Graduation Trip Day 4: Thesis Defense

Day 4 of our trip was the big day - time to defend the thesis Michael had worked SO hard on. He was ready!

His thesis was titled "Communication and Longevity in Deaf-hearing marriages." Essentially he set out to disprove the widely held (but unsupported by data) belief that 90% of Deaf-hearing marriages end in divorce due to culture and language conflicts. He wanted to see if having good communication skills allowed those in Deaf-hearing marriages to resolve cultural and language conflicts. What did he find? You'll have to read the thesis to find out!

His professors were nice enough to let the girls and I observe his defense. He did so well! On a side note, not only did Michael do a great job on his thesis and defense for Gonzaga, but he was also accepted to present his thesis work at the Deaf Studies Today! Conference at UVU back in April. He was presenting his work along side leading researchers in the Deaf community! His presentation there was a whole 50 minutes and he did a great job there as well. He definitely worked very hard and went the extra mile! So proud of you daddy!

After Michael finished his defense he had to stay for 2 more hours and listen to his peers present. While he stayed I took the girls over to the children's museum. Hazel and Eliza loved every minute of it and Lenora was an angel and slept in the wrap the whole time.

I LOVE this picture! It captures Eliza's personality perfectly!

By the time we were done Grandma and Grandpa had arrived from California! We haven't seen them since Thanksgiving so it was nice to see them and catch up. And they were able to meet Lenora for the first time! Grandma wasted no time getting some cuddles in while Grandpa played with the big girls.

Michael's grandpa and Phyllis also traveled by train to make it to the graduation. Grandpa is so supportive and makes it to EVERY graduation! It was wonderful to see them as well.