Spotlight 2017: Andrea

Andrea,

basking in the last bit of glory of her 30's

Something in 2016 that...

*you saw or did that was awesome:  Hiking Stewart Falls with some our UT family.

*you'll remember:  Going to the temple with Brandon and Whitney to do baptisms for our ancestors.

*you want to forget:  My entire first month of playing the organ in sacrament meeting at church and all of the tears that were shed over that. Ugh.

*scared you:  Getting called out of the congregation to share my testimony at the adult session of stake conference in the fall.

*you're good at:  Smiling. It's my favorite.

*you're proud of:  Going 7-3 in my Gate City tennis league.

*made you happy:  Spending both Caroline's and Andrew's birthdays at the beach.

*you learned: How to make apple pie from scratch. It's not as hard as I thought it would be!

*made you laugh: When the kids kept wanting to order "assorted cookies" from our dessert menu on the cruise and they would practice saying it in the most sophisticated British accent possible.

*was silly:  Jim Gaffigan. Went to see one of his shows at an amphitheater here in town.

*was exciting:  Going down a ten story slide at City Museum in St. Louis!

*you earned, won, or accomplished: Our tennis team won the sportsmanship award. AND.... I WON MY FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE!!! Yes! I didn't have the best team in the league, but the playoff bracket lined up just right for me to pull off the win.

Any other notable changes/events for 2016:  Resigned from PTA VP. Got released from teaching gospel doctrine Sunday school at church. Got called to teach early morning seminary. Got called to play the organ in sacrament meeting. Started volunteering with Church World Services, preparing apartments for newly-arriving refugees. Got bumped from a 3.0 to a 3.5 in USTA--NOT a good thing for me. (I'm going to get my bootie kicked in my new league!) Our nephew, Wyatt, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in February, so he and his family have been on our minds a lot this year.

Hopes for 2017:
That Wyatt's treatments are effective in keeping him cancer free.
Go on the annual summer road trip.
Paint the downstairs of our house.
Buy a new van.
Continue studying Spanish. (Duolingo says I'm 53% fluent now!)
Renew my AZ dental hygiene license.
Win at least two of my USTA matches. (That's lofty.)

Follow-up from last year's hopes:
Go on a cruise with the kids for Spring Break. Yes, and we loved it!
Spend Memorial Day weekend with both sets of grandparents. Yes, a wonderful long weekend in the sun and surf.
Watch Caroline get baptized. Yes, so proud of her.
See Brandon participate in his first church youth conference: a pioneer trek! Yes, he did it and made some friendships that have lasted.
Send Whitney off to her first week at Girl's Camp. Yes, she loved it and is SO sad that she will probably miss it this year because of the road trip.
Make the annual road trip and have a reunion with Andrew's side of the family at Bear Lake. Yes, we made the road trip. No, we weren't able to have thee family reunion because Wyatt was still in the undergoing chemo.
Continue to find joy in teaching my gospel doctrine class at church. Yes, for the first half of the year that I taught. I loved that calling and am grateful for all that I learned each week, some from my study and a lot from my class members' comments.

Hobbies:  Tennis, board games, geocaching, Trivia Crack, Words with Friends, traveling, fantasy football.

Something you like about your job:  Getting to spend the majority of my time serving my family and others.

Something you don't like about your job:  Doing the dishes.

A job you might want when you're older:  Cruise ship performer. :)


FAVORITES:

Restaurant:  Panera, Mad Greek Grill, Panda Express

Sport:  Football to watch, tennis to play

Recent reads:  The War that Saved My Life, Echo, The Disappearing Spoon, The Rent Collector, Heartless

Candy or other treat:  Peanut M&Ms, Cheesecake from cheesecake factory, Smarties

Color:  Purple, black, red

Animal: Baby monkeys!

Snack:  Pistachios, popcorn, sugar snap peas

TV show:  Survivor

Place:  The beach and the temple

Season:  Spring

Meal:  Chicken and rice and beans with homemade tortillas

Song:  Wicked, ABBA, Anything Whitney sings while I'm playing the piano for her

Game:  Code Names is a new favorite.  Andrew and I play Pandemic a couple of times a week during his lunch break. So fun.

RANDOM FACT:  I've become fascinated with family history and spend a few hours every week researching it. I mostly work on Andrew's side of the family because they've been in the US a long time, so it's easier to find records on them. I've added over 100 names to his family tree. Exciting!