Montana Celebrations!

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...

This girl goes bonkers for Kitchen playlets

Who gave my child a gun?

Future Carpenter? 

Yep, already missing a sock.

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...

Like this?

Ohhhh like this... 

ummm...

OK I think I got it...

Perfect! 

 We even managed to squeeze in a hike at one of the local parks, it was gorgeous.

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!

Auntie Megan playing squish-face

A chicken coop! Hailey couldn't take her eyes off of them

Uncle Lucas tried enticing Hailey with his Beer...

All the girls got a kick out of this

So close!

Adorable, but alas, still not walking

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!!

The view wasn't horrible...

Pit stop to get out and walk - Perfectly timed picture of Joe yawning that looks like he's eating Hailey's head.

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!

Hailey was a little nervous at first...

Gabbin' with the girls

Birthday Song!

Happy Hailey! Thanks Hooters!

 Then it was time for the main event!!!

Real Life Pinterest Wedding! Incredible!!!!! 

Andie's Mom's Backyard.. you gotta be kidding me!

My plus-two!

Megan with a cup on her head. No explanation needed :)

The Groom, Andre & his grooms-boys :) 

Cutest Swedish Flower Girls Alive! 

Andie & her Dad - let the tears flow!

Family Photo at the Altar!

I think this needs to be a postcard

Joe, Hailey & the Bride Andie!

Andre is from Sweden so one of the lawn games was Kubb, really fun! 

Bride & Groom's kodak moment (every square inch of this place was a kodak moment) 

First Dance! 

Stunning wedding dress

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 ;-)

Chocolate Chip Face. mmmmm

Later that morning, there was a post-wedding brunch back in paradise...

I'm THIS old!!!!

Playing Kubb while Hailey played on the grass 

Hailey like the corn hole bags too

Hiiii! 

Hailey & the Swedish kids were TOO cute playing together!

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!!

Hailey's first time eating Pie 

She knows something great is coming...

MMMMM Blueberry!!!

It's even on her leg!

mmmmmm!

Blueberry face!

Pie Food Coma!

Present time! 

Hand knit sweater! Yay!!! Thank you Sharon!!!

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.

Here Dad, wear this!

You look FABULOUS!

Hailey's one toy - a football 

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.

One year old!

Getting set up with Dad

"look at mommy!" 

Here we go!

Here they come!!

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!

11 Month Old Tiny Dancer

Eleven Months Old... My how times flies!

"Here Mom, put this 11 Month sticker with my headband over there"

These Shrinking Elephant photo shoots are near impossible now that she's more mobile and getting into EVERYthing. So we just went with it...

"Get rid of this silly headband!"

Well, if she's just going to crawl away all the time...

Close Enough!

 Man this girl cracks me up! If she isn't speed crawling, or pulling herself up on stuff, this girl is... DANCING! Yep, cutest thing of all time.

Click here HERE to see what I'm talking about. Thank goodness she has good taste in music.

And now for some highlights from our world lately!

Family time with Grandma Sue!

Family Cruise on the Bay!

Enough hair to faux hawk!

Patrolling the streets of Berekeley in matching shirts

Touring Cal's Campanile with Grandma & Grandpa

I want to remember this moment forever. So. Much. Happy. 

Dinner Twinsies!

We've got a potential jail-breaker!!!

I'm not sure why, but I love this video... Hailey having a pillow fight. with herself.

Costco - Little Girl, BIG Cart. 

 One of our favorite Sunday things to do is picnic at the park next door to us.  I'm not sure who has more fun, us or Hailey...

I married the silliest husband, and world's greatest dad. 

Oh and eating... let's just say she's definitely our daughter. She's got my huge appetite and Joe's inability to stay clean while eating, plus an attitude of her own... A combination that makes for some extra special kodak moments at dinner time.

And just for good measure, some fun summer pool time!

Our baby may not be a baby for much longer, but it sure is fun watching her grow up!

Hailey's First Almanor Trip!

After a 2 year hiatus, we FINALLY got to make a trip to our cabin in Lake Almanor!!! Even better, it was Hailey's first time going, and it was pretty great introducing her to a place that's been in my family for... FIVE generations now! whoa.

When we arrived, the view from the cabin was gorgeous as usual. Been coming here all my life and this never gets old..

Morning snuggles on the deck!

Hailey had a grand time crawling around the cabin and getting into... EVERYTHING. We couldn't take our eyes off of her or she'd be getting into something she shouldn't. She loved the bookcase though. Not so much for her proficient literary skills, but she had a ball pulling everything off the shelf and making a mess for mommy & daddy to clean up.

Mess Maker!

"My job is done here, peace out"

Between the crawling terror she was and the fact that she decided to stop sleeping through the night on our visit, Joe and I were a little less rested on this trip than those pre-baby. Fortunately, Hailey took at least one decent nap every day which gave us some priceless time to relax.

TGINT - Thank God It's Nap Time!

One of the best parts of this trip was inducting Hailey to the family tradition of babies bathing in the sink. So many generations that this sink has cleaned! Not too shabby!

We took advantage of the perfect weather and went for a stroller-friendly hike one afternoon.

And in true Givens fashion, we didn't want those burned calories to go to waste, so we fueled up on some AMAZING Cabin Fever Pizza in Westwood, a family favorite. Avocado on pizza? Yes please!

Up until this point, Hailey's shown no interest whatsoever in standing. I mean NONE. We'd hold her in a standing position and this girl would immediately swing her feet out like "NO WAY", not having any of it... until NOW! This little stinker decided to pull herself up all on her own!

Sadly, she doesn't really know how to get down from the standing position and once she realized that, she'd cry and then crash to the floor. She'll need to practice the landing portion a bit...

Hailey's First Time Standing!

We had a lot of fun playing with blocks and knocking toys over.

And who can resist sitting on the deck and enjoying a beverage?

Like Father, Like Daughter (Hailey sipping milk, Joey sipping a Coors Light)

While the water was a bit too cold for Hailey to swim in, she had fun playing on the dock and looking fabulous in her swimsuit from Grandma Sue!

Toe Dips with Daddy! 

Family Selfie!

What a trip!!! Can't wait to see what Hailey's experience is like there next year and every year after that! I like to think that her great grandparents are smiling down from above as the new generation of grand kids falls in love with this place just as they did when they built it from the ground up so many years ago.