Just Call Me Master

It is official. I passed my Master's thesis. After a long time that I have been hiding under a rock I like to call my Mac Book.... I have emerged to announce I was triumphant. The goal was to get this done, before the baby came, and now that I have, I truly feel accomplished. It was one of the most intimidating processes I have survived in my life, but all in all it was a very positive experience.
My thesis was titled: I am a Mormon: Media, Identity and Ambivalence in Mormonism. Because I am attending a school that does not deal with Mormon performance in the least, my committee chair suggested I invite a professor that I had worked with intensively at BYU. We were lucky enough to get the funding to fly her down and have her be a part of my committee for the defense. I was honored that the department would do this for me.
The whole process throughout my experience in grad school had its ups and downs, but I have to say I have thouroughly loved the people I have worked with at UNM. They have been so supportive and enthralled with my research that it has really given me the confidence to continue on. (Sometime in the future... though I may have to take a long hiatus after this little marathon).
The best part about this whole thing, is now I get to wear one of the cool Harry Potter robes for my graduation. (Which will be in December which also means I won't have a huge belly. Woo Hoo for that!) Doesn't get much better than that.

Family Reunion and Baby Shower

I cannot believe how much catching up I have had to do. My summer went so fast. I have not had anytime to record some of the fun things we did.
This summer felt slightly anti climatic for us. With Joe working 70 hour work weeks we did not have time to travel. I spent most of my time working on my teaching portfolio and my master's thesis. (Both of which I passed! More on that later.) We did, however, manage to do a few fun things.

We went to a Bob Dylan concert with mom and dad Dahl. That was more entertainment than I can remember in a long time. Between the woolly white bearded man who would bow down after every song as if to say "I am not worthy" and the drunken woman gyrating as she would intermittently exclaim "Bobby," I was pretty sure my unborn child was getting his first taste of pot smoke. (We like to start 'em young.) It was a nice relief from all the work and studying we had been doing.

I also had the chance to go to Utah(sans Joe). It was a fun family reunion that involved just the Jeff Dahl family. Our family is getting big enough that with just my parents, siblings, their spouses and children we make one huge crew. We celebrated pioneer day in the one place that really knows how to celebrate pioneer day. We did a service project. All the women and children made 80 sack lunches for a homeless shelter while all the men were busy power spraying Grandma's fence and re painting it. It was fun to spend our time working in a worthy cause. Plus, there was nothing more entertaining than watching Davy run as fast as he could to drop a bag of potato chips in each lunch sack.

My darling sisters also threw me the most adorable baby shower. It was all fair themed, and boy was it adorable. I loved being able to see all my Utah friends and family. It was a wonderful way to celebrate this sweet boy's anticipated arrival.

This summer flew by. It is already well into fall, but I couldn't go without recording at least some of the fun happenings that we were able to enjoy.