Happy Thanksgiving

Well, the last week and a half have been absolutely crazy, but tons of fun. Just wanted to take a minute for a quick update and to wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING next week. We're headed to Portland this Wednesday to visit my family for the holiday and won't be back until the 30th.

In addition to getting packed and the house cleaned before we go, I've spent the last two weekends at craft fairs with my jewelry, which went well. I managed to get some more stuff made in between, so that was nice. Grandma Jill and Grandpa Guy were huge helpers by taking Natalie for both Saturdays, so the only one I had to tote around was Beckett. He's sure a draw to get people to come to my table!

Anyway, we also had company this weekend. My good friend Lauren from college came down to visit with her new baby girl, Blake. They live in Montana, and Blake is almost exactly one month older than Beckett. She was born Aug. 5 and he was Sept. 4, so it was really fun to get them together. Natalie kept calling her "Baby Two." I guess she expects we're just going to keep collecting the little ones, so we'll have to number them! Lauren and Blake spent the night Friday and headed to the craft fair with us Saturday morning, and we had a lot of fun. Lauren is such a good new mommy!

Speaking of new mommies...welcome Gracie Ella! Our other good friend from college, Suzi, had her second baby girl last Monday, and we can't wait to meet her! We miss you guys tons and hope all is going well at home. We'll see you soon!!!

Kyle had to head up to North Dakota for a few days but came home last night. Iwasn't lonely though, because I had a hot date Saturday night! After we got done cleaning up the craft fair, my friend Amanda came over for dinner and a movie, which was so much fun. We've had no big snows here yet, but probably will have some by the time we get back. Well, here are a few pictures from the last two weeks (thanks Brune!). We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and remember how truly blessed we all are! Hugs to all.

Jess with Beckett, Lauren and Blake (Beckett wasn't up for a photo)

Miss Natalie made us a picnic on the coffee table in the family room...she's a great chef!

Here she is in her new Ladybug raincoat we gave her for her birthday...Yes we have had rain.

And here is Daddy with the kiddos.

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right."~Henry Ford

Let's Catch Up!

OK, so I've been a bit behind. We'll give you all a quick re-cap of the last week! Belated Happy Halloween. We had a fun but short evening, and the weather was really nice. Grandma Jill and I took the kids to Mandy's neighborhood to trick or treat with Taylor (Kyle was working). I knew from the get go that it would be a short night because Miss Natalie had not napped. We went over a little after six and were home a little after seven! Grandma ended up carrying her the last half of the block while I pushed the stroller, but she did really well with saying the trick or treat and thank you, so it was all good.

Princess Natalie...I couldn't get her to wear the princess gloves or crown, but she had fun.

Little Man Beckett...he wasn't in full constume, but this onesie glows in the dark!

OK, time for the next update: We celebrated Beckett Lee's Christening this weekend with family and good friends at church, and it was such a joyfull day! The only hitch was a major poo explosion that came out of the diaper five minutes before the service started...and he was already in his gown. We cleaned it up as best we could and wraped a blanket around him, so maybe not everyone saw it! But you can tell in some of these pictures. He he he. What else can you do but laugh about it! Anyway, it was a beautiful day spent with wonderful people, adn we are so grateful to be raising our kids in such a nurturing and caring church.

Pastor Jack Christening Beckett...

Beckett Lee with Great Grandpa Chauncey Lee

Momma and Daddy with their beautiful boy...

And with both of our beautiful kids...

The whole extended Tharp family who could celebrate with us...

Here's the next update: Beckett is smiling and laughing now. His smiles are getting pretty regular, but his laugh is just at its beginning stages! Natalie can make him laugh really well, and he usually smiles when I lay him on a pillow to nurse (go figure). When he laughs it's usually one giant breath with a short, loud laugh when he lets the breath out. It's so much fun to see him start to respond to Natalie and how much she likes to make him laugh. She's started calling him "sweetheart" and "big boy" like I do.

2 months old!!!

Mr. Smiley

Laughing at Sister...

Well, now for the latest update: We took Natalie off her acid reflux medication last week to see if she had started to outgrow the problem as we'd hoped she would. I'll tell you now the answer to that one is a big fat NO! She started throwing up again a lot at night and while eating, so I took her to a pediatrician in Cody Monday. He said he was concerned she may have a growth or hernia that was preventing her stomach from doing its job, so we did some tests and x-rays and there is no growth. That was a huge relief. However, her stomach acid is too strong and there is too much of it, which is something her body does naturally. She may eventually outgrow it, he said, but she may very well be on medication the rest of her life. That I can live with, especially since he said if she's not on medication and we don't repair the damage to her esophagus and stomach lining, she could get esophagial cancer at a very young age. Give us those pills!!! He put her on a new medication and she has not thrown up in 2 days! He said if we can keep her from doing so for 6 months her body should heal itself, so that's what we're praying for. She was a trooper through the whole ordeal and all the tests. Jill went with me to help since I had to take Beckett, and she was such a huge help. Thank you Jill!!! You are a blessing.

