Lindhardt Family Reunion (2012)

Only one year late with this post. These are pictures from the family reunion that Matt and I hosted last summer for my family. There were 42 of us here at our home for 3 days and it was all sorts of fun! 

Everyone arrived the afternoon/evening of Wednesday, August 8th and we kicked off the reunion with burgers on the grill and a birthday cake for Paige. 

The next day was "water-slide day". Here in our little rural town we have what is affectionately referred to as The Redneck Waterslide. A local family of farmers has turned part of their corn field into a very successful business venture: a slip'n'slide on steroids! We rented the hillside for the day and spent almost 10 hours having fun in the sun.

As you can imagine, this slide has its share of risks. We were not immune. Cousin Kinley had her front (permanent) tooth knocked out, followed by a quick drive to an oral surgeon who was able to save the tooth. Aunt Anneke ended the night on crutches after an x-ray at the ER revealed a nasty sprained ankle. Honestly, I just felt very grateful that we walked away with no head injuries.

We also rented a bounce house/kiddie pool for the smaller cousins. 

Nearly everyone competed in the "washer-toss" tournament that was held throughout the day. Here is Nicole receiving a hug from Grandpa after their round. 

Shaun had NO mercy on me and knocked me right into the loser's bracket.

Here is what you get when the girls get their hands on the camera:

The next day we cleaned ourselves up enough to venture into town for a lovely celebration lunch at The Coppermill. This reunion coincided with my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. We gave them a framed picture of a tree in which all of the leaves were each of our thumbprints. It turned out pretty dang cute! My niece Julie and her then fiance-now hubby Cody put together a slide show of pictures from the last fifty years. It was great! Here are my amazing parents on their wedding day (Now 51 years ago!).

And here is what they have become 50 years later:

A picture of the seven of us with my parents:

Our cute little family. This makes me laugh because how am I the only one not ready??

Okay, now I'm ready.

Matt, Spencer, and Claire--done with pictures and ready to move on.

Just some random pictures after family photos

On the last day of our reunion we had the traditional family kickball game. Here are a whole ton of cousins packed into Uncle Tom's truck for the drive to the school around the corner.

The pre-game lineup--all but 2 of the grandkids.

And Uncle Mike doing a High-5 to get them pumped up for the game.

Here is Grandma, doing what she does best!

It was very fun, very tiring, and very worth it! We loved having everyone here and we loved passing the baton to my brother, Tom and his wife. Looking forward to 2014!