The Flake Family

It is summer

2011-07-15T20:09:00.000-07:00

Adelle is adjusting nicely from her haircut. She told me she would like her hair long again. It's been nice not to have summer school to maneuver around. Adelle went to the eye doctor and needs a new prescription. She'll have that in a week. Cory is plugging away at school and working on our bamboo. We taught Laur'l how to play monopoly. I don't know if that was such a good idea. She plays hard and shows no mercy. Other than that all is well on the home front.

Finally an Update

2011-06-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

We have been busy beautifying our yard and Adelle has been helping a lot where she can. Although, Cory needs to watch where he throws the bamboo roots. Adelle is a bamboo root magnet. She hasn't been helping much though.....I think she's taking a break to let her bamboo owies heal.

Father's Day was fun. The girls made Cory a cake and I purcased Gnomeo and Juliet and Red Vines to eat while we watched the movie. It is a cute movie. We've been playing Monopoly Streets a lot with the girls on the PS3. In fact, it's their favorite game. They loved playing it with their cousins in Payson so much that we got it for them. Thankyou Allreds!

It has happend. Adelle has given herself a haircut. I rushed her into Benson for a haircut before the missionaries came over for dinner. Thank Heavens Laur'l never did this. She did take a huge chunk out of the front so, needless to say, her hair is going to be short for a while.

Logan is 2 and as 2 as he can be. I am busy keeping up with him. I pray daily that his mollars with come in. He LOVES cars anything. We watch cars every day. He likes to play with his Tonka truck as well. He is very busy trying to be as independant as his big sisters. It's a good thing he has cuteness on his side.

Cory is taking two courses this summer and finishing up one from the spring. We will be so glad when we are finally done with school. I'm excited that I get to play the piano in primary for the next three weeks. Laur'l has a week and a half of summer school left. Summer is here and it is hot! It still beats winter in Flagstaff. We are so glad we are done moving and we have been living in St. David for three years this past May. Time flies.

Coldness in the Desert

2009-10-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

We about froze at Laur'l's soccer game. Logan was screaming, Adelle was shivering, and the wind was blowing. So, we went home and mom and Tina stayed at the game with Laur'l. Laur'l has lost her two front teeth and will be wanting them for Christmas. Dad, Tina, Cory, and Laur'l went to a classic car show in Tucson. Logan is crawling and sitting up. He is quite mobile and he has two teeth now. Laur'l is going to be a rockstar for Halloween and Adelle is going to be Tinkerbell. It should be a lot of fun.

"Yard Work

2009-10-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

We have takled the trees in the yard.

Isn't the cutest when they fall asleep in their toys.

Laur'l and Adelle were excellent helpers with Grandma and Grandpa trimming the trees in the yard.

School Programs and Soccer!

2009-09-18T20:10:00.000-07:00

Laur'l did great at her Constitution program where she had a part and sang songs.

Laur'l LOVES soccer. We are still working on some of the concepts. She kept wanting to visit with the referee instead of play the game when she is on the field; and with some encouragement from "Auntie", running to get the ball to score a goal. The picture above is Laur'l walking and talking with her coach.

She had a scrimmage before her first game. I didn't know they used her ball for the scrimmage. So when she cried because no one was giving her the ball I thought she wasn't understanding the game. I got her happy again and she did alright from there. It wasn't until we were getting in the car to come home that I reallized what was going on. Laur'l said: "I finally got my ball back." I just laughed. She thought because it was "her" ball she should get it back whenever she wanted. She didn't understand what letting them use it for the game ment.

This was a pretty busy week for me. I am entering the season of parenting filled with sports, school functions, and everything else. We had a great weekend. Mom and Dad Flake came down and we had a yard work day. We trimmed all of the trees and cut down the tall grass. Bugga help with the tall grass around the AC unit. We were very grateful for the help. Next week is the primary program and the week after that is conference. There is a get together at the stake center for the General Relief Society Broadcast next Saturday that I am looking forward to. Cory is busy studying for the CPA. Adelle is being two. She defintely has "mine" down. Hope everyone is doing well.

MORGAN AND DADDY'S BIRTHDAY

2009-09-10T13:24:00.001-07:00

We enjoyed Morgan's first birthday at her grandma's house in August.

Logan is becoming mobile too.

