Thanksgiving at the Messhall

That's right. For Thanksgiving Yogurl insisted on eating at the Messhall. This has caused quite a bit of explaining on my part over the last few weeks. Conversations like this: "Hey Manburger, you got plans for Thanksgiving?"
"Yes, sir."
"You going up to eat with your family, or does your wife want to make it herself?" At this point I'm thinking, Oh crud, do I really have to get into this again?
"Actually, we'll be eating at the messhall for Thanksgiving, sir."
"Are you serious?" He asks with a look that says, What kind of a terrible husband makes his wife eat at the messhall?
"Yes, sir. My wife really wants to eat there this year."
"Look, Manburger, you guys can eat with us if you want. You know that they have giveaways of Thanksgiving food, if you need help."
"No, it's not that, sir. My wife actually wants to eat at the chowhall."
"Okay, man, whatever. If you need somewhere to eat, just let me know."
However, despite all coworker beliefs that I must be punishing my wife for something, here she is, happy as can be to eat at the chowhall. I got off duty at 7:30 that morning, came home, and we went jogging on the beach. Then we were off to get Thanksgiving breakfast burritos from the nearby mexican restaurant. What made them Thanksgiving breakfast burritos, you ask? Well, we ate them on Thanksgiving. Then I went home and slept for a while, and it was off to the messhall. We ate at the chowhall that serves force recon guys and amphibious assault guys. Needless to say, it wasn't like the airwinger chowhalls to which I've grown accustomed. Everybody in the place had a high and tight instead of having a haircut which could be mistaken for a civilian. I also sat down in the SNCO/Officer section for a minute, since the messhall near work doesn't make that distinction. We all just sit wherever. Oops. No big deal, there wasn't many people there anyway.
Yumm! Look at all that good grub! I thought it was really good, and so did Yogurl. The only real problem was that they had run out of pumpkin pie. That's okay, Yogurl made some at home and it was fabulous. 

Happy Birthday Ball

Well, I guess the biggest news from over here is that Yogurl and I got to go to our first Marine Corps Ball together! Last year I was on duty and Yogurl was in the wrong state anyway. This year we got to go together and have fun though. You'll notice that I am now Corporal Manburger and no longer Lance Corporal Manburger. It kinda sounds like a demotion since the title got shorter, but I assure you it is a promotion. Conveniently in the picture below, my arm is blocking my belt buckle. You see, when you become an NCO, you are supposed to get the buckle with an Eagle, Globe and Anchor on it. Oops. I knew I forgot something. Lucky for me, a Marine that I work with showed up with an extra NCO buckle not too long after, so I was able to change and not have to walk around with my cover in front of my belt all night long. Yogurl got to have lots of fun, too. She's eager to tell you all about it, so I'll let her write now.

It was fun to pretend to be fancy grown-ups for a night. Lots of pretty dresses and lots of alcohol. Fortunately, we didn't have to get smashed to enjoy ourselves ;) The food was pretty good, it was at a Marriott hotel. I guess Manburger and I are getting pretty old because we were back home by 10:30pm, sheesh! I'm looking forward to next year's event and seeing if it runs the same or if they change things up a little and maybe let us eat some MC birthday cake. I was pretty bummed that they used a huge cake for the ceremony, but we didn't get to eat any. What's a birthday without birthday cake? Oh well, we did have a yummy lime cheesecake instead.
I loved seeing all the different uniforms for the officers and the Staff NCOs. I definitely am a fan of the Staff NCO mess dress. Talking with Marines and their wives, whom I had never met was a bit of a challenge, but I think I feel better prepared for next year after floundering a little this time. Manburger was praised quite a bit by his senior officers and it just made me so happy to think I'm the one that got to marry him. What a stud!!
Here's my final ensemble after much advice from family and friends. It's fun having my own fashion consultants. I felt elegant and so mature, not at all like I felt for prom. And yes, this was about 6 million times better than prom. My date didn't have to go home at curfew ;)
Manburger: Thursday, Yogurl and I went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was free for active duty and a dependent. I guess they are doing it for Veteran's Day. Since we went early on a Thursday, there were almost no lines at all. It wouldn't have been worth full price, but for the price of parking, it was sure worth it. We were reminded that we aren't as young anymore after riding a spinny ride that made us, me especially, quite nauseated. After that ride, it was just easy gentle rides the rest of the day. Yogurl kept saying how she wished Knott's Berry Farm were still a berry farm and how free admission to an eat-all-you-can-pick berry place would be the coolest thing ever. The best thing all day was when I got to eat my first funnel cake. Yeah, I can hardly believe I had never had one before either. Needless to say, there will be plenty more in my future. Yogurl says, "Yummmm!"
Today we went to a little fall festival thing at a local ranch. It was pretty fun. Yogurl got to try different chilis for the chili cook-off, which made her day. I was a little disappointed that there was no Cincinnasty chili there. I'm sure it would have won "most unique." I also decided to try a pepper eating contest and almost died. It burned so bad and I had nothing to eat so I just wandered around gasping for a while as my nose dripped all over. Good times.
Exciting news from my side of the family is that we have a nephew now. We haven't gone out to see him yet, but we are going to go in a few weeks for the baby blessing in Lancaster. How exciting! That's all for now, take care. 

Happy Halloween!

I hope everybody around the country didn't give up on Halloween this year like they did on our street. We didn't have a single trick-or-treater come by. Of course, we were gone until about 7 because we went to our old stake's trunk-or-treat party, but still. I was expecting people to come by at least until 8 or even 9. Maybe kids around here actually care about school and so wanted to get to bed early. Losers. Well, John Kerry would be proud that they care about their education so that they won't end up getting stuck in the military, like me. Yuck, yuck.

Yogurl and I had so much going on the last couple weeks that we hadn't really thought much about costumes. Fortunately, Yogurl whipped up two costumes while I was at work. She picked me up from work and we went straight over to the party with our only friends. I'm a French chef and Yogurl is a gypsy, just in case you couldn't tell. I wish I had been Quasimodo and she had been a gypsy, but that is what I am everyday, so it wouldn't have been much of a costume.

These are our only friends, Lisa and Ali. Ali is the cutest little Carebear! She got a lot of candy that the rest of us promptly picked at. It was for her own good, of course.
No post is complete without Yogurl adding a picture of one of her yummy creations. I'll let her describe it to you, as I can see she is eager to do.
These are yummy "Yogurl-acos" as Manburger called them, b/c we aren't quite sure you'd find them on a Latino family's dining table. Since we've moved out to California, I've really fallen in love with Mexican food. Actually, mostly just my "Mexican" healthy creations. These tacos have homemade refried beans (not actually fried), cabbage, cilantro, tomato/cucumber/red onion salsa, and fresh garlic salsa, also some Monterey-Jack cheese. Yummy!! I think I could probably eat them everyday. I've also been making winter squash tacos lately with all the fun squash Manburger and I have been buying. Sounds a little weird, but I really like it. Where's the meat, you ask, well I don't miss it at all.