The Dr. Diva Days Of Our Lives

I am so thankful for the friends in my life. In particular, I am glad to know these women, the Dissertation Divas.

I mentioned them in this post a while back. 

 

From left to right, Dr. Langham (me), Dr. Carter, Dr. Greer, Dr. Searby (our mentor), and Dr. Zimmerman-Brown.

We all saw each other through the absolute most difficult years of our lives both personally and academically. Amazingly, the four of us, under the leadership of our Dr. Diva mentor, were able to graduate together a whole year early with our Ph.D.s while also working full-time. That is a VERY rare accomplishment.

We have not all been together since just after our commencement ceremony in December 2013. About that time, I moved to Auburn, AL to accept a new position at Auburn University. Our mentor, Dr. Searby, also took a job at AU.

Luckily, we were able to enjoy some time together this weekend. It was so fun to catch up with each other. The three Divas still living in Birmingham, AL came down to Auburn for a Diva weekend. We ate delicious food at Acre and Ma Fia's, drank good wine and yummy cocktails, shopped, and enjoyed special fellowship. It was a fantastic weekend!

Our toast at dinner on Friday sure was so much sweeter than the toast I wrote about in this post from when we were still in school. It is glorious to be finished!!!

 

Earning our doctorates together was truly a bonding experience. It was such a special time to be with friends who can commiserate with one another about such a challenging time.

We had a blast! Thanks for a great weekend, ladies!

 

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Tailgating Langham Style

 

Football and tailgating have been big successes so far this season. Our Auburn University tigers have won their first 3 home games of the year. Home games mean that we get to tailgate with our friends and family. We love it.

We tailgate at our home which is literally across the street from campus. We have enjoyed delicious food such as smoked Boston butt, fresh from the Gulf of Mexico oven roasted BBQ shrimp (thanks to our friend Tripp from Southern Fish & Oyster), burgers and hot dogs on the grill, and lots of brown drinks. We've also had some really great fellowship.

We even got to tailgate with our precious brand new nephew, Landry, and his proud parents, Judd's brother, Colby, and our SIL, Brenna. Landry was about a month and a week old in these pictures. We are so glad to have been the destination for Landry's first road trip.

The very first tailgate took on an unexpected theme - tailgating Langham style. Look closely at the pictures on these cupcakes. Our friend Katie made toppers with pictures of Judd's face photoshopped on Si's body doing the Gangnom style dance. Get it, Langham style?!?! Ha! She also included pictures of my face, our dog's face, Judd's face when he dressed up as a rockstar for Halloween, and Barry Gibb's face because Judd does a good Bee Gee's impression. She is so creative!

We hope you're having a great time cheering for your favorite teams this season!

War Eagle!

 

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Introducing Landry

If you follow my SIL, Brenna, on her blog, Instragram, and/or Facebook then you might already know that we have a new nephew.  Brenna and my BIL, Colby, are proud parents of little Landry Read Langham.  We are all smitten with him.  He is a perfect, blonde-headed, angel.  He is also a mini me version of Judd’s dad, Terry.

Landry was born on August 5, 2013.  He was born on a Monday.  Judd and I thought we were going to  have to miss his birth because I had meeting that day that I was not going to be able to postpone; however, when I arrived at work that morning, I noticed an email that someone else had delayed the meeting.  Woo Hoo.  It took me all of about 3 seconds to notify my colleagues that I was leaving immediately in hopes of being there for my nephew’s birth.  I went straight home, packed a bag, and grabbed my camera.  We hopped in the car as soon as possible.  Judd and I still were not sure we could make it in time.  After all, Brenna was already in labor and we had an approximately 3 hour drive ahead of us.  Landry was born in Milton, FL and we were driving from Auburn, AL.  We did make it just in time.  Landry was born about a half hour after we arrived.

We all waited anxiously at the hospital.  A few weeks prior to his birthday we created a pool for Landry’s birth.  To help the time pass, I awarded the birthday award to Terry.  He sure was proud to become a grandpa that day!  The prize was popcorn since we were all guessing when Brenna was going to pop.

All of a sudden, Judd got a text message from his brother.  Landry had arrived!

We could not wait for Colby and the doctor to walk down the hall to retrieve us.  We rushed in to see this sweet moment.   We were so glad to see a healthy mommy and baby!  Brenna sure did look great, too!  I’m amazed!  Bloggers, meet Landry!

We had fun showing the new mom and dad the winners of the baby pool.

We, of course, all could not wait to take a turn holding him. 

He was such a good sport for his first bath and check-up.

Brenna and Colby chose to keep his name a secret until his birthday.  We all knew in advance that his initials were LRL.  My sweet Mother-in-Law couldn’t stand the suspense.  She took drastic measures.    She went through the Mobile, AL phone book looking for names that started with “L”.  She is so funny.  When we got back to her house after his birth, she went back to her list to see if she “guessed” it.  She came  close to his name but didn’t have it exactly on her list.

We could not take being away for too long.  We all went back to the hospital after dinner.  We took them a seafood dinner and snapped a few more photographs. 

Unfortunately, duty called and Judd and I had to drive back to Auburn to go to work.  It was hard to leave.  We came back to visit the following weekend.  By this time, Brenna, Colby, and Landry were home from the hospital.

We couldn’t wait to get a few more snuggles in with that sweet baby.  We love you, Landry!