This year we celebrated Cory's birthday with Grandma and Grandpa Flake. We had a green cake with green frosting and green candles. Laur'l said it had to be that way because green was her Daddy's favorite color.

Never a Dull Moment

2009-09-10T13:09:00.000-07:00

At the end of summer the kids got to see "Bugga" at the rig in Willcox. Laur'l is doing great this year. She can do everything because she is a second grader. She started soccer this week and is loving every minute of it. Her games start next Wednesday and will be every Wednesday until the end of the season.

Logan is a very happy baby except when his gums are bothering him. He enjoys rolling over and over everywhere. It's looking like his favorite color is green. Ironically that is his daddy's favorite color.

I am glad they all love each other and get along for the most part. The girls and I have a lot of fun doing nail art and playing outside. It's great to have a yard to play in. Laur'l is getting so independant with making sandwiches, taking showers, and helping her little sister.

Cory has will be starting the CPA exam after September 15th. We put 30,000 miles on our Ford Focus is 1 year of work. Between school and kids life stays pretty busy.

How Much Longer 'Til School Starts?

2009-07-21T12:12:00.000-07:00

Logan Likes to lay on the floor and playing with his toys and trying to roll over. Yesterday the girls went swimming in their little pool and Logan thought that was funny enough to laugh at.
Mommy thought the girls needed some exercise so they would be tired and quiet foir the rest of the day. They raced around the trailer a few times and then they went swimming for an hour. And now, they are being nice and quiet watching their shows.

Here's a cute picture of the three of them. Not much more going on with us. We are looking forward to school starting on August 12th. Laur'l will be in the second grade and she is very excited. I think Adelle will be a little lonely and bored once Laur'l is gone at school. I think once Logan gets mobile the boredom will disappear.

Yikes! Half way through July already!

2009-07-17T15:58:00.000-07:00

As a child the summers use to drag. As a parent they are flying by. We have had a really mild summer as far as busy goes. Adelle is being her two-year-old self. Her alias' include: My little tornado and Pirhanna. From dumping out all my hairspray to nailpolish on the kitchen floor under the table I am prowd to say I still have my sanity. Laur'l is growing up a lot. She has been a tremendous help and her imagination has increased significantly. She imagined she was cleaning the bathroom mirror with my airisal hairspray. If you can't tell we are having issues with the hairspray.

Cory has begun the necessary steps towards taking the CPA exam. We are very excited to be getting that done. Me, I enjoy my "little man". Most of the time he's a happy little guy. He smiles very big and love to talk. He is also starting to laugh. I am the compassionate service leader in our ward and enjoy that calling. Hope all is well and everyone is staying cool.

Fun in the Sun

2009-06-27T14:31:00.000-07:00

This is our Saturday afternoon.

This is how Adelle has fun.

Logan has been smiling.

Our family has been having a nice summer. Laur'l has played with friends and cousins and enjoys every minute of it. Adelle is enjoying having her sister home to play with. I have been trying to have fun and avoid ending up in the insane asylum by the end of summer. Cory is busy at work and learning a lot.

It's been a while

2009-06-23T15:23:00.000-07:00

We have been busy with life and summer. Laur'l is enjoying the break and playing with friends. Adelle is enjoying having her sister home. Logan is doing great. He only gets up once in the night now.

This was Laur'l's end of the year concert.

Enjoying the Weather

2009-04-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying the warm weather, Logan, and tax season being over. We are looking forward to blessing Logan and seeing everyone.

Hanging in There

2009-03-14T07:39:00.000-07:00

Hurray another week is done. We've had a pretty okay week filled with normal school stuff and two-year-old messes and situations to be handled. We are looking forward to spring break next week and a visit from Aunt Kathy. Not too much to report hope all is well with everyone else.

Sorry It's Been Awhile

2009-03-07T14:56:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update: Laur'l is doing great in first grade and loving it. Adelle is now 2 and I thought Laur'l was bad I would love to go through Laur'l's 2's again. She is not going to like being de-throned when Logan is born. Cory and I are hanging in through our first tax season. Cory leaves at 4:30 am and gets home at 6:30 pm six days a week. I'm doing the best to stay pregnant. I am on two medications to keep the contractions under raps. So we will see how much farther I get.

Trip to the zoo and Snake attack

2008-09-25T11:49:00.000-07:00

We had some events to talk about to everybody.

