August 14, 2009
Dear Fabulous Flake Family,
Thanks for all of you who made such a great effort to come out west for the family reunion. It was so great to be together with nearly everyone! Of course we missed our dear missionaries and a few of the young married couples. Thanks so much Jon and Lesa and Apryl for a job well done. We are already on the countdown for next time. We are so glad that we got a few Rook games in and that no one was injured too badly on the slip and slide. Justin is still complaining about a shoulder injury from the football game.
It was so fun to go to Portland and welcome little baby Alexa to the world. Danielle and Steve are off to a great start as parents. Steve is number one in his dental class of 72. He is just finishing up summer quarter and will now have a 6 week break. They are excited about that. They are going to bless Alexa in Orem at Steve’s home ward over Labor Day weekend on Sunday, September 6. We invite all of you Northern Utah Flakes and cousin Flakes to come a meet her and have lunch with us after.
Lindsey got her release date of November 11, Wednesday at 11:00 AM. She’ll be flying into St. George. We are very excited about that. She may get transferred one more time but she has really enjoyed summer in beautiful Kelowna, BC. I have a scholarship ready for her at Dixie when she returns and will return to school in January.
Dawson and Justin start Dixie State on the 24th of this month. Dawson is excited to get one semester in before he goes on his mission. He will be starting to work on his papers in the next few weeks.
Andrew started as a 10th grader at Desert Hills High yesterday. He is going to be taking physics, woodworking, and a pre engineering class. He is running on the cross country team again and has his first meet this weekend. He keeps growing.
Dan hopes to find some work here this fall. He enjoyed his jobs in Wyoming, California and Hawaii this summer. Dave Suttner just got accepted to law school in Toledo, OH and he will start next week. The family will join him at Christmas time.
I started back to school this week and am excited to be back on a schedule! I used my movie making skills that I learned this summer taking 6 credits to make a back to school video for the kids. I am always trying to motivate them to graduate and move on to tech school or college. I am very proud of all our college going kids this fall. We have a great group who are furthering their education. Good Job and good luck! College is the best place to be during a recession.
Grandma got some good news on a back treatment that they are going to start. She’ll have to have a shot everyday—but we hope that this will really make her back strong. We took her to a concert in the park on Monday night and she had a great time. We love you all and wish you the best in all you do.
Love, Shelly and the Dan Flake family
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Big Island Hawaii Vacation and Work Trip
We visited the big Island of Hawaii from August 2-August 9, 2009. The boys stayed a few days longer to continue working on their job for the Coast Guard. We visited everything from the top of the Volcanoes to snorkeling on the ocean bottom. We traveled every paved road circling the island. We stayed in Hilo which is a beautiful rain forest. We slept with the windows open and listened to the frogs sing their mating song. It rained nearly every night and morning than would clear up. Most of the swimming and snorkeling we did was over on the Kona side of the Island. We saw many turtles and were very excited to swim for an hour with a pod of 20 dolphins. They were amazing. They were about the size of me as they swam beside, under and even jumped out over the ocean. They are called spinning dolphins. There was a young calf with them and we were told that they stay in the bay for protection before going out a night to eat. We stayed in a condo that we rented for only $85. a night and they didn't even charge us tax on it so it was a great deal. We had pancakes at Ken's Pancakes and enjoyed coconut and guava syrup but the rest of the time we ate what we had bought at Costco or off the value menu at Burger King, McDonalds, Subway, Panda, and Jack in the Box. We had a fabulous time.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Datwyler Family Reunion 2009
The Datwyler reunion was held at Duck Creek Campground up Cedar Canyon from July 29-August 1. Dan and I were in charge of it this year and decided to have it down our way instead of at the usual Tony Grove Lake or Bear Lake. The family seemed to like the location. It rained on Thursday but Dan and the boys had put up a huge tarp so we were ok. It was actually a little cold at night but enjoyable knowing how hot it was in St. George.
We hiked, road mountain bikes, road 4-wheelers and enjoyed playing games around the campfire and making some mores. We missed having Danielle and Steve and Lindsey with us and some of Jill's and Scott's married kids. We even tried fishing in the little pond. It was a great time. We especially enjoyed visiting Cedar Breaks and taking mountain hike and looking over the scenic outlook at sunset. Bryan and Wendy came to our house after because they were heading to Lake Powell with Wendy's family the next day. Scott and Jessie came to town to visit her father and Jill and Ron came to St. George to stay with Angie and Bowdin for a night. Jonathon and Morgan, our Flake cousins were able to join us for this reunion. Next year Bryan is in charge!
For more photos follow this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=danflake&target=ALBUM&id=5365186724233670753&authkey=Gv1sRgCLWA5LvLkPzAPg&feat=email
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