We now have a Doctor in the house

Christopher has been working so hard to get his PhD.  This has been a very time intensive degree to get with him working all day, coming home for dinner, saying goodnight to the kids, and going back to work till 11 or midnight….every night for I can’t even tell you how long.  Needless to say he has been living in a state of exhaustion.  The last month has been a blur of writing, revising, planning, drawing, and many many sleepless nights.  This was a common sight in our house…

Today he presented his dissertation on Development of a Strontium 87 Ion Interferometer to his 5 member committee.  All written out it was a document of 250 pages and an hour presentation.  After his presentation we (the family) were dismissed from the room and for an hour and a half they grilled him with questions and comments.  After that lovely time they dismissed Christopher and set out to deliberate for 30 minutes or so.  They came back with the great news that he had passed and was officially a Doctor of Physics now!  He still has a very hard week a head of him with the changes and revisions he needs to make to his paper, but after that he is home free!

This is Dallin, Christopher’s advisor and friend.  He is such a great guy.  I meant to get a picture of Chris with all his committee members…but I have to admit they are a little intimidating to ask to line up for a picture…so I passed :)  I know, I’m a chicken :)  But really, how do you explain to 5 Physics guys that you need a picture to put in your blog book?

After finishing up at the school we went to dinner with Christopher family to celebrate.   They are so amazing.  They all came and sat in on his presentation to support him.  His parents and brother Nathan even waited around with me while they grilled him.  I really have amazing in-laws :)

So, what does a newly Doctor of Physics do on his first night of freedom?  Read books to his son of course :)  I went down to put Andrew to bed, but Christopher told me I couldn’t because Andrew asked him to read him a story, and for the first time in a long time he actually could :)  I love this man.