Graduation #1

For the 4th year in a row, we made the trip to Utah for BYU graduation. This time David received a Master's degree in Construction Management. It was wonderful being able to celebrate this milestone with him.

The first stop as part of the festivities was the MOA Café for lunch with the graduate. This is a fun tradition and we're glad Michelle introduced it to us a few years ago.

Don't you love the happy face garnish on the raspberry soup?

After picking up his cap and gown, it was time for some pictures!

One of the best things about visiting Provo is the chance it affords to meet up with old friends. This time it was my freshman roommate, whose son was also graduating. We found our seats, knowing from past experience that the best ones are behind the podium, not in front of it above the graduates. (We also recognized some acquaintances from Florida, although it took us a while to figure out how we knew each other because we weren't wearing all white!)

David also had a great seat - fourth row on the aisle with a perfect view of the speakers. We did enjoy the speeches, and if you're interested, you can read about them here. And you can find some official pictures here.

The kids were excited to see their dad in his regalia that evening, but we tried to keep the commotion to a minimum so they could get to bed early and be ready for the next big day, when they would be coming to watch him walk across the stage.

They were ready!

And so was David!

He did it!

That's one deservedly happy family! And we celebrated by playing some Skeeball along with having the traditional Grandpa ice cream date.

Because of the new baby, and not wanting to overdo things, we extended the celebration across a few days, saving the traditional graduation dinner for Saturday. The kids had a simple dinner with the babysitter and the adults had a delicious dinner of sushi and nigiri.

Tsunami didn't have a sushi boat on the menu, but our waitress said we could special order it, so we did. We learned the correct term is omakase. Basically we told the chef how much we wanted to spend, what our likes and dislikes and allergies were, and he put his creative skills to work. It wasn't quite as awe-inspiring as the first sushi boat we ordered a few years ago, but it was still very good and quite delicious. The chef seemed out to impress us, and he did. However, we would have been quite satisfied with more simple fare, where we could positively identify the ingredients used in each roll. We'll know that for next time, and now you know as well. 

Special occasions deserve dessert as well!

Congratulations Graduate!!