Christmas 2015

 What a cool gift we received from the kids this year, they collaborated, long distance even, and came up with an amazing ski bench!  I love that it is built with Hart skis!

 On the way home from Idaho, via Utah, we stopped at Mission Ridge to ski the best powder day in the NW ever!

 And we had to do dinner in Leavenworth on the way home from Mission Ridge in Wenatchee. The Best.

 And so pretty all lit up at Christmas time.

 The boys are getting big! Devin and Brittany got here Christmas Eve and met us at Grandma Schenk's house.

 Devin, Brittany, Brittney, Devin

 Lined up for Christmas morn.

Nerf wars always begin pretty quickly

 Selfie stick rules.

 Somebody stayed up too late on Christmas Eve

 New favorite game, Mexican Trains with Dominoes.

 Diane and Dennis arrived on Christmas Day.

 Diane spearheaded a nice Christmas program just for me. I loved it.

 And more nerf competition.

 Skiing Baker

Pretty sweet day on the slopes

Devin Graduates from BYU-Idaho!

Devin was finished with school except for an online class and an internship. He planned to walk in December just before he and Brittany were moving away, so Keith and I drove to Rexburg for a whirlwind weekend of celebrating and work.  The work part was to quickly help these kids finish packing up their cute apartment, clean, and move their stuff to Utah.  Our first night there was Thursday.  Devin had homework, so Keith and I picked up Eric and the three of us went to the temple for a lovely session there. Afterwards we grabbed some dinner and crashed at Devin's place.

Then Friday morning we helped them pack along with Brittany's parents who drove up for the day. Then in the afternoon we celebrated.  What a day for celebration!  Devin has spent many long years in college and put so much work and energy into his education.  He got quite a bit of help from Brittany this past year as well, so it's a day for both to celebrate for sure!   We are super proud of him for putting himself through college, and preparing for a great career. He now has a bachelor of science degree in business management. His emphasis is supply chain management. 

Our celebratory dinner took place in Idaho Falls at The Texas Roadhouse restaurant.  The food was delicous. 

Commencement was held in the I Center.  The speakers were President Clark G. Gilbert, Elder Kim B. Clark and Elder Quentin L. Cook.

Devin was not allowed to wear his lei during commencement, so we held on to it for him. He did get to wear it to the next ceremony, luckily.

After commencement, Eric placed the lei around Devin's neck.  There is a little story behind the lei.  Traditionally we have given all of our kids a lei at high school and college graduations.  At BYU we found people selling them on the sidewalks.  They are in all the grocery stores at graduation time here in Burlington.  Rexburg?  No way, not even Idaho Falls had any.  We called all the local florists and the best we could do was to have one specially made for $90-100, (but not that day).  What?  

This was not going to stop us.  We went to a nearby grocery store in Idaho Falls after dinner, bought some carnations, scissors, needle and thread, and sewed one up ourselves on the way back to Rexburg! 

Here we are right before Devin's convocation.  Diane and Dennis drove up and met us in between the two ceremonies.  It was so nice of them to come up and be there for Devin.

Devin receiving his diploma.

Diploma in hand!  Actually it comes in the mail later, but it's still cool, right?

One of the speakers at the Business college convocation was a graduating student from South Africa, that just happened to have been a branch president in a branch Dennis served in on his mission!  Amazing.  He and his wife had the missionaries over to dinner every Sunday.  Wow!

Proud parents!  We are super pleased that all of our children have made college a priority.  Like we always say, our kids are better than we are!

Three down, one to go.