The Army Ball

I got to play Cinderella for a night when we went to the annual Army Birthday Ball!!!
First of all... you have to know that I've been DYING to go to a Ball ever since we joined the Army. And I've babysat THREE TIMES for other people going to balls, but I've never had the opportunity to go myself.
Well... i guess that's kind of a lie, because while Matt was deployed, they had free ball tickets for any of the spouses who wanted to go. But what's the point in going to a ball if you don't have your husband to go with? Some ladies went, but those are the same ladies who are now getting divorces. So, I guess I can say I'm glad I didn't go last year.
So ANYWAY...
I was driving down the road when I saw an advertisement about this year's Birthday Ball, so I sped home, and said to Matt, "I KNOW WHAT I WANT FOR MY BIRTHDAY!!!"
I'm sure you can guess his reaction once I told him I wanted to go to the ball.
He said no. He didn't want to go.
So I said, "I'm not your princess???" (with a sad face),
and he said, "I'll do ANYTHING for you." and kissed me.
Awwwww..... you can wipe the tear from your eye,
or go get your bucket to throw up in now.
Whichever one you need.

Shopping for a dress was harder than I thought it was going to be.
#1. Prom just ended
and #2. I am NOT a size 6!!
SO, my BFF Christa and I went shopping on her day off,
and this is what we found:

Matt called this one "Marilyn Monroe"
and it was too big....

... and he called this one a "Star Trek" dress...

... he called this one "Grandma", so that's a no-go....

...he said this one was "okaaay..."

And this one was THE MONEYMAKER!!!
If you noticed, it's a longer version of the "Star Trek" dress. This dress looked hideous on the hanger! It looked like a dead fish! But once I put it on, EVERYONE started complimenting me on it! Even complete strangers! AND we got it 15% off cuz the lady at the register was nice.

Matt had to go buy a BOW TIE and a white shirt to wear with his greens. He wasn't real thrilled about that.

Here's a picture of Matt and I at Christa's house before the Ball
(I was dropping Matthew off to spend the night with her son Ryan)
((the other kids were at my neighbor Sherri's house))
(((I was posing all silly pretending like it was Prom night... Matt's face is not amused)))
YAY! So we got there and had no idea where to go, so we asked this random hotel worker where to go, and she had to call the front desk and ask. But we found it.
As we were going up the escalator there was a huge group of high school kids or something, all gasping at me in my dress, telling me how gorgeous it was! I was flattered!!!
THEN we got our professional picture taken together!!
(I'll blog that after it gets mailed to our house)
After the pictures, we found our name on the guest list and which table we were sitting at, and then mingled in a crowd of people who we knew NONE of!! That was awkward.
Then I saw my sweet friends, Paul & Bobbi DeCecchis!!!!! I was so happy to see them!
Paul was Matt's Company Commander when they deployed to Iraq.

So after we mingled around for a while, a guy stepped in the hallway and blew his trumpet!
That apparently meant it was time to go into the Ball Room and sit at your table.
We were at table #48!
Here's my little name tag:

And a picture of us that our waiter took:

WOW! Look at all of the silverware for me!!!
All I could remember was,
"Forks on the Left" and
"Work your way from the outside in"

Look at my handsome Prince Charming :o)
He really hated his bow tie! But I thought he looked DAPPER!


Dinner was awesome, and so was dessert.
Then we had entertainment from
THE STROLLING STRINGS
all the way from Washington D.C.
They play for every president, and even Royalty!
They were SOOOO good!
It was amazing! They sounded like a big stereo!
Here's a short video:


After all of the entertainment, it was time to BOOGIE!
Matt doesn't boogie so I was on my own.

But before Bobbi left, I wanted to get a picture with her.

Easier said than done......


Here's picture #1
I look like I've had a few too many, so we tried it again...


Here's picture #2
I was cracking up because Paul took a picture too and it was all crazy.


So here's picture #3
THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM!!!!


Then we got the guy next to us to take a picture of all of us:
I love those two! And they are expecting their first baby in November!!!
She makes an adorable pregnant woman!

The Ball was SO much fun!!
A couple of weeks ago, Kenzie taught me how to do 'The Hustle',
so you know I was doin' the Hustle when "Stayin' Alive" came on.
Matt was probably embarrassed of me.

And Matt didn't hate it as much as he thought he would. In fact... it was a GOOD thing he went because, as you know he is working on a Warrant Officer Packet, and he needs 3 Letters of Recommendation. And the man sitting next to us was a CW3! And he is going to help Matt get a letter from a CW5, which is the best! So it was a BLESSING that we went to the Ball and met the nice people that we did!

IT WAS A NIGHT TO REMEMBER

(I'll post the professional Ball pictures once I get them)