A Boy and His Birthday (Which Also Just Happens to be the Day that KICKS OFF SUMMER!)

Yesterday was the big 28 for that boy I sometimes talk about on my blog. :-) Ha ha. Chuck and I had a day full of fun... and that's why today, Tuesday, I am still in bed (but hey... blogging), at 11 AM. So much for being productive on my day off. Hee hee.


The morning started off with a surprise brunch at this lovely little place...

... Chuck thought it was just him and me going but I had arranged for a bunch of our friends from church to be there as well. Yay for surprises!

Jennlyn, Naomi, Simone, Jeff, John, Tawnya, Chuck, me, and Enoch! And Wes... who took the picture.


The came shopping... and a few hours later, THE BIRTHDAY CAKE.

Peanut Butter Playground cake from COLDSTONE:

I was very particular about getting the Reeses Peanut Butter cups sliced evenly. I love them and am too selfish to let the birthday boy have more than his share. :-) Ha.

Birthday birthday!

Next came more shopping, and THEN we headed to the ward FHE- a Memorial Day BBQ at Fort Wilderness. OK- now most of you know that I am OBSESSED with the 4th of July. I LOVE BBQs and summertime STUFF. This event did not disappoint and here I am chowing down on a burger. Gah- I LOVE summer.

NEXT: (Bear in mind that at this point it's already 9:30 PM)...

The PIRATES AND PRINCESS PARTY at Magic Kingdom!
(Thanks to Jamie for the tickets!)

Singing Pirates.




I like Indians.

Apparently he doesn't. I always did think he was racist... hee hee.

I think it's hilarious that we all love these car rides so much. We drive around in our cars every day, but somehow giving us a little toy car and a track makes driving so much fun!

Self Explanatory...

Amy the Pirate gathering treasure...

I am the Princess.

PIRATE TREASURE!

A Worn Out Boy on the Ride Home.
(Sporting his new TOP GUN shades- I feel a song coming on...)

Happy Birthday to Chuck! Yay 28!!

Because it's a Relaxing Sunday Night...

I'll play, Kecia!

Two Names You Go By: Maimsie, Amer

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now: Jeans, HK Disneyland sweatshirt

Two Of Your Favorite Things To Do: Eat and snuggle (Not at the same time...)

Two Things You Want To Do Very Badly At This Moment: Drink some water, and... nope, nothin' else. I am very content right now.

Two Favorite Pets: Mitzi the Poop Cat and Samuel the Nanny Cat.

Two Things You Did Last Night: Played Belle till 10:15, and talked to my mom.

Two Things You Ate Today: Oatmeal and cottage cheese.

Two Last People You Talked To: Chuck and Kim

Two Longest Car Rides: Seattle and CROSS COUNTRY! (Utah to Florida!)

Two Favorite Holidays: 4th of July and Christmas

Two Favorite Vacations: Hawaii and NYC!

Two Favorite Drinks: Water and Vanilla Cokes... the REAL kind... oh, I miss Galaxy Diner. Sniffle.

A Short Visit....

Sooooooo... Biff, Brett, and Kensie lived in the same state as me again for about a month. Sadly, this week they decided things weren't working out here so they headed out on their long cross country drive back to Utah with a seven month old. Now that's daring... :-)

Anyway, on their way out they came to Orlando for the night. We were able to go to dinner with Chuck's brother and sister-in-law, and their little boy, Myles, and then we all just played around and were entertained by babies. Gotta love 'em.

Kensie eating solid foods!

Bath time! I'm obsessed with this little duck tub!
(Side note: Do you see the water ikkiness? Well water. Not too pretty, eh?)

She loves her Auntie Amy

Bedtime

Brett and Biff steal my camera...

Good morning, Auntie!

Time to go!!! See you in the fall!

I still think she's pretty much the cutest baby ever. She's so pretty! Drive safely Biff, Brett, and Kensie!!!

Whhhhhhhhhy?

Grumble. Why is it that everyone I know (INCLUDING my other single friends...) got a $600 stimulus payment package and I only got $300??? That's not fair! Grumble.

A Thought...

It's too bad, when your plane is LATE picking you up, that you can't land at your destination at the originally scheduled time.

Days Three, Four, and Five in UTAH!

The last few days of my life have been incredible. I have reconnected with friends from years past, and it has just been soooooooooooo wonderful to recharge my little battery with friends and family. I am so blessed with people who love me and who laugh and play with me. Gah- it has just been so amazing. And it makes me want to move back to Utah. Sigh. So...

