What A Week

I've had a great week. It started with my birthday. Brad made me French Pancakes for breakfast. Then I had to work, but going to a water park for work doesn't really seem like work. Then my family took me out for dinner and then we had ice cream cake at our place. It was lots of fun and a really good birthday.

Then, Thursday was graduation! It didn't really feel like I was graduating, but there I was in my cap and gown walking in with Pomp and Circumstance playing. It felt a little bit more real, the next day at Convocation, that I was actually graduating.

Right after Commencement

I found my old roommate Emily! We got to sit together for Convocation. The ceremony was really nice, except that they said my name wrong when I walked. They had a card for us to write our name down and another box for any special pronunciation. I was worried they would mispronounce my first name so I wrote down to say it like Alicia. So, I handed my card to the lady and walked up onto the stage and waited for them to call my name, but instead I heard, "Alisha Parker." I think at this point I pulled a funny face. There was a camera guy taking pictures of everyone as their name was called to be send out with the diploma so hopefully my funny face wasn't caught on film. I don't know how they got a R out of a C, but it's okay. As long as my diploma says the right thing then I'm fine.

We went to celebrate at Famous Dave's. They even brought me out ice cream with a sparkler for my birthday and graduation. Only at Famous Dave's would you get fireworks with dessert. I also got another great surprise. I got this. . .

. . . a 13 inch MacBook! My old PC has been dying so I'm super excited to have a new computer, especially since it's a Mac. I love it! I've been playing with it a lot and been getting things set up. And it doesn't have any of the silly problems that my old PC had such as not being able to connect to our wireless internet, shutting down programs for no apparent reason, and dying if disconnected from the charger for more than 15 minutes.

Saturday's party was awesome as well. It was fun to see everyone that came. Baby Ella showed us her new trick, walking. She was so adorable and it was so fun to see her toddling around.

Brad did a good job organizing everything and making the food. Brad even surprised me with a slideshow. I loved it! Thank you to everyone who came. I've had such a great birthday and graduation!

Look Who's Graduating and Having a Birthday!

Announcing the graduation and birthday of Alisha Packer!

She will receive her diploma at a convocation ceremony on Friday August 14th at 2:00 p.m. at the Wilkinson Student Center Ballroom at BYU.

...but if you don't want to sit through all the pomp and circumstance...

All family and friends are superly invited to a partyful celebration in honor of our favorite scholar and birthday girl!

Saturday August 14th at 1:00 p.m. at our place in Provo.

Email me for directions.

We'll be grilling up a few burgers as well!

R.S.V.P. at bpacker29@gmail.com

Vacation Time

Brad and I took a little vacation out to see Brad's family in Minnesota. While we were out there we went to the family cabin in Wisconsin. I think it's one of the most relaxing places on earth. Here are some pictures of all the fun we had.

It rained a lot while we were out there, but it cleared up long enough for us to go out for a little ride on the jet skis.

We went into Hayward one morning and had a lot of fun. We started off with the Norske Nook for breakfast. I recommend the potato pancakes and the jam. So good!

After breakfast we went to main street. We stopped by the polka players for the Beer Barrel Polka. You can't say you've been to Wisconsin until you have heard polka.

A trip into Hayward also wouldn't be complete without going to Tremblays's. They have so many different candies. It's a little overwhelming to see all the candy. But you really go to Tremblay's for the amazing fudge.

A trip to the cabin also wouldn't be complete without going to the original Famous Dave's.

Look at all the pretty flowers.

Enjoying the lake while waiting for Famous Dave's.

We even got to go play a round of mini-golf at the blue water course.

We had lots of fun in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It was a nice break from life here in Utah. I always love hearing the accent and I even caught myself saying O's like the humble folk out there.

Mission Reunion

Brad had his first mission reunion last night and it was a lot of fun. Brad got to see one of his mission companions, Paul Montagna, and his wife who have been living out in Virginia, so it was great to see them again. We also got to here a few stories from his mission president which were hilarious.

Bryan and Brad

Everyone at the reunion

President and Sister Montague

Happy Independence Day!

We had a great day. We went to the Provo parade and saw Abe Lincoln, a giant tank, and the bag pipe players (my favorite part).

We also saw the fireworks from Stadium of Fire. We just went up to the top of our street and had great seats to view the fireworks. They were really cool, but too short. Last year they had a short pause in the fireworks, so when they stopped this year we thought that they were doing the same. We were sorely disappointed when they never started back up. I think next year we'll brave the crowds and try to sit by the stadium. This year was cool, but a little too far away. It's so exciting to be sitting right there and to feel the fireworks as they go off.

Hope everyone had a happy 4th!

Water Fun

We went boating last week on Utah Lake with my family. We had lots of fun on the tubes and waterskiing. We even got Byron to give waterskiing a try.

Look mom, no hands!

The water was glassy enough to get me to go slalom. I had a few good runs, but I paid for it the next day.

Byron is a good little skier. He didn't want to go, but he couldn't resist the offer of a frosty if he would waterski.

Mini-Golf

Brad's dad was out in Utah last weekend. We had lots of fun and even got to go play some mini-golf.