Flake Family Reunion 2017

It had been two years since my immediate family had all been together, so we were very excited to have a reunion this year! Even better, a reunion in the beautiful state of Montana! All 62 of us fit comfortably in this awesome lodge!

The first night we sat by the campfire for some great family history stories told by my dad. 

Then we had a musical number by the five oldest siblings...the number they performed when they were in elementary school at the talent show. They sang 'It's a Hard Knock Life'. Pretty entertaining!

Then my mom had all of the grandkids hold their numbers...all 38 of them! It was very difficult to get a picture with such a wiggly group!

Emily was so happy to have so many girls to play with: Delaney, Caroline, Emily, and Alice.

The girl cousins coloring pictures together on the bunkbed. Pretty cute!

That evening, after the little ones were in bed, we played an intense game of Family Trivia. Bethany and Paul went all out with buzzers, a power point, and everything! I knew so many answers, but sadly I didn't win...

 On Saturday we spent a lot of the day at the lake.

Thanks Sarah for taking these cute pictures of Leslie!

Leslie wasn't too fond of the canoe, but Emily loved it! We went all the way to this island across the lake.

 The scenery was so breathtaking!

 We made it to the island!!

When we got out of the canoe, Emily didn't miss a beat and started singing Moana, "See the line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me!"

Emily with her cousins Merrody and Eden.

 Justin really showed us a fun time!

On the way back to shore, both Leslie and...

Emily fell fast asleep!

Abby with Greg

Ammon holding Abby...all of my kids fell asleep, so I took full advantage of that!

I went on the floating trampoline! The water was FREEZING, but it was still a good time! That's me jumping off!

After being in the sun, everyone was pretty tuckered out!

By the evening, everyone was up and ready for more fun!

Mom, Dad, Abby, and Adam.

Me and Sarah

The sisters (minus our youngest sister Cassidy who was very sick and pregnant). In photo: me, Ashley, Bethany, Heather, Sarah, and Whitney.

Emily and Cheyenne enjoying some carrot cake after dinner.

That night we had a family karaoke night. No karaoke night would be complete without some good ole N'Sync. 

At the end we all got up and sang 'I've Got Friends in Low Places'. Good times!

Emily put those cute flowers in her hair!

Abby and Mom

It was a great reunion! We can't wait until the next one!

June Visitors

Who knew the Discovery Center could be so much fun?? Thanks for taking this awesome picture, Melanie!

On Tuesday, June 27 my sister Whitney and her family came for a visit. My girls loved playing with their boy, Darius! 

On Wednesday we made sack lunches and took them to the park. The kids were in heaven...

Happy little Abby!

Leslie's leaf

She is getting so big. She just turned 15 months old!

I think she likes me!

Since Whitney and Adam live in Texas, we don't get to see them very often. It was so fun to hang out for a couple of days!

To end off the visit right, we got ice cream at Delsa's. No complaints here!

My brother Derek and his family also came to visit for a couple of days. We had a lot of fun with them and their two boys. We walked around Hyatt Hidden Lakes Reserve AKA the gravel pit and had great talks. 

The kids liked looking at the ducks.

To end off the visit right, we got ice cream at Delsa's. No complaints here (and yes, I did get some funny looks because I had been there the day before!!)

In the Merry Month of June

On Saturday, June 3 we got up at 6am and drove to Paragonah, Utah for the Gunderson (Greg's mom's side) Family Reunion. We stayed in a cabin that was the perfect size for everyone and just about all of the relatives were able to attend!

Greg is the oldest cousin on BOTH the Gunderson and the Burr side. Here he is with all of his Gunderson cousins. 

The Burr grandkids (and me): Abby, Leslie, Joel, Emily, Vanessa, and Meric. This fall there will be THREE more!

Emily with her cousins Meric and Vanessa.

Joel, Emily, Vanessa, and Meric.

Grandpa and Grandma Gunderson with their great grandkids (and Krista). 

Greg had fun playing games with his cousins and brother Eric.

Here is Greg with his four siblings. Yep, they are definitely related! In picture: Aubry, Greg, Eric, Rachel, and Malerie. 

Our little family...some day our kids will learn how to smile during pictures. It was a great reunion with great food, visiting, games, and the not-to-be-forgotten lip sync competition. Lets just say Greg performed a Spice Girls song with his brother and brothers-in-law. Although we weren't able to stay at the reunion long, we were glad we were able to come!

Emily started swim class a couple of weeks ago at the YMCA. She is progressing and LOVES her class (and her new watermelon swimsuit). 

After her first week we took all of the girls swimming at the YMCA. It is difficult to go swimming with three little kids when none of them can swim, but we all survived and turns out, they are all cute!

We bought Emily this awesome magic clip Sleeping Beauty doll and told her that if she did everything on her chart for 2 weeks she could get it. It was awesome! She cleaned the toy room, made her bed, cleared off the table, did service, etc. We were so proud of how hard she worked! Now we have to figure out how to get her to do that stuff ALL of the time!

Emily and Leslie in pigtails.

Leslie and Abby playing in the grass at the park.

Abby LOVES playing with baby dolls. Unfortunately this doll is her favorite and it cries all of the time... it totally throws me off!

She is the cutest and most playful when she is supposed to be in bed...

My mom was showing me some pictures from her yearbook the other day and left it at our house. I came across this picture and had to put it on our blog. Don't you think we look alike??

Greg and I went on an awesome date on Tuesday night to 'The Phantom of the Opera'. It was an amazing performance and always so fun to go out!

Thanks Joel for the awesome tickets! We had a great time!

 Just in case you needed to see another cute picture...

 "Look mom, I can drink out of a straw!"

Unfortunately she lets me know that she is done eating after she pours the remainder of her water all over her. I guess I'm happy that it's water and not something sticky or that will stain.

When I was a kid my mom made me, Whitney, and Ashley name sweatshirts (I still have mine...it's a little small). So, we decided to do it for our girls. I couldn't get a normal picture of them in the shirts, but at least their personalities really come out in this picture!!