Last night (Monday), I had dinner with my roommate Audrey- whom I haven't seen for SEVEN years. We picked up right where we left off and chatted it up for hours. We went to our other roommate, Hillary,'s wedding reception, and here we all are- single and working, newly married, and a mommy with three kids! These girls, along with Licia, Joella, Stacia, and Cecilia, are part of my very fondest memories of college. I love Colonial House #304 1999-2000!

Now:

Back in 1999:

Sunday I got to spend time with my cousins... look at how attached little Nate is to his uncle Justin. The kid likes Justin more than his own parents. It's adorable!

MOVING. This has been the other part of my vacation home. Yeeeeah. After just getting through a move in Florida, I came home to Utah only to help my mom move. I decided our best option was to hire movers- so six hours and $531 later my mom was moved out and into a new place. Now I'm just trying to make it look pretty before I leave tomorrow afternoon...

This is us trying to get the couch out of the room we shoved it into two years ago. So entertaining. Good times.

Ben and Luana's reception was a Playmill/Orlando reunion that I was SO in need of! Hillary and I were talking the day before about all the people we might see and how much fun it was going to be, and honestly, it FAR exceeded my expectations. Here's the list of all the friends I saw- and yes, I must list them because I was SO thrilled to see ALL of you!!!!

- Laurel
- Alison
- Rachel
- Sam and Gina
- Hilly and Tavnir
- Brenna and Brent
- Andrew (We missed you Kristi!)
- Marshall and Tammy and Emma
- Melissa Thorne
-Melissa Lindsay


Weddings bring people together. And I expect to see all of you at mine...

Tomorrow I head back to Florida. I have had SUCH a good trip home, and as always, I wish I could stay a little longer and see more of my dear friends... (Melissa Porter!) But alas, it's time to head back to the Beauty and the Beast stage and that cute boy who loves me. OK- I'll go. Ha ha.

Since People Have Asked...

Yeah- that's me in the Annie Get Your Gun poster. The pic was taken last year during Millie. I am Hale's poster child. Ha.

Day Two in Utah!

I love being home. I love seeing friends. I love hanging with friends. I love talking so much that my throat it a little raw at the end of the day. It makes me happy.

It's 7 AM right now... what am I doing up blogging? Weird. ANYWAY- yesterday was fantastic. I don't have pictures of the first event of the day because I am not so smart and left my memory card in my computer and couldn't take pictures. Lame. Ah well.

Soooooooooooo the day began when I met Hilly at her house and we went to Wingers. I LOVE WINGERS. I LOVE THEIR STICKY FINGERS. So I ate ate ate. Then we continued on do our "Pretty Girl Day" where each of us had our hair cut and colored and came out looking fabulous! (By the way- THANK YOU for all the suggestions on hair people! Now I wanna try them all! I ended up going to this girl is Salt Lake that Hilly had used before. She was great, in a convenient location for me, and yeah- I was really happy with the way it turned out. Anyway...)

Continuing on...


My mom and I headed to Hale in West Valley to see Annie Get Your Gun... where, just like last year at this time, (only in a different costume...) I found THIS:

(Yes I am squinting and look like I'm in pain... the sun was killer!)

I absolutely loved the show. I was so proud to see my fellow MDTer Debra up there being fabulous, and seeing Cy, Michelle, and Paul on that stage made me sentimental for the good ol' days of life at Hale. And for my friends. Sigh. I miss my friends like crazy. ANYWAY- afterwards WHAT did I do again? Oh eat. You'd think I'd been stuck on an island in China for eight months again with the way I've been eating...

Chili's chips and salsa and the chocolate shake. Mmmmm.

Me, Paul, newfound friend Molly, Cy, and Michelle. Sniffle. I love you people.

Hey Cy! Remember when.... ????

One more rambling: I finally got to watch the season finale of The Office. WOW! I was really happy to see the show back in full swing. I've felt like the last few months have just been, "meh." Now I can't wait till September again. Bring it on!

Day One in Utah!

Whenever I go to Utah I fill my time to the second with friends, family, food, and sometimes I get a little sleep in too. Day One of this Utah trip was fantastic!

Lindsey and me at BYU... eating one of my favorite things... BYU CREAMERY ICE CREAM!!

Glorious-ness in an ice cream cup. Raspberry and Cream Cheese and Peanut Butter Cup ice cream. I LOVE MY LIFE.

Sentimental Amy stands at the door of the KMB on the BYU campus. This is where she spent 3/4 of her time while at BYU. It's being torn down any time now. Sniffle.

On the steps where she'd rest during YA rehearsals.

Yet ANOTHER one of my favorite things: Costa Vida chicken salad... yummy.

