Kyllan and I had another movie night this past weekend. It was a little late, so we passed on the 2 1/2 hour long Transforms 2 and opted for Land of the Lost. It was bad. It was so bad that we had to call a redo. Sunday saw Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. I’m not really the demographic so it’s should come as no surprise that I have never really been a big fan of the Disney princess movies. This one, however, was pretty good. It was a cute story and the main character wasn’t a useless girl waiting for her prince to come save her. I also liked the return to 2D animation. It made me feel a little nostalgic. Still, I need to watch a movie with explosions some time very soon.
We put up the Christmas tree a little while ago, but I never posted any pictures. The only one I took was of Kyllan putting the angel on the tree when we were done decorating. I will have to take some more photos later.
The Cody Family Christmas Tree
The 1st official Cody Family Movie Night took place over the weekend. Kyllan selected Disney’s “UP” over “Transfomers 2.” We both really enjoyed the movie and highly recommend it*. You can probably skip the special features though.
Unrelated info: Kyllan met Bobby Knight at a luncheon yesterday. Weird.
*Don’t worry. Unofficial movie night occurred earlier in the week after I finally got all my AV stuff up and running and was tested with a viewing of Star Trek on Blu-Ray.
There are a few pictures from Thanksgiving up on Flickr. We entered the month of November not knowing if I would defend or not before Thanksgiving, so logistics made it too difficult to make any big plans. We enjoyed a small thanksgiving at home and were joined that evening by Kim N. and Rob. Having finished with the defense and making the move to Dallas, it was probably the most stress free I had been in a long time.
Thanksgiving 2009
It still hasn’t sunk in. It is early Tuesday morning after Thanksgiving weekend and I am still in Dallas. No more dreading waking up early to drive to airport. No more weekend visits. I am home and home is Dallas.
So, back to the defense. The whole day was a blur. There are no photos of the defense itself. (It being an academic examination and all.) I have, however, uploaded several photos from the surrounding events. The public defense started at 1pm and the private defense ended at 4pm. The department held a small reception immediately afterward. After the reception my former PI (Advisor) took my family out to dinner. Kyllan and I managed to grab a few hours of sleep before hitching a u-haul to the back of the truck and hitting the road. When we arrived in town we had just enough time to prepare for Thanksgiving. Things are beginning to wind down but, like I said, it still hasn’t sunk in.
Cake From Department Reception
Home Sweet Home
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Today was an extremely long and stressful day, but it is finally over and I have a Ph.D. (Technically there is still some paperwork to be taken care of.) I was overwhelmed by all of the comments on the blog, e-mails and calls I received wishing me luck and telling me that they were praying for me. Words cannot express how much it meant to me and how much it helped me stay focused in the days leading up to the defense when all I wanted to do was anything but prepare. There will be pictures later. I am going to bed.
It is no secret that William and I have one of the cutest nephew’s in the world, and to prove it, he was booked by Neiman Marcus to appear on their website and had a photo shoot a few weeks ago!
Click here to follow the link to the Nieman Marcus website page.
As Neiman Marcus releases their winter line, more photos may be posted, so I am sure the family will be visiting the website often.
I talked to the superstar on the phone this evening and he says he seemed pleased with the photo. He was more concerned with me noticing the brown shoes he had on since apparently he asked the Neiman Marcus folks if he could keep them and was disappointed to learn he would not be able to do that.
The conversation quickly changed to his school field trip tomorrow, so it is good to know he has not let the fame go to his head. Haha. 
This is a big week for the Cody Jr. family. William defends his thesis on Friday and then we pack up the Uhaul on Saturday to make the move from Denver to Dallas. Everyone is very excited. William is obviously a tad bit stressed, but I think he will be just fine. His parents and I will be there to show our support and be ready to celebrate with him when it is all over. It should be a great weekend, but please keep us in your prayers for a successful defense on Friday and safe travels back to Dallas on Saturday and Sunday.
Thanksgiving will be an awesome celebration this year!
The date is set. I defend my thesis November 20th.
A friend of Kyllan’s invited us to a scholarship gala and casino night this past weekend. A few pictures can be found here on my flickr account. Yes, I know. Kyllan gets invited to a formal event at least 3 times a month.
Scholarship Gala
Dallas
46°