Spotlight 2018: Andrea

Andrea,

who loves being a 40-something

Something in 2017 that...

*you saw or did that was awesome:  going on a 40th birthday Disney cruise with Patrick and Marianne!

*you'll remember:  watching Whitney and Brandon's pas de deux in the Nutcracker

*you want to forget:  the only thing I can think of is that I want to forget how much it hurt when Wyatt passed away. But I don't want to forget Wyatt. And I know that part of loving someone is the pain that you feel when you lose them. But it's still hard.

*scared you:  when our neighbor called me at midnight because there were drunk guys fighting in my driveway and they ran into our backyard and our neighbor called the cops. Kinda scary.

*you're good at:  planning fun adventures for my family.

*you're proud of:  going 19-2 in my fall tennis season. Woot!

*made you happy:  going on our 11th annual summer road trip. My favorite.

*you learned: how to not stress out over playing the organ at church. :) But I DO still make a funny face every time I hit a sour note. I hear it makes for good sacrament meeting entertainment.

*made you laugh: Oh my gosh. The funniest thing happened while I was at states with my tennis team. I laughed and laughed and laughed. And couldn't wait to tell the story to Andrew and the kids when I got home. And they didn't think it was funny. At all. But I could hardly tell the story I was laughing so hard. I think you had to be there.

Ok, so at states we wore coordinating team colors. One day our colors were black and pink. Several of us were driving around Wilmington together after our match that day. I saw a woman walking with a black and pink backpack on. I commented, "Oh, look. That woman's backpack matches our uniforms!" I was simply making an observation. Well, one of my teammates said, "Oh, Andrea. Jump out and take it while the light is red!" And everyone started joking around saying, "Oooooh. I thought Andrea was the nice one! I can't believe she's thinking about taking that!" It cracked me up! I said, "I was just noticing the color! Brenda was the one that wanted me to steal it!" Ha ha ha! It still cracks me up as I'm typing.

*was silly:  Playing Punderdome with my family. I am SOOOO bad at coming up with puns. So bad that it's hilarious.

*was exciting:  Getting to fly to Denver all by myself for a long weekend with Andrew's parents and siblings at Time Out for Women.

*you earned, won, or accomplished:  My Adams Farm tennis team took 3rd place out of 16 teams. My USTA 6.5 combo team made it to states and I won three of my four matches there. I turned forty.

Any other notable changes/events for 2017:  After successfully going through chemo, Wyatt had a relapse of leukemia, including lesions on his brain. He had a long battle with more chemo, radiation, the hope of a bone marrow transplant that didn't happen, and eventually being put on hospice. He passed away in May. All of our hearts were broken. I've never cried so much in my life. It made me very grateful for the plan of salvation and to know Wyatt's life continues. But we sure miss him.

I get to spend a lot of my time volunteering this year. I go to Caroline's elementary school twice a week, volunteering in three classrooms and the media center. I also recently started tutoring a refugee family in English. I meet with them once a week. They are a family of nine from Congo. And once a week I drive the leftover cafeteria food from the elementary school to a rec center, where it feeds kids in an after school program.

I continue to teach seminary. We started the Book of Mormon this year. I have 4-5 students that come most days. I love starting my day in the scriptures with them.

I started out with eight students...but we've dwindled.

Hopes for 2018:
Go on a cruise for spring break.
Have another great road trip with my kids.
Continue to find ways to serve in my home, ward, and community.
Improve in my Spanish.

Follow-up from last year's hopes:
Go on the annual summer road trip. (YES! It was a fabulous one!)
Paint the downstairs of our house. (Yes! It's a pretty gray with blues in the breakfast nook and powder room.)
Buy a new van. (Yes! I'm so happy with it! A 2016 Chrysler Town and Country.)
Continue studying Spanish. (Yep, pretty much every day. I still use Duolingo and Andrew and I have started reading general conference talks in Spanish most nights. Que bueno!)
Renew my AZ dental hygiene license. (Yes! I didn't even have to pay the hundred dollar late fee this time! Yippee!)
Win at least two of my USTA matches. (Oh, yes! TWELVE all together between spring, summer mixed doubles, and fall.)

Hobbies:  Tennis, board games, traveling, fantasy football.

Something you like about your job:  getting to spend so much of my time serving and taking care of others.

Something you don't like about your job:  putting away the groceries when I get home from grocery shopping.

A job you might want when you're older:  dental hygienist. Again.


FAVORITES:

Restaurant:  Qdoba, Mad Greek Grill, Mi Pueblo.

Sport:  Football to watch, tennis to play

Recent reads:  A Single Shard, The Magnolia Story by Chip and Joanna Gaines, The Trapp Family Singers, Seek this Jesus by Neill Marriott, That We May Be One by Tom Christofferson

Candy or other treat:  The bulk gummy candy you can buy at Ikea, Smarties, cheesecake, homemade cookies.

Color:  Teal, red, gray. Not necessarily together.

Animal: Baby monkeys!

Snack: Stove-popped popcorn, sugar snap peas, I was recently introduced to Gouda cheese. Yum!

TV show:  Survivor, Jeopardy, American Ninja Warrior, SYTYCD, World of Dance

Place:  The beach and the temple

Season:  Spring

Meal:  Chicken and rice and beans with homemade tortillas

Song:  Come Thou Fount, Fernando, Satisfied and You'll Be Back from Hamilton

Game:  Pandemic, 7 Wonders, Frisbee golf on the Wii

RANDOM FACT:  I think gray hair is so pretty and am toying with the idea of not dyeing mine! I know it will make me look a lot older than I am, so I might change my mind in a few years. But for now, it's fun to look for new grays coming in!