Ooooo! ANOTHER FAVORITE: Pellet ice. Yum.

At lunch with Justin and Lindsey

Showing off the motorcycle...

A trip to see Andrea- who is due in two weeks!

And lastly, Girls Night with my high school girlfriends...

Ava (Heather's little girl) became a KID in the last few months since I saw her. So cute.

And the capstone of my day was playing Rock Band with these girls... oh how I love y'all. :-)
(DISCLAIMER: This was my first time ever... I am really bad... I know it. Ha ha ha.)

Morning Jabber

Survival: I survived my fifteen shows in three days. Now- I don't want to sound like a complainer or anything- because we all know how blessed I am with my job- but doing fifteen shows in three days is NOT fun!!! It's not fun BECAUSE you feel like you're BREATHING, EATING, SLEEPING, and EVERYTHING ELSE Beauty and the Beast. Mentally you feel like something is wrong with you. Ha ha. Anyway, what made it REALLY hard this time around was the HEAT. It is getting SO SO SO hot here in FL. I admit that I love it, and won't complain a bit when I'm outside playing in it, but trying to do shows in it is almost unbearable. It's not as bad as it was when I opened last August, but it's getting there. After several months of not having to deal with such extreme temps, my body has to get used to it again. Sweaty Belle is PRETTY. Not.

Also, I need brown contacts. Next time I go to the eye doctor, which should be soon, I am totally getting some brown ones. I wanna see what I'll look like the way Belle SHOULD look. No more of this blue-eyed Belle junk.

Debating: I am planning on going to the "Disney on Broadway" open call in NYC next month. I can't figure out whether to promote myself towards "The Little Mermaid" or "Mary Poppins". I guess, in all reality that it doesn't matter because they have never seen or heard of me so therefore even if I NAIL the audition I will be looked over... ha ha... but I want advice. Tiffany? Ben? Any MDTers?

My Newest Obsession: Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.

I stayed up for about twenty minutes longer than I should have last night just STARING at this recipe. Something inside of me is becoming domesticized...

Thoughts: I wanna go to grad school. Let's be honest, I need to get married and have babies at some point, but I have always had a great love for "THE NEWS". When I went to BYU I really wanted to double major in Broadcasting AND MDT, but they wouldn't let me because I had too many credits and they basically wanted me out of there as fast as possible. Well, when I was in China with Young Ambassadors , the head of the broadcasting major came along with us. I was already a senior, but he asked if I wanted to be part of the program. He promised to waive all my freshman and sophomore classes, and I could go on with the broadcasting major from there. I don't consider this any kind of regret it my life, but it would have been great to take advantage of that opportunity. It would, however, have added a year and a half to my schooling, and since I'd already been in school WAAAAAAY too long, and had run out of financial aid options, I figured it best to just graduate in MDT. And if I hadn't? I would never have gone to Hong Kong and I wouldn't be here. All is well with my decision. :-)

A Shout Out to the Girls in Utah: I need a good hair stylist when I'm there. I planned on getting my hair cut and dyed today but the salon I go to isn't open on Mondays. Shoot! So someone give me the name of a great stylist they go to. I need pretty hair again. I have gotten too lazy with my personal appearance!

Now it's time to go have a productive day off. Glorious.

My "Gray Thing"

I love my life.

I needed a day of nothingness before I hit my "fifteen shows in three days" marathon that I'm in the middle of now. In order to take my vacation to UT next week I had to do some day switching which puts me on that insane schedule. But hey, I get a week long vacation for it so I am thrilled!

On my day off (yesterday) I also designed this blog for my sister:

http://biffandbrett.blogspot.com/

Check it out.

I am super excited for my trip home. I can't wait to see family and friends and the beautiful mountains! It never fails, as I fly into the Salt Lake Valley I get teary-eyed and really emotional. I love home. I do. There's no place like home.

I'm Baaaaaaaaack

I begin this post with pictures of my ridiculously cute niece. I love her. And guess what? She moved to Florida for the summer!!! YEEEEEEAH! We live in the same state!!!

Yup. So I have been out of commission with this internet thing for the past week and a half or so. I never realized how much I rely on the internet to get business info (I had to open a phone book today!), get directions, manage banks accounts, read y'alls blogs... I tell ya- I don't remember what life was like without the internet. I know it existed, but we got our dial-up connection to the internet my sophomore year of high school and I spent lots of time chatting it up with folks from LHS... ha ha. But really- I guess without the internet we just had to use our brains. Without Google we actually had to know the alphabet so we could look something up in a phone book. Now all it takes is a TAP TAP TAP and you're hooked up with the business name, how many miles it is from your house, alternate routes.... etc etc etc. Anyway, I am thankful to be back online and in contact with everyone once again.

