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Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

See coverage in the Dispatch, and eventually we should see it in the Galva News, too.

The story of the surprise party we threw can be found here.

The last few weeks have been nothing if not hectic. On May 22nd, we celebrated Aunt Margaret and Uncle Bob’s recent marriage, and over Memorial Day weekend Tom, Katie, Kelly, and I threw a surprise 30th Anniversary party for Mom and Dad.  Between preparing to celebrate, actually celebrating, and (oh yeah) work during the week, it’s been pretty crazy.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays, not least because of the delicious traditional Thanksgiving dinner (Mmm, turkey…) and the fact that there are no gifts one has to pretend to enjoy (I kid…). This year’s celebration of thanks was indeed lovely, and I enjoyed seeing family, eating too much, and watching college basketball.

The weekend of November 13–14 was filled with family fun, centered around Illini athletics. Tom, Katie, Nate, and I joined Kelby for the basketball season opener against SIU-E. After the game, we took it fairly easy, since we had to be up early the next day to start tailgating for the Illinois–Northwestern football game.

Last weekend, Dad was going to be out of town, so in order to keep the harvest moving, he asked me if I’d be available to run the combine. Nathan was home to attend Ryan Lair’s wedding, so he also helped out. While we didn’t get to spend as much time picking corn as we’d hoped, we still had a productive weekend that hopefully helped the operation.

Last weekend was certainly an eventful one. Vivek, one of my colleagues in Pune, and his wife Shilpi visited the Holt Farm Saturday afternoon, where they toured our equipment and facilities, and met some of my family. Saturday night, Josh and I ventured to scenic Riverside, Iowa, to see Styx. Sunday, Matt and I were up early to catch a bus trip to Wrigley, where we watched the Cubs take on the New York Mets.

Last weekend I was invited by Uncle Kevin and Aunt Susan to stay at their house on Apple Canyon Lake. Of the McDonald clan, most of the families of Kitty, Teresa, and Margie were there, and we had a blast!

Friday, I closed on my first house. As you know, it‘s located in Bettendorf, Iowa, and I’ve enjoyed living there so far. Moving my stuff has been a lot of work, and very little of it is actually put away yet, but I am slowly turning the empty house into a home.

Last Wednesday, June 24, Holt Inc. was invited to John Deere Harvester Works for a Gold Key event. After a tour of the factory, the customer buying the product gets to be the first one to start it on the assembly line. The whole event is a neat experience.

Mom and Dad brought their iMac to Terry and Barb’s house today so I could videochat with the McDonald clan during the family Easter gathering. It was really great to see everyone and catch up!