Is January Gone Already?

Ok, Ok, I know it's been forever since I updated. We've had a busy month! Christmas was wonderful at home with family, except for the stomach flu Kyle, Natalie and I got Christmas afternoon. It was awful for about 2 days, then we felt great... just in time for Grandpa Guy to get it! We didn't do much for New Year's and have been having fun in the snow, getting back to school and trying to stay healthy amid all the sick kids everywhere! Katie is recovering from some sort of accident yesterday. We were all playing outside and I noticed her holding her leg funny. She had somehow gashed it open and Natalie and I took her to Uncle Steve, who put about 15 or so staples in her. She's doing well and gets to come home today! It's always hard to see one of your favorite family four-legged friends injured like that, but she'll pull through. Next week Kyle has some mandatory time off, so we're going to head to Billings for 3 days to visit with Suzi and Lauren and their families. We've got a hotel with a great pool, so we plan on some pool parties in January. It should be as lot of fun, and the weather is supposed to stay relatively nice (that means not a lot of snow and below zero temps). We got a lot of snow here the last few days and had fun yesterday taking the snow mobile out. We have lots of fields and BLM land right outside our driveway, so we didn't even have to drive anywhere. It was Beckett's first time and he loved it! Anyway, here are some pictures to catch you all up on the last month. Beckett and Natalie have so much fun together, and he can run with her and give her a taste of her own medicine when he needs to! Hope you all had a great first month to 2010. What a great year we are looking forward to! Hugs to all.

Our family photo from snow mobiling yesterday.



Adorable Natalie, who is not such a little girl anymore...

And our curious Beckett who seems to get older by the minute!

A few weeks ago Beckett decided he needed to rub an entire jar of Vick's Vapor Rub into his hair. He was not a happy camper once those fumes wouldn't go away! He took the jar off the changing table when he woke up from his nap and didn't start fussing until it was almost all in his hair...
so after several washes I got the smell out, but could not get the greasy gook out. So I doused his head in baby powder to soak some of it up, then washed a couple of times with dish soap. It says right on the bottle "fights grease" and it worked pretty well! His poor little head was pretty red and irritated at the end of the day, though!
Not quite out yet...

And here they are being goofy. We tied their blankets around like capes.

It was so much fun to have Randy and Suzi stay a night in December when we had our Christmas party at our house. Good friends are such a blessing.

Nattie with her Godparents.

And here the kids are dressed up at Church Christmas eve. Natalie succeeded in setting her hair on fire the last 5 minutes during the candlelight vigil. Yes, a little excitement that evening. This is the first year we let her hold a candle, and Kyle was watching her closely (I was standing in the back with restless Beckett). She turned around to look at a little boy behind her, whisking her hair in the flame, and Kyle said a little blue flame just ran right up the side of her ponytail and went out. He freaked a little and started patting her head, and she had no idea what had even happened! All's well that ends well, though.

Our little church at Christmas Eve service. It will have its 100th anniversary this year!

Natalie in her beautiful dress Ipa bought for her last year. It was a little big last year, so she wore it again.

Nattie with Uncle Steve.


Here is Christmas morning at our house. Natalie was excited to get a computer from Santa!



Daddy in his new camo hunting mask.


Reading with Grandma Jill. Guy and Jill came over after services Christmas Eve and spent the night. Since Jill had to work Christmas Day I hosted dinner for the first time, and it was great fun... other than when I thought we all got sick because of my food. Not everyone got sick, so we figured it was a bug!


Natalie and her new Bryer horse from Grammie.

Beckett and Great-Grandpa Chauncey

Giving kisses

Grandpa got a new toilet seat from Santa!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Tharp (Grnadma Phyllis is wearing Natalie's pink cowgirl hat). That's the last month in a nutshell. We're excited to help Grandma Phyllis celebrate her 80th birthday on Valentine's Day in a few weeks! Then in March I get to go visit my sisters while Grammie comes to watch the kids for 5 days. What a treat! I am so excited! Have a good week and stay warm!

