Life Of The Jacksons: Marine Corps Ball 2009

This was my last ball of our Marine Corps career. During our four year time, I was able to attend three of them. My first ball was in 2006, it happened at the same hotel as this year, They Regency Hyatt in Huntington Beach, CA. The hotel is beautiful and it's right on the water. It's filled with amazing fountains, just a truly breath taking hotel. My day started really nicely, We went to breakfast at Ihop with Jamie, then Jamie and I did some last minute shopping for the things that I hadn't had time to go pick up because of Global. After our trip we came back to my house and Jamie helped me curl my hair. She is such a great friend, I love her dearly, and I will miss her so much when we leave.

We drove to our hotel and Luke came to pick us up so we didn't have to get a taxi to the Hyatt. (We stayed at a cheaper hotel down the street because the Hyatt was $275 a night) The night kicked off with cocktail hour and trying to find our table for dinner. It was a little sad, because everyone that we did know is now out of the Marines, except for like 3 people. This year's ceremony was wonderful! It wasn't too long, the message was so inspirational, and it made me so proud of Jared and to be a Marine wife. Of course they did the usual presenting of the birthday cake (Happy 234th!) And they do this thing where they give a piece of cake to the oldest and youngest Marine in our battalion. I think the oldest was born in 1952 (57) and the youngest to join was..Get this...Drum Roll....1992. That's right people...He is 17 years old. Not even a legal adult, but he's old enough to go to war and die for his country. It made me sad because he is just a baby and is in for a big ride. My heart and blessings go out to him. During the ceremony the talked about brotherhood and how great it was to be a part of our Battalion. There was a guy on the video who talked about how they would jump in harms way to save their brother every time and not even think about it. I started to tear up because for us..unfortunately..Jared was never given that opportunity of brotherhood over the last 4 years. Somehow and for some reason..we drew the short end of the stick.

Holding Jared's hand during the ceremony.

After the ceremony we had a wonderful dinner of salad, steak, and dessert. It was awefully tasty!

Our Table

My steak.

Mellisa's Chicken

Raspberry Chocolate mousse.

Then pictures and dancing begun, I wanted to dance so bad but they had the music so loud that Jared couldn't handle being in the room. Poor guy was getting dizzy because of how loud it was. It's a reminder to me that he really does have handicaps and that he will be injuried for the rest of his life. When you look at him he seems completely fine..but he has so many health issues now.