Lawyered!

A few weeks ago we made a journey to the forest to celebrate an EXTREMELY important event...Amanda's graduation from Duke Law!!  I can't believe she's knocked this out - I mean, where did the time go?!?  At any rate, super proud of my sissy and super excited to go see her and my family (yay for mommers and dadders!) for a weekend of celebrating.

First order of buisness was a law school family BBQ in the gardens at Duke, and since it didn't actually rain on us (phew!), it was a lovely event.  Plenty of delicious food, the chance to meet Amanda's law school peeps, minor forest/garden adventures, and wonderful family time.
 

Thanks for taking our picture in the forest, Craig!

This was all pleasantly follwed by chillaxin at Amanda's with a board game or two (I love games!!  and these people indulge me) and admiring the pretty awesome Duke quilt my mom made for Amanda.  It's enormous!!  And amazing!

The next morning we also had some dress adventures checking out bridesmaid dress options (don't worry, we totally didn't make the boys come in with us for that one), and to reward ourselves for tackling a wedding-related task, we of course had burgers for lunch.  Bull City.  Soooo tasty.  And especially tasty were the duck fat fries.  Cue music of the angels.

Also cue music of the angels for our rockin' mini-van.  It held everyone and all of our stuff comfortably and was actually a quite enjoyable ride for the weekend.  Even if it was a mini-van.

Now it's time for...the hooding ceremony!  Held indoors at Cameron, thank goodness, because it actually did rain during this one.  What's the hooding ceremony?  I'm calling it the occasion where mere robes become adorned with an epic hood that will choke you if you don't pin it carefully.  Specially reserved for those who have completed extra years of intense schooling.



I think I'm in the right place!  We'll see!

Offically hooded and making her way across the stage!  Goooo Amanda!!  Also gooooo zoom lens!

She's hooded, and so are all of her awesome friends!

Proud and happy family with the hooded lawyerette!  Also, the purse is totally Amanda's and not Dad's, although he can really rock a pink clutch.

Double lawyer power!

A celebratory dinner at Dos Perros (yay Mexican food!) followed, and then fast-forward to the next day for epic, all-school, all-inclusive graduation ceremonies, AGAIN with the threat of rain...come on, forest, let up on the rain!

There's not a building on the Duke campus that can hold all of these people, so we were hanging out at the football field, which they totally enhanced with fake buildings - Carrie observed "lend an air of Harry Potter" to the event.

They actually did have ponchos handy in case of rain, which was very thoughtful.

She's all graduated!!

Aren't we cute at the football field?

Always Red Raiders...even when we're at Duke, oopsie.

And back to the law school to claim this VERY important piece of paper - yay for Amanda!

The picture extravaganza has exploded on Facebook, of course, and then there's the ENTIRE album on Picasa for your viewing pleasure.

Major congratulations to my sissy!!