Natalie Finds Her Voice

Well, we've had a fun week! Kyle was home for three whole days, which was great. We had a fun holiday party at our house with some good friends Wednesday, and we were so excited that Suzi and Randy got to drive down from Montana to be with us. Family and friends...what blessings! Kyle has since left again and hopes to be back Monday, and Natalie and Beckett and I went to Natalie's second music performance tonight... she sand every word with a beautiful smile on her face! She said she really had fun this time and wants to do it again. I think it did help I told her we might be able to get a treat on the way home if she felt like singing, so she got some vanilla ice cream for dessert on the way home! Hey, you do what you have to do, right? Here is a video of it, and sorry it's a little shaky. I had Beckett in one arm to keep him from bursting out on stage and the camera with the other one.

I also posted one of Beckett walking. It's one from a while ago when he just started to get his footing, so he still falls down a lot in the video. Now he's practically running everywhere! He is so adorable. We hope you all are happy and healthy and getting ready for the magic of Christmas. We are so blessed and so excited to be staying close to home this season, but we'll miss all of you far away! Hugs to all.

Gingerbread Fun!

We had so much fun making gingerbread (graham cracker) houses yesterday! Natalie got very artistic and Beckett had fun eating frosting. Mine didn't hold up long under the weight of gumdrops, but I did manage to get a picture of it before it fell! This is definitely a tradition we'll carry on through the years.


Our tree... one of my favorite spots in the house now! I love sit just sit and read or talk on the phone while I look at the tree. It just spells "comfort" and "home" for me at Christmas!

My house, literally 3 minutes before it fell!

Natalie's creation- the "gingerbread house that went through a tornado."

Every detail has to be perfect...

I love Beckett's face in this picture! He was just itching to dig in to all the frosting!



The frosting queen.

It was a fun, relaxing afternoon that I will remember for a long time. Hope you all are staying happy, stress-free and healthy for the holidays! Hugs to all.

Beckett is Walking!

Wow, I guess it's been a while! We've been battling various sickies at our house and have just been busy getting ready for the holidays, so sorry about the time lapse! The biggest news of the last few weeks is that Beckett is finally walking. He can go a good part of the way across the room before he falls down, and he still crawls quite a bit- like he just doesn't quite trust that walking will be faster in the long run. He is so proud of himself and has fun crawling up on Natalie's bed...and the coffee table now.
Some good steps...

Happy walker...

Beckett with Grandma Jill at Natalie's music performance this weekend. Yes, it was her first ever Christmas performance... and she didn't sing a note! She stood there with her hands in her mouth the whole time! I think she was just a bit overwhelmed at all the people. At least she stood on stage in her place. There were a few kids who didn't even manage to get that done and ran crying to their moms in the audience. They are only 3 and 4 year olds, and it was really cute. She was starting to warm up at the end and I think would have sung the next song had they done another one. She said she thought Grandma and Grandpa were just coming to watch her sing with her class and didn't know that a "performance" meant a lot of other people would be there! She has another one on the 18th, so we'll see how that one goes.

Beckett with his buddy Tanner (his sisters are good buds with Natalie)


At least she was smiling at the end!

And here is Mr. Beckett having his morning read of the paper...

We took our last trip up the mountain before the really cold weather hit a few weeks ago, and I just LOVE this picture of Kyle and Natalie fishing in the creek. It was cold, but beautiful. Kyle had the day off and we took the dogs with us and just goofed off all afternoon.

Queen of the World!

Momma and Beckett, who was NOT happy about being strapped to my back instead of being allowed to crawl near the icy rocks by the creek. Mean momma!

Bella and Katie treed a squirrel. They had a blast.

Frozen waters...


Kyle has been traveling so much lately. It's good that work is really picking up, but it's been a bit of a strain on us all. He's been home a total of about 3 weeks since September with no stretches longer than 4 days. He's a trooper, though, and doesn't complain nearly as much as I would if I had to go out in -15 degree weather! It's been really cold here with temps well below zero already. We have a little snow, but now much. He was home over Thanksgiving, which was great. Karrie, Chad and Madison were here and we had tons of fun working cows, riding in the snow and slumber parties with the cousins.

I'm excited to head to Billings (if the weather holds out) sometime this week to get my vacuum fixed and visit with my college mommas and their girls. We just love to visit! Other than that, the house is decorated, tree is up, presents are all in the mail and we are ready for Christmas! I love being home with our family in December! It's so much fun for the kids to really get into decorating and everything. We're gong to do gingerbread houses this weekend, so I'll post some pictures of that. Peace and joy to everyone!

Happy Birthday Natalie...and Happy Halloween!

HAPPY 4TH BIRTHDAY NATALIE!!!