Approximately two weeks ago Ann and I went on a date to a restaurant in Benson. Ann has to now meet me in Benson or I have to drive home by 6:30 and then we would have to drive back to benson so we did this way to save time. After arriving home with some groceries, we encountered a suspicious noise as we were taking the groceries into the house. Both of us thought that someone had turned on the drip system and that could explain the noise. But it wasn't that because no one had turned it on. The other possibility was that it was a deadly Rattlesnake (okay I didn't have to use deadly, but it does help the story a bit).

The rattlesnake happened to be 4 feet away from the stairs that we use to go into the trailer house. We were able to enter the house and leave without too much danger as the snake appeared to only be 2 feet in length. Ann turned on the outside light. In retrospect I figured that I should have gotten a nearby shovel and just whack it to death. We didn't do that, but called a Cruzer, a sister in law to me, and she proceeded to try and toss huge stones at it. The snake took one hit and slithered into some weeds around a nearby tree. We had to then get a vehicle close for better lighting. I eventually did get the aforementioned shovel and started to carefully remove the weeds. We found the snake again and by this time cruzer had procured a hoe and proceeded to whack at the head. The snake finally slowed to a point that I was finally able to take the point of the shovel and cut his head off. Phew! Ann and Cruzer then told me to bury the snakes out in back to avoid local coyote and havalina activity during the night. I finally got some exercise. :) Also it did pump the adrenaline some to be face to face with a live rattlesnake after hearing so many stories.

Unfortunately we did not take pictures.

Last Saturday, the company that I work for hired the Reid Park Zoo after hours for the workers and their families' enjoyment. The zoo was quiet and peaceful, but not a lot of animals were active after the park's normal closing time. We did get to see the polar bear playing with a ball in the water. Those animals are huge! Laur'l and I got to feed a Giraffe and we got to eventually see a tiger and some jaguars. The zoo prepared a meal for us which was quite good. My family and I sat next to a Senior Tax Manager and Ann was pleased to start a friendship with her. We were able to help the manager when she experience a low blood sugar moment familiar to those who suffer from Diabetes and help with her nephew. After the meal we sat down in a grassy area to watch the movie Madagascar. It was so worth the heat and trip into Tucson on a Saturday. Our family had so much fun and we are waiting for the next event that will happen on Halloween with the Company.

That is all to report.

Finally I got in to reward the faithful bloggers who watch us

2008-09-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

Well this is quite a forum to post family news. The last posts were made by Ann and now I, Cory, will take the reigns as we don't have easy access to a computer nor the internet at home. Our computer's adapter bit the dust as has our laptop battery months ago.

Our routine has finally become normal, if normal can ever be achieved. We live in Saint David, Az and that is approximately 60 miles from where I work. It is a quiet town with a small school and a church that houses three wards of the LDS Church. The church building is white. There is one service station where we are faithful in buying gas. Our almost daily routine, for Ann, is to drive to Benson, Az, a trip of 15 miles round, to buy groceries and other items. There are two stores to pick from including a small super walmart and Safeway. We have found after one month of purchasing that Safeway still has the highest grocery expenses of Arizona. Our wish pick would have been Basha's, but the closest one is in Tucson. Life stays really quiet when Ann can stay home with adelle and rest. That can be accomplished with a little planning and is the most enjoyable for her. As to her pregnancy, it is a lot more fatiguing than has been in the past two pregnancies and the rest is necessary.

My day starts at 5:30 in the morning with a 45 minute routine that takes about an hour when the kids wake early which has been happening more of late. I jump in to the car at 6:30 and drive into Benson where I merge onto I10 for my morning commute. Many of my collegue believe me to be lacking in judgement for living so far away, but are satisfied when I enlighten them with my excuses. I love books. Anyone who has observed my behaviors growing up and as an adult know this. Raising kids and working has made it very impossible to accomplish any reading, in fact I have finished 3-4 books of leisure since getting married four years ago. My passions has been resurrected in the form of Books on CD. I listen to these books the whole time I commute. This is my saving grace and the opportunity to have a great job yet still live in the slow easy feel of a small town. All those who are envious are welcome to move to Saint David and work in Tucson with me. :) I am currently working on Dune the book. I read this in High School and it is wonderful to be reading it again. One of my next books will be the seventh Harry Potter, and all of these books come from the Pima County Library. I am now a tax accountant following a dismal career in education. I work for Beach Fleishman P. C. in Tucson, Az. They are local to Southern Arizona and have no need to leave. So I will not have to travel as a result of business.

