Schnakenburg Family Reunion 2013

Saturday, June 29, 2013, we held our first Schnakenburg Family Reunion.  It was so much fun!!!  We had a luau theme.  Everyone dressed up.  I believe next reunion, we will have to have more cameras!  We ate traditional Polynesian food consisting of Kahlua Pig and Pani Popo.  We threw in fruit for good measure.

 Lori ready to Party!

 Dad and Rick getting ready to play the "minute to win it game" of  Elephant Smash.

 Diana and Sienna

 Sarah and Diana

 Me getting into the spirit...while shopping for supplies

 Me and Sarah having a "snake sword fight"

 Diana getting into the spirit while shopping for supplies with Linda looking on.

Sienna and Gracie with Sarah performing a "photo bomb" (excellent form!)

 Dinner the night before...Me, Wayne, Linda, Lori, Chris, Carlie, Diana and Jason.

 Look at those coconuts.....Diana was so ready to party!

 Chris and Sarah totally hyped for the reunion to begin.

 Jenni and Diana

 Jason being a good sport in displaying the cooking apron.

 Sarah performing "Face the Cookie"...don't think it made it into her mouth.

 Me and Diana dueling with our snake swords

 Jenni and Chris

 Catie and Lori

 Linda and Cali

 Pam and Sarah

 Zoey and Zayne

 Sharon and Richard

 Abby and Emily

 Gracie and Sienna

 Diana and Jason

 Me and Wayne

 Christie and Tom

 Brian and Luke

 Sandy and Rick

 Ellen and Dad

 Me and Dad

 Diana and Dad

 Justin in all his finery!

 Sarah and Grandpa

 What do you think Grandpa did??

 Jenni and Grandpa

 Alex and Grandpa

 Cali and Grandpa

 Zoey and Grandpa

 Gracie and Grandpa

Sienna and Grandpa

 Chris and Grandpa

 Cousins "It"

 Me and Chris

 Kimmy and Brad

 Carlie waiting for "Mr Right"

 Carlie and Jason

 Justin and Luke

Kimmy and Brad

Diana and Jason playing a "Minute to Win it" game.

Fire Update

Statistics as of June 24, 2013

Homes:  Total Loss 511; partial damage 28

      APPEARS UNAFFECTED 3652

Even though there are lots of lost and damaged homes...the majority of the homes were saved. 

On Thursday, June 20, 2013 the fire was officially 100% contained and many of the Black Forest residents were able to re-enter the area.

The round the clock news of the fire has ceased and life is returning to those fortunate enough to still have a home.

There are several amazing stories of heroism from the work of the fire fighters.  They fought a hard fight and I believe they came out the winners.

Currently there are many other fires in Colorado.  Many coating our city in smoke. There is the West Fork Fire that has burned 75,150 acres with Zero containment (Wolf Creek Pass area west of South Fork).  East Peak Fire that has burned 12,966 acres in the Spanish Peaks near Walsenburg which is 15% contained.  And 6 smaller fires.

Hopefully this fire season will end.

More Fire

We are on day 3 of the fires.  Evacuations cover 94,000 acres--38,000 people and 13,000 homes are affected. As of 12:00 noon,  389 homes have been confirmed as totally destroyed.  The fire is 5% contained and 15,702 acres have been burned.

Most current evacuations:

So many photos are being posted...here is a "summary" of photos.

I cannot imagine the suffering of all these displaced people.  6 of the wards in our Stake are affected. My heart goes out to each and every one of them.  Lucky for us, the wind has carried much of the smoke to the north of us. So, at this time, we are not suffering too much from the air quality...that could change minute by minute as our winds are constantly shifting.

Black Forest Fire June 2013

Another wildfire has hit our city.  This time it is closer to us than the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire.  This fire is in the Black Forest.  Unfortunately, most of this area is in our Stake.  At this point, it appears as though the fire will remain north of us.  We are not in eminent danger.  We do have a lot of smoke....as winds keep shifting. This is what the fire looked like when it first started.  Julie was on the road, took the picture and asked if there was a fire reported.

Our Stake was having their Scout Day Camp in that area.  They were told to evacuate...and at one point were told to STOP gathering your equipment and get out! Shortly thereafter, the park completely burned.

As of Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 4:00 pm this was the map of the evacuation zone. The red is the Mandatory area...the yellow is the voluntary area.  We are still West and South of these areas.

Here are some pictures taken from people in our Stake.

These photos are from a local news site, and are closer to the fire itself:

As of this moment, there are officially 92 homes that are considered total losses.  In their news press, they said that more were burning.  There are over 5700 homes that were evacuated...Not sure how many businesses.