Saturday, August 22, 2009

One Year

This is a little late, but I've been busy for the past few weeks. In between going to Salt Lake for our anniversary, a trip to Yellowstone, getting Brad started with school, and job hunting, it's been crazy. But I thought I'd put something up for our anniversary.

Brad and I met two years ago. It was on a trip up the a ward FHE/opening social that I caught a ride up with Brad and his roommates Ryan and James. Ryan was driving, I was in the passenger seat, and Brad was sitting right behind me. Ryan was being a goof and Brad was thinking, "This girl is never going to talk to us again." I had said some things that made me feel like a fool, so I was thinking, "These guys are never going to talk to me again." It was a good thinking neither of us got a good look at the other or we may have been too embarrassed to every talk to each other again.

So, time went by and we met each other at Ward Prayer. We got talking after and ended up talking for 3 or 4 hours that night. It was just really easy to talk to each other.

Time continued to pass and we ended up being in the same FHE group. By this time we were friends and liked to hang out together. So, one night after FHE we were talking out in the lobby were I was living and one of Brad's Home Teachers walked through. He told us that he was doing some stand up comedy for Humor U on campus and that we should come. Brad's Home Teacher left and we continued to talk. Right before it was time to go Brad asked if I wanted to go on a date with him to see Humor U with him. Of course I said yes. So, for our first date we had Cafe Rio, Humor U, and games at my place.


A little while later, Brad called me up and told me he was bored and was wondering if he could come over and we would do something together. I had no idea what we would do, but told him to come over. When Brad came over we discovered that the hatch to the roof of the building was open with a ladder going up. We climbed up and had a cool view. Brad thought we should get water balloons and throw them off the top. Neither of us had water balloons, but we grabbed some sandwich bags and filled them with water. When we climbed back on the roof, we saw some people we also up there. We hid and Brad said we should throw our water balloons at them. I said no, what if they we people we didn't know, etc. Brad wasn't listening. He had found a hole in his sandwich bag and was thinking, "Hmm, I'll let it drip on Alisha." Drip, drip, drip, POP! The sandwich bag burst drenching me. My hair was soaked, my makeup was coming off, and my clothes decently wet. I tried to get him back, but it didn't work. So, we sat down by the edge of the building to talk. I was shivering from being wet, so Brad put his arm around me. We were sitting talking when the biggest shooting star I have ever seen came right in front of us. We both looked at each other and asked, "Did you see that?!" I told Brad, "Make a wish!" So, we both made wishes. Brad tried to get me to tell, but I told him no because then it wouldn't come true. We only had to wait a little while for our wishes to come true.

Some time later, Brad took me out on a date to see the Joseph Smith movie in Salt Lake City. Brad hadn't seen it since it had come out while on his mission. So, after the movie we walked around Temple Square and found a place to sit and talk. We can't remember who asked who first, but someone asked about what the other had wished for on the shooting star. I told Brad that my wish had already come true, I had wished for Brad to hold my hand. We had been walking home from the library, he threw me into the sprinklers (what was with this boy getting me wet?), and then got up the courage to hold my hand. So, I asked Brad, "What did you wish for on the shooting star?" He said maybe later I'd find out. We continued to talk. Brad turned and looked at me, I looked at him, and he kissed me. "That's what I wished for."

So, we continued to date for many months. One day, Brad asked if I wanted to go for a drive up the Alpine Loop and take pictures together. I thought we would go up through Provo Canyon, but Brad said we should start in American Fork Canyon. Brad hates backroads and he went on the slowest way to get to American Fork Canyon. He said he wanted to get the sunset. We finally got to American Fork Canyon and found out that the Alpine Loop was closed. So, we turned around and pulled off on the side of the road to get some pictures together with the canyon in the background. Brad set up the camera on the tripod, set the timer and ran to get in the picture. It turned out well, but he said we should take another picture. Brad set the timer, but instead of coming and standing by me, he pulled out the ring and went on one knee. The camera went off. Brad asked, "Alisha, will you marry me?" I said, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" I was shocked. We had gone ring shopping together, but I didn't think he had the ring.



Wednesday, August 19, 2009

The new toy for Brad!

This week I got a new lens for my camera, the Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS.

Here are a few of my shots.





I'm a big fan of this lens.

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!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

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


Wednesday, July 29, 2009

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.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

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

Sunday, July 5, 2009

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!