The FHE Musical Chairs Showdown of Death

My entire life, I have won the friend lottery. From childhood friends who are still dear to me to college to my mission, to my single years in Salt Lake City, I have been surrounded by the best of the best. When I married Jamie and moved to Denver, it took me a while to make meaningful connections. It wasn’t until we moved into our house and 2nd Ward about a year and a half later that it slowly started happening. My friend Lisa invited us to join a dinner group with a handful of other couples and from that group, some of my very best friends were made.

Nearly 13 years later, my kids have literally grown up with these families and I couldn’t love them any more if we were related. For Family Home Evening tonight, our friends the Carrolls invited us to the church for a game night. Between the five families, we had about 100 kids, resulting in a night of chaotic fun. We played musical chairs, live Clue (where we turned out the lights and went room-to-room avoiding the murderer before solving the crime), Apples to Apples and then the Carrolls gave a spiritual message about Samuel the Lamanite who stood on a wall to preach repentance to the Nephites as they tried to shoot him down…

…then the adults raced into the room and attacked the kids with marshmallows and a huuuuge, hilarious fight ensued.

Jamie tried complaining about getting pelted in the eye but I had no sympathy. Mostly because he’d (practically) drawn blood just an hour earlier.

Something you should know about Jamie: he’s uber competitive.

Something you should know about my brother Patrick: he’s uber competitive.

Put them together and the games begin. I started the evening off by sharing the story of the Musical Chair Showdown. Shortly after we were married, Jamie came home with me for a summer visit. Our ward was having a party so we joined in the fun that ended with a rousing game of musical chairs. There were children in the mix. Small children. But it didn’t matter to Pat and Jamie who were out for blood. They were the final two and as they gazed at each other with blood-thirsty eyes, I knew there would be trouble. The music started and they heatedly rounded the chairs. When it stopped, they both dove, with Jamie ending up triumphant. Or was he? Pat started prying him off the chair, they fell over during the scuffle, but Jamie would not budge. Even splayed on the grass, his butt and hands did not lose their grip.

It was then I knew I’d chosen a winner.

Fast-forward to the FHE Musical Chair Showdown. We had the adults in one area and kids 12 and under in another.

The music started and stopped. With each round, our friends dropped off like flies but Jamie and Bode persisted, making it to the final round. Bode ended up losing in the finals but Jamie would not go down so easily against our friends’ 17-year-old son, Jordan, whose initial strategy was to walk around with the chair.