Salute Battery's and New Years

Today the LT was in charge of a salute battery for a LTG's funeral. Here are some pictures on the 25thID Flickr page. Everything went pretty well, they only had one misfire, out of 15 fires, not to bad, but I don't know much about it. HA! Anyways, I thought I'd share the pictures here, there are a lot of them, and there are some of the LT, front and center, even though they're wearing the Greens they all look great!

I can't believe it's the end of year, and on top of that, it's the end of a decade, a whole 10 years, and that just makes me crazy to think. 10 years ago I was getting ready for second semester of freshman year, and I never even imagined I'd be married, let alone a birth mom and an Army wife. I couldn't be happier with the way my life turned out. And I can't wait to see how the next 10 years go!

We're going to ring in the new year with our neighbors, one of our neighbors is home on R&R, and another's parents are in town, so it should be a great time! We're going to have lots of food and great conversations and just a lot of fun. I'm certainly looking forward to it!! I found a recipe for Red Lobster's stuffed mushrooms, so I'm going to give those a try, the ones I made the other day were alright, but I just didn't really like them. And I might make the cheddar bay biscuits, and I will be making Chicken Divan...it should be GREAT!!!

Happy New Year ya'll!!!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

Hubby's Cooking

The LT is a GREAT cook. And I LOVE when he cooks, mostly because it means I don't have to. I did however, tonight, make the garlic bread. We stopped by the commissary to get a few things, and they have fresh french bread loaves at the check out line, so we grabbed one, it was so good.

He made hamburger steaks with mushrooms and onions, gravy for him (he cheated and used a packet), succotash, au gratin potatoes that were actually loaded baked potato flavored, which were pretty yummy! 

After dinner I made this really good pumpkin and caramel cake. 

This is a sheet cake, cut into thirds and then stacked with cream cheese icing in between, and caramel and almonds on top, it was really good!!

Saint Barbara's Ball

So Friday we went to the Ball, it was fun, despite a headache, I did have a good time. The food was really good, and the company even better. They gave the Order of Saint Barbara award and the Order of Molly Pitcher award, the description of them is below, found them off wikipedia, I know, it's not a very good source, but the info is pretty accurate. But here are some pictures!!

Before, trying to get some Christmas Card pics

Before, trying to get some Christmas Card pics

the LT with the MC

Waiting for the evening to begin

Roast and Chicken, it was really good

Place setting and program, somehow I did not have a name tag, oh well! ha

 Order of Saint Barbara is a military honor society of the US for both the US Army and the US Marine Corps Artillery, including field artillery and Air Defense Artillery.

The award is named for Saint Barbara, the patron saint of artillerymen. Saint Barbara day falls on December 4th and is traditionally recognized by a formal Dining-In or military ball, often involving presentations of the Order of Saint Barbara.

The Honorable Order of Molly Pitcher is also bestowed by the U.S. Field Artillery Association (USFAA) and the Air Defense Artillery Association (ADAA) to recognize women who have voluntarily contributed in a significant way to the improvement of the U.S. Field Artillery or Air Defense Artillery Communities.

Mary Ludwig Hays was born in 1744 to a German dairy farmer in Pennsylvania. She began her career as a maid to Dr. William Irvine at age 13. She later retired to marry John Casper Mc Cauly, a barber. In 1775 he enlisted in the Colonial Artillery and Mary was there every step of the way. At the Battle of Monmouth she used a pitcher to carry water from a nearby spring to thirsty and dying soldiers, even to her former employer, Dr. Irvine. After her husband was wounded, she took over his cannon. These deeds earned her recognition from George Washington and her nickname, Molly Pitcher. 

*all information is from wikipedia.com*

As Promised, the pictures

Doing work before the formation...

Saying the Oath...

Pinning my husband :) 

SOOOO Proud of him, the first thing person he thanked was ME, melted my heart!!

No longer a butter bar, he's my handsome 1LT now, and boy I couldn't be more proud of him!!

It's Official

Today the LT became the 1LT, I got to "pin" him, it was pretty neat. I'll upload the pictures later, but I just wanted to say congrats to him, and the other LT's who got promoted today as well!! Even though the promotion to 1LT is practically a "give me" it is still a big deal, so I'm very proud of the hubby!!

Next up, Thanksgiving break, Christmas leave and then NTC....and what we're most looking forward too, March leave when we can come home and visit friends and family!

Happy Veterans Day

Just two reasons why I love Veterans Day! My retired LtCol Papa and my LT husband!

So today is Veterans Day, and thank goodness the LT doesn't have to work after all. We were going to make it work, and it was just going to be like any other day for us, but I'm so glad that he actually gets his 4 day weekend! They work so hard, they deserve some time off. So, thank a Veteran or anyone else in the Armed Forces. They do so much for us, and they are probably the most under appreciated people. 

