The soonest Jennifer Richardson will see Jon again is April, when his tour of duty is scheduled to end.

Richardson must now do things alone that for more than 10 years she's done with Jon: care for the children, clean the house, carry the groceries.

It would be natural, then, to expect Saturday's celebration of the couple's 11th wedding anniversary to be difficult.

Instead, Richardson's smiled through her tear-streaked face and hugged many of the 70 soldiers' wives who toasted the 33-year-old Stansbury Park resident and surprised her with a letter from Jon.

"What better way to spend our anniversary than with all these ladies?" she asked.

The women gathered at The Shalamar Reception Center in Holladay on Saturday evening for a formal "Dining Without" get-together - a take-off from the "Dining Out" tradition soldiers and spouses have upheld for years.

"It's a way to honor them and acknowledge their strength and courage for all they've endured," said Jamie Robinson, who helped organize the occasion. Her husband, Lt. Col. Scott Robinson, is the battalion's commander.

"We wanted to have a special evening for the wives of the 211th Aviation Battalion," she said.

The women who attended ensured the night would be one neither they - nor their husbands - would soon forget.

Most got manicures, pedicures and their hair done. Many bought new dresses. Some even hired personal trainers months ago to fit into dresses they hadn't worn for years.

They said they wanted to look as "hot" and "sexy" as possible for the slide show of Saturday night's gala their husbands would later watch.

"I lost 10 pounds and 4 percent of my body fat by working out three times a week for almost two months," said Melinda Linder, 29, a West Jordan preschool teacher.

She hopes her Apache-helicopter pilot husband, James, 30, will remember the red dress with the cleavage-revealing cut is the same one she wore during their high-school homecoming dance.

Saturday's activities also served the purpose of honoring the love these wives and their soldier husbands share.

"We found out Josh was going to Afghanistan the day before Thanksgiving," said Jonelle Davis, a 21-year-old hairstylist from Midvale, who wore a tiara and a strapless tuxedo dress.

"The day after Thanksgiving, we went to Las Vegas, got married and pissed both our families off. We got about two months together before he left," she said.

Many in the group concede they are "lucky." Some get to speak to their spouses every day. The longest any of them have to wait before receiving a phone call is two weeks.

Still, it's frustrating when that phone call is the only way to connect with "your best friend," said Chelsea Howard, 20, of South Jordan, whose 23-year-old husband, Jeff, is a crew chief.

"And when that phone call with Daddy's voice is the only way your daughter will do what she's told," Howard said.

mcronin@sltrib.com