-Aimee, Aaron and Addie

Just a little update on Showtime Utah…It went really well. Not as big of a crowd as we had hoped for on an opening night, but still all right. I had Five of my most loyal fans in the audience and I am always grateful for their support as I am anyone who will take the time to come see me perform. (Thanks especially Mom, Dad, Grandma Faddis, Aaron, and Addie!) It is a fun little place and I hope it really takes off. It is just a new little theater starting out in pleasant grove, but the week after I sang, they had Pianist Marvin Goldstein play. He is pretty amazing. It looks like they are trying to really get good talent for their theater, and it was fun to be a part of it.

Anyway, I was tagged forever ago on my friend’s blog for a fun survey. I will have to fill it out tomorrow…I have to go now and teach voice lessons. It was the Spring Showcase for my students last night and they all did awesome! I was so proud of each of them and they all did REALLY well! Two thumbs up!

Ok, so I really am shutting up now. Have a good one! -Aimee

Moving on to happier stories…Being a loner isn’t so bad in some cases. Especially when you are singing on stage like I will be doing on Friday May 2nd. I have been asked to perform for the Grand Opening of Showtime Utah. A variety theater for family entertainment. The theater is just starting up and their focus is on fun family oriented entertainment for all ages. They have several different shows ranging from a cowboy dinner theater to stand up comics, to singers and piano players. I will be singing for about 30-40 minutes some of my favorite broadway and country songs. Anyone who would like to come is welcome. This would make a great date night and would be the perfect after dinner activity. Details below.

Showtime Utah presents:
Entertainment Hot Spot
Friday May 2nd, 2008 10pm-12am
$8 at the door
20 S. Main
Pleasant Grove, UT
I-15 exit 275, go east through all the stop lights
until you reach the first stop sign (Main Street)
Turn right – we are on your right.
www.showtimeutah.com (see link on the side of the page as well)

Hope anyone who wants to can make it! See you there!

There is only one problem…when Aaron ordered the tickets he was going to buy one for my sister, and my mom and other sister were going to buy their own. He got the two mixed up and only purchased one ticket. He told my mom and sisters, but by the time they got around to calling to order their own tickets, it was too late. They were SOLD OUT! ARGH! Not that I am uncomfortable going alone, it just would be nice to share the nuttiness with someone.

So, here is my purpose for writing this post…If anyone of my friends out there has also purchased a Stephenie Meyer ticket for May 17, 2008 for the book signing of “The Host,” please let me know. Otherwise, I will be drowning in a sea of other Meyer fans dressed as fictional characters. I am sure I can handle it, but would much rather prefer to take along a life vest.

If anyone wants to be my life vest, please let me know and leave a comment! Thanks! Love you all!
-Aimee

The commercial shoot was AWESOME! I pretty much just got to play all day and pretend I was famous! In fact, while we were filming at Wheeler Farm on Friday, one girl stopped me and asked if I was “famous or something.” I just laughed and said “No,” but at least it made me feel good for the day.

I don’t know how many times I sang the Hertz jingles, but it was A LOT! Friday, at the farm, I had to get in the pen with a baby cow! It freaked me out, but I didn’t want to say anything. It wasn’t so scary, except for the mucus all over it’s nose and the saw dust sticking to it, ick! I think I scared the cow more than it scared me though, I almost wacked it in the head a few times with the acoustic guitar.

Saturday, we went out in the middle of NOWHERE to shoot. I got to peel out in a 2008, Black, 500 horsepower, Shelby Mustang GT, with Gold racing stripes! It was so cool! But, I have to be honest, it was a little (Ok, a LOT) more car than I am used to driving. It was kind of hard for all 4’11” of me to see out of, but I managed. I also got to drive a big Lincoln truck, and believe it or not, it was easier to handle, but the mustang was a lot cooler!

I also got to play a black $8,000 electric guitar. It would have been really cool If I knew how to play a guitar, he he:) It was fun to pretend though, except for the scabs I incurred on my two middle fingers. Oh, well, it looked cool on camera.

The commercial starts tomorrow (Thursday, April 17th.) I don’t know which stations it will air on, but I know it will air in northern Utah, Boise and hopefully Billings Montana. You can all laugh when you see it. It actually turned out really well and I am excited to see the finished product. I will post a link or something if I can figure it out. If not, you’ll just have to catch it on TV.