We are going to go dress shopping tomorrow, I need a dress for the ball, and then I'll need another dress for something in January, so I'm going to look for both, and the LT said he'd go with me! I think it will be an adventure, and I don't want to go alone. Hopefully we don't end up hurting one another, lol...and we can just go on to Chili's afterward for an early dinner. I am NOT looking forward to trying on dresses. I keep complaining about my weight, but I've yet to do anything about it. It's just that I'm so unmotivated, even though I have so many reasons to do it. I just can't seem to make myself do it. I weigh more than I have EVER, and I just hate it. So tomorrow is going to be hard. I may stop eating for a few days a week...only kidding, slightly...

Hope everyone has a GREAT Veterans Day! Be sure to thank a Veteran or someone serving our country in the Armed Forces!

So thank you Papa and LT, I love ya'll so much!!!!

Veterans Day

I realize my layout says 4th of July, but it was too darn cute, and I was having a hard time finding patriotic layouts, I really didn't look to long, but oh well...I think this one is great, and if you've noticed the siggie has changed because 2LT will become 1LT on Nov. 23rd, so I figured I'd go ahead and make the siggie resemble that, besides, the site is THE LT and the Mrs....anyways....onto what I came here to talk about...

So Thursday is Veterans Day, and the LT is suppose to have a 4 day weekend, but he'll be pulling Brigade Staff Duty, which means he'll be at the Brigade ALL day and even spend the night there...I had to take his Dress Blue pants to be hemmed today so he would have them on Thursday, we've been putting that off for a while now, but it's good we're doing it now, because we'll need them for the ball in December, and then again in January. Since Thursday is a holiday he has to wear a dress uniform, which is why I took them to get hemmed.

Someone told me Chili's is doing a free meal for soldiers on Thursday so I'm going to see if I could possibly do the order as a take out order and take him dinner, and maybe the guys he's working with...Outback is doing a free bloomin' onion Thursday. I'm hoping one of those will last more than just Thursday so we could maybe go out Friday evening.

So, Happy Veterans Day ya'll!!!

Compassion International

I recieved an email today from a lady at Compassion International, she found my other blog while doing research. She found the post I wrote about sponsoring children, it's part of the challenge I'm doing for Adoption  Awareness Month, and it's also a challenge on the adoption.com calendar.

Anyways, she asked if I would put a Compassion International banner on my blog, so I figured I'd go a bit further and place it on this blog as well!!!

So there at the top of the page is a banner, check it out, and think about sponsoring a child. The LT and I are considering it.

National Adoption & Diabetes Awareness Month

This month is National Adoption and Diabetes Awareness month, and both are very near and dear to our family.

My mother in law and her father both suffer from Diabetes, and I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant with my son, who I placed for adoption.

On my other blog I'm doing a 30 day challenge and posting something every day about adoption. I didn't find out it was Diabetes awareness month until today, so I will only post a few things.

However, the LT and I are both walking in the JDRF walk here in town. I have not set up the LT's page yet, but mine is here, and the walk is Saturday, so please please please donate now!!!

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!!!

Today is our 1 year anniversary and it is hard to believe, but it's here, and we're super excited! We have a very low key day planned, we debated over what to do for our anniversary a lot and decided to just stick at home and pass candy out. I'm going to make sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, fried chicken, pop corn shirmp and biscuits.  I'm going to make lemon poppyseed muffins for breakfast, and we'll see what we do for lunch. We are picking up our cake at noon, and I just can't wait to see how it looks and taste it!! It is going to be great!!

Now for the rest of the pictures!!

oops, i forgot a few days

So I guess I'm a bad blogger, but whatever, we've been busy. I had to take care of some household things, and that meant waiting around for maintenance all morning twice this past week, and had other stuff to take care of, so I got a little behind, I guess I'll just put a few of the ones that I have saved and then post some more tomorrow.

Day 12 & 13, since it's after midnight

Just 1 week until our 1 year anniversary!! I'm getting super excited! I think we know where we are going to have dinner, if I could just remember the name of it, I'm horrible with names, but I'll find it! We were going to go to Kobe Steakhouse, in Waikiki, but I heard it's closed, and I also heard that you want to stay away from that area on Halloween, so I'm thinking that going to this Italian place closer to our house will be better. I haven't done any research, so I'm not completely sure if Kobe is closed, but the fact that Waikiki is a mad house on Halloween is enough to keep me close to home, seeing as I am not a fan of going there, don't get me wrong, I like the places there, and some of the restaurants are good, but there are just too many people, and I always get sick.