Just a few of the celebrations of 2010

Since I've been slow to post lately I decided to do a recap of some of the celebrations I forgot to post/ have been late to post.

First up was Josh's birthday in October. Josh has a big sweet tooth, especially when it comes to doughnuts. So when I met him in the morning in DC I brought him some Krispy Kreme doughnuts to start off the day. And for his birthday cake I baked him a doughnut shaped cake. It was super easy and it turned out looking just like a chocolate glazed doughnut. I will definitely be using this cake mold in the future. I'm sure someday my kids will be saying "No mom... not another doughnut cake for my birthday".

Next up (and my favorite party of the year) was the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. This ball is put on every year to celebrate the founding of the Marine Corps on November 10th. There are Birthday Balls all over the country. My parents and grandparents (both my dad and grandpa were in the Marine Corps) usually go every year to the ball in San Francisco at the Marine's Memorial Club. Last year for the ball Josh and I were jealous we couldn't go and we had hoped that maybe this time next year the two of us could go with him going as a Marine Corps officer. And this year our hopes were fulfilled and I got to go with my Marine Officer :). And to make it even more special, both sets of my grandparents went AND Josh's parents flew out for the occasion.

We were all there to not only celebrate the Birthday Ball but also Josh's graduation from TBS. He has just graduated from "The Basic School" earlier that week so it was the perfect timing for a graduation celebration. And it was a CELEBRATION for sure!

This night was amazing... it was a wedding on steroids (side note: our wedding will be just as fun if not even more fun)! The whole evening was perfect and I think it'll be hard to top this Birthday Ball in the future. It started with a ceremonial cutting of the birthday cake. There was a nice speech by General Pace who was the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Then it was off to cocktail hour. Boy do those servers know how to fill a glass. Seriously the moment you got to below half a glass you would have another full glass of champagne. The Marines sure know how to drink that's for sure.

With my Future In-Laws

During cocktail hour we mixed and mingled with 4 star generals and WWII vets. All the generals wanted to talk to Josh because he was a young 2nd lieutenant just starting his career and they were all jealous and wanted to give him their advice. At one point Josh spilled his wine on one of the generals (he's a bit clumsy even when he hasn't had a glass or two of wine) and they all laughed and told him that he would probably become a general one day because this particular general had done the same thing to another general when he was younger. So if Josh happens to become a general one day we'll know why... haha.

The night went on with a delicious steak dinner and lots of dancing. Even my grandparents were out tearing up the dance floor. My family is definitely the kind that spends the night on the dance floor. Everything was perfect at the ball and I wouldn't have changed a thing. I think what made it so memorable was the company we had. I'm already counting down the days till the next one.

Father/Daughter dance (pretty sure I have a tear in my eye in this pic) and hanging out with my grandparents (check out my grandpa's hands... he's even dancing while sitting and taking a pic)

3 generations of Marines: My dad (far right), Poppop (my dad's dad who is next to Josh) and now Josh