Planes, Weddings & 9 Month Birthdays

We survived! Last Thursday morning we hopped on a plane headed for Bozeman, Montana. We spent most of our night Wednesday finalizing our bags and making sure we had everything we needed for Harper. Who knew traveling with an infant required so many bags? On the way to the airport, I discovered I left my phone sitting on the bookshelf at home. My immediate reaction is to FREAK OUT. It's sad, but the thought of being phone-less for 4 1/2 days was terrifying. After a 5 minute hissy fit, and after my Mom and Mitch were done cracking jokes I got over my forgetfulness and opted for a phone-free vacation. Plus, I knew Mitch had his phone and we had the iPad - so I could still communicate with the outside world if needed. 

We made it to the airport with plenty of time to check our bag, go through security and get to our gate with time to spare. We took full advantage of pre boarding with an infant and made it to our seats on the plane. Harper took in the surroundings, looked out the window at the luggage making it's way up the conveyer belt and flirted with all the strangers passing by. Our first plane experience was a SUCCESS! Harper slept for the first hour of our flight, and watched Elmo and chomped on snacks for the remaining hour. There were no tears (from Harper or myself), screams or dirty looks from the other passengers. We all got off the plane in Bozeman with smiles on our faces.

So long Minnesota! 

Enjoying the window seat, watching Elmo!

Bob and Deb were waiting for us at the airport in Bozeman, and we had a 50 minute drive to Big Sky where we were staying for the weekend. We loaded all of our bags into the rent-a-van and were on our way. After a quick stop for lunch and grocery trip we finally arrived to the house. The surroundings were stunning, practically picture perfect. Both the Helleen's and the Fisher's stayed at the house, so it was fun to have everyone under the same roof. We were welcomed by adorable little gift bags filled with personalized glasses, local beer, chocolate covered pretzels, an itinerary for the weekend and movie tickets to Scott & Sally's theater. After dropping our bags off in our room, we headed outside to take in the fresh mountain air. It was so nice to sit outside soaking up the rays, listening to the babbling of the stream and seeing the mountains from the window. After an afternoon of grilling and visiting, we headed to bed after an exhausting day of traveling.

Friday morning, Matt and Jen flew in from California and met us at the house. It's been months since we've seen them, so we were thrilled to see them pull into the driveway. That morning all the boys played 18 holes at the course in Big Sky, that meant the rest of us had a ladies day! Jenny, Harper and myself sat around most of the morning until Jennie got into town from Minneapolis. Once Jennie and Deb got back from the airport we headed into town to see Scott & Sally's theater and grab some lunch. It was so fun to have all the girlies together. We had a great lunch at The Wrap Shack, and wandered the streets of Big Sky. It was a perfect way to spend the day!

Friday night we all headed out to Buck's T-4 Lodge for the Groom's dinner. Everyone got into their Mountain Dressy attire and headed out to celebrate the night before the wedding. The dinner was lovely. It was hard not to shed a couple of tears when it came to the speeches given by Andy and Shelly that night. Siblings always have such heart felt words to share, and you could certainly feel the love.

Saturday was the big day, Scott and Sally were getting hitched! During the summer months, Scott used to spend his days being a guide for ziplining tours, so he set us up with a session. Harper was a little fussy that morning so her and I wandered around the ski area while everyone hiked up the mountain to zipline. It sounds like they had a wonderful time, and Harper and I enjoyed our walks and snapped some great photos! She even snuck in a quick nap, which was certainly needed!

After zipping, we enjoyed a great lunch and headed back to the house to get ready for the big ceremony. The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and slightly breezy - a great day to get married. The ceremony location was right along the stream, with tall trees and the mountains in the background. The wedding was beautiful, and Sally looked stunning. Scott couldn't wipe the smile off his face all night, they were so sweet together. After the "I Do's" there was a nice cocktail hour with a friend playing guitar and singing for entertainment. Harper immediately took a liking to Mark and his strings, we started referring to her as his "groupie." She sat for a good 25 minutes just bouncing to his tunes, it was adorable. Saturday also marked Harper's 9 month "birthday!"

We headed to the reception tent for dinner. Sally's creative mind had a wonderful set up with the guest book and cake. They displayed the wedding dresses of the MOB and the MOG on mannequins, had a basket full of scarfs for guests when it cooled down, and had an charming ski themed cake. Dinner was delicious, not to mention the vodka/huckleberry lemonade drinks! After dinner and speeches, Bob and Deb were sweet enough to take Harper back to the house for bed while we celebrated the rest of the night. The wedding was a blast, and we couldn't be happier for the new Mr. & Mrs. Fisher!

Sunday morning came early, and Yellowstone was on our agenda for the day. 7 adults and Harper piled into the rent-a-van and made the journey to Yellowstone National Park. The sites and scenery was fascinating. Between the geysers and wildlife, we were entertained all day. We made it to Old Faithful by the afternoon and watched her soar, it was pretty incredible to see. After a quick lunch at the General Store, we started our drive back to Big Sky. We made a minor pit stop in a darling little town for some homemade ice cream. My choice... huckleberry. It was my go-to flavor of the trip! Since we had a long day of exploring, we took it pretty easy that night. After packing up, and grilling out we opted to venture to Scott & Sally's theater for the late night movie. Mitch, Jennie, Jerry and myself ordered our popcorn and sodas for the viewing of Lawless. It was a fun way to end our trip!

Monday ended our mini vacation, and we were sad to see it come to an end. Montana is a beautiful place, but we were ready to get home and back to our normal routine. We made it to the airport with all of our bags, and had another successful plane ride with Harper. She opted to take a snooze for most of the trip, which was perfect. We arrived in Minneapolis a little early, and it felt good to be home. As we walked to the baggage claim carousel I realized I was missing something... my camera! I thought about it for a second and realized I left it under the seat on the airplane. We quickly ran upstairs to the Delta desk and told the clerk our situation. She was helpful and ran down to the gate to see if someone had turned it in, no luck. Long story short, after a couple extra hours at MSP International Airport we finally got my camera back!

Overall the trip was awesome, and besides me forgetting my phone and my camera - everything went perfectly as planned. Bring on the next plane ride, Harper is a natural jet setter!

Until next time...
The Helleen's