Amazing Matt

Matt called me from work one day to say that we he was coming home to pick up me and Bennett because he had an award ceremony to go to he forgot to tell me about. "OK," I thought, "no big deal."

Wrong. Huge deal.

Apparently Matt was chosen for a pretty routine volunteer award, which was cool, yes. But even more amazing was the ceremony itself. I kid you not, this was the most theatrical show I have ever seen the Army put on, complete with canons firing, a full marching band, horses and wagons, full dress uniforms and swords, and a Calvary charge at the end. Whoa.

Bennett, however, was unimpressed and spent the entire time whining and picking dandelions.

Bennett waiting for it to start.

Matt had his own seat reserved and everything. Very fancy. I had a seat reserved, too. It said, "1LT Matthew Hargrave Guest" :)

Here comes the Calvary

The Wagon and the band. I felt so bad for these guys. It had to be at least 95* out there, and they stood at attention for the entire hour-long ceremony. One guy finally passed out and had to go sit in the shade with a medic. That is dedication, I'll tell you right now.

Matt, receiving his award. I don't know of anybody who deserves this more. I am very proud of him.

While this award was just a little thing, (with an overly-dramatic ceremony) Matt also got a big thing a few days later. Another promotion! Matt is now the new Executive Officer of his company. This means he is directly under the Captain of the company, and acts as the Commander whenever he isn't there himself.

While this promotion doesn't affect our paycheck at all, it looks really good on paper and gets Matt a new office. It also allows him to take better care of his soldiers, which is really important to him.

I could seriously go on all day about how great Matt is, not only at his job, but as a husband and a daddy and a friend and a priesthood holder and as a human being in general...but that would not be very fun for you to read. :) So just know that we are very proud of him, and feel so blessed to have him in our lives.

What a good guy.