It's not every day that we get an invitation to visit Montana, so when Joe's childhood friend (and one of my beautiful bridesmaids) Andie said she was getting married to Andre there, we were stoked! All three of us packed our bags and we were off to Missoula, Montana for a long weekend of wedding festivities and as it would turn out, Hailey turned ONE! It was a pretty celebration-packed weekend.
One of our first days in Missoula, we found a pretty incredible toy store and basically let Hailey loose on the store. She was in heaven...
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| This girl goes bonkers for Kitchen playlets |
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| Who gave my child a gun? |
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| Future Carpenter? |
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| Yep, already missing a sock. |
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| More interested in pulling off her other sock than riding the pig |
Walking around downtown, we found the courthouse and had a little fun in the grass...
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| Like this? |
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| Ohhhh like this... |
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| ummm... |
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| OK I think I got it... |
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| Perfect! |
We even managed to squeeze in a hike at one of the local parks, it was gorgeous.
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| Mommy/Daddy self while Hailey naps in the stroller |
The rehearsal dinner was at Andie's mom's house (also where the wedding would be the next night) and it was sooooo much fun!
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| Auntie Megan playing squish-face |
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| A chicken coop! Hailey couldn't take her eyes off of them |
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| Uncle Lucas tried enticing Hailey with his Beer... |
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| All the girls got a kick out of this |
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| So close! |
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| Adorable, but alas, still not walking |
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| Watching the ducks get fed! This place was amazing!!! |
The morning of the wedding, we made a quick trip to a drive-thru Bison Park. We felt it was only fitting to come all the way to Montana and see some real-life Bison!!
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| The view wasn't horrible... |
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| Pit stop to get out and walk - Perfectly timed picture of Joe yawning that looks like he's eating Hailey's head. |
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| My Loves |
In the two hours of driving the park, I think we saw 3 Bison, but they were pretty far away and they could just as easily have been large rocks. Oh well! We headed out to grab lunch on our way home and found JUST the right place... Hooters! Turns out, this place is packed with families and we could see why, the girls LOVED fawning over Hailey. When we told them she was turning one that weekend, they grabbed her a balloon and sang to her!
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| Hailey was a little nervous at first... |
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| Gabbin' with the girls |
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| Birthday Song! |
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| Happy Hailey! Thanks Hooters! |
Then it was time for the main event!!!
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| Real Life Pinterest Wedding! Incredible!!!!! |
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| Andie's Mom's Backyard.. you gotta be kidding me! |
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| My plus-two! |
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| Megan with a cup on her head. No explanation needed :) |
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| The Groom, Andre & his grooms-boys :) |
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| Cutest Swedish Flower Girls Alive! |
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| Andie & her Dad - let the tears flow! |
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| Family Photo at the Altar! |
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| I think this needs to be a postcard |
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| Joe, Hailey & the Bride Andie! |
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| Andre is from Sweden so one of the lawn games was Kubb, really fun! |
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| Bride & Groom's kodak moment (every square inch of this place was a kodak moment) |
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| First Dance! |
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| Stunning wedding dress |
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| Love birds |
I should have way more pictures from the wedding, but as it turns out I had too much fun chasing Hailey around and dancing with everyone. Andie & Andre threw one of the most beautiful, fun weddings we have ever been to. Congrats guys!!!
Sunday morning we woke up at 6:30 per our usual Hailey-wake up alarm and... Hailey was One!!! AHHH!!!! We have a one year old! So nuts!!! Commence melt down. To start the day off right, we made chocolate chip pancakes for the birthday girl... she approved ;-)
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| Chocolate Chip Face. mmmmm |
Later that morning, there was a post-wedding brunch back in paradise...
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| I'm THIS old!!!! |
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| Playing Kubb while Hailey played on the grass |
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| Hailey like the corn hole bags too |
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| Hiiii! |
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| Hailey & the Swedish kids were TOO cute playing together! |
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| Bubble! |
Andie's mom was so sweet, she knew it was Hailey's first birthday and she got her a pie and a present! It was perfect!!
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| Hailey's first time eating Pie |
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| She knows something great is coming... |
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| MMMMM Blueberry!!! |
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| It's even on her leg! |
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| mmmmmm! |
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| Blueberry face! |
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| Pie Food Coma! |
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| Present time! |
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| Hand knit sweater! Yay!!! Thank you Sharon!!! |
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| And a puppy came to make this day even better! My daughter just peaked in Happiness. |
Afterwards, we had to make a birthday trip back to the Toy Store. Of course.
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| Here Dad, wear this! |
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| You look FABULOUS! |
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| Hailey's one toy - a football |
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| She's such a great sharer ;-) |
Missoula has a fun merry-go-round in downtown so we though it would be a fun birthday ride. I get motion sick just THINKING about goring around in circles, so I stayed back and took pictures.
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| One year old! |
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| Getting set up with Dad |
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| "look at mommy!" |
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| Here we go! |
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| Here they come!! |
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| ummm, it's kind of fast... |
So I could leave the ride at that, but I'll go ahead and share with you that Hailey absolutely HATED it. The ride was a lot faster than normal and she basically cried the whole time. And I pretty much did too, listening to her cry and having to wait for the 3 minute ride to be over. Poor thing!!! Yep, worst parents ever making their daughter cry on her birthday. Whoops! Meh, she'll forgive us one day, right?
Fortunately, that was really the only bad part of the whole trip. The wedding, the travels, the birthday and our great friends Lucas & Cary made the whole trip fabulous. Thanks for the fun, Montana!
