We're Home!!!

Well, we're back home and recovering well from our trip. It was great to see our family and for everyone to meet Beckett, but the trip home was "long" to say the least. Our first flight from Charlotte was cancelled, and they now leave it up to you to rebook for another flight. Yes, they simply hand you a 1-800 number on a piece of paper and tell you to see what you can get. Great customer service, eh? Then after we made our connections (our bags didn't) in Minneapolis and Salt Lake we were on our final flight home to Cody at 9 pm. The pilot told us we'd be landing in Cody in about 15 minutes, then about 5 minutes later the plane starts going up again and he tells us the visibility just got really bad and we'll have to head back to Salt Lake for the night. So, we're stuck with the kids at 11 o'clock at night in Salt Lake with no bags, and they once again hand us a piece of paper with a number on it so we can call and have someone find a room for us, which the airline won't pay for because the turn-around was weather related. I'm so glad my sister Hannah was with me because I probably would have lost my mind at that point. The kids were really great, and we finally got to a room and in bed about 30 minutes after midnight.

Then we had to catch a 9 am shuttle back to the airport to try to get to Cody again. Well, by this time I'm running out of food for Beckett, so I call a cab at 7:45 that morning asking how long it would take someone to get there to take me to a grocery store. The lady on the phone said someone could be at the hotel in 15 minutes and I should have no problem being back for the shuttle at nine. At 8:25 there was still no cab, so we called again and the lady said for some reason the call ha been cancelled and no one was on the way. Well, needless to say I got a little upset, but she sent someone else, but it was too late to be back for the shuttle. So, we all piled in the cab, went to an Albertson's, then had to pay the driver to take us to the airport. The good news is we made it and are all safe and sound at home, be it 24 hours later than expected. Hannah was SUCH A HUGE HELP and I really couldn't have asked my kids to be any better, so I am very grateful for that. I do not, however, have the desire to fly again for a very long time. Poor Hannah had to fly home to Portland from my house today, and we were all sad to see her go. It was wonderful to see everyone in North Carolina, so that made it all worth while. THANKS to everyone back East for a great time!!!

On a lighter note, Hannah and I had been drinking coffee all day Thursday because we thought we'd have to drive home from Cody in the dead of night. We had our cups of coffee on the plane and Natalie started yelling, "I need coffee!" We kept telling her she doesn't drink coffee and that she could have some juice, but all she wanted was coffee. The plane was small and everyone heard our conversation and started laughing. At least we got a good laugh that night! Natalie finally passed out and slept all the way back to Salt Lake! Well, here are some pictures from the trip. The weather was great for us and we got to do a lot outside...


The entire Brooks Clan at a dinner party at Aunt Carter's

Papa and Nana Brooks

Ipa (my dad) and Nana

Nattie relaxing by the pool...it wasn't warm enough to swim yet, but we played outside and let her put her feet in the wading area.

Ipa and Nattie in the pool...

Auntie Hannah and Beckett...he'll be 7 months old next week!

This is the Duke Mansion in Charlotte, which was once the "Summer home" of the Duke family that started the huge power company at the turn of the century. It's now a historical landmark and has a hotel in the top floor, and the bottome floor can be rented out for parties. There are beautiful gardens all around, and Papa and Nana have made a donation for some restoration and will have a garden named after them! It is quite a sight.

Hannah, Nana and Beckett in one of the gardens

Nana and the kiddos in the children's garden. An artist carved out the characters from "Peter Cottontail" into an old tree stump. It looks so adorable. We went with Dad's cousin Jean and her granddaughter Logan, who is four.

Hannah and Momma with the kids

And I just had to try and get a close-up of one of the gorgeous flowers! Amanda...maybe you could use it on a card?


And we also got to go to an animal park/sanctuary, which Natalie loved! They had tons of birds, small farm animals and also some exotic ones like a rhino, camels, giraffes and emu's. There's part of the park where you can drive through and throw food out, and those emu's run straight to the car and stick their heads through! They are not attractive, and I couldn't get the window up in time and Natalie had food in her hand and got pecked. She's fine, but it was a little scary!

The funny lemours...

Natalie loved this goat and felt the need to just sit and pet him a while!

One elk had to problem getting right up to the car to ask Aunt Carter for some food....

And they had so many of these adorable potbellied pigs everywhere. Some of the females were so pregnant and fat their bellies literally dragged on the ground and they could hardly walk! They have it all figured out though to just hang out by the side of the road for food.

A deer relative from Africa....

One of the many exotic birds...

Auntie Hannah and Natalie looking at the huge Coi fish

Nana and Beckett

Aunt Carter with the kids

And that was our trip in a nutshell! We really did have fun and enjoyed seeing everyone...you are all welcome to come and visit the Yellowstone area any time!!!

Here is our latest addition to the family...Natalie's new pony! A friend of our has a pony for his daighter, who accidentally got bred and had this adorable foal. They don't need another pony and offered to just give her to us so she could have a good home...Daddy agreed, so now we have "Chocolate." She's only a year old, so Natalie won't be able to ride her for a year or two, but we'll bring her out to our house this spring to get her used to us. She's all chocolate brown, so Natalie decided that's what she wanted to name her.

She comes to just below my waist

She's still a little nippy because she's a baby, but she's pretty sweet.

Well, we hope you all have a great weekend and next week. We'll head out to Hyattville for church and family dinner tomorrow. Hugs to all!

Ice Cream Makes Everything Better

Things are going much better in the Tharp house this week! Kyle is home from the hospital and recovering well. He's in the "coughing it up" stage with the pneumonia. It is so nice to have him home and returning to his old self. Thanks to everyone for your calls and prayers. We are blessed in so many ways.

