One of my favorite events of the year was held this weekend....Brian and Tony Stephens hosted their chili cook-off! I never miss this party! As usual, plenty of delicious recipes were entered. Alison (my sister) had taken first prize the last two years, but was unseated this year and had to settle for second. I have a feeling she'll be testing recipes for the next 363 days, give or take a few.
What a difference a year makes! Last year, no babies were at the chili party. This year, five little rugrats were crawling, toddling and wheeling around. A few adjustments were made (the party started two hours earlier than usual and ended much earlier), but the babies made the party even more special. It's such a rare treat to get so many of my dear friends and their children together. Emery doesn't know it yet, but these tykes are going to be her lifelong friends. Thanks, Tony, Brian, Alyson and Alison for a wonderful evening.
The entries (numbered confidentially)
Adult and baby beverages were on hand
The man cave had a new visitor this year....little McKenna Calvo!
Brian and Tony getting ready to announce the big winner!
Mallory and Debbie watching over the little ones....and Simba
Grandpa and Grandma took Emery and Austin on their first gondola ride. There they go.....
Eskimo Bobbles. Emery was such a good baby the entire trip. She didn't care what we did with her as long as she was part of the action. 
The Slagel me in one of the hot tubs. Ahh......I wish we had one of these in our own backyard.
Emery and Mommy in the heated outdoor pool. Emery is such a water baby. She loves pools, her bathtub, the dog's water dishes.....anything with H2O is fun for her.
Our one snag in the trip was that our flight from Atlanta to Steamboat had some issues with weather. We flew directly from Atlanta to Steamboat and then had to circle due to fog. After about 40 minutes, the captain announced that we were running low on fuel and would have to go to Denver, refuel, and try again. Once we got to Denver, the fog in Steamboat worsened, which meant we had to hang out ON THE PLANE for an additional hour and a half at DIA. We never deplaned. Thankfully, we were upgraded to first class, which meant we had roomy seats, lunch and booze. ;-) Also, Emery was a perfect angel and thought first class was super fun (as do Ben and I). We finally made it to Steamboat and everything was smooth sailing from them on.
