Cavalry Ball

The Grog......Ya it's so grodey you can't even see throgh it!

MMMMMMMMMMM taste-tastic!

In early September Matt and I were able to go to our first Cav ball. It was such a fun experience! For any of you who are given the opportunity to go you really should. It's full of such fun traditions and really, other than wearing some hideous atrocities that your 3rd cousin may or may not make you wear as a part of a wedding party (oh ya, you can TOOOOOTALLY wear that again......bwwhwahahahaha ,ya right!) how often in your adult life do you get the opportunity to get dressed up in a ball gown with all the trappings and spend an evening with your spouse? Ya, that's what I thought....uhhhhh never! Unless of course you happen to be a part of the military community or you are a socialite..lol
I've gotten to go to a few of them before because of being previously married to a military service 1member serving in a cav unit, this however was Matt's 1 st chance and bank account be damned we were going!

One of everyones favorite Cav ball traditions is the grog.Oohhhhh Gag me batman it's nasty...lol I'd rather eat Salmonella chicken before drinking that grog but it's tradition and if you don't at least have a sip you're a pair of big girls panties! The grog is a giant bowl (or two, depending on how many tables it has to accommodate) with bottle after bottle of liquor ceremoniously poured in by the senior NCO's (non-commissioned officer) on up from each troop, while CSM (Command Sgt Major) reads off the history of each bottles symbolic relation to the history of the unit. One Soldier double fisted the alcohol and took two giant swigs of it, then spitting it back into the bowls......mmmmm, another took off a shoe and poured it into the shoe and then into the bowls, another filtered their bottles through their sock that they pulled off in front of us all....ohhh alcohol thank you for your antiseptic properties! In some units they add sand to represent Iraq or Afghanistan and even diesel fuel...mmmm. It's all smoodged around in a the bowl and then pitches are filled for each table or glass by glass and taken back to the tables...some people completely get drunk off it and other's like my self take a little swig to say "hey hey" and then move on to the dinner line. It was really fun! We spent the evening with good friends, danced and even stopped in for some pancakes/breakfast goodness at IHOP in the wee hours. Over all it was a really colorful evening and I'm so glad I got to spend it with my handsome Soldier. Goodness me oh my did he ever look good. Highly recommended!

Family Visits

Sneaky Deployment

It is inevitable that no matter how much time and warning you are given before an upcoming deployment, that you will never be totally emotionally prepared for one. This is Matt's 1st deployment that we are preparing for, not the 1st I've gone through, and yet some how they get harder and easier all at once. Easier because I know what to be prepared for, harder because I know what it feels like to miss your spouse for a year or more, to raise your kids alone and to worry day in and day out as all military spouses do when their other half is gone. I really can not complain. I know that there are so many families who have their Soldier deployed right out of basic training, or right before the birth of their child, or soon after. Aidan will be 8 months old in a little over a week meaning that Matt got to be here for the whole of a very tough pregnancy, hold my hand and coach me through the toughest labor I've ever had, and help raise this little person for 8 months before having to deploy. He's gotten to asst. coach the boy's football team, and go on family outings. It's been a wonderful experience. There are so many families who don't get as much as we have had and I for one am trying to see the silver lining.

Deployment ceremony's are really worth attending! There is such a sense of pride that you have in your Soldier, seeing them march out onto that Field, flags flying, and the band playing. I know how prepared Matt feels that his unit is, and no matter how much he loves his family and hates to leave, there is a draw to deploy, to do his job, to protect and serve and I for one couldn't be prouder of him. I will post some really great pictures of our family that came to visit for the deployment ceremony and to get the early good bye's out of the way, but since this post is already so full of pictures it will have to wait for another day. I love you Matthew................