Week 52: Natalie & Casey

This week we ventured on yet another cross country trip this month.  Trip #3 was to Montana for the wedding of Natalie, Kent's sister.  We left on Wednesday night at 6pm EST and got to Kalispell, MT at 1:30am.  Erik slept on the first flight for a couple hours but was surprisingly awake during the layover and second flight from Salt Lake City to MT.  He travels well thanks to the makers of Cheerios.

There was some preparation to do once we arrived in getting ready for the wedding so we helped out when we could with that.  Many of Kent's family was here and it was fun to introduce them to Erik for the first time.  It was great to see Natalie and her now husband Casey as well in their natural habitat. :-)  It was fun to visit their properties.  The wedding was held at what I would describe as their primary residence; however, since it was for sale they weren't living there.  They also have a horse boarding property that has another residence which they were staying at.  During their wedding weekend they stayed at the primary residence as did we, which was very convenient.

Auntie Natalie & Erik

Natalie & Casey

Events leading up to the wedding included a nice dinner out (rehearsal dinner) and a boat cruise on Flathead lake.  The wedding was on Saturday evening and was a great success.  Natalie and Casey planned it themselves and it was very classy.  There was around 120-130 people there.  They had the reception on their property as well.  It was fun to see them enjoy the day with their friends and family.  Very happy for them on their special day and pleased to have Casey as a brother-in-law.  We look forward to visiting them again and seeing their beautiful surroundings.  Erik ate Cheerios during the wedding and was very quiet through-out!

Erik driving the boat on the cruise!

On Sunday Natalie and Casey were kind enough to stick around town and spend time with their family and friends.  They organized a white water rafting trip for all who were interested; this was my first white-water rafting trip (Kelli has gone several times before).  Casey and Natalie had their own raft and painted "just married" on the side which was widely popular as we floated down the river.  Everyone who saw it was very congratulatory and it wasn't hard to tell who the bride and groom were since Casey was wearing a tie sans a shirt and Natalie was wearing a veil.  It was a great time and we all stayed in the boat, which is more than we can say for some of the other boats!

That evening we also had a cookout at their horse boarding residence and got to see the horse barns and horses.  I also gave Erik a ride on Casey's small loader tractor.  Erik enjoyed steering and raising and lowering the bucket!  He also liked touching Auntie Natalie's horses!  It's a great horse farm and we were impressed with the work they've done making it functional.

Erik meets Auntie Natalie's horse

On Monday, July 30, we took a car ride through Glacier National Park on the "Going to the Sun Road", which is something you must plan to do.  It was stunning, at times, the natural beauty that is in this park.  It took several hours to complete the trip up to Logan's pass and back, mainly due to the road construction and resulting traffic!  Worth it though.

That evening we celebrated Erik's first birthday.  He spent his day sleeping in the car on the ride through Glacier and then crawling up and down the stairs at the house we were staying at.  We tied some balloons on the back of his pants on one of the belt loops and he enjoyed playing with rest of the balloons we bought him.  He had a smash cupcake, but didn't take an overly aggressive approach in eating it.  He was pretty careful, but managed to make a decent mess of himself by the end.  It was nice to spend his birthday with some of our out-of-town family members that wouldn't have got to participate otherwise.

Erik and his chocolate cupcake!

Erik has been such a precious gift to us and it was a treat having him as part of our family during this past year.  We are very blessed.

**posted by Kent**