Dr. Packer, DMD

The day after Evelyn's baby blessing was Brad's graduation day.  We started the day, as all graduates should, with a good breakfast.  We chose the all American diner.  The diner we went to is about 2 minutes from our house and a bit of a local hot spot since the movie, "Silver Linings Playbook," was filmed there.  And they have great pancakes.  We had just been seated when the local news showed up.  They had come to do a piece on the diner.  As they were prepping for the shoot the newsman went around and interviewed the locals.  The newsman talked to us for a bit and asked, "Are you celebrating anything special today?" Brad did not want to be on the news and so he played things down.  The news man let us know he may come over and interview us live, but it never ended up happening.  The Tuskegee Airmen, 25th wedding anniversary, and the superfan stole the show.  Whew!

Then it was on to the main event.  Brad's graduation was a little different than any other graduation I've ever been to.  Instead of "Pomp and Circumstance," the graduates marched in to "Scotland the Brave" (aka, "Praise to the Man" for Mormons) complete with bagpipes.  The Dean is Scottish so we're assuming that's where the musical selection came from.  The talks were actually pretty good.  The class president even took a selfie during his talk.  Brad did get to walk and get his diploma from the Dean.  We're super proud that Brad was able to receive his diploma that day.  Only about a 1/3 to a 1/2 of the class had completed all of the requirements to graduate and get their diploma on graduation day.  But Brad worked so hard and was able to get everything done on time!

After the ceremony there was a reception at the dental school.  It was a nice event and celebration for everyone.  Brad got a bunch of pictures with his classmates, faculty, and friends.

Dr. Newell

Dr. Rosenfeld

The Tuckers, I couldn't have made it without Rachel!

Best Friends from School

Brad took everyone on a tour of the dental school and even showed them his chair in his clinic.

That evening we went out for a graduation dinner.  We got a recommendation from one of Brad's faculty of where to go and he sent us to a very nice restaurant called Flemmings.  The food was excellent and we really enjoyed celebrating with our family.

I'm so proud of Brad!  It's taken a lot of work to get through dental school and he's been such a great student.  Every time I've talked to his professors they always tell me about how great of a dentist Brad is.  They tell me he has such amazing hand skills and that he can do some of the hardest procedures with ease. He's gotten the "Clinician of the Week" award several times during the past 2 years, even during his junior year which hardly ever happens.  I'm proud of him for doing so well.  Congrats Dr. Bradley Packer, DMD!

PASSED!

There is a 5 part licensing examination to become a dentist over the course of a couple of years.  Some of the exams are science tests and others are practicals.  Brad had his last part, the practicals a few weeks ago and they are probably the most stressful part.  If you don't have the right cavity, you fail.  If you don't have your x-rays done properly, you fail.  If your patient doesn't have enough calculus, you fail.  If your patient doesn't show up, you fail.  There's a lot that can wrong.  And if you fail, you get to fly you and your patients to another dental school to try again.  Needless to say, we were all a little worried about these exams.  Well, Brad passed all of his board exams on the first go!  Now Brad just has to get all of his points to graduate and send in his paperwork once we're in Colorado to be licensed dentist.  I'm really proud of my hardworking, smart, dedicated, and talented husband for doing so well!

Match Day

Brad matched at his top pick for residencies!  We're going to the University of Colorado!  The program is located in Aurora, a suburb of Denver.

There are so many great things about moving to Colorado.  Brad's cousin and his family live in Aurora. We're right in the middle of all of our family (Utah, Texas, and Minnesota.)  There's 4 seasons, but not too extreme.  There's mountains (Oh, how I have missed you!)  And there's a Cafe Rio.  All of the important things.

Colorado is a great state for services for autism.  They're ranked 12th in the nation (Pennsylvania is 15th.) I've been looking into programs for Nathan in Aurora and they have an ABA program and a few options for developmental pediatricians.  They have a lot of other programs as well to help Nathan in and around Aurora.

Oh, and Brad's program is pretty cool too.  He wanted a program that did implants and sedation dentistry and he'll be able to do both at CU.  He really liked the program when he interviewed there and the on call schedule is not too crazy.

It's still sinking in that we're really moving to Colorado.  We're talked for years about Colorado being someplace we'd love to end up long term.  And now we're moving there.  So crazy awesome!  I'm so proud of Brad for working so hard and getting into a great program!

Life Right Now

Brad's looking into residency programs which is so exciting.  And stressful.  And nerve racking.  But also totally awesome!  Brad has applied to lots of programs in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Colorado, and Utah.  And he's already had 4 interviews which is great.  He's got several more lined up as well in the coming weeks.   In all he's had 7 offers for interviews! All of these residencies are in the match program.  Basically we rank our favorites, the programs list there favorite candidates, magic happens, and then we get told which program we will be going to.  We get no final say other than ranking our programs.  Crazy!

