I can hear the bells {Part 1}

So, the post has arrived! YAY!  Maybe the title of this post should be "So it began" because I'm sharing pictures of the week leading up the blessed event.  

Besides this being an emotional ( hey, my brother is getting married!) trip, it was a wonderful time spent with family, dear friends, and now new family.  I am so very thankful for the time God blessed us with - even though we all ended up getting that nasty cold! 

After going through all the pictures, I realized that this is going to have to be 3 separate posts - I hope you guys don't mind.   

All the credit for these pictures goes to my sister, Abigail.  She did a wonderful job. 

Enjoy!

That steer's name is Bosco and he's a big one!

These donkey's were SO cute, I wanted to take one home.

I loved watching the horses eat on this chilly morning.

Funny faces before church...

Our bunkhouse name.
"Seneca Crane"
Hunger Games fans unite.

A walk in the "park".  

Here we were flying (not pictured) a droid that Daddy has.  It's pretty cool!

My four brothers plus a good friend. :-)

Visiting some cute animals. These two male calves are named, Merry and Pippin. 

A pig!  I didn't even see him until later that day..he likes to hide in the hay.

I think this cats' name was either Tom or Titus.

This was earlier that day.
Here my sister, Emily, is helping type out a photography list. 

I am now typing out a list for the favors.
They were little treasure jars! So cute!

Filling the jars.
Alissa, our new sister, is the one to the right of Emily (left).

On this day it was wet, rainy and cold!  I think the low was 37 or something like.  Coming from warm weather to this weather was kind of a shock to our systems...well the girls that is, not the boys because they love that type of weather.  Well, actually a few of the girls really like the cold, I don't.  I like ma sunshine! :-p

More typing...

Here Emily is helping Alissa fill the jars with the treasures...

Here I am with Alissa punching holes in the list of things to find.
  The whole puncher we were using was
giving us problems!

One down, 35 to go...

Even though I had a smile on my face, I was 
having such a hard time trying the string onto the
jars.  I ended up passing that job over to Emily.

All that's left is for them to be filled...
We were going to fill them with cracked corn, but then they 
had the brilliant idea of using whole wheat!  It looked SO
cute afterwards! 

This was to be the center pieces...all that's miss is the wood
burning...
The circle piece of wood in the center was going to be burnt with
Timothy and Alissa's initials. 
Inside the mason jar are coffee beans with a unscented candle.
It smelled SO good burning! 

Nice photo-bomb, Anna!

All done! :-D

A day later we went down to the ceremony site to check out the arbor the groomsmen built - in one day might I add.  It was really nice because every thing was within walking distance.  The ceremony site; the reception cite, every thing!

Looks like I'm giving some kind of orders...
"Get back your in place!" lol

                                     

They did such a good job on that arbor, no?
The arbor you see off to the right off in the picture was used in
a wedding a few days before.

Trying to figure out the flowers....

"One for you, and one for me."

The lake...

"Hold your breath
Make a wish 
Count to three
Come with me
and you'll be
 in a world of
 pure imagination
Take a look 
and you'll see
Into your imagination."

Here we are trying to get
an idea of how the flowers looked from the other side
of the lake.
"So how long am I to hold this?"

"Why, you shouldn't have!"

Beautiful, inside and out.

Pretty Bitty.

Aren't they pretty?
I LOVE fall colors!

More of the lake...

Here Alissa and I are making eggplant pramesan - Timothy's favorite.
I really look like an Italian here: hunched over the stove, stirring the gravy.
We call "red sauce" gravy in our house.
I really enjoyed this time with Alissa.  There's just something
about bonding over food that gives me chills and brings
tears to my eyes.
Italian enough for ya?

"What can I add to this?"

The rest of the family watching a movie and playing
Mine Kraft while we cooked.

This was earlier that day...us just walking around.

"What are doing with that camera, Abigail?"

"Donkey!"

I thought this was a cool picture...

"In the wee small hours of the morning..."

Sweet and sweeter.

This was the night before every thing started.
We grilled hot dogs, made s'mores, and apples!
(If you're a Narnia fan, then you'll understand the grilling apple reference)
Then we gazed at God's creation in the sky...
Such good times!
"And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day,
and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also."
Genesis 1:16

My brother, Andrew actually took these...

What a fun time we had!  I treasure the moments we spent together...

Have a blessed day and stay tuned for the next chapter, "I can hear the bells {Part 2}".  

Sarah