Teri Allred is getting together our spotlights. Here's what she insisted I include as a preface to this spotlight:
We’re going to start our Get to Know You Series this year with our
Awesome Choir President! In addition to her full-time role as wife,
mother and the many hobbies and interests you’ll learn about as you read
about her – she recently added a full-time job. We can’t even begin to
express our gratitude to her for all she does to help make the chorus
successful. Thank you Karen for all you do! We love you!
I was born the second of eight children in Beautiful
Portland, Oregon, where I lived until I attended college at BYU and served a 19-month
mission in North Carolina. During my freshman year at BYU I marched in the Cougar Marching Band.
At BYU, I majored in English and Human
Development. I minored in Ballroom dance. I met Paul in our BYU ward when I was
24. Six months later, we were married in the Logan temple by my mission
president. Paul and I have seven children (4 boys, 3 girls), ranging in age
from 11 to 24 years. The oldest three have served missions, including 4 months
of concurrent service, which we refer to as our “$1200 club months.”
I’ve traveled to most of the western and northwestern states
and Canada. One day I would like to visit Hawaii and the church history sites
in the Midwest. I’d also like to see New England and Italy.
Some foods I love are: home cooked comfort food, almost anything chocolate, especially
with nuts, ice cream, cinnamon, and red candy like Swedish fish and Red Vines. I
like most fruits, but dislike most anything lemon flavored. The single
exception is lemon squares--with thin crust. I don’t like black licorice, sweet
peppers of any color, or liver.
I like feel-good movies like “Up,” “Somewhere in Time,”
“Return to Me,” “Enchanted,” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.” I don’t like violent
or trashy shows. I haven’t watched TV in years, with the exception of an
occasional football game and General Conference.
I enjoy listening to classical music, especially Rachmaninoff,
Vivaldi, Brahms and Bach. I also like 80’s era love songs, Julie Andrews and
Maureen McGovern. But my children would attest that most of the time I listen
to the chorus practice files.
I love classical literature, Bronte’s Jane Eyre being my
all-time favorite, but I also love novels by Charles Dickens and Jane Austin. I
am a bit of a literary snob and have little patience with poorly written books.
My hobbies are many. I am a very creative person and love to
learn new things. I have successfully dabbled in: sewing, knitting, crocheting,
hand embroidery, needlepoint, quilting, card-making, oil painting, watercolor
painting, face painting, balloon sculpture, quilling (a paper art),
bookbinding, machine embroidery, gardening, ballroom dancing, cake decorating,
calligraphy, scrapbooking, costume design, alterations, bookbinding, 3-D
pumpkin carving, singing, piano, cycling, word games, board games, flute,
saxophone, fixing 1,000-piece puzzles, cooking, writing and probably more that
I can’t remember. I would one day like to learn to draw and to tat.
I was never in choir when I was in high school because I found I couldn't be in both choir and band. I have, however, been involved in choirs for community productions such as "Saturday's Warrior," and stake and ward-based events. Growing up, my family always sang together, both privately and in public. When I had my own family and we lived in Tooele, our young family sang while I played the guitar at "Pioneer Jubilee" and Arbor Day celebrations, as well as participating in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," and "Oklahoma!" We also were extras in the movie, "Forever Strong."
An accomplishment that I am particularly proud of is receiving my Master
Gardener certificate from Larry Sagers, and also taking some advance Master
Gardener training from him. This is the equivalent of an associate’s degree in horticulture.
I also own an Etsy store and my own business, called “Write My Personal
History, LLC.”
I stayed home and raised my family once my oldest daughter was born, but prior to that I worked as a secretary, where I gained mad typing
skills. When I was first married I was a Kelly Girl. More recently, I worked from
my home for several years, doing alterations for a drycleaners in Tooele. This
past August I started working a full-time, seasonal job for Lifetouch as a customer service agent.
One thing you may not know about our family is that we found a human skull in our attic in Tooele in 2008. Maybe you remember that news story. Here's a link to KSL's coverage of the event:
Skull in the Attic
I’ve held many church callings over the years, but my
favorite has been Gospel Doctrine teacher. Currently I am the ward historian
and I play the piano in Relief Society.
We previously lived in Salt Lake City and in Tooele for 11 years before moving to Lehi a little over
five years ago.