Ann enjoys living at home to be with our children. We live next door to her parents, and still at home youngest daughter. She enjoys books as well, but also doesn't find the time to read. Her birthday present came early this year, it is a book on CD. :) She will now start to read during the day in the same way I do. Her time is spent caring for adelle.

She is shown here at our labor day vacation at Alpine, AZ. Ann also enjoys some children programing on the TV during the day. Ann excercises by walking to and from the bus stop (1/10th of a mile) to drop off and pick up Laur'l. This happens every school day at 8am and 2:30pm.

Laur'l, after a consultation with the special education director of St. David Schools, was put into 1st grade. She was, at the time of consultation, able to read a little bit and write most numbers and alphabet. She was hurt at first as she had to leave Kindergardon with a good friend that could not advance with her, but she sees the friend at recess and at lunch and on the bus. She gets homework every night except fridays. We as parents get to sit down with her to do them. Sometimes she is even willing to do her homework without our bribes. :) She loves spending time with us and her Grandparents next door, but all know that she loves the latter a little bit more. :) Laur'l loved going to Alpine this year as she always loves to spend time with the Webers. She is getting big enough and responsible enough to be able to go outside by herself. She also got to hold a new cousin there.

She is shown with Morgan Weber, Gary's first daughter.

Adelle is most happy when we are all at home together. She is bored somewhat when Laur'l goes to school and is really excited when she waits at the bus stop. She has said before "waurel, waurel" when she sees the bus coming. How cute! She is always excited when I get home from work at 6:30 pm and enjoys her Daddy time. Even more cute! [I recognize fully the bias of the writer:)] She almost has all of her teeth and has earned the nickname 'piranha' from her grandfather. During the Alpine trip I took her on a ride on the Quads that my father-in-law owns and provides during our vacations there. She loved the first ride yelling excitedly when I prompted her as we rode. She must have been tired when I took her out the second time shown here.

Here is a recent family picture from the same trip. Thankfully my mother-in-law took pictures and emailed them to us so that I could update our blog.

Here is the end of out post and updating of our blog.

Sorry it's been so long

2008-07-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry it’s been a while. Three out of the first four weeks we were here were spend being sick; and, one of those weeks all four of us were sick at the same time with colds. One of the reasons we were so excited to leave Flagstaff was to get away from the sickness. So, life hasn’t stopped changing for us since we moved here two months ago.

After a lot of change we will be staying here until further notice (We found out how much we are going to be paying for health insurance). Laur’l has been having a fun summer playing with friends and visiting with family. Adelle is growing like a weed. She has been appropriately nicknamed “piranha”. We’ve been busy getting things ready for Cory to start work and are so very happy the majical day is almost here. We’ve also been enjoying the monsoon season and the wonderful smelling rain it produces.

The girls thoroughly enjoyed the Fourth of July festivities. The parade was the longest it’s been in a while eventhough they scrimped on the candy. We had a barbeque and watched the fireworks. All-in-all it was very nice. We are now looking forward to a family reunion in Pinetop and to finally see the inside of the Snowflake Temple.

The lastest from Us

2008-04-27T16:24:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce that we are sooooo done with school and that we survived our first tax season. Cory's last final is on May 8th and then we will be moving to St. David on May 10th . We will be living there until permanent arrangements are made. Cory's first day at Beech, Fleischman will be July 14th. We are very excited about that as well.

Adelle has perfected the art of walking, falling, and the ever popular "goose-egg-on-forhead" techniques. She just finished a huge growth spurt. She is a bottomless pit when it comes to eating. Sometimes I think she eats more than Laur'l. She loves her toys and stuffed animals. About a week ago Adelle's third and fourth teeth broke through, not her two front teeth; but nonetheless, we are happy for more teeth than two. And, I was very excited to see that the first of her two front teeth had broken through today. She wants to eat so many things, but she has no teeth to eat them with and I'm running out of things I can feed her.

Laur'l has come to grips with life and loosing her first tooth. It was a bit scarry in the begining until we discussed Grandma Weber's tooth pillow, The Tooth Fairy, and the quarter she leaves at night. Now, loosing her teeth is an exciting thing; but, I am only allowed to look at it on Fridays. Right now everything happens on Friday in her life.