In a rustic lodge sparkling with luminaries and thousands of twinkle lights,
surrounded by family and close friends,
while the sun set over the lake,
they said “I do”.
And we celebrated!
It was a beautiful, meaningful, and just plain fun evening!
Our little girl was radiantly happy.
And so are we.
Laura had a couple of small projects she wanted done for her wedding.
Both turned out very cute, but one ended up being something even more.
It started out as an idea from Pinterest – their initials on weathered barn boards.
She found the wooden initials and hoped that a search through our pole barn would yield some neat barn boards that could be used to create the background.
But it didn’t.
So we talked to Papa Jim – hoping he had something in his stash.
He, however, had a better idea.
Remember my Grandpa’s barn that was going to be taken down? It was still standing and had a lot of barn boards.
A quick call to my Uncle Delbert and we had access to all the wood we needed!
But wait – there’s more.
As the guys were cutting away at the boards in the barn – Uncle Delbert told me to run to his Ranger and grab the saw in the back. I carried the old rusty tool back, wondering why in the world they needed it since the nice new saw seemed to be working just fine.
But Uncle Delbert took it, handed it my dad and said, “This was my grandpa’s saw.”
Then the reality of the situation hit me and I grabbed Jan’s phone to record it.
Laura’s grandpa was cutting wood from her great-grandpa’s barn using her great-great-grandpa’s saw to make an original piece to decorate for her wedding and later on her home.
How cool is that.
She doesn’t just have a one-of-a-kind piece, she has a bit of history.
It’s a heritage piece that goes back three generations and is anchored deep in the farm soil of north central Iowa.
Now that’s a pretty neat story to share.
Two weeks from tonight is the wedding.
Two weeks!!
Seriously people – the time just flew by!
The house is starting to look like wedding central and Jan and I have a “state of the wedding” meeting very night to cover our daily to-do lists.
Venue – check.
Invitations – check.
Wedding dress – check.
It was actually the second dress she tried on. Perfect.
She loves it!
Sorry – no peeking till the wedding day!
Bridesmaids, groomsmen, ushers – check, check and check!
Would you believe I even found a mother-of-the-bride dress at a consignment store?
I love it!
Flowers are almost finished.
As are the centerpieces.
Tablecloths, serving pieces, and thousands of twinkle lights are ready for the reception.
There’s still some food to prepare, projects to finish and details to cover, but bit by bit the plans are coming together beautifully!
Which is good – because if the last two weeks go as fast as the previous ones – they are going to fly!
These are precious days, dear friends!
Days to cherish and remember.
The Wedding Daze.
Laura was home this weekend.
Not only did we do some wedding planning – but she packed up more of her stuff to move into their new house.
The tool box I kept tripping on in the attic is gone.
The chin up in the basement that was collecting spider webs no longer lives here.
Her sewing machine that was covered with dust will now gather dust somewhere else.
This is all good.
But we also went through my kitchen cupboards and pulled out everything that was hers.
This was not so good.
She had quite a collection of kitchen tools and accessories that I freely used.
I’ll miss the nutmeg grater, micro-planer and cookbooks.
The sil-pat and custard cups.
The grill pan.
Sigh.
But in the search for her things, we were able to find and pass on to her some extras that I had.
Serving bowls.
A Christmas tray.
And that set of pot de creme cups with the divet in the bottom that makes it impossible to get out the last bite of chocolate.
It makes me smile to think of the two of them sticking their tongues in the divet to lick out the good stuff – just like she did growing up.
So amidst all the new and wonderful things in their first home, there will be some old and familiar ones.
Some heirlooms from home.
And that makes my heart happy.
My niece got married last week!
Talk about exciting!
And – to add to the fun – the ceremony and reception were at my parents home.
On their prairie surrounded by mom’s gorgeous flowers.
And two of my sons were groomsmen.
They’re the handsome chaps on the right.
See those ties?
They were my contribution to the wedding. I made all four of them. It looked like such an easy pattern – I mean really – how hard can it be to make a bow tie?
