A wedding, a baptism, and a reminder

This last weekend Matt's oldest sister, Sandy, got married. Our niece, Katrina, and Sandy's now step-daughter, Ella, were the official flower girls but every little girl in attendance (and there were many) got to wear a little flower crown and walk down the aisle as a flower girl too. They sat down right in the front and I could see that they all felt so special, it was very sweet.

The wedding was in Sanger at the home of one of Sandy's friends. It's a gorgeous property out on the Kings River with amazing views. We chose not to take our kids because I was in charge of the dessert table and I didn't want to worry about watching them all being so close to the water.

During the ceremony Sandy called Ella over to make vows to her also. Before she even starting talking my eyes were welling up. It was weird because it came from nowhere. I'm sure it took me back to the day Matt and I got married and Gage was there.

Here we are in front of the wine cellar doors.....

It was a great day and I know everyone there was so happy for Sandy and her new husband, Seth. 

The weekend before Sandy's wedding we went down to the farm for Ashlyn and Jay's baptism. It was one of the most rushed trips we've taken for me because we've had a lot going on. Gage had a baseball game the night before we left. He had a great game and earned player of the game that night. The next morning, the day we left for the farm, Gage's class had a field trip to the play Tarzan which I chaperoned. It was a fun little outing for us.

On the bus....

At Tarzan.....

Getting gas before the long trip.....

We went down for the baptism but also to see Tom and Kristi's new baby, Sadie.....

Here are some pics from the day of the baptism.....pictures of the baptism itself were taken by a family friend but I'm not sure when I'll be able to post because they're on film-apparently people still do that. 

I put one of these on Facebook and a few comments came about how beautiful or how cute they are. But when I looked at these, what I admired-was their contentedness. The babies were so sweet. Even without having breakfast they were great through the service and even to take pictures afterward. 

Lately there's been a lot of sad news coming in; nothing bad has happened to me, just around me. It has inspired many thoughts, some of which I've wanted to share. But every time I would start to write them I'd start to share the stories-and those aren't entirely my business to share. Many of the sad stories have consumed my thoughts so I haven't been able to write about anything else either. 

What I can say is that between seeing those content little faces in the pictures above and all the sad news, I've been lead to something. I've been reminded of the importance of teaching my children how live a life of contentedness. So next time I'll be back with more joyous thoughts on that, I promise.  

Until then.....

Love.