So Saturday, after my big movie star shoot as the hertz girl, Aaron and I booked it up to USU to catch his little sister, Kristi’s, senior violin recital. After seeing her perform, I feel so honored to call her my sister-in-law. I have never seen anyone put so much passion into an instrument. The music that came out from it was absolutely incredible! She is so amazingly talented! Not to mention that she got so good by playing since she was 5 and works on it hours and hours night and day. It just goes to show you that you really can do anything if you put your mind to it and will take the time to work at it. The lady who did my make-up for the commercial said something to me that really sums up many of the lessons I have given and taken in music all of my life and now I share it with you:

“If you can pay enough attention to notice the subtle differences, you really can be good at anything.” -Paula J. Dahlberg

She was a very different personality from myself, but by the end of the shoot and two hours in the car together, I got to understand her much better. She is a very talented make-up artist and that one statement she said on Saturday, has really stuck with me. It is so true. This is America, and you really have the freedom to become anything you want to. BUT, if you are going to be great at anything, it is the subtle differences that matter. It is the sublte differences that set you apart. I have been pondering this as I practice my own singing, and find that you can’t just let the one note that you’re not quite happy with stay there, you have to fix it. I guess it is the same with cleaning your house. That’s probably why my house isn’t as clean as it should be.

Guess whose post you are reading now!? That’s right, the new face of Herts, car sales/rentals. You didn’t know you were friends with someone so talented, and capable of lip synching, did you!

Yes, it’s true, I landed the Hertz commercial and I am so excited! It is going to be a country/rock music video style commercial and for those of you who have seen the Big-O tire commercial, it will be somewhat similar, except for me, instead of him.

Pretty crazy, huh! It will be so much fun, except for the fact that I will have to have my grandma watch Addie while I’m gone. I mostly feel bad for my grandma because Addie isn’t the easiest baby while I’m gone. Who am I kidding, she’s not the easiest baby when I’m around. I love her to death, but she does have her moments

Lipsynching, You say? It is true, the voice teacher has been hired to lip-synch. The truth is that they had already hired the voice before I even got to audition. So, I knew when I went in that I was auditioning for a lip-synch, but they said they liked my voice anyway. Too bad I don’t get to use it. Oh, well, it will be funny to see what I sound like with someone else’s voice.

Anyway, I’ll be seeing you all in TV land! More details to come…

Last week I had the TV on for Addie while she was in her Jump-a-roo and I was getting ready. She was watching cartoons, sort of, and towards the end of the program I got her out of her jumpy and put her in her high chair for lunch. I left the TV on and it was on KBYU. It was one of those devotionals or something like that next, and I decided to leave it on, as I have to speak in church on Easter Sunday, and was hoping for some inspiration. The woman giving the talk gave a very thought provoking story that set the little wheels of my brain in motion.

Here goes, my paraphrased version of her story:

It was the end of summer and school was going to start soon for my little kindergartener. We had to go visit the teacher so she could take the kindergarten pre-test. We had studied all of the colors at home and she knew how to write her name.

After we sat down with the teacher, she asked my daughter to choose her favorite color of crayon and write her name with it. I knew she knew how to write her name, but my little girl just looked at the assorted crayons and froze. Her knees locked and she wouldn’t move.

The teacher prodded her again, “go ahead, honey, take your favorite color crayon and write your name.”

My daughter just sat there, paralyzed. Finally the teacher said, “That’s O.K., we’ll teach you how to write your name when you come to school in the fall.”

My daughter and I left and I could not figure out why she would not write her name, when I knew she knew how. When we got to the car I finally said to her “why didn’t you write your name for the teacher.”

She replied “I couldn’t. The teacher told me to choose my favorite color, and there wasn’t a pink crayon.”
***

I thought that was a really cute story. I especially related to the pink crayon. More importantly, the woman giving the talk related the story to life. Sometimes, we want something, but the option just isn’t there. She told of how her son wanted to be a professional basketball player more than anything. He would practice day and night and although he made the school teams, she feared he could never be a professional ball player because he was simply too short. She pointed out that while maybe being a professional basketball player just wasn’t in his crayon choices, it didn’t mean he couldn’t do great things with his life.

