Team Valentine: Amber Graduates with Her Masters

So we all know how incredibly talented and amazing my sister Amber is. Seriously, the amount of drive that girl has is staggering, and everything academically and professionally she touches turns into... well, whatever makes gold looks like tin foil!

Amber has had the extreme privilege of working with some amazing professors at BYU over the last two years and graduated this last weekend with her masters degree. (For those of you in the know, two years for a masters is kind of unheard of, so you go girl!) DJ and I took the opportunity to drive up and support her in this amazing accomplishment.

Driving 7 hours in a car with a baby isn't super fun, but all things considered, he did really well. On the drive there, he slept 4 of the 7 hours, and on the way back, he slept 6 of the 7 hours, so he made it easy on me. The amount of cracker carnage that is currently rotting on the backseat of the car is kind of amazing, but whatever it takes, right?

So anyway... Amber lives in Salt Lake, so up we went. Deej and I met my dad at my parents' hotel so that the babe could crawl and roll around for awhile and Mom and Ambsie could finish shopping. DJ sure loves his grandpa, and grandpa brought his dog, who DJ loves and who doesn't totally trust DJ, so that was fun for everyone but Jet. Sorry, puppy! Then, Mom and Amber came and got us and we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Then we did a bit more shopping and headed back to Amber's place and chatted with her roommate and good childhood friend of ours, Melissa, until Mom and Dad left and we put DJ in the tub and got ready for bed. We called it a night fairly early, since we had to be up by 5 the next day.

So, what seemed like 2 seconds later, we got up and got ready, Mom and Dad came and got us, and off we went towards Provo, where Danny was waiting with Amber's graduation robes. Just FYI, if you've never seen the robes they give grad students, the sleeves are amazing. They have these bat flaps on them and... you know what? I'm doing a terrible job explaining, so I'll just show you a pic here in a second. Anyway, we got Amber to the building she needed to be at by her call time, 7 am (wooooo!), and then found ourselves some seats. Deej did great during the ceremony, and we had a wonderful time watching our Ambsie walk 6th across the stage and rock that graduation. We met some of her professors and fellow classmates after the program, and everyone just loves Amber. I mean, can you blame them? But really, she is freaking awesome.

We went to Kneaders and got some French toast before sending Danny back to his place. Then Mom and Dad drove us to a mall where my dad wanted to look for some shoes. He's got plantar fasciitis, so wanted a pair of black tennis shoes he could sneak with dress slacks at work. That may or may not be my fault for getting him into running two years ago. Oops!

Anyway, after that, we went back to Amber's place and then Mom and Dad took off for Idaho. Amber and I tried to take a nap because DJ was out, but of course, as soon as I dozed off, he was up, so he and I watched Mulan while Amber got a cat nap. Then, we ran over to the mall across from Temple Square to get a skirt for Amber and some badly needed garments for me. We had some time to kill, so we crossed the street and visited the Christus statue. DJ had been asleep, but as we sat there chatting, he woke up. I was worried he'd turn into his normal self - loud and wiggly, but super cute - and that we'd have to leave, but he was so sweet. He just sat in his stroller, quietly sucking his pacifier, and waving at Jesus. Seriously, he had never waved like that before (or really, ever), and hasn't waved like that since. It makes you wonder what they remember, doesn't it? It was amazing to see and made me appreciate where that little dude comes from.

We then headed to Maddox for dinner with Lindsey. She was in the middle of finals studies, so we gave her a break by coming to visit. It was so fun to see her, and of course, DJ loved on her just like he'd loved on everyone all weekend. Seriously, one of the reasons we were so excited to move to Nevada was to be closer to family, and it was so wonderful to see almost everyone all in one quick trip. (Sorry, Ryan - Seattle was a bit far for this trip!) Anyway, after we sent Linz back to her studies, we headed back to Amber's place and crashed.

Deej and I had to leave by about 8 the next morning, so it was another early day for us. We met one of my good friends, Shana, for breakfast in Provo before continuing south for several hours. We stopped again in St. George to say hi to Grandma and Grandpa Bowen before finishing out our journey. We were more than happy to be home, and the excitement on that little boy's face when he saw his daddy was priceless.

It was a fast trip and we did a ton, but it was so worth it. Let me bear you my Amber testimony. That girl is one of the hardest working human beings I know. Not only did she finish her masters a year early, she did it while simultaneously working on her PhD, working full time, being nominated for the national PE teacher of the year and getting inducted into their hall of fame, publishing about one trillion articles in prestigious journals and other publications, and somehow finding time to be an incredible friend to everyone she knows and a pretty kick-a sister, if I do say so myself. Among the pics I'll be sharing, I'm also going to include this link to a recent interview that showed up on the news about the project she's been working on. Seriously, everyone she knows is touched by how awesome and talented she is, and if I can be half as amazing as she is by the time I die, I will consider myself to be very blessed and very lucky. So Ambsie, I love you, and CONGRATS!!!

And now, the pictures