A Great Trip, With Only a Little *Yuck*

Well we are back from Houston! We had a great time visiting with the Beardsley and Turner families (Amanda's father and brother this trip). The exciting news is that we were celebrating Rob's graduation from Baylor Medical School (what a great accomplishment!!). It was a whirlwind 4 days with lots of graduation activities, most of which we participated in.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon and Rob and Amanda had planned a crawfish boil which Amanda's dad and brother spearheaded. The food was great, the bugs were almost manageable ;-) and the baby slept...a little. Sunday night we dealt with round 2 of Joey's sickness, which this time included Matt. blech. It was a long night, so Monday morning we slept in and Joey enjoyed some time with his grandparents and great-grandparents.

Then Monday afternoon we went out for tacos and visited the Natural History museum, which had great information on drilling and oil (almost as informative as our tour guide, Amanda). Afterwards we changed and got ready for the evening par-tay. Rob and Amanda (along with some fellow grads) had planned a dinner at St. Arnold's brewhouse? pub? There were lots of tanks of beer in it so....I don't know what that makes it. warehouse? There was great food, lots of Amanda and Rob's friends and their families visiting to celebrate graduation. Jessie arrived that night and the next day was graduation!

Ahh graduation, today was the day that got everyone else. I woke up sick, (just queasy feeling) soon to be followed by everyone except Matt's grandparents. Without giving the details I think it turned out to be the beginning of a good 4 or so days of eating veeerrry carefully to avoid anything worse than a sick feeling.

I think Josiah may now be known by the nickname "germbag".

Everyone was very gracious about not feeling well! Thanks guys!! And it was really special to be at Rob's graduation. Joey did ok during the ceremony, and we all got to see Rob walk across the stage! With Honors!!

So here are some pictures, courtesy of Matt's parents (I didn't take any pictures the whole time!)









And lastly...the graduate! and his dad! Dr. and Dr. Beardsley :-) You can find the other Dr. Beardsley hugging her husband in the previous picture!



After graduation (on Wednesday) everyone left and Matt and I were able to spend the day/evening with Rob and Amanda, just relaxing. It was great to have some more time with them, and Joey really enjoyed a chance to nap and rest! Thursday morning we flew back to CA and went almost directly to an award ceremony for the Academy of Art Spring show in which Matt got 2nd place in the single shot Art for Commerce category. We invited our friends Ryan and Sarah back afterwards for pizza and got to hang out for a while. It was a great ending to a really fun week! We're glad to be back home (and a solid napping/bedtime schedule), but loved the trip! Joey did well on the flights (especially on the last one where the stewardess kept saying he was such a good baby!), and although he had a few more reservations than usual about being held, we're confident that those were mostly because he wasn't feeling 100% yet.

Most importantly, we are thrilled and so proud of Rob. He's been working hard for years, since before Matt and I even met and this graduation is a big accomplishment! He and Amanda are a great example to us of a good work ethic and people who are passionate and determined in what they do! Congrats Rob!