last night... "I write the songs that make the young girls cry..." Ahhhh.

* I will not name a child Harold. Or Mildred.

* Last night at two am- as the Christmas tree sparkled in our living room and my roommate lay sleeping on the couch, I felt the need to burst into a terrible rendition of "The Christmas Song." Thank you Jennlyn for understanding my insanity. That wasn't a thought... that was something that happened... hmmm.

* Insurance is a fun thing. I have it now.

More soon.