Ha! You have no ideas how many times I messed up that simple pattern!
And yes – I teared up when I saw Lexie in her wedding dress.
But I wasn’t the only one.
Her aunts and I were a puddle.
Seriously – it was just yesterday that she was a little tike running around Nana’s prairie with my kiddos shooting pretend bears with the bb guns.
And now she’s a bride – walking across that same prairie on her dad’s arm to meet her groom.
Sniff.
They grow up so fast!
This may go down as the our most memorable 4th of July weekend in recent history.
It was by far the most emotional.
We started the day with my nephew’s wedding.
JOY!
It was a precious celebration of answered prayers and God’s faithfulness. And yes, I cried – but they were happy tears!
While the newlyweds took off on their honeymoon, the rest of us shed our wedding attire and moved on to my sister’s for a family cook-out. You know the kind – an All-American baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet kind of day.
Except that instead of baseball – we had contests on the trampoline to see who could catch a leaf with their teeth while jumping.
And instead of a Chevrolet we had go-cart races.
But we did have hot dogs and pie and lots of laughter.
And cotton candy.
And a strange dog that looked remarkably like Lassie.
And while the rest of the country lit sparklers and fire works – we fired a Civil War cannon. Bet that made the neighbors jump! (And no – we did not use Jan’s cannon ball!)
It was a little bittersweet as we said our goodbyes that evening. We knew that we would all be together the next night at my Grandpa’s visitation and again on Saturday for Grandpa’s funeral.
From wedding to funeral.
Tears of joy and tears of sorrow.
Making new memories and remembering old ones.
An emotional roller coaster.
But it was all good.
And God is faithful through it all. The joy and the pain. The happy and the sad.
The circle of life.
One thing I really admire about my mom is her willingness to help out – even with the messy jobs. After my niece’s wedding, she volunteered to wash all the soiled linens. She was telling me about the different things she used to get all the stains out – and I said, “Mom, that’s blog post!” And here it is…
Months, three to be exact, of preparation.
One week to set-up including collecting white sheets & cloth tablecloths for tables & skirting at the reception.
(Why cloth for tables? “Well, Mom, we want to make this barn-like room look and feel like a wedding reception!” so stated my daughter, the mother-of-the-bride. And so it was!)
One romantic evening with a beautiful and memorable wedding and reception that was enjoyed by all 500 people attending.
One day to take everything down, sort and transport back home – thanks to lots of help!
Several garbage bags worth of dirty white sheets & table cloths that came home with us.
Two full days of washing!
What a kaleidoscope of stains – blue frosting & punch, barbecue sauce, root beer & coffee!
My arsenal of stain weapons included Fast Orange
Fast Orange works well on most any stains. Just rub on the spot before putting in the wash. It was on the shelf for cleaning up hubby’s hands after his greasy mechanical projects. I’ve also discovered that it is works really well to take grease spots out of his clothes.
One day I needed to take some cherry juice stains out of my knit top after pitting cherries. Fast Orange was the only cleaning item on my shelf. I discovered it is an all-purpose stain remover for clothes that are washed in warm or hot water.
Oxy Clean powder was left over from my “get out the brown stains in vintage linen” project! It works well when you dissolve it in very hot water and soak the stain for a few hours or overnight.
Simple Green works well on greasy stains. Just spray & wash. We were introduced to this product when the car we had purchased had transported a can of diesel fuel in the trunk. After several treatments we have managed to eradicate that odor!
After treating the stains liberally with my arsenal, I washed them in warm water with detergent.
Taking the tablecloths, which were cotton/polyester blend, out of dryer while still a little damp and hanging them up saved lots of ironing! The skirting sheets were all cotton and will have to be pressed before using again.
Now the sheets are back in drawers. The skirting & tablecloths are folded and stored in plastic bags ready for the next “white cloth tablecloth” occasion!
Happy Laundering!
Nana Shirley
Blue Jeans and Cotton Tees 