Los mariachis NO cantaron!

 

 

Daniel's birthday in the D. R. is on January 21 a day of " La virgen de Altagracia!" a Big Holiday. It is so nice because at least that one day he does not have to work right? not a chance. He had to work on some papers for the Elders who are going to have some important meetings but eventually in he afternoon he was free to take a fellow from Salt Lake to dinner while he is visiting the DR I was not going to go to it because I thought it was work related but when I saw another wife going I got ready real fast; after all it was my husbands's birthday. We went out to a restaurant on the beach in Boca Chica, about 40 minutes from Santo Domingo. Driving that far you hope it is real good and it was. This was the perfect setting to have the waiters come to sing happy birthday to Daniel so when I told our waiter we were celebrating my husband's birhday he immediately said NO I don't like that! ok that was akward, but I understand his point of view, this was supposed to be a meeting with this fellow and not a celebration of him turning 59. I have learned to accept him being a little shy and not at all like my family who turns every birthday celebration into a huge party and a big deal!

Los mariachis cantaron

It's my birthday on January 3rd right after the Holidays. My family was still in town so I decided to celebrate it along with a dear friend, Marha Diaz who has a birthday on January 1st and Daniel who has his bithday later in the month. We invited a few of our friends to help us celebrate but the best thing about celebrating birthdays is to actually have a mariachi band sing you las mañanitas. A Flores tradition to celebrate birhdays in a big way!

New years party!

 Happy new year! What an epic vacation it was for Daniel and me to be with Cristi, Brooks, Nixon and Beckett. Bianca and Joe and Mandy and Spencer. I was so happy they finally got to see where we  live and what we do. We didn't even needed to go to another party because we were enough to do our own and we did. Bianca and Joseph's flight got cancelled and had to stay 3 extra days and I was not at all too sorry about that!

Vacation at the beach

You can't come to the Dominican Republic without going to the beach! So far we have gone to Punta Cana, Bayahibe, Cabarete and Juan Dolio. All beautiful and all offer different things. At dreams in Punta Cana I love to cayak. At Cabarete Daniel likes to body board and at Juan Dolio we love to just relax and read a good book. The marbella condos have beds right on the beach to lie down for a nap. They have a nice playground for kids and a huge swimming pool. This was a nice reunion for our girls who live so far away from each other. It was also a nice get away ftom the cold.

Chritmas 2013

On Chritmas Eve we invited the Flakes and the Whitakers for Christmas Eve, made name tags for our guests and had a lot of food prepared. They all excused themselves. Sister Whitaker was ill and the Flakes had been to other places celebrating and could not  come so it was Vale, Daniel an me but we had fun watching movies. As empty nesters living so far away we have to get used to the idea that we might have to spend Christmas by ourselves.

Navidad Brillante!

For the very first time the park accross from our home has night life! Lights come on around 7:00 pm and are off by midnigt. The lights started on Dec. 1 and will continue to Jan. 7th. These are very bright lights and there are thousands of people that come every day to look at them so to say the least it has been a little crazy with cars on a street that never has any traffic. We had the Church choir performed and even brought the bell ringers from Puerto Rico. The Dominicans have never seen anything like this at this park or anywhere in the island.

Spending quality time

This was by far one of the best Thanksgiving days ever. The wheather was so nice around Thanksgiving and that made it possible for Cristi and family to drive from Idaho considering that it got snowy and cold the following week.

We were picked up by Hernan and taken to their apartment on Saturday Nov. 23rd. the next day on Monday went to church with them. On Monday we were closing on our new home/investment at the prestigious City Creek development. Our dream came true finally to own a nice place there. We took a loss on the sale of Park City and were short so had to borrow about $80K but we think in the long run it will be a nice investment for us and we could end up living there eventually.

We brought some of our things from the storage unit and furnished the apartment the best we could. On thursday we spent Thanksgiving with Andres and family and went also to visit Rachaels family in the evening. The next morning we went to do our black Friday shopping to buy a TV dinning room set and the washer and dryer and a lot of our Christmas shopping 14k later we were set.

On Friday we went out to see the lights at Temple Square which is always such a treat. Gave our gifts to the grandkids and sent out the rest of the gifts also. We also met with a woman who was going to install the closets and spoke to a fellow who could look for potential renters but we only want the best people we could possibly find to live in our condo so we are not in any hurry.

99 W. South Temple #1705

Yes, after spending hours and hours looking on line at investments in Miami Vs. Salt Lake City, we opted to invest in Utah for the 4th time. This is it and we are so happy! We got the most beautiful sunset and city skyline views from our living room and bedroom. We are so close to the airport that we can see when planes take off and land. We are next door to City Creek mall, restaurants, Abravanel Hall, Energy Solutions Arena, Salt Palace, Temple Square, Church office building, Conference Center BYU Center, and Gateway mall. We are minutes away from biking, hiking and all the world renown ski resorts. Not to mention the University of Utah museums and the Zoo. All in all we can't beat the location. This is one blessing for sure we will always be thankful for.

Mateo Alejandro Meraz Flores

On November 10th our family wittnessed a miracle. A wish we all had been waiting for the past ten years became a reality. Vanessa and Alejandro became parents for the first time to a precious angel. A gift from God and a testimony that prayers were anwered and miracles do happen. He is so lucky to have been born with a mom and a dad and an extended family who will care for him and love him.

October conference 2013

  What a wonderful opportunity to come every October to listen to General Conference. We were sitted on the plane by Elders Valenzuela's mother from Guatemala who was so proud of her son speaking. I am going to review all talks before the next conference in April to be reminded of their wonderful counsel. I particularly love Elder Soares talk because he had told us that same story of brother Mahlangu in South Africa at a dinner with Tim Sloan and the DTA's. Ulisses Soares is one the nicest guys we know. This as always was a busy time for us, getting to doctor appoitments, signing the closing for the Park City Hotel condo and Daniel's colonoscopy. It was something Daniel was not too excited about and I don't blame him. The night before the procedure, I honestly thought he was going to die but all went well.