Spotlight 2020: Andrea

Andrea

2019

Highlights from 2019:

2019 was SUCH a wonderful, memorable year. We took our favorite cruise ever, visiting new countries that were beautiful and taking amazing excursions together.

We had both sets of grandparents, Grandma Cuca, Mark and Taylor and their kids, and Destiny all come out for Brandon's graduation. I loved having all that support.

We went to the Outer Banks with my parents, Cuca, and Mark's family. The road trip was phenomenal. Carson and Sydney joined us for part of it. We visited several national parks: Arches,
Sequoia, King's Canyon, and Yosemite. LOVE getting to explore this beautiful world with my kids.

We moved Brandon in to his apartment in St George and he started school at Dixie. He is working HARD and I'm happy to see that his transition to college has gone smoothly. I miss his quick wit, but get little tastes of it when we skype with him most Sunday nights.

Andrew got called to be the Stake President.

We've had some neat experiences with general authorities along with his new calling: Elders Whitney L. Clayton and Peter M. Johnson extended his call. We got to have two dinners with them and some special spirit-filled interviews with them. Soon after, we got to have lunch with Pres Eyring and Elder Gary E. Stevenson. I really do find joy in consecrating our time and energy to helping build the Lord's kingdom. But this calling is HARD for Andrew. There are some weeks that are fine and others that are emotionally and spiritually EXHAUSTING. We're both hoping it gets easier as time goes on.

*Something you're good at: Planning vacations.

*Something you're proud of: The hard workers that my kids are growing up to be

*Something you earned, won, or accomplished:

My 6.5 USTA combo team made it to states in Wilmington AGAIN. Woo hoo! We didn't do so well there, finishing second-to-last. :( But it's always fun having a weekend getaway with my tennis friends. My USTA record was not great this year, either. I went 6-4 in my 3.5 doubles. I went 1-4 in my 4.0 doubles. And I went 3-6 in singles play. 

My Gate City league went great, though. Adams Farm ended up winning the whole thing! We finished in first place out of 15 teams in our divisions. So cool! I was 13-3 throughout the year.

AND I won my fantasy football Super Bowl!!!

*Any other notable changes/events for 2019:
I had my second seminary graduate of my three-year tenure: Brandon made it! Yippee!
Caroline graduated from elementary school. It's weird to not have any kids at Pilot...
Whitney had to change dance studios since Miss Shelley moved. She's at Dance Center of Greensboro now.
I started volunteering with the New Arrivals Institute. It's an English school for immigrants and refugees. I volunteer once a week for 3 hours at a time. I LOVE it. The students are so fun to talk with and my worldview is expanding. I have friends from Yemen, Iraq, Mexico, Sudan... The world feels like it's getting smaller.

Hopes for 2020:
*That Andrew's calling will get easier as he adjusts to his new church responsibilities.
*That Brandon will keep his GPA above a 3.5 to keep his scholarship at Dixie.
*That we'll have a fun spring break trip to Universal Studios in Orlando. Especially looking forward to visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Yay yay yay!
*That we'll have a fun summer. Not sure yet if we're going to road trip or not. Both girls want to go to church girls camp, which might mess up my plans...

Follow-up from last year's hopes:
*That Brandon adjusts well to living on his own and has good experiences at college.
Yes!

Love getting random pics like this one,

where he decided spur-of-the-moment

to run a 5k with a friend.

Or finding a pic of him on Dixie's Instagram page. :)

*The Andrew is able to finally get his shoulder pain resolved.
Nope... It has gotten better, but he still endures a low level of pain.

*Another Spring Break cruise--our last with B at home.
Yes! My favorite cruise ever!

*Road trip. Yes! It was amazing! Brandon chose to have us visit LA. We spent some time in Orange County with the Peo's. One day in downtown LA where he wanted to visit some fashion stores that he had never been to. And several days in the national parks there. It was new for us and oh so fun.

Hobbies: Tennis. Piano. Reading. Talking on the phone. Organizing lunches with girlfriends. Fantasy football. Walking.

Something you like about being a homemaker: Flexible schedule, especially to be able to serve.

Something you don't like about being a homemaker: Dishes.

A job you might want when you're older: Teaching English as a second language.


FAVORITES:

Restaurant: QDoba, US Sushi, Southern Roots

Sport:  Football to watch, tennis to play

Recent reads: A Spool of Blue Thread, Becoming Mrs. Lewis, The Printed Letter Bookshop

Candy or other treat: Gummies from Ikea's bulk candy selection

Color: Red, black, purple, turquoise

Animal: Baby monkeys or baby gorillas

Snack: Popcorn, Crackers with pepper jack and/or gouda, honeycrisp apples

TV show:  Survivor, Jeopardy, we recently started watching Lego Masters which we like

Place:  The beach and the temple

Season:  Spring

Meal:  Chicken and rice and beans with homemade tortillas

Song: Whitney singing "I Need Thee Every Hour" or "Silent Night"

Game:  Pandemic, Space Invaders, Coin Pushing

App: Words with Friends, Walmart Grocery App

RANDOM FACT: Andrew and I have a side hustle of being "advantage players" at arcades. We go on half-price Wednesdays, earn tons of tickets (mostly from playing Space Invaders), and buy Fire TV Sticks or video games that we sell on eBay. We've made over $500 so far! Cha ching!