Baby Alexa's Blessing Day

Beautiful baby Alexa was given a name and a blessing by her father on Sunday, September 6, 2009. Those who stood in the circle were her father, Stephen Michael Jackson, her grandfathers, Kim Jackson and Dan Flake, her great grandfather, Denzel Datwyer, and her uncles Kim, Brandon and Sean. We should have gotten Dawson ordained an Elder so he could have participated. He turns 19 in December. Alexa was dressed in the beautiful dress that Danielle and Lindsey were both blessed in. It has been in my Cedar Chest all of these years. She was an angle today.

After attending a nice Fast and Testimony meeting we met at the Jackson home and enjoyed a nice lunch at the park in their backyard. We had sub sandwiches, salads, chips, lemonade, and lots of yummy desserts. It was nice to have my brother, Bryan and his family attend as well as Heather and Jenifer, and my parents on my side and Dan's brother Jon, Lesa and their family, and Morgan Gibson and Justin Griffy, Julie's kids. The Jackson's had a number of friends and family members attend as well. It was a beautiful day in the park. We went back to Jon's later and had a nap and then went up to the Troyer's lot up Payson canyon and had a pot luck dinner with all of the Troyer family and a few other cousins. It is always fun to be with family.

Labor Day Weekend in Provo

We headed up to Provo at 2:30 on Friday. Dawson was done with college at noon, Andrew was out for Labor Day weekend and mom is always off on Fridays, and Dan is always ready for the weekend. I baked for three house straight making treats for Alexa's blessing luncheon after church on Sunday. I made Peanut butter bars, mint brownies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, lemon squares, and Shanna Jones' famous ultra rich brownies. I love to bake but don't usually make desserts anymore because I'd just eat them and I can't afford to do that!

Andrew rode the bus up to Provo with his cross country team so we had room to take Sam, Mia and Trent Saaralainen up to visit their dad. We met up with Elyse, their sister at BYU. Dawson stayed and hung out with her and more of their PVHS friends. Theya attended a dance and Dawson got a chance to see what BYU life was about.

We went and bought Krispy Kreme doughnuts for the Cross Country team and took them

and some hats to the Cotton Tree Inn where the kids were staying. It is a tradition for us to take doughnuts to the kids when they are in Provo at EFY or something. Dan and I got a hot doughnut off the conveyer belt while we were there. Good thing that I don't live in Provo. It was very tasty!!

We went to Dan brother, Jon's house and spent the night. We kicked Jonba out of his room! Next morning we went to BYU to watch the Cross Country Meet. It is very exhilerating to watch all of the runners at this meet. The beautiful mountains behind the campus are inspiring. Andrew did a good job and has been on the Varsity team the last two years, even though he is only in 10th grade.

We left right after his race to drive to SLC and pick up Danielle and Steve and baby Alexa who had just flown in from Portland. It was so great to see my little grandbaby again! Danielle requested that we head right to Cafe Rio for lunch.

Ultimate Pig Wrestling!

Planning their strategy!

Andrew, Darrell, Justin and Dawson after the battle!

Jeremiah with the fro, Andrew, Darrell, Monson, Dawson and Jonathon.

Piggy slips away from all of them!

The girl Flake Cousins mix it up in the mud!

Ultimate Pig Wrestling was brought as part of Payson City Onion Days by our relatives, the Troyer Family. Of course our boys were eager to give it a go. Participants have one minute to catch the porker and put him in a barrell, behind first. The fun part is that they are in some extra slippery mud and have to dress up to participate. Dawson, Andrew and their cousins Darrell and Justin entered as team Troglodytes, Cave man. Dan remembered a song from the 70's about Troglodytes and we found it on Itunes. Anyway, it fit the boys and their caveman get up and they went in search of their piggy. The darn hog just kept slipping away until Justin got him in a head lock and the boys each grbbed the pig and they got him in right at the buzzer.
It was a fun, crazy event and I'm sure we'll be back next year to participate!

August Family Newsletter

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

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.

For more photos visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=danflake&target=ALBUM&id=5368147912518996481&authkey=Gv1sRgCILE15zQu5WrLA&feat=email

Hawaii video 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