Graduation

UA's Commencement was held on December 12 at Coleman Coliseum. My dad, Philip, Caroline, and my friend Erin were there to watch me get hooded (my mom was helping Mamaw, who has just had a heart procedure done).

My major professor, Dr. Tavan Trent, was there to hood me and a few others.


Five us of math nerds received our doctorates that day!

~Patrick Taylor, Julie Ryle, Karan Thaguna, Berhanu Kidane, and Chunhui Yu~

Afterward, my bunch grabbed lunch and then headed home to enjoy my yummy houndstooth cake Erin made. She is becoming quite the cake decorator!


**Funny little story: Caroline and I had driven to Tuscaloosa the day before graduation to pick up my cap and gown (I procrastinated a bit on that one). We were walking throught the book store, and of course there are elephants EVERYWHERE. Now Caroline may not say any words besides "da da," but she is a big fan of animal noises. The elephant is the one she learned first and likes best. Her elephant noise is basically a spitting sound, and she spit the entire time we were in the bookstore. People were looking at us like she was crazy. All I have to say is, ROLL TIDE!

November 2009

Another facet to my frugality: homemade laundry soap. Steph and I made a liquid variety (recipe), but I have since learned from my friend Julie that you can make a much easier powdered variety. Oh, well. I have a five gallon bucket of detergent in my garage, and I fill up a few old detergent bottles I had every month or so. This bucket should last me a year, and the ingredients cost $1.61. Worth it.



New Caroline skill we're working on: using utensils. She's really not all that bad at it. She does get tired after awhile and dig in with her hands. How else will she learn? :)


Our friends the Shirleys left Birmingham and the States for the mission field. They are serving God in Kenya! We were honored to go to their commissioning service at Brook Hills the weekend before they left, and were able to spend a bit of time with them at a lunch after. Their Christmas card this year had giraffes in the background. Philip was jealous. :)


Philip's parents and brother came up for a visit the weekend of the LSU game. We headed over to T-town to enoy some of the atmosphere before heading home to watch the game. Caroline loved watching the percussion warm up in front of Denny Chimes. Roll Tide!