Mozart Requiem

The Idaho Falls Symphony performed last evening in the Idaho Falls Civic Center.  As part of their concert, they invited three local high schools to perform the Mozart Requiem with the symphony.  Madison High school was included in this opportunity along with Bonneville and Hillcrest High Schools from Idaho Falls.  It was a great opportunity for the students to prepare such a large, glorious work for the communities.  Sarah and Dave performed together with about 150 other performers.  The conductor is new this year.  His name is Thomas Heiser.  He displayed great energy, musicianship and innovation as he led the participants in the concert.  Catherine and I were in attendance.  We enjoyed the beauty and emotion of the music.  Catherine wasn't sure that she would enjoy it as much as she did.

Spring Break

On Friday morning during our Spring Break we woke up to 4 inches of snow.  It was quite a surprise.  Our spring break began on Thursday and will continue through tomorrow.  Today (Easter) has been a lovely day with a lot of sunshine and melting snow.  We attended church where I taught the eight year-olds an Easter lesson.  Dave taught his Sunday School class focusing on Enos, Jarom, Omni and the Words of Mormon.  He teaches about fifteen16-18 year olds.  He says they are a good class and participate willingly.

We enjoyed an Easter Dinner consisting of Cafe Rio Salad and a rejected cake from our neighbor's home. Kirsten feasted on a dinner provided by her ward at BYU.   It was testimony meeting in our ward.  I really enjoyed hearing a collection of testimonies directed towards the Savior.

On Friday evening, Camille graduated from BYU-I with an associates in nursing.  We attended the Commencement meeting where Elder M. Russell Ballard spoke and then we attended the convocation.  Camille accompanied a group of nurses as they sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing".  She graduated magna cum laude.  Both grandparents were in attendance as we celebrated this occasion.  She will now continue forward to obtain her Bachelors in Nursing with only 19 more credits to earn.  Her plans are to have one more graduation in December where she will receive that degree.

Sarah has decided to be a student at BYU-I starting Fall semester.  She gets to live with Camille in the same apartment for one semester.  They are excited to spend a bit of time together.

I accompanied a pretty intense cello senior recital last Tuesday.  Together we played the Frank Sonata and a speedy, jazzy tango.  I enjoyed the experience very much.  It is fulfilling to me to build upon the talents I have spent many years developing.  This past winter semester I accompanied three senior recitals which consists of a good amount of music.   I am getting to know a lot of string repertoire as most of my accompanying is for string players.

Sarah is sewing ballet costumes for her final ballet recital.  It is quite an undertaking as she is putting together a costume for each sister.  The sisters have danced together in their senior solo each year one has graduated.  This year they are dancing to Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas with brightly colored costumes.  Should be a good memory!!

Tidbits of info

We enjoyed three concerts this week.  Catherine and Sarah both had orchestra concerts and Sarah and Dave had a choir concert.  It is the end of 2nd semester so this is how they are able to showcase their accomplishments for the semester.

Doug and Carol Ladle (very good friends) returned home from their mission in South Africa.  Dave saw them in church so they were able to connect for a very short time.

Matthew participated in the pinewood derby with a "BYU car".  Unfortunately it wasn't a very fast car.  We tried to help him realize that he wasn't last every time!   Dave also helped a neighbor boy, Dylan Lewis, with his car.  Dylan was able to win at least one first place race.  The scout committee hired a guy to set up the track for the derby.  It was quite elaborate with a computer that marked each car's finishing time.  Pretty fancy!

Camille graduates with her associate degree in nursing on April 6.  She just finished her last clinical this past week and is beginning a large amount of studying so that she can take the test that officially allows her to be a nurse.  She takes the test after graduation.  Camille performed in her Music 158 piano recital.  We always love hearing her perform.  She performed a Prelude by Rachmaninoff.

We are looking forward to my brother Allan's wedding coming up on April 21st.  He is marrying Marta Freitas.   She is from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  It will be so great to finally meet her.   They will be marrying in the Logan Temple.

Kirsten has had an overwhelmingly busy two weeks writing lengthy papers, taking tests, and trying to fit everything in with her job schedule.  Finally, on Thursday some of the stress ended and she was able to breath a little less frantically.

Spencer is feeling challenged in his math class.  Dave is currently helping him get a handle on the situation.  Finally, after much frustration on Spencer's part and patience on Dave's part, he is getting a handle on finding percent increases and decreases.  Hurray!!  Now hopefully he can remember the process has he completes his test tomorrow.

Catherine enjoyed a youth dance one week ago.  She was very thrilled to be asked to dance by several nice young men.  She also performed in her violin recital as I accompanied her.  She had the entire piece memorized and played very well.

Sarah finally answered Chris to the commencement dance.  He asked her one month ago on her birthday and she answered him one month later on his birthday.  She had him perform several tasks throughout the school day such as breaking a toothpick with just a few fingers and playing a tune on the recorder.  At the end of the day, he received a plate of cookies and an answer stating "Yes" to the commencement dance.

As for me,  a couple of weeks ago I had a gum graph on a tooth located next to my implant, which I had about 10 years ago when it was decided that it needed to be removed.  (The tooth was injured from a fall while I was in Jr. High.)   I had been bothered for several years with the receding gum.  So I decided to have this procedure and I am really happy with the result.  Even though the gums are still pretty puffy, I am glad that I went ahead with this and now I  feel more comfortable with my smile.

And there you have it, a few of the "Hinck Happenings".

Boise Visit and Cousin's Wedding

We have been on the road the last two weekends spending time with family.  The first weekend we traveled to Boise.  Our excuse for going was the annual trip to Boise made by our high school basketball team.  Truly, many Rexburgians make the annual trip to the state capital so they might cheer on the boys.  Last year, our team was the 4A state champion.  This year they were awarded 2nd place after losing to Rigby,  our rival 15 miles to the south.

The real reason for going was to see Matt, Jo, Harper and Hank.  Since our last trip to Boise, they had bought a home.  So we were excited to spend time with them and see their new abode.   We arrived late Friday evening.  We awoke the next day to a delicious breakfast prepared by Matthew and spent the rest of the day enjoying the warm Boise air and then attending the championship basketball game.  Sunday we attended church together and then enjoyed a scrumptious meal before hitting the road back to Rexburg.

The next weekend, we met family in Salt Lake City to attend the wedding of my cousin Jacob Beckstrand. Before the reception, we traveled to Provo where we were lucky enough to be in attendance at a small performance given by BYU Women's Chorus with Kirsten singing first alto.

Both weekend excursions were very memorable occasions that we will always hold dear.

Boise 

Jacob's Wedding Weekend Begins Here...

Kirsten (middle row, second from right) sings with the BYU Women's Choir at her performance on March 9th.

Kind of blurry, but awfully cute!