They did it!

Probably one of the biggest moments in our family's life came last night, as Syd realized a dream he has been working toward for YEARS! He got into barbershop singing when he was a little guy and went to chorus in Scottsbluff, Nebraska with his dad. His dad, Steve, and three other fellas have been singing together in a quartet for decades! Syd was hooked!

When I met him in college, Syd already had his eyes on the prize of being an International Collegiate champ. Four good friends from college, Soren, Eric (originally Jim from SF) and Kalin formed Millennium quartet and won GOLD in Kansas City in 2000.

Around the time we got married---Syd was forming his new quartet in Denver, with two of the members being sons of those Scottsbluff, Nebraska gents Syd's dad has been in a quartet with for years! They are practically family and have been family for years! I believe it was in 2002 when they first started competing on the big stage- Internationals. Their placements were something like 19, 16, 13...and into the top 10 then, with their last few years being 3rd, then 6th, then 3rd again last year. (*I KNOW I am going to have a few of my stats wrong...I will have to wait for Syd to proof this and correct me :) )

Anyway- a few years ago they were able to add a great friend and great guy, Jeff, to the quartet as tenor. He seemed to work well with the shenanigans of the rest of the crew, Syd, Darin and Jim...not to mention...had great vocals as well!

Let me tell ya...after last year in Anaheim when the guys got 3rd, they made a solid plan and worked their barbershop butts off this past year to improve their singing and come up with new sets for this year's competition. With the help of singing coach Chad Guyton and presentation/comedy/"how to be cool" coach, Rick LaRosa, they put in the work to get to where they needed to be.

I'm sure I can say this for the rest of the crew too, but Syd is SO unbelievably driven and SO focused, I had no doubt this would happen someday- but now we can FINALLY say it HAPPENED! I can't think of any group of guys who deserved this more. It was a beautiful underdog story last night and the crowd could not have been more supportive. Storm Front also won the Audience Favorite Award- of COURSE they did! ;)

So- last night after the big win, the family followed the quartet (it was hard to miss them in their lime green suits) to the photo room and then onto our private bus to the Champions Reception and champagne toast. This room was FILLED with all of Syd's quartet idols past and present. It was amazing and WE got to toast with them. I think we were in shock! From there we headed to other afterglows and receptions- with people cheering them on and wanting high fives and handshakes the whole way. So fun! At around 2am, the bus, and the whole family, returned back to the hotel. The majority of us (including myself) stayed at the hotel for bedtime, while the quartet changed out of their suits and headed back out until 6am this morning. Needless to say...Syd is still sleeping. :)

Anyway- that's our story! I will add more photos/videos later when I get them. I have one now (above)- courtesy of some Denver friends who were watching the webcast. (thank you!)

So proud of my hubby! Still absorbing the events of last night. Now time to move on to cleaning up this hotel room and spending our 4th of July in Philly! :)