Nathan is doing awesome!  We just got his 6 month report from ABA and Nathan is now up to 140 spontaneous words which is awesome.  6 months ago Nathan only had maybe 10-15 words, most of them were imitative (we said them first and he repeated.)  He's also doing better with his sensory problems.  He does a lot better with different textures and he is eating a lot more because of his progress.  We also had Nathan's 6 month follow-up appointment at developmental pediatrics (where Nathan was diagnosed with autism.)  The nurse practitioner we saw was on the evaluation panel when Nathan was diagnosed and she was so pleased to see the progress that Nathan has made it the last few months.  She was so happy that we were able to get so many therapy hours through Early Intervention and she could see what a difference it has made for Nathan.

Nathan working hard at therapy

I have official made it into my third trimester.  Only 9 more weeks!  Which freaks me out a little bit with all I need to do to get ready.  And then I try to remind myself that 9 weeks is still 2 months and I have time.  I'm feeling good and still have energy which is great with trying to keep up with Nathan.

I've been in full on crafting mode for baby girl.  Quilt #1 is all pieced together and has been sent to Utah to be quilted.  I have this crazy idea that I want 2 quilts for baby girl (I couldn't decide on just one design and Nathan had 2 quilts,) but the second quilt is much more time intensive than the first.  But I'm really really excited about it so hopefully that will motivate me with all the hand appliqué I will be doing.  I just finished baby girl's mobile and I am seriously in love with it.  Love, love, love.  I also found some fabric online that is the perfect fabric for baby girl's nursery.  Two shades of pink, green, and yellow, the exact colors I wanted.  The fabric is from one of my favorite fabric designers.  I found it for 60% off and so I ordered enough to make crib sheets out of it.  I was beyond excited when I ordered the fabric, which Brad just didn't understand.  He looked at me like a was a little crazy.  I mean, it's designer fabric that is perfect for baby girl's nursery.  What's not to be excited about?   I'm also mostly done with a knitted blanket and partially through a baby bonnet to go with baby girl's blessing dress.  I think it's time I start completing a few projects.

Quilt 1

Quilt 2 - That's 120 individual "leaves" to be hand quilted.

Designer fabric for crib sheets

So that's life right now.  It's a little daunting to think how much life is going to change over the next couple of months.  Brad will have matched with a program and we'll be planning a move.  I'm looking into some new programs for Nathan that would start in the New Year.  And we'll have a new baby in February.  There are lots of exciting and wonderful things to come.

Penn Boy

Nathan's very first Penn shirt

We were picking up Brad from school one day when Brad got called in on an emergency case.  We had about an hour of free time on our hands so Nathan and I went for a walk around campus.  Penn is exactly what you picture when you think of any Ivy League university.  I love all the old architecture around campus.  Nathan also liked visiting Ben Franklin.

You Know You Married a Dental Student

When I got home from Spring Break in Utah I knew there wouldn't be too much time for me and Brad to hang out since Brad had a test the next day.  However, Brad did take a little bit of time to spend just with me before he had to head back to school.  When I was dropping Brad off at the dental school, Brad asked if I'd like to come in and see all of his cool dental stuff.  All the students have recently got a lot of new equipment and I hadn't seen it yet except his drill which he thought was cool enough to bring home to show me.  We were able to sneak me past the night guard (not really, I still have a ID card, though, its a spouse card, not an actual student ID.)  Brad showed me all of his cool dental tools, mechanical jaws, torch, carving materials, explorers, mirrors, drills, drill bits, models, impressions, etc.  It was quite impressive to see all of his equipment.  Brad had a project to complete so instead of going home I watched him work on attaching a model of the lower teeth to the upper teeth.  Doesn't he look just so cute in his white coat?

So, when most people would spend the evening catching up after being apart, Brad brings me along to work on teeth.  I'll take whatever time with him I can get.

Life Right Now

Life keeps moving on.  Brad is BUSY with school.  He has had at least one test a week right now.  And this was the "easiest" month.  Brad has 7 exams in the next 5 weeks, 5 of which are finals.  The exciting part is that he is also starting his dental restoration class which will be a lot more hands on dentistry.

I'm keeping busy.  By this point I thought I might be going a little crazy, but honestly I've had enough going on and a big new project.  Perhaps sometime soon we will have more news about that.  But I've thrown in a few fun projects here and there.  I recently finished this scarf and hat.  I had a pattern for the hat, but I made up the pattern for the scarf to match.  I love how it turned out!

As for the last member of our family, I'm starting to really feel the baby more and baby boy has given me a few good jabs and kicks.  For example, I had to give a talk in church last week.  I don't mind writing talks, but hate giving them.  Anyways, my heart was racing and the baby didn't like me being so nervous.  It gave me a few good kicks telling me to stop.  Funny boy.

One thing we are excited for right now is our Spring Break in March.  We're going to Utah!  I'm so excited to go see our friends and family there.  We keep coming up with things we want to do while we are visiting.  With our expanding list I hope we have time for it all!  But all we are really wanting is to make it through this month so we can enjoy our break with our family.