I have been thinking about this a lot since. It is not bad to dream big or dream of the impossible, and many times we can make those big dreams come true. But sometimes, whether because of our own choices, or circumstances beyond our control, life simply doesn’t offer us our first choice. Then what? (She pointed out…) Do we just freeze and do nothing? Do we not make progress simply because the option we first wanted isn’t there? Or do we choose another color? It will still write our name just as surely as the pink crayon would have. Maybe the picture we can create with the other colors on the table will be prettier because it has so much more variety, than it would have had if we had been allowed to use the pink crayon.

Sometimes I find myself looking back on my life with this analogy. There were things I wanted to do when I grew up. Many of them have happened, and some have not but still may happen, and some can never happen now. Am I upset and frozen? Absolutely not. I am grateful that God gave me better colors to choose from. Although I probably would have colored EVERYTHING pink had I had the option, he was wise to give me green, blue, yellow, orange, red and purple. I may sometimes get to use pink, but he doesn’t always allow my first choice, because my life can be so much more beautiful if I will open my eyes to the possibilities he has set before me.

I am grateful God looks out for us so much. He is pretty amazing when you think about how much he cares for us and knows us each individually. His crayon box is a lot more colorful and imaginative than ours ever could be.

-Just a side note…I really appreciate everyone’s comments, but I have to give credit where it is due. I saw this on KBYU and thought I would share it with you. Most of it is her story and I only paraphrased the talk. The last two paragraphs are where I personalized it for myself, but really, she is the insightful one. I am just glad that you all found comfort, and were uplifted by this post. Feel free to enjoy, but please understand that I didn’t come up with this on my own. I was just inspired by this story and thought I would share it for all. Have a good one!

So little Adelaide, at six months old, still isn’t sleeping the best at night. She almost makes it through, but most nights she wakes up around three or four, no matter how much I feed her before bed. Usually she just wants to play or be held, and I try to tell her that it is time for sleeping, not playing, but she still has been persistent.

BUT, last night, or this morning I guess, she didn’t wake up until 6:10. It was great! 6am is still a little early for me, but it was heaven to get what felt like a decent night of sleep. 6 hours in a row! Who would have thought that a little thing could mean so much.
This morning I fed her and put her back in bed, and after a little catnap for myself, I got up, did my exercises and posted this blog, all before 8am! That’s a record for me.

So anyway, here’s to good sleep! May you all get some tonight!

Now, for your viewing pleasure, you can witness for yourself this Liken the scriptures masterpiece!

It will air on KBYU Television on the following dates and times:
· Monday, 3/10, 7 pm TODAY!(Mountain Daylight Time)
· Thursday, 3/13, 5 pm (MDT)
· Sunday, 4/6, 4 pm (MDT)

Be sure to tune in and enjoy the laughs. …Actually, it is more of a fairy tale and is a pretty cute show. To the right is a link to Liken and if you are interested, you can even add Esther and the King to your movie library.

Liken the Scriptures has nine films to their name, all of them scripture stories. You can collect all nine, and they even have a sing-along line of shows, as well as CDs and coloring books. (I am even a coloring book character–funny huh!) They are pretty fun for kids and they have done a good job of creating uplifing family entertainment.

Please tune in to KBYU (available through direct satellite broadcast services (e.g., Dish and DirecTV), cable carriers, and internet streaming. Check your local listings to see when/where it will air for you.

