Spouses Dining In

The military has many traditions... one of which is Dining In/Out.  Dining In is a formal military ceremony for members of a unit which includes dinner, drinking and other events that foster camaraderie and spirit.  At these events there are Rules of The Mess.  When those rules are broken the violators are sent to The Grog where they have to partake of a drink and come before the President (and those at the command table).  At least, that's the idea of it in a nutshell.  

I had heard of these events but never chose to participate because I didn't fully understand what it was but knew it centered around alcohol.  However, this year, the Key Spouse for the Med Group had heard from people that I loved to plan parties - and she needed help, so she asked.  And I reluctantly agreed.  But I'm glad I did.  It ended up being a wonderful, fun event.

This Dining In was for spouses only.  A theme was chosen - Hooray for Hollywood.  Then each Group or Squadron was to pick something within that theme that represented and helped explain/demonstrate what their own group or squadron is all about.  You then decorated your table and came up with a skit based on that.  I agreed to help with the table and decor but refused to be involved with the skit... that never has been, nor ever will be, my area of interest.

So for the Med Group we of course chose the movie M*A*S*H.  I remembered my dad watching that growing up so it was fun for me to do a little research and learn about it.  The morning of the Dining In we had several hours in the morning to set up our table...

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It was fun setting up and getting the details just right...

Then everyone had to leave and the judges came in and judged the tables.
That evening, for the main event, everyone showed up dressed to match their own Groups table/theme.  We were of course in medical scrubs and had one man dress as Klinger. 

At the start of the evening Cyndee got sent to the Grog with her group and so I went up to take a picture of her there.  Apparently that wasn't okay because that got our group sent to the Grog... oops.  So while we were before the command table for that we took some selfies :P  And then we proceeded to shoot water at people through giant syringes... that wasn't okay either.  But it was fun.  And we had a good time.

Five of us from the Branch were there... :)

And while I knew there was a non-alcoholic Grog available I decided we should have a little fun and make a statement - because many people already know we don't drink alcohol or coffee... just diet coke ;)  So I found these huge 1/2 gallon flasks that we decorated.

For the record... we had one of the best tables there hands down.  Everyone was commenting on it.  However, I've heard this before and it appears to be true... the Med Group will never win anything... we are too Officer heavy.  But thats fine - we were winners in my book :)  The best table award went to Cyndee and her Harry Potter themed table and she certainly did an amazing job too!  But that was our only chance at winning an award... because our skit was awful.  
I am glad I got involved.  It was a fun thing to experience. 
"Attention!  All Personnel!  Without medics you die.  That's all."

Sundays, Songs, & Scriptures

"For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies, for the love which from our birth over and around us lies, Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise."

A couple of weeks ago we had a particularly long Sunday.  It was Branch Conference.  Preston & I normally have meetings before Church - the kids are used to entertaining themselves in a mostly reverent manner while we are off doing that.  But since we had the Stake Presidency and other Stake visitors there this week our Ward Council was an extra special 1 1/2 hours long before church (and I needed to set up the Primary room before that).  So I believe we left the house by about 7:30am.  By the time we got there early, had meetings, had regular church, and then had our Branch potluck it was 2:30pm.  Thankfully I had thought ahead and brought a change of clothes - I knew after  a day like that we'd need a nice beautiful walk on the beach...

"For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night, hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light, Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise."

And on another Sunday...

"For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild, Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise."

One night during scripture study before bed I looked over to see this sweet sight... sweet tired little girl...