Systematic Songbird: A Birthday Graduation

Last week was very big for Peter. He had a birthday and graduated college!

I know he loves strawberries, so I made this cake for him. It's white cake with sweetened condensed milk poured over it, topped with strawberries followed by cool whip. It had to sit in the fridge overnight, so I made it the day before. Unfortunately, I was making it right before I had to go pick him up from work, and it was too hot still to put in the fridge before I went to get him. I went straight from picking him up to going over to the school to work on an assignment, so he had to put it in the fridge. There went my surprise...Oh, well. It still tasted good.

For his birthday, he got an polo from SUU and an SUU bumper sticker. I made him let me take pictures while he opened his present.

The next day was graduation! His parents, my dad, my sister, and my grandpa came to see him graduate. It was also Paul's graduation from the Master's of Accountancy program, so he and Kylie were there, too. The first part of graduation is the processional. The grads line up on the Eastern side of the clock tower and walk underneath it then into the Colosseum. This is part of a new tradition started a couple years ago, where freshman process underneath the clock tower going the opposite direction, then avoid going underneath it during the rest of their time at school until they graduate.

Peter managed to sit on the same side of the Colosseum as us!

Kira pointed out that this guy (Peter actually knows his name, but I don't) looks like he's going to whack any of the graduates that get out of line with this ceremonial mace he is holding.

This is a terrible picture taken on my phone, but this is Ann Romney. She was the Commencement speaker this year, and she gave a great talk!

Between Commencement and Peter's Convocation, we had dinner at the All American Diner, which is a little Mom-and-Pop place Peter and I discovered this last semester. We were excited to share our discovery with our family. When we first came in, "Let it Go" started playing over the sound system, which caused several of us great delight.

Then we had Convocation with the School of Business, where the graduates walked across the stage and picked up their diploma holders. Actual diplomas are supposed to be mailed sometime this summer.