Anyway, just thought you’d all enjoy!
Have a good one!
-Aimee

A- Attached or single: Attached, I have a wonderful husband and we’ve been married 3 1/2 years!
B- Best Friend: Ashley (Liljenquist) Baird. We have been friends since we were 3 years old. We met in nursery at church and have stayed friends ever since. Our little girls are only 5 weeks apart. Also, my husband Aaron is my best friend, but that goes without saying!
C-Cake or Pie: Cake! I love cake, but not chocolate cake. Chocolate is always too dry. I love funfetti or rainbow chip cake with the rainbow chip frosting. I love it so much, that I don’t even have to have ice cream when I eat this kind of cake, which for me, ice cream is like a staple. In fact, I just had some before writing this. I guess that will count as lunch. I can eat rainbow chip cake for breakfast, and every year for my birthday, I have Aaron make me a fun-fetti cake. YUM!
D-Day: Saturday. I love Friday. That is my day off, and I can go shopping or do whatever. I love teaching the other days of the week, but Friday is the day when I catch up on everything I have to do so I can spend Saturday with Aaron.
F- Favorite Color: PINK! How could it be anything else?! I have loved pink since I was a little girl and we even have one home movie of us kids on Christmas morning when “Santa” brought me and my older sister jewelry boxes. There was a pink one and a blue one and before we even knew whose was whose I shouted “I want the pink one!” Then my mom told me that Santa brought me the blue one. I was dissapointed, but I did get over it. Since then I have acquired enough pink clothing that at one point I could wear something pink everyday for two weeks straight. My sister even gave me a pink sparkly necklace and earring set last week. Thanks Brooke! I love it!
G-Gummi Bears or Worms: I don’t really care between the two. They both taste good and remind me of birthday parties when I was in 5th or 6th grade. One of my friends gave me a 5 LB bag of gummi worms for my birthday. I was in heaven.
H-Home town: Fruit Heights, UT
I- Indulgences: Shopping and getting a really good deal. I also love to treat myself to new make up or new shoes that I know I will only wear once or twice.
J- January or July?: JULY! July is THE best month of the year. It is the farthest away you can get from school before you start coming back and there are three holidays in it for me! 4th, 24th and the 10th (our anniversary.) I LOVE July! It is hot and hot and hot and the farthest from cold you can get!
K-Kids:One little girl named Adelaide Aimee Geddes. She is a doll and is rolling over now. She makes us laugh except when she screams for hours on end while my sister and mom are babysitting her while I’m teaching, or when she screams at the top of her lungs at 5 in the morning!
I can’t help it, here’s a pic:

L-Life is incomplete without: Family, music, fun and love. All of these things go hand in hand.
M- Marriage Date: July 10th, 2004. The best day of my life. It really was a perfect day and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Very few days in my life have gone as smoothly as that one or made me happier.
N- Number of Siblings: 4 siblings. 1 older brother-Nick, 1 older sister-Brooke, and 2 younger sisters-(Michelle-she was stillborn but she still counts) and Lindsay.
O- Oranges or Apples:I like both. It depends on my mood. I just don’t like red delicious apples, they are anything but!
P- Phobias or Fears: Fears. I’m afraid of dying on the freeway and leaving loved ones behind, or one of them dying in a car accident. Anytime something that could have remotely become a car accident happens, my whole life flashes before my eyes and I scare myself for a minute. I know it is silly, but I really am scared of things like that. Oh yeah, I’m also afraid of spiders and scream bloddy murder anytime one sneaks up on me. Aaron hates it.
Q- Quote(s): I have lots of favorite quotes, but I can’t find them right now. If I find them, there is an unlikely chance I will post it, so don’t hold your breath for this one.
R-Reason To Smile: I have so many reasons to smile, I don’t know where to begin. My baby girl, Addie, makes me smile every day, and so does waking up to my husband’s sweet face each morning. Singing makes me smile and so does knowing that I have the gospel in my life and a very loving family. Life is great. Why not smile all the time? I like to smile at strangers in the store, but they don’t always smile back. I feel bad for them and hope they learn to smile and pass it on.
S- Season: Summer. Are any of the other seasons even worth talking about? Summer has it all! Hot sunshine, swimming, popcicles, ice cream, night games, Bright blue skies. The only bad part is when it ends and fall starts to creep in. I hate when that happens.
T- Tag Three (or more): No tags, just do it if you want to.
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I tap dance pretty much all day long. I only know a few steps that I learned in one play and in a class I took in college, but I have been repeating those steps ever since. Whenever I am standing somewhere-my kitchen, the grocery store, anywhere with a hard floor, I start repeating those same tap steps over and over- shuffle step, ball change…
V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Oppressor. “f God didn’t intend for us to eat animals, then why did he make them out of meat?”-anon.
W- Worst Habit: Wiggiling my feet in bed at night. Like I said, they are constantly tap dancing and it really bugs Aaron that my feet don’t stop once my head hits the pillow.
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds-naturally with a baby, I’ve had tons of them. Circle of Life women’s center does them at every pre-natal visit. I think it is awesome. I have never broken anything so the only x-rays I’ve ever had have been at the dentist’s office and I don’t know if those count.
Y-Your favorite food: Ice cream, corn on the cob, carmel popcorn, fruit. I also love spinach and spinach salad and chicken cordon bleu. However, Ice cream and corn on the cob are always what comes to mind when I am asked this question.
Z: Zodiac Sign: Gemini