My blog last week wasn’t very good, and I apologize.  I did explain that I was waiting to talk about my daughter’s wedding.   It was great!  The best part was that Mariah and Alex really enjoyed the entire weekend.  It was filled with family, friends, food and fun, but we were never rushed.  We did not have any crises.  And, we were blessed with wonderful weather.

The wedding really lasted three days.

Thursday was decoration time at the church, tents and barn.  Thursday afternoon was the rehearsal at the little church at Mouse Creek Nursery in Riceville, Tennessee.  (They have fabulous perennials – great quality and variety.)  After the rehearsal, we had a nice, small dinner hosted by the Woods at the Keith Mansion.  (It is a fabulous Bed and Breakfast in Athens, Tennessee with a rich heritage going back before the Civil War.)  Mostly family and a great opportunity to meet extended family.

            Friday morning involved a more organized decorating party of Mariah and her friends and my wife, Lisa, and her friends.  They put the final touches on decorations.  Michael, Charles (Mariah’s brothers) and I went to our cabin at Watts Bar Lake, where we prepared for a welcome party for the out-of-town guests.  Mariah went to college in Montana so she had friends from Oregon, Montana, New Mexico and Maryland.  We had other family and friends from Virginia, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and England.   The welcome party was fun and very casual (ribs, chicken and the fixings), with skeet shooting on the point and Bluegrass Music by Hiwassee Ridge.  We capped the night off with a big bonfire on the point after the sun went down.

            Saturday morning was filled with final touches on the decorations around the tent, barn and house.  The wedding started at 3:00 and it was great!  The little church would not hold everyone, so the plan was to let the children stand on bales of straw and peer through the windows.  Talk about cute!  After I gave Mariah away and went to sit with Lisa, I could see three little heads in the window to my left totally engulfed in the ceremony.

            The most important and most impressive part of the entire weekend was that it was all about Mariah and Alex and they experienced and enjoyed every minute.

            In closing my blog on the wedding, I must tell you about the wedding photographer - Melanie Nashan.  She is from Montana.  Mariah met her at a friend’s wedding.  She travels anywhere and she is really good and surprisingly more affordable than you might think to travel so far.  She became a member of the family.  Her website is www.nashan.com.  If you will go there and click on her blog, she has a posting about the wedding.  After reading it, I almost did not write mine blog because her blog is really good.  Melanie and Taylor Monen practically lived with us for two days.  I need to mention Taylor Monen.  She was our wedding coordinator and her business name is Soiree’s (taylor@soireesonline.com).  Mariah met her in Chattanooga.  She was very good.  I have never seen so much useful organization.  She was persistent but nice and she really helped things come together without a hitch. 

            Best of all, we have a very happy married couple.  We are thankful.

            Change the channel for a minute.  I have a little business I need to discuss.  I had a consumer call today with a problem.  We welcome people to call with problems, because it gives us a chance to solve them.  In this case, I realized we are not perfect.  It involved our Sour Pops 12- pack.  The consumer had purchased numerous boxes over time and was disappointed when the box did not contain 4 Cherry, 4 Lemon-Lime and 4 Blue Raspberry. It seems to me that research was needed so I opened a number of boxes.  I also talked to the folks on the production line and came up with two facts.  First, I was reminded how good Sour Pops are.  I felt like I should taste test each flavor and did.  I liked all three flavors, but I think Cherry was my favorite.  Second, I found out that it is very common for there to be

5 of one flavor, 4 of another and three of the last flavor.  In under- standing how they are packed, all I can say is that if someone buys a box of 12 and they get five of a flavor, I only hope it is their favorite flavor, because we cannot guarantee each box will be 4, 4 and 4.  I can guarantee they are not too sour; they are a real treat.

One last point and you may hear this from me again.  We want to be perfect, but we cannot always be perfect.  When I was sampling all the boxes of Sour Pops, I found one box with one Sour Pop that was broken.  That is not what we want you. the consumer, to get.  If you ever have any problem with one of our products, I hope you will call our Consumer Affairs folks at 1-800- MAYFIELD (800-629-3435) and allow us to send you a FREE coupon and also learn about the problem.  Hopefully, we can prevent it from happening again.  If not, we can at least make sure you got what you paid for.

Thanks again for checking out our blog.  I hope you have a great day. 

Scottie