Sarah Kate's Baptism

Isn't it great?

Sarah Kate 

has turned eight!

Roger and I were tickled to get to return to Mesa and participate in Ryan and Emily's youngest daughter's,

 our granddaughter, Sarah Kate's, baptism.

Her oldest brother, Pete, got to baptize her.

Her daddy, Ryan, is on crutches recovering from surgery on his hamstring.

Sarah's excited family

Grandma Pam and Grandpa Roger adore our Sarah!

Sarah asked me to speak on Baptism 

and I shared about when I was baptized in this little back woods LDS church. 

It had originally been owned by the Southern Baptists. 

They lifted up a big trap door on the stage that was covering the baptismal font 

and Daddy and I walked down steps into the cold, dark water. 

It was very different from our light, warm-water fonts today.

Grandpa Gabrielsen, Patty, Dad, Grandma Gabrielsen, me, Mom and John

(This was taken at Christmastime, because Patty and I thought our Mary Hartline dolls we had just received from Santa should be in the pic!)

It was a special bonding experience for brother and sister!

Grandma Susan and Grandpa Paul are also so proud of this great family - 

Sarah was so happy to have both sets of grandparents with her.

We took these pics before the program started, and here are some of who came, including Gilbert cousins, Emily's sister, Liz, and husband, Mike, and Emily's brother, Jim's, mother-in-law, Bonnie Quigley, who was babysitting Jim and Katie's kids while they were away celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary. Tom, Stacy and kids were also there, as well as many friends.

Sarah was so happy - 

her brother baptized her and her daddy confirmed her into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

One last hug for her big brother!

Ryan and Emily are raising a very special little girl!

Ryan and Emily hosted a little get-together afterwards at their home.

Sarah requested that her favorite, yogurt parfaits, be served.

Emily and I made fresh granola that morning before the soccer games (Sarah's Becca's and Pete's).

There were also delicious cookies (Stacy's famous chocolate chip ones aren't in the pic),

Grandma Susan brought these wonderful sugar cookies in Sarah's favorite color and shapes (butterflies and flowers).

We also managed to squeeze in, as we always do when we visit kids and grandkids, several fun activities.

The night we arrived, the cheerleaders for Mountain View High School 

were holding a fund-raiser cheer clinic for about 200 little kids at the football game. 

It was so fun to watch Anna interact with the littles, especially her little sister!

We also got to watch cute Londyn cheer.

Saturday night we went out to eat with Ryan and Emily and Tom and Stacy.

When we got home, we were entertained by the kids.

Sarah recruited the twins to dance with her to her choreographed version of Believer by Imagine Dragons.

This isn't a clear pic, but they were so darned cute and had us laughing and clapping!

On Sunday night, the Gilberts invited us and Stacy and Tom and their kids to their home 

to celebrate Paul's birthday with a delicious dinner, 

and they served Susan's meatloaf, which is Paul's favorite. 

We had the most amazing pies for dessert!

Paul and Susan made us feel so welcome.

Clark, Christine and kids, who live in SLC, couldn't be there, 

but Paul was surrounded by all of his other grandkids (except Jim and Katie's boy, Alex, who is on a mission)

and he was so so happy!

Paul shows a tremendous amount of love to his grandkids!

We once again feel so very grateful for Ryan and Emily and these special grandkids 

and truly loved spending time with them on this special occasion.