The Schenk Family Times

As we were driving to the Christmas Tree farm in west Mount Vernon, Eric and I reminisced about last year's escapade to get the tree. Keith was super busy, so one evening Devin, Eric and I set off in Devin's truck to get the job done. There are so many unfamiliar roads out in tree farm country that we were relying on Devin's GPS to guide us to our destination. Apparantly the roads were unfamiliar to the GPS as well, cuz it guided us right up to a dyke with a dead end road! Our navigation systems on our new phones worked much better this year, and we went to a farm we've cut a number of trees from, the place where they give you hot apple cider. The weather was clear, just a cool breeze blowing, we all had our hats, thanks to reminders from Eric, and the search was on. We picked out this beauty, and Eric did all the cutting himself, complete with the tree tackle method Devin used last year to knock the tree to the ground. Yeah, we know how to milk a situation for all the fun you can possibly get out of it!

On the way home we could be heard singing "Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches..." as we drove out of sight.

Well, we had a great time visiting the girls and their husbands in Utah. Above is a slideshow of some of the pictures from our trip. So here's how it all worked out. I flew down by myself on the Friday before Thanksgiving. Katie and Josh were already in town. Josh worked in Salt Lake for a week, and Katie went along for the ride. Josh and Katie picked me up at the airport, took me to lunch, and then we went to find Diane in her classroom. There was this little incident where we got blocked in the parking area by schoolbuses, and didn't know just how long we'd be stuck there! It's fun to see Diane's room, I'd love to watch her in action teaching the 7th grade health classes! Friday night, Josh, Katie and I went to the new Harry Potter movie. Of course we loved it. The movie looked the way I had pictured things when I read the book, so that made it fun. Then Diane, Brittney and I put on a baby shower for Katie on Saturday night at Olive Garden, it turned out to be really fun. Lots of Katie's friends from different BYU wards came as well as lots of Josh's extended family. It still doesn't feel like I'm about to become a grandma. I guess I just have to wait until I'm actually holding that baby in my arms for it to feel real!
Sunday I went to church with Diane. Boy, that was rough. People kept coming up to me and telling me how wonderful Diane is as the Relief Society President, and what a great person she is. Man, how much of that kind of stuff can I take? Sheese! Ok, actually it was really nice. As I was sitting in Sacrament meeting, I almost cried with joy as I was feeling so thrilled that all of my kids are working hard to live the gospel, to really apply the principles and commandments in their lives, and are each reaping the blessings. As a parent, I can't think of anything better than that.
Monday Tuesday and Wednesday Diane and Brittney tried to kill me at 24 hour Fitness. I went to the Zumba classes, then worked out with them. Whew, I was sore! The upside is I got to see Diane strut her stuff with the weights. She's buff!
Dad and Eric drove to Utah on Tuesday and Wednesday. They brought couches from Grandma Hart's house to give to Diane. The blue leather couch from the den, and the green couch from her living room. She bought new stuff. So Diane has more seating space in her living room now, she kept her beige couch and added the green couch. Diane's putting the blue one in her bedroom for now. It was quite a feat getting them on the truck, off the truck, and up Diane's many stairs! Josh helped Dad Diane and Eric get it up there. Unfortunately Dennis wasn't home from work yet!
That night we went out for dinner and then for something fun to do on a super freezing cold night, we went to Trafalga and played indoor mini golf. I won!
Katie and I hung out shopping, getting her hair cut, cooking and baking for Thanksgiving during the week.Thursday was our big Thanksgiving feast with the whole family minus our favorite missionary, plus Brittney. Diane and Dennis offered to house sit for a friend's parents for a week, so we had our feast at their house in Orem. It was a cool house. Downstairs they have a ping pong table and air hockey! Eric learned a few ping pong tricks from Dennis, they played a lot! Some of us went for a walk in the morning, and some of us went on a run, I bet you can guess who did what. It was sooo cold. I kept thinking about Devin in the warm weather and thinking how I'd rather be too hot than too cold.
It was kind of crazy, we made most of the food at Diane's apartment the day before, then hauled everything over to this other house. Then we had to try to find bowls and cooking utensils at their house. Can you imagine not having a potato masher? They don't! But the hand mixer worked great! It was good to be there together, but certainly very different than being in our own home! The good part was spending the whole day together. We definitely missed Devin, and look forward to having him at our family gatherings again!
Friday Diane and Dennis spent the whole day with Dennis' parents and siblings who were all in Utah. Katie and Josh spent some time with us playing our new game, Settlers of Catan and later dinner, and some time with Josh's family, who were all in Utah as well. Saturday, Dad, Eric, Dennis and Diane had their first ski trip of the season at Brighton. Katie, Josh and I saw the paintings by Richard G. Scott on display at Deseret Book. Earlier in the week we went to the Museum of Art at BYU and saw the Carl Block exhibit. Wonderful!
Then we went to Salt Lake and had dinner at a cool Asian restaurant call Thaifoon. After dinner we walked around temple square and saw the beautiful light display. My first time ever! It was cool, and I was surprised how crowded it was! A wonderful finish for a great week!