Happy holidays from Holland, where we live now, and from Utah, where we are spending Christmas, and where we still have a house and family! We’re hoping to be able to share some of our experiences with our family and friends through this blog.
From 2005-2007 Dennis had helped arrange the purchase of Wescor by the Elitech Group, a French medical diagnostic company, and that was finalized last year. This March, Elitech’s president asked if he would consider managing another company they had purchased in the Netherlands. For a couple of months there was a lot of discussion, and a final decision was made at the end of May. Dennis, Annette, Andrew, Jessica and Alyna were able to combine a vacation in June with a Cystic Fibrosis meeting that Dennis attended in Prague, and a search for a rental home in Holland. Dennis, Annette, and Alyna made preparations and moved there in August. Dennis is the CEO of Vital Scientific, a $30 million company that makes chemistry analyzers for hospitals, until March of 2010, when he will move back to Wescor. It is quite a challenge to understand the Dutch laws and policies, and help everyone there to achieve the corporate objectives. He is able to use the Dutch language he learned on his mission 30 years ago.
Annette worked as a reading aide at Nibley Elementary School and was involved in the county 4-H sewing camps. In her free time, she kept busy running the home and family and working on quilts. Preparing for the Europe trip and then the move took a bit of time and energy but she still managed to plan and organize a big neighborhood party for the 4th of July and enjoy time with family and friends. It has been a real adjustment and learning experience to move to a new country. She has made some friends in the ward and has been on some fun outings with them. She rides her bike confidently around the village now and has a fairly good idea of the bus system. Her sewing machine was damaged in the move but after a month of patient waiting (and a few hours of Dennis’ time) it is now working and she has been working on a quilt for Lisa.
Lisa finished her last year at BYU and graduated in Recreation Management and Youth Leadership. She is now working for the Marriott Vacation Club in Park City. She began dating Cameron Pace in January and they will be married in May 2009. They will remain in Provo while Cameron finishes up his physics degree at BYU.
Mindy and her husband, Jeran, continue their adventures in North Carolina where Jeran is attending grad school at UNC Chapel Hill. Mindy is working from home for a software company she joined in Logan and enjoys the flexible work schedule and the dress code. Mindy has found that there are sports and physical activities that are enjoyable. Tennis probably tops the list but hiking isn’t too bad, especially in NC where the hiking doesn’t include steep mountain slopes. They were able to make a couple of trips to Utah this year and Dennis and Annette were able to visit them in the spring. They are both working with the youth in their ward, Jeran as a seminary teacher and Mindy in the Young Women.
Andrew returned home from his LDS mission to Chile in January just in time to start school at USU. He had to make quite a quick adjustment as he had a hard time speaking English for a couple of weeks. He also went back to work for Autonomous Solutions where he had worked programming their web site before his mission. Snowboarding, friends and dating took up any extra minutes he had in the day. Andrew enjoyed the trip to Europe and was especially eager to help with the driving whenever we were in Germany (no speed limits on the autobahn.) When we moved to Europe, he eagerly started the “Superpartyfrathouse” at home. This fall he began dating Lindsay Bagley. They’ve gone to all the same schools since elementary school but he didn’t notice her till he was a senior in high school. Andrew and Lindsay are engaged and planning a February wedding
Jessica finished up her senior year at Mountain Crest High School this May, where she spoke at graduation. She thoroughly enjoyed the family trip to Europe, where she was able to put all that high school education into good use by spouting useless information about architecture, art, and history at her siblings. After spending a week with her Aunt Kara in Georgia in August, she moved down to Provo and is now attending BYU. Some highlights of Jessica’s year were running the Top of Utah Marathon and visiting her family in Holland for Thanksgiving.
Alyna turned 16 this spring and was so excited to be able to drive and date. She always has friends around and loves hanging out with the marching band where she is an honorary member. She hasn’t ever been a very great traveler but she had a great time on the trip to Europe. She was not happy about having to move to Holland with her Mom and Dad and it was very hard to say goodbye to her friends, her bedroom, her school……. She is now having lots of interesting experiences; being an only child, new friends, a new school, different food, and being able to sight see. She enjoyed a quick trip to Copenhagen to visit cousins and to London where she got to see Wicked, finally! She is excited for all the weddings and the opportunities to go home. She finishes her school year here in July and then will move back to Utah for her senior year.
Our email addresses are:
Dennis: dbriscoe@wescor.com
Annette: annettebriscoe@hotmail.com