Yes, our little girl turned four years old, and we are so proud of her. My mom came out to visit, which was a huge help, especially when I got the flu for a few days...as did Natalie and Kyle! Kyle was actually gone most of the time and missed both of her birthday celebrations, but work has been crazy busy the last month. He's been spending a lot of time in Gillette and North Dakota, but we're glad he's home now. He got to spend his first Halloween tonight with the kids. It was great. Anyway, not much else is now here. We're all trying to stay healthy, washing hands a lot, and we've been enjoying a bit of Fall weather that seemed to pass us by a few weeks ago. I'm getting ready for three craft shows this month! Here are some photos of the last three weeks...

Natalie and her first Barbie... yea?

Uncle Tracy and my mom were both here visiting for the birthday dinner at Grandma Jill's

Karrie's new Corgie puppy Bo. He is so adorable and I've convinced myself we need one... sometime.

Nattie on her new big girl bike Kyle and I got her

And here is the pig cake that was supposed to be for the party for her friends, which we canceled because everyone was sick! For months she's been asking for a pig and a chicken for her birthday, and I figured this was the next best thing. Thanks for the decorating help, Mandy!


While Cousin Madison was here we took the kids to the pumpkin patch, which was a lot of fun, even though we were a little late in the season.

Both grandmas with the cousins

Grammie with Nattie and Beckett


Beckett is really good at giving kisses and is so much more expressive with his face now. He's a lot of fun to play with! He's also pulling himself up and walking around the table now, so it won't be long now until he's walking!


And here's Beckett the Bull on Halloween. It's the costume Natalie wore when she was two and it fits him perfectly! He was the bull and Daddy was the rodeo clown...

And Miss Natalie was the horse...with a blue face. She saw Daddy's face paint and had to have some.


Taylor and Natalie...I love this picture! Natalie has always followed Taylor around like a puppy since she was little. We went to Mandy's for the evening (no one trick or treats that far out of town where we live) and went around her block and had hot chocolate. It was actually pretty warm tonight, which is a huge change from the last two years.

Family picture
Mandy has the best yard decorations!

Well, that's about it from Way Out Yonder. Hope you all are doing well and getting ready for the holidays! Hugs to all.

Hello again! The last few weeks have been busy with play dates, trips to the park, a wedding, preschool, time with friends, Sunday mornings at church, 80 degree days and SNOW, Kyle working much more and BECKETT CRAWLING! Yes, it has been exciting. In the last two weeks we've managed to go from nice spring weather to about a week of fall to several inches of snow. We did get to the park a lot because we feared the cold weather was coming quickly, and we were right. Farmers have been scrambling to get their sugar beets harvested before lots of snow, and the horses all have their fuzzy winter coats now!

Natalie has been busy at preschool, creating lots of fun projects and learning many new songs. She just loves it and has a great time. We started some simple therapy with Beckett last week to strengthen his left leg because he doesn't use it a lot when he scoots around on his bum. The therapist was a little concerned the ligaments would not develop evenly and might throw him off when he started walking. We have "homework" to do with him, and Kyle and I were doing just that Saturday night when he simply took off ans started crawling! He now does about 1/2 scooting (when he wants to go really fast) and 1/2 crawling (when he wants lots of applause and attention). I'm just so proud of him because the therapist said very few kids will crawl once they've learned another effective mode of transportation...he's been scooting since July. Needless to say we are so pleased with his progress and expect him to walk within the next month or two.

This is the third day Kyle has been gone for work and we expect him back very soon, though it could take a lot longer with the bad weather that's moved in on us. Things are picking up a lot at work, which is great, but we miss seeing him at home so much! We're excited to celebrate Natalie's 4th birthday pretty soon, and my mom is driving in this weekend to celebrate with us. Hope you all are happy and healthy...maybe enjoying a bit of the fall weather that passed us by!


This is how a Tharp scouts for deer on a 35 degree Wyoming morning... yes, she's been gong with Daddy to hunt a little.


Naked Cowboy...he thinks it's great to crawl around in nothing but his cowboy boots. How much cuter could he get? Not much.


This is a determined face if I've ever seen one!

And here is Natalie making a snow angel today. Grandma and Grandpa came in to have lunch with us and spent some good time visiting.

Grandpa Guy and Nattie playing tag in the snow

And Grandma Jill and Beckett hanging out inside... where it's warm!

Have a great weekend!!!