Duthries: Montana, I love you!

We went up to visit some family this last weekend in Montana. We thought the ride up was going to be just miserable with a 1-month old in a car seat for 12 hours. However, the 12 hour drive wasn't too bad. Brinley slept for about 10 of the hours, and luckily still slept at night! We were very grateful for that. The first day we were there, we surprised Mike's mom at her work... well sorta, she knew we were coming to Libby, but didn't know we were going to be showing up at work to visit her. She was super excited to she her first granddaughter. Mike's dad showed up while we were there and convinced Mike to go golfing. Mike was a little rusty at first, but soon polished his skills throughout the game. :)

We hung out with the Duthrie family later on that evening and were able to meet Krista's (Mike's sister) 3 week old girl, Alanna, for the first time. She is so precious! Grandpa and Grandma D were so excited to have both granddaughters and kids at the house. :) It was wonderful spending time with them.

The next morning we went on a hike to Granite Falls with my parents. We didn't actually make it to the falls because the trail was washed out, but it was still fun. I was so excited to get back into Montana mountains! AAaah I love MT!

Friday night my mom made homemade pizza, pretty much the most amazing pizza ever! And Richard, my youngest brother, made some hot wings. Mike was so excited about the wings, and I think between the two of them, they ate around 4 lbs of hot wings. Then we watched 17 Again.. which I have now seen 3 times.

Sunday was a very special day. Mike was able to bless Brinley at church and both of our parents were there. Richard came for it as well. We always enjoy seeing old friends who have had a good impact in our lives. I will post more pictures and thoughts about Brinley's blessing later.

Brinley was also able to meet her Uncle Thomas and Uncle Richard for the first time. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of them together... (I'm just getting used to all of this picture taking.) Now she only has Aunt Leslie left to meet. Anyways, we made it back to Provo safely with Brinley only crying for about an hour! I think we are done for long car trips for awhile. Here are some pictures of the trip:

Brinley's first hike! Doesn't she look excited?!! The first half was spent sleeping... at least she saw some of the scenery on the way back :)

A quick breather!

Some of the gorgeous scenery along the trail

On Thursday, August 20, Brinley really started to smile. My mom was holding her and she was just letting loose some adorable smiles and cooing away! It was so cute and I was so happy to get some of them with the camra.

Grandma B with our smiling angel.

The Duthrie family - Top to bottom - Me, Mike, Matt, Krista, Grandma D, Brinley, Alanna and Grandpa D.

Krista and I put Alanna and Brinley next to each other to see who is bigger. I think they are close to the same size, but when holding Brinley, she feels heavier than Alanna. Brinley is the one with the eyes open.