The Chewies 2012

I married into an awesome family! They are so fun to be around. We look forward to everytime we can all get together, which isn't too often since we all live anywhere from 1 hr to 8 hrs away from each other. Usually it's Christmas and 4th of July. The last few years we have added "The Chewies". It was the idea of my brother in law: Adrian. AD was 11 when I married Shane, so he is essentially a little brother to me. We seriously LOVE AD and his wife, Serene. She is a saint because she not only puts up with, but supports AD and all his craziness-which we love! My kids LOVE uncle AD and he is more like a big brother to them. So back to THE CHEWIES. Basically AD thought it would be fun to do a NCAA bracket challenge each year for the family. He does a ton of work to get us all signed up on ESPN.com with a private group. After each round he sends the most hilarious e-mails about the teams and how everyone is doing in the tourney. His nickname for the challenge is: THE MAESTRO. Totally fitting. 

So it has become tradition that we host The Chewies each year. I love welcoming our family to our home! It's so fun to host and be around everyone. AD comes up with prizes for everyone, the most coveted being: THE LIFESIZE CHEWIE. This year Chewie had to travel from Denver, since Kim, Shane's sister won last year, and the winner gets to keep Chewie displayed proudly in their home for 1 year. So, she had to pack up Chewie and bring him to SLC. Security had to open up the box and check the contents. They gave Kim some weird looks when she said the box contained a lifesize cardboard cut out of Chewbacca. Un-huh. Ok lady, whatever. To make matters worse he got lost again going back to Denver (because she was a repeat champ and got to take him back with her-lucky girl). Thankfully, Chewy was recovered by the airlines and delivered safely to her home, where he will reside in all his glory next to their lifesize cutout of Michael Jordan-true story. 

Anyway, back to The Chewies: 

AD planned a basketball shootout, a football toss, a KFC dinner, and finally the awards where the current and prior winners sang "We are the Champions" by Queen. I tell you: AWESOME FAMILY!!!!