In other exciting news...Beckett's first tooth finally broke through today after two months of on-and-off teething and torture for this poor boy. Uncle Tracy is visiting from California and he and Grandpa Guy brought him some ice cream today...OK, some of it was for Natalie too! It was a fun visit...they tried to convince me Kyle was well enough to got the snowmobile out, but I stood my ground and put my foot down like a good wife! Just kidding, he was not feeling quite up to it anyway.


Uncle Tracy and Beckett

Nattie finishes all of her strawberry shake

"One more bite, please!"

And here are the pictures I took off Amanda's blog of our trip to the museum last week. It was a lot of fun...

William, Benjamin, Natalie and Heidi

And Momma and Beckett...it was nice to get a picture with me in it since I'm usually the one behind the camera.

We hope you all are having a good week...Amanda and I will meet with another doctor's wife to show her around on Friday, and I plan to get mostly packed for our trip this weekend before Auntie Hannah comes! We are very excited for this trip and for all of the Brooks Family to meet Beckett for the first time and see how much Miss Natalie has grown. Ipa will also meet us there, which will be fun. I'm not sure if I'll get another post in before we leave a week from tomorrow, so if not we'll have lots of good pictures to share when we get back! Hugs to all.


"Happiness is the by-product of an effort to make someone else happy." ~Gretta Palmer, American Writer

Prayers for Kyle

Just a quick update to let everyone know Kyle's condition...I took him to the ER this afternoon when he said he had chest pains and couldn't breathe. He has been coughing and having lots of cold sweats for a couple of days and it just got really bad today. They immediately thought he had a blood clot in his lung that would have originated in his leg where his cast was (that's a risk with casts). However, after lots of tests and CT scans, they found no major clot, just some areas around his lungs that may be small clots. BUT, he does have bad pneumonia in both lungs. So, he is spending the night in the hospital and will be home sometime soon. They did give him blood thinners just to be safe, and he's on IV antibiotics and breathing treatments. He already looked much better tonight when I left than he did earlier today. Anyway, that was our exciting weekend. Please send good thoughts and prayers for a swift recovery. Hugs to all.

Fun Times...

Well, we've had another eventful week here in Wyoming. Daddy was home for a few days then got sent out to North Dakota again, so it was we three amigos once again. Other than Momma being very tired and sometimes a little crabby, we did fine. I had a couple of good adjustments done on my back this week (trying to avoid more spinal injections) and I feel much better...thanks to Amanda for watching my kiddos for me. You are such a sweetheart and a lifesaver!!! She's my saving grace when I need a little time to myself while Kyle is gone.

Anyway, Amanda and I took all 5 of our kids to the Meeteetse Museum last Friday for an exhibit on Lincoln, and we all had a blast. The kids had lots of things to touch and look at, and then we ate our packed lunch and bought dessert at the Chocolatier! Our kids were so polite and so well behaved, we were very proud of them. They all get along really well together.

Then Guy and Jill took Natalie for some play time on the ranch when Kyle got called out again, and I took Beckett to church and picked her up Sunday. I am debating leaving him home from church for a while until his nap time schedule changes because he wants to go to sleep at 9 a.m. every morning, which just so happens to be when church starts. Unlike Natalie, he is very set on his naps and does not want to be rocked or held when he's tired. ALL HE WANTS TO DO IS LIE DOWN and put himself to sleep. It's really nice when we have a place to do that. I put him down while he's still awake all the time and he's just perfect. But trying to keep him up or get him to go to sleep when he can't lie down is very difficult, and I alsways end up taking him out of church when he starts his loud fits. I tried last time laying him down on the bench with a blanket, but that didn't work. It just doesn't feel good to miss the service and disrupt it for others, so I might leave him home for a bit until he doesn't need that morning nap anymore. We'll see how I feel this weekend.

Amanda and I met with a prospective doctor's wife yesterday and had a great time with her. We spent about 2 hours with her and took her and her kids to our favorite park, to story hour at the library and on a tour of the Community Center. We talked a lot about raising kids here and the like, and we both got the distinct feeling she liked it here. They already live in a pretty small town in Minnesota, so small town life is not foreign to them. She said meeting her and taking the time to show her around meant a lot, so we'll see if they end up moving here. The hospital board supports this new approach, so I hope it makes a difference! Grandpa Guy has also been helping to babysit while I was busy this week, so another THANKS to him. Beckett is much happier around him now that he shaved his beard!

In other news, Kyle got home again last night...and was in the hospital again today. He took a fall off our front steps this morning and messed up his ankle again (the same one he hurt about 2 months ago), so we headed to the clinic with 2 patients today. I took Beckett for his 6 month checkup and Kyle for his ankle. Beckett has now grown 7 inches in 6 months! He's in the 94th percentile for height and 50th for weight. He's just shy of 17 pounds. All is well with him. However, they ended up taking Kyle over to the hospital for an x-ray, and it is not broken. But he will need it casted for at least 6 weeks! The ligaments are shot right now, so he needs to be sure he doesn't roll it again. On the up side...I'll have childcare for the next month or so!

Well, that 's our week in a nutshell. It's been so nice and warm the last few days, but we're supposed to get snow again next week. We are so excited for Auntie Hannah to come and make our trip to North Carolina in about 2 weeks! Hugs to all.



This is the kiddos' new game...Beckett rests on Natalie's tummy and they play face to face. They
really interact a lot now, and it's so gun to watch. He's learning how to pull hair really well!

"Pretty much all the honest truth telling there is in the world today is done by children." ~Oliver Wendell Holmes