every five years, my mother’s dad’s side of the family [the rehders] hold a family reunion for the six siblings [one of whom was my grandpa] and all their kids and grandkids and now great-grandkids!  there are somewhere around 80 of us all now, and amazingly, despite people living across the US and beyond [we have family members living as far as alaska and england, currently!  and they made the trip!], a good majority attends the reunion.  it’s pretty neat.

this year, the reunion was in okoboji, iowa – the site of the first reunion 45 years ago.  it was a little hard to get to, but well worth the flight + drive.  i loved getting to see everyone… it’s crazy what changes in five years!  the babies are no longer babies and the first great-grandchildren of the group made their introductions – my cousin ashlin married dan last september and his daughters are the only great-grandchildren of the family… for now.  ashlin is pregnant with great-grandchild #3, and something tells me that there be some other little ones at the next reunion too!  it will be fun to see how that plays out.

the rehders spent this reunion golfing, eating, drinking [there were a lot of kids in their 20s if that gives you any idea, haha], boating on lake okoboji, tasting different moonshines [thanks to uncle paul and aunt janene who brought it!  great idea!], and playing soooooo many board games/card games!  i’m not much of a board game player, but it was really nice catching up with everyone, and those game players sure had a grand time!  they were fun to watch.  i was super happy to have my buddy [jamie] :) who likes to make watermelon mules and take walks and chat with people so we did a lot of those things.  we also slipped away for a couple hours to get drinks with the one groomsman that i hadn’t met yet, trent.  he lives in iowa, and the reason i hadn’t met him yet is that he’s in the national guard and just returned from an assignment in syria.  it was great to meet him and so crazy to hear his stories.  a special shoutout to trent for serving our country.

surprisingly, i didn’t get too many pics at the reunion [most of these came from priscilla… thank you so much for sharing, P!], and so i decided it would be fun to post a little flashback to the last reunion in brainerd, minnesota first:

{this was a fun setting for a reunion.}

{brother bear on the boat!}

{we stayed in these neat cabins next to the lake}

{laying out}

{my sweet little megan!  she’s grown up so much since this picture!}

{megan and liesl playing!}

{sand volleyball in the evening}

{mimi and her grandchildren [missing arend]}

{the girls!}

and now, the 2018 pictures:

{boating!  we have allen, greg, debbie, christina, and my handsome man jamie there in the back!}

{in the front is polly, carol, mike, ashlin, zoey, and me.  passengers not pictured:  mom [taking the picture] and stella!]

{mike and ashlin [and baby zeke, who is due right around the time jamie and i get married.  so exciting!]}

{moonshine tastin’}

{mike and liesl bonding over this cute puppy!} :)

{ava made this family tree, and i took a picture for future reference of our ancestors!  i hadn’t heard the names of my great-great-great-great grandparents before!  that is too cool.}

{close-up pictures}

{a pre-pool selfie in the hotel room, because a.) we’re patriotic, and b.) we’ve been working so hard on our honeymoon bodies!  trying to keep it going for a few more months!!}

{these are all the blondes!  it’s funny because i don’t really think of myself as one [most of the time…] since i had darker hair when i was little and now i highlight it, but i was summoned when they took this picture!  both my hair dressers have told me, you’re definitely naturally blonde, just dirty blonde.  so that explains some of my ditzy moments! ;) ;)  but as you can see by the number of kids in that photo, the rehders are predominantly blonde!}

{golden hour}

{the people who started it all!  missing papa…}

{and the grandkids!  we sure have grown in numbers!} :)

{our family}

{jamie doesn’t look too enthused in this one…}

{…but luckily we got another!  it should be noted that we won third place in rehder family trivia.  pretty much all because this man is a very lucky guesser!}

{mike and priscilla}

{mom, mimi, aunt carol, and uncle mark}

{siblings}

{the entire rehder clan!}

{breakfast at this fun little place off the beaten path!}

{we flew out of omaha, so we all met for a late lunch at plank seafood provisions in the old market district before our flights.}

thank you to reid and christina for putting on a wonderful rehder reunion!  can’t wait to see everyone in 5 years!  xoxo