You Know You Married a Dental School Student

Brad has these awesome "Lunch and Learn" presentations at dental school.  Basically some dental company/professional provides lunch for the students and then tells them about their product or company.  The great thing is the Brad often gets free lunch 3 or more times a week.  I don't have to remember to pack him a lunch!

Brad gets all sorts of great dental products to try for free this way.  This includes more free tubes of toothpaste then we know what to do with, floss, mouthwash, and even a free professional grade electric toothbrush from Oral B.  Sometime Sonicare is supposed to come and Brad will get another free toothbrush.  Brad also won a $50 gift card to Target.  Thank you, thank you very much.

One day the presentation was by a company who make loupes (special dental magnification glasses.)   These are something you just have to buy even though they are ridiculously expensive.  We're talking about putting down a $1000 on glasses! During the presentation, the presenter showed the class the indestructible material that the loupes are made out of.  She asked Brad to come up to prove that the material was unbreakable.  She gave Brad a hammer and told him to hit it as hard as he could a few times.  She said with confidence that if Brad could get it to break she would give Brad a free pair of loupes.  With Brad's tennis serve prowess he came down on the magnifier and shattered the thing!  The class broke out in cheers while the presenter stood speechless.

Brad received an email from her later saying that in the twenty years she had been doing the presentation no one had been able to break the magnifier, nor had anyone in the testing lab.  She was good to her word though.  Brad only needed to stop by their booth on campus to get fitted and the loupes were his for free.

They came in the mail last week and Brad had to put them on right away.  Don't you love the bug eye look it gives?  I will admit they are pretty cool.  We are so grateful that we didn't have to pay for them!

*If you are feeling at all jealous of our freebies please remember we are paying a way ridiculous amount of tuition and the free perks are nothing in comparison with that.  Even after winning a free $1000 pair of loupes.  But it certainly doesn't hurt!

You Know You Married a Dental Student

When your husband comes home with plastic model teeth in his backpack.

He owns his own white coat.

He spends his Saturdays studying with other dental school students.

He scares the missionaries into brushing their teeth by telling them what it is exactly that make your teeth feel fuzzy.

Discusses which kind of loupes (special dental magnification glasses) to buy.

Comes home with pink dye all over in his mouth because he was the volunteer for eating a tablet that stains plaque pink.

Tells you which tooth is hurting you by its proper name.

He wears scrubs to school to work in the clinic.

He knows the difference between caries and cavities.

There is a real human skull in his locker at school.

He spends oodles of time studying.

He's still loving it!

Look Where We Are

For our whole married life we've been working towards a goal, to get Brad into dental school.  Brad has studied for hours on end, done research for a professor, took so many practice DAT tests he thought he'd explode, did humanitarian work in Nicaragua, and spent way, way too much on applying for a lot of schools, not to mention the expenses of interviewing.  We've lived on a budget and saved what money we could to finance (in a very small part) this venture.  We've moved across the country for this opportunity of Brad attending dental school.  We are paying a ridiculously huge amount of money for him to attend one of the best schools in the nation.  This is not a small undertaking.

Three years to the very day of starting our new life together, we have at least something to show for our commitment to our mutual goal.  This anniversary has been very different from every other anniversary we've had.  There was no special getaways, no evening together, not even going out to dinner as a couple.  Instead, Brad got something else.  Brad received his white coat, a symbol of becoming part of the dental profession.  During the ceremony the dental class recited a professional pledge, a sort of dental Hippocratic oath.  I am so proud of Brad for making it to dental school.  With studying, applying, and interviewing nothing was for sure.  But Brad has made it to dental school.  It feels like we have finally started on the path toward becoming an actual dentist.

These are the other LDS dental students in Brad's class.  In all the other years there are only two.  We are so excited to have so many friends who are doing exactly the same thing!

I've been reading this poem for months, thinking about our life.

Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with life.

And then I try to look into the future and I picture us together,

and no matter what we're still together,

and somehow life doesn't seem so hard,

or so long.

It just feels like the things we do make life hard,

But being together is who we are.  That's our real life.

I think today I was able to see a little bit of that future together and see that this path, the sacrifices, everything we've been doing will be okay in the long run.  This is our life and I'm so glad I get to have this adventure together with Brad.  Happy 3 year anniversary!

DAT's Done!

I finished the DAT at 1:30 today. I am so glad to have that beast behind me. The exam was on a computer, so I got my score right away. I scored a 21! I am really excited and really relieved. That is higher than last years average accepted score at every dental school in the nation except Columbia! My GPA is only lower than Harvard's average! This means that I should be in good shape to get some interviews. Next week I'll submit my application and then I can relax until it's interview season this Fall! Thanks everyone for all your support!

DAT Day

Tomorrow is the big day.  Brad's taking the DAT.  He's been studying like crazy and doing lots of practice tests.  Brad's worked really hard and I hope it's going to pay off.  At least we'll be able to get the results instantly and not have to wait weeks like other tests.  So if you happen to have a minute, send some good thoughts his way.