Family, I think, is one of God's greatest blessings to us. A family loves, supports, encourages, uplifts, comforts and inspires. Families are strong, unique and individual. No one family is ever perfect, mine is far from it, but even though tarnished by sin, we are still a family. My crazy brothers, my amazing parents and each of my aunts and uncles, cousins and dear grandparents. Some are near, some are far, but no matter the distance, we are a family! :)
In May, the whole troop packed up good ole' Harvey (our massive outdated, cumbersome van) and make the 16 hour, 1000 mile (give or take) drive from Iowa to Ontario, Ca. Yup, Dad's Canadian :) For the first time in *years* all of my dad's siblings were together, in the same place, at the same time. Amazing. My favorite night of the entire week's trip. We got pictures. Pictures of the sisters of the family, the brothers, the siblings together and then added the spouses. I think I was the most excited about this rare opportunity to photograph a memory as we are all separated by so many miles
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| All of my dad's siblings. They are standing in order starting with Aunt Ann on the left, then Aunt Audrey, Uncle Andy, Uncle Henk, Aunt Diane, my dad and Uncle Pete. |
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| The three ladies of the family. |
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| There is never a dull moment :) |
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| Better. :) The men. |
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| The spouses included. |
Not only did my dad's family get together this summer, but my mom's family did too! My grandparents 50th wedding anniversary is coming up next month and to celebrate, my mom's entire family got together in Sioux Falls and spent 2 nights in a fabulous hotel together. We played games, swam in the 3 foot pool, biked the Sioux Falls bike trail (well part of the 20 miles of it), we shopped, we watched movies and we sat around the bonfire. To top it all off, we had a delicious dinner at a steakhouse in Renner (I'm not sure this little town would even make the map). I managed to capture a few of the fun memories we made during this weekend.
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| My momma and Amy enjoying the beautiful summer sun. |
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| Dad, Tanner, Jonathan and David waiting for cake! |
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| It was miss Tara-bara's birthday the first day we were at the hotel. We got to watch her open presents and enjoy cake! |
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| Squinkies! |
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| David and Riley |
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| Grandpa is always supervising :) |
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| Oh so typical... |
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| Tanner and David, impossible to get a normal picture outa these two... |
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| Gotcha :) |
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| Happy 50th Anniversary Grandpa and Grandma!! :) |
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| Most of the grandkids |
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| Aunt Robin and her little ladies-Ellie and Emma |
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| Heather and I |
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Love this kid. Still my bud even though hes 15 *I mean 10* |
"And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you" Duet. 26:11 (ESV).
