July 29, 2007:

What a week it’s been! We packed up the motor home and came down to Grimson’s on Tuesday. The week was spent sweltering in the heat and doing odd jobs to help prepare for the big wedding.

Our granddaughter, Jill Grimson, married mark Ferguson on Saturday, and what an event it was! Hot, likely mid-thirties, but we were able to set up most of the chairs in the shade.

Grimsons have a fantastic yard for weddings, with big old maples shading much of the yard.

Since she was a small girl, Jill has had a passion for sunflowers. Dan and Bryan had seeded about forty acres of sunflowers along the road and down the approach into the yard, and the hot weather brought them out in full bloom. Jill hadn’t seen them since they started blooming, and she just about went ballistic! Fresh sunflowers featured in all the décor for the wedding and the reception/dance, and of course many photos were taken with the sunflowers for a background. The bride, maid of honor and flower girl all had sunflower bouquets, of course.

Al’s and Aimee’s daughter Taryn, age 2 ¾, was the flower girl, and she did her best to steal the show. Actually she did all her moves beautifully, but when the cameras started snapping she couldn’t resist doing a few pirouettes, so the rest of the wedding party just had to wait.

Cathy had brought her dog Freckles, who immediately had to establish his superiority over the yard dog, Spike. Sandy and Blaine had brought two of their miniatures, one of which, a Yorkie about the size of a good-sized rat, decided to tune in Freckles, about ten times his size. Freckles backed off, too! The dogs gloried in the freedom of the farm, and kept people amused with their antics.

The reception, banquet and dance were held at the Wynyard Civic Center . No air conditioning! It had broken down earlier in the week. With the aid of some big fans we survived, but dancing was a pretty soggy affair. The supper was catered by the Swinburnsons whose daughter Aimee is married to Alan Grimson. They did a fantastic job!

The gift-opening today must have been a pleasant affair. I lay down for a nap about 12 and woke up an hour and a half later, after it was all over! After that it was visiting time. A breeze came up making it very pleasant under the trees.

There were six or seven RVs there for the wedding, and we parked out by the grain bins. Because of the bin blowers, there was already big power out at the bins, and Dan’s cousin, Milton, wired in some extra plug ins. All were able to run air conditioners and were very comfortable.

Jill told me she couldn’t think of a thing that would have made the event better despite the heat, dogs and lack of air conditioning. She and Mark were both as happy as could be. After meeting Mark’s family, we were more than ever pleased with her choice of a husband. Strong family values on both sides.