Graduation and Beyond

Thought I'd finish up with graduation.  After the hooding ceremony we got some fun pictures with my brothers and grandma.

The fam after hooding.  It was so special to have my grandmother there!

Me and the bros.  Too bad we were missing Mitchell.

My dad was my guest hooder.
Doesn't he look fancy in his robes!

 Graduation was held Saturday morning.  Funny story, we graduated in the same place where they are now holding the Olympic swim trials.  They actually built two Olympic-sized pools there in like a month, but more on that later.

Apparently graduation is supposed to be this dignified, "professional" affair.  Luckily the dentists have always had a different view!

There are some advantages to sitting in the very front row!

Historically the graduating dental class has always been rather irreverent.  Our class leadership actually supplied the entire class with cans of silly string.  Since we weren't supposed to have this stuff, they set up a "distribution site" a block away where we picked up the goods so we could sneak it in.  Considering the fact that most of the women were wearing dresses and high heels (hence no pockets), we had to get a little creative!  I had a little backpack stuffed with silly string and confetti poppers hidden underneath my robe.  I probably looked a bit like a lumpy hunch-back as I was walking around, but it was totally worth it!  

All the ladies before the ceremony.  Dr. Smith, our Master of Ceremonies, is a total stud!

The RDEP group.
Notice the "hunchback" I'm trying to hide!

I do feel a little bad for the poor people that had to clean this mess up considering there was another graduation ceremony like an hour later...

The aftermath.

After graduation, I took my family to my favorite burger joint in Omaha, Blanc Burger.  This was one of our favorite places to head on the weekends (or for random take-outs), but I found out that this place actually shut down recently!  Probably because all their best customers moved away...  

We liked these cute little shopping carts our onion rings came in! 

We then toured around some of the fun sites in Omaha, including the Winter Quarters temple, the Botanical Gardens, and the Zoo!  The brothers decided to attempt some parcour at the gardens!

This was actually pretty impressive!
Good thing he's all stacked from going to the gym.

My family headed back to Utah that Sunday, and I stuck around for another week to pack up my home, and attend a friend's wedding.  Moving turned out to be a bit of a disaster.  I actually hired a moving company about a month in advance, and the day of the move they cancelled, citing problems with the truck.  Thanks a lot.  I spent the better part of the day sitting around waiting to see if they would pull through, and then calling around looking for a replacement truck.  I ended up renting a U-haul and, with the help of several amazing people, got my house packed up and ready for the new owners to move into.

Well this has been a massive post of doom.  I think I'll add more later!