Anniversary, 35, Door, Corn, Conference, Smore

Here's a reader's digest of the past week or so.
Runway, conference, birthdays, anniversaries

Let's start with our anniversary.
I'll admit 5 years is a big deal.
We knew that we weren't going to be getting each other gifts this year because of our trip in May but with Janice's death - I just didn't feel much like celebrating. Totally not fair to Matt and our marriage. We did spend some time together at Grady's well check and we also did a family outing to the superslide park a couple days later. It was one that I had been wanting to take the kids to all summer but wanted them a little older to appreciate. The big slide was a huge hit... E could have gone up and down all day. The stairs were a bit harder for me to get up without breathing heavy... I'm at that point of the pregnancy where shortness of breath is the new norm.

Shoes
Grady's walking has gotten so good! So we put shoes on him. This resulted in concrete feet for a couple days.

We also had some home improvement.
The door.
The door that was full of surprises.
The door that started rotting last winter and letting snow into the garage.
The door that wasn't standard size.
The door that had to be replaced with a door from Minot Home Depot because all the sizes that we kept buying at Lowe's didn't work.
The door that was replaced due to Michele and Randy's willingness to help us OR their pity on us. I'm not sure which one.
The door that Eleanor LOVED to help work on.

Matt's 35th old man birthday.
He didn't want anything but I said we are setting an example for our children. So I brought home special dinner and birthday pie and we sang him happy birthday.

The corn.
Matt helped do silage. Terrible job.

The annual workforce conference.
It finally came to a close. The date finally came and the event went. I worked everyday for the past 3 weeks on this - some days 10 hours/day. It's been an incredibly

difficult summer for me at work with the transitioning leadership and ambiguity that's run a muck. I was even told that my preconference help would be non-existent. I didn't think it was going to be hard and that it would all go just fine. I didn't realize what a great team and support system I've had in the past until they were missing and that's a shame. I was glad I could contract some help to assist in specific areas the past couple months because between that and positive words and a husband that is willing to shoulder some stuff, we made it. The conference was a positive event and we received great feedback and all the blimps and bumps that I felt weren't seen by the attendees. According to evals, we had a 92% satisfactory+ rating and 95% are likely to attend again. I really enjoy the event and seeing it come together. It made the turmoil of the summer seem to disappear a bit.

AND to top it off Matt's runway project has been crazy this month with concrete and closures and getting everything reopened.

Smores.

We closed out the week stong and had dinner at my cousin's Wes and Kristi's house. They have three close in age and so we've used them as a reference in the past and I'm not sure how they do all that they do and make it work so I commend them. They had us over for a cook out and then had a fire afterward. E and G had their first smore!

EER and MJR in bathroom hoping EER will go potty.
EER and MJR talking.
GRR comes into room.
GRR sits down.
Right on the AC vent.
MJR: Grady, quit hogging all the cool air.