Nauvoo Reunion

After 13 months of not seeing my parents and all but 2 of my siblings, we finally got to be together again! This year our reunion was in Nauvoo. It was a long 13 1/2 hour drive, but totally worth it to see some of our best friends in the world...

We had our share of homemade fun. Matt and a few of the boys bench pressed Greg. Joel was in the contest to see how many of the neices and nephews he could lift.

The ultimate highlight for all of the adults was when we did a session in the Nauvoo temple. The temple president took our family on a private tour to the top of the clock tower (our great, great Grandfather, William Jordan Flake, went to the top of the original clock tower as a young boy and thought the view was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen). We sang "The Spirit of God" at the top. It was beautiful and very moving. Then we did a temple session officiated by my Uncle Dennis and Aunt Deanna, who are there on a temple mission.

I got to meet three neices who were born since the last reunion...

The kids got to be with their cousins.

Carthage Jail was one of the best places we visited. We had a short program where many of the cousins quoted scriptures they had memorized (Merrody did D&C 135:1 and Joel did D&C 128:22). Matt and a few others also sang a few of the best numbers from My Servant Joseph. Then we were able to stand in the rooms where Joseph Smith spent the final days of his life and look down from the window of the prison where Joseph fell after he was shot.

There were some very cool family history-related sights, as well. Merrody and her Grandpa are standing in front of the Webb Blacksmith shop. Merrody's great, great, great, great Grandfather's brothers ran that shop.

Here Merrody is standing in front of a plaque of people buried in Nauvoo. Maybe you can see Frederick and Samuel Flake towards the bottom. They are Merrody's great, great, great Grandfather's little brothers.

On Sunday, we went to church with 800 people!!! I've never seen the sacrament passed to so many. Afterwards, Dillon was ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood in preparation for his upcoming mission and we had a family testimony meeting. So sad to say goodbye to everyone for another year, but it was a great reunion!