I have had lots of randomness floating around in my head lately. Here goes:

1. WHY WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYY is it that so many people from OHIO and MICHIGAN are here in FL??? I swear, the license plates from these two states outnumber Floridian ones! (Speaking of Floridan plates... check out my previous blog for a pic of my cool WHALE plate... ha ha.)

2. Gossip/backbiting is stupid. This thought isn't really stemming from anything going on in my life necessarily, but I just got thinking about how silly it is that we, as "natural men," feel the need to criticize and belittle those around us. We are all here, working on the same "life project," so why do we insist on making it harder for each other? Along with this, why is it that oft times, when ANOTHER person SUCCEEDS, we feel that WE have FAILED? This happens a lot in my line of work, and as much as I don't like admitting that I DO feel that way sometimes, I do.

3. I love Sophie.

4. I really wanna see "Made of Honor". And "What Happens in Vegas". I'm all about chick flicks.

5. I am OBSESSED with the swimming pool at my new house. What do I do in my free time? Float around my pool on a gray ... thing. I love it. Florida is cool. It was also 91 degrees today. Hee hee hee. (I am kinda rubbing that in all you Utahns faces... sorry dudes.)

6. I am forgetting my show. I am NOT kidding. Plus or minus 20 or so shows, I have performed "Beauty and the Beast- Live on Stage" 650 times. This is what happened the other day:

Sing sing sing "Oh, isn't this amazing, it's my favorite part because, you'll see....... .. . .... .... ....... ... ....... ............ . ..... ..... ................................. . . . . ........ BUT SHE WON'T DISCOVER THAT IT'S HIM TILL CHAPTER THREE!!!"

I had NO IDEA what I was supposed to be singing! HA! The weird thing is that my body kept doing its routine actions... but the words were GONE. Gone gone gone. It hasn't showed up on YouTube yet... I'm happy for that. :-)

7. Still dating the boy. Things are progressing nicely. Speculate on that suckas.... :-)

8. Jason needs to leave American Idol. David Cook needs to win.

9. The Bachelorette starts in a few weeks... I will watch.

10. I need a new hairstyle and color. And new headshots.

11. I'm coming to Utah a week from TODAY! YEAH!

12. This post is too long and I will be amazed if people actually read to this point...

13. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!! It's coming so soon!

14. I am excited to go see the tour of "The Lion King" in Tampa next Tuesday. I wish they had a Red Robin in Tampa. I am craving Red Robin. Thanks a lot, Sam, for getting me hooked years ago.

15. That's all.

Whhhhhy Bryan Goes by "Andrew"

Since lots of people have asked... Bryan is going by "Andrew" on stage because in Equity, you can not have the same name as any other person. His real name was already taken by someone else so he had to come up with something other than who he really is... Wahoo.

WICKED. Twice in a Week. And More.

Thanks to my friend Lindsey, I can spend my afternoon doing laundry and using the internet at her house. YAY! Sooooooo here's the update on my LIFE!

Last Thursday my roomies and I (and Chuck... ha ha) had a girls night out to see WICKED here in Orlando!!! My friend Bryan, who I graduated from BYU with, is in the show and hooked us up with seats. I have no words for how much I LOVED this show. Of course it gets the performer in me inspired and praying that someday I can be a part of something like that, but WOW. Yeah- I sat in my seat completely mesmerized for two and a half hours straight. Only and INCREDIBLE show could do that to ME. :-)

He goes by "Andrew" in the Playbill...

Here I am seeing the show AGAIN on Wednesday. FIFTH ROW, CENTER SEATS. I have never been so giddy in my life.

Me and Bryan.

Feeding the Carrabba's OBSESSION.

Sophie became Floridian today.


I couple weeks ago I also got a visit from my dear friend Melissa Garn and her family.

Yup, so somehow, among all this stuff, I also managed to move. My roomie and I are now living in a house with a pool and I am in a room with more space than I know what to do with. :-) Life is good. Peace.

Blogging Hiatus

Hey friends. I moved. I saw the national tour of Wicked twice in a week. I've worked, I've seen my dear friend Melissa here with her family at Disneyworld, I've gone out to eat a few times, I've worked out many times, and I have not blogged. I have no internet at my house now. So someday, when we get it working, I will return. Please bless it's soon. I never realized how much I rely on the internet to do little things... look up directions, pay bills, find random bits of info... yup. Can't do any of that. Sigh.