Independence Day

We started Independence Day with a flight to Montana for my family reunion. I was a little nervous because Finn is such a mover and doesn't fancy being restrained to one spot. Yet, I am proud to report that he was absolutely perfect! After quickly moving through my bag of tricks, we provided him with two drink cups from the stewardess and a couple of baby wipes. This kept him busy the remainder of the trip. He stacked, stuffed, unstacked, and unstuffed, with the occasional break to munch on some snacks.

I was a little sad because my mom, siblings, and grandparents were unable to make it to the reunion. Since the majority of my mom's family members are still located in South Dakota, the trip to Montana is a fairly long one. However, we have a large family and six of the nine siblings were still able to attend, in addition to a few of my cousins. It was quite a bit smaller, and less rambunctious, than our usual crowd, but there was still plenty of fun to be had by all. My uncle has a fishing pond near the house that kept the kids busy, and led a few rafting trips on Friday. Of course, there was also plenty of beer drinking, wine tasting, gun shooting, card games, bean bag toss, hilarious stories, and belly laughs. Friday night Dane's parents drove to Billings and joined us around the fire for a bit before they headed back to their hotel room. Saturday we left my uncle's house around 4:00 to join Dane's parents, aunt, and uncle for dinner. Dane was one lucky guy and was served ribs (his favorite) twice on this trip. Other exciting news from the long weekend, Finn started walking!! This video is of his first steps the night before we left. By the time he returned he was cruising all over the place.

Finn was a little unsure when he first met the horses,
but it didn't take him long to reach out and pet their noses.

Grandma Anderson brought him his favorite car to cruise around the farm with. 

We had to join Finn in the dirt for our family picture to avoid a  meltdown.
He is such a boy and loves everything loud, destructive, and dirty. :)

Overall, we had a wonderful time with family. Although our time together always seems too short, I cherish every minute. I always leave bursting with gratitude and feeling ultra lucky. Family has always been important to me, but now that we have Finn it is more important than ever. I want him to always feel loved and adored and feel at ease knowing that our families will do a wonderful job helping us achieve that. Thank you everyone for all your love and support on our journey as new parents. We love you so much! <3