Spotlight 2016: Andrea

Andrea, 2015

Something in 2015 that...

*you saw or did that was awesome:  Hiking to Cecret Lake in the mountains of Utah

*you'll remember:  My 20th high school reunion

*you want to forget:  Leaving my suitcase at home when we left on the road trip.

*scared you:  Grandma Cuca falling when we were hiking in Tennessee and wondering how I was going to get her down the mountain.

*you're good at:  Meeting new people, especially at church.

*you're proud of:  Brandon, for waking up at 5:20 every morning to go seminary. He's amazing!

*made you happy:  Vacationing at Disney World for Spring Break.

*you learned: Well...I'm learning how to speak Spanish. And I learned more about using the settings on my camera in a dSLR boot camp class.

*made you laugh: Playing Telestrations with Andrew's family at Tony and Cindy's house.

*was silly:  My family. They crack me up.

*was exciting:  Andrew getting a promotion at work. So proud of all his hard work at Avery.

*you earned, won, or accomplished: GRADUATING FROM BYU! Woo hoo! It only took me TWENTY YEARS! :)

Any other notable changes/events for 2015:  I'm serving as the Vice President of the PTA at Caroline's elementary school. I've liked it! Brandon officially outgrew me last year, which was a little weird. We took our longest road trip ever (both in days and miles), which was fabulous. And I've made an effort to start cooking and baking more things from scratch this last year. I've started to find pleasure in cooking...but I still hate doing dishes.

Hopes for 2016:  Go on a cruise with the kids for Spring Break. Spend Memorial Day weekend with both sets of grandparents. Watch Caroline get baptized. See Brandon participate in his first church youth conference: a pioneer trek! Send Whitney off to her first week at Girl's Camp. Make the annual road trip and have a reunion with Andrew's side of the family at Bear Lake. Continue to find joy in teaching my gospel doctrine class at church. 

Follow-up from last year's hopes:  I forgot to do last year's hopes! Boo!

Hobbies: Tennis, reading, going out to lunch with my friends, board games, singing, and playing the piano.

Something you like about your job:  Having some one-on-one time with each of my kids at the end of  their school day to hear all about the ups and downs of their days.

Something you don't like about your job:  Spending an hour and a half driving my kids to and from school every day. I like having them to myself for a while, but I wish Whit's school wasn't so far away.

A job you might want when you're older:  Dental hygienist. I've toyed with the idea of doing some sort of refresher course, getting licensed here in NC, and going back to work, maybe as a temp. So far it's just an idea and I haven't taken any actions toward that goal.

FAVORITES:

Restaurant:  Mad Greek Grill and Southern Roots.

Sport:  Football to watch, tennis to play

Recent reads:  Does listening to audio books count?  The Wright Brothers by David McCullough, Jane Eyre, A Long Way from Chicago, Wonder by RJ Palacio, Little House in the Big Woods.

Candy or other treat:  Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory

Color:  Purple, black, red

Animal: Baby monkeys

Snack:  Stove-popped popcorn, almonds

TV show: Downton Abbey, Survivor

Place:  The beach

Season:  Spring

Meal:  Chicken and rice and beans with homemade tortillas

Song:  Like I'm Gonna Lose You (Megan Trainor and John Legend), For Good from Wicked

Game:  7 Wonders

RANDOM FACT:  I've always had really thick hair, but over the last couple of years, it's starting to thin. The individual strands are still thick and coarse, but my ponytail is much smaller than it used to be. Not sure how I feel about that.