Anyway, things are looking better at our house this week, and I'm now trying to get ready for two straight weekends of craft fairs (Christmas money!). We're still waiting for news of Suzi's new baby girl due any time now, and maybe we'll get a visit soon from Lauren and Miss Blake!
We hope you all have a great week. Hugs to all.

"We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story." ~Mary McCarthy

Fun On The Mountain

I headed up the mountain this weekend with the kids and Jill to visit Daddy and Grandpa Guy at hunting camp. They needed toilet paper and hay for the horses...I'm not sure which need was more pressing! The weather was absolutely beautiful, and the ride up was pretty nice in the new pickup...Jill and I both took advantage of our seat warmers in the morning. That in itself is worth a few extra bucks when buying a new vehicle! Anyway, they had the stoves going for us so we stayed toasty warm, but that didn't stop Miss Natalie (now a big 3 year old) from wanting to ride a few times.

Grandpa and Natalie on Buford, Guy's colt. He has turned out to be a really special horse.

Taking a peek at the elk quarters they packed out that morning...

And here is the birthday girl in her new butterfly wings from Auntie Sumner. She loves to put them on and run around the house like crazy flapping her arms. I also got good video of it.

My beautiful butterfly...

We had fun at play group this morning and made chili with fresh tomatoes for dinner. Nattie is my helper by dumping the cans of beans in! I got some tomatoes canned this weekend with the help of my neighbor Cindy and thanks to Grandma Jill taking Natalie for a night. Kyle has been up the mountain for about a week, so I have not been getting much done on my own. He'll be home tomorrow, though, and we can't wait! I'm busy helping to organize a craft bazaar for the middle of November, which I'm really excited about. We're also excited about Beckett's baptism this coming Sunday. We wish you all from far away could be with us, but we know you'll be there in spirit. It is such a special time, and we really love our church and are excited to officially bring Beckett into our extended church family. Not much else is new here, just enjoying the cool fall weather. We hope you all have a wonderful week!


"Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." ~Phyllis Diller

Pumpkin Hunting

Well, it was so muddy from all of our melting snow last week that we waited until this week to go to the pumpkin patch, hence we did not have a lot left to choose from! The owner also said the deer ate a ton of them too. It was fun none the less, and I didn't have to carry a 30 pound pumpkin to the car! We went with Mandy and Taylor again, which could very well become a yearly tradition...until Taylor gets too old and it isn't "cool" anymore to do things with your parents and their friends! He he he.

Anyway, here's a cute picture I stuck in of Natalie plating dress up in her cheerleading outfit Aunt Karrie gave her for her birthday.

Mandy and her sidekick...

Ugh...it's just so heavy!


Natalie has started saying funny things to get out of doing a chore or picking up her toys. She always gives a big sigh and says, "I'm too busy." It's so hard not to bust out laughing, but I calmly say that she has to do this one thing first, then she can take a rest or do something else. Things are going well, especially considering I've been a single parent of a 7-week old and 3-year old since Wednesday morning! Kyle headed up the mountain to hunt for his elk, and as of last night he had not prevailed. Natalie will go home with Jill tomorrow afternoon to hang out there for a night, which will really be a help. I have 2 boxes of tomatoes I need to can which are not going to get done any other time unless I stay up until 3 am... Sometimes it feels like I might as well do that! Beckett is usually up around 1:30 and 4:30 am to eat, then Natalie gets up around 5 or 5:30, so mornings are rough. I did manage to get her to go back to sleep this morning in my bed until 7:30, so today is starting off a lot better than yesterday. She is being pretty helpful and patient, and Beckett is doing great except for some baby acne. He was 7 weeks old yesterday.

We don't have a lot planned for today except to go walk outside and watch the big beet tractors pull beets in front of the house and maybe do some art projects. We've been pretty busy and out and about the last few days, so it will be nice to relax at home today. If the weather is still nice and Kyle is still hunting Sunday, we may head up the mountain to hang our for the day. She just loves to go to camp, and it's been in the 60's during the day. Natalie certainly misses Daddy when he's gone.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Hugs to all (a special one to Suzi...your new baby girl will be here soon, and we are so excited!). I do miss my dear girlfriends from college, but I'm glad you're close enough to visit fairly often! Love you gals, and I'm so proud we're all mommies together! Hugs to all.

"Trouble is a part of your life, and if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you enough chance to love you enough." ~Dinah Shore

Happy Birthday Natalie!!!

Well, our Natalie is three today! We celebrated this weekend with family and friends at the local pizza joint, and it was a little crazy but a lot of fun. We had almost 30 people there, including Aunt Pam and Uncle Keith from Thermopolis and Great Grandpa Chauncey from Powell. Great Grandpa and Grandma Tharp were also there, as was Cousin Brandon from Montana. The kids all played well together until we started having meltdowns from all the sugar highs! We are so blessed to have so many good friends and family close by.

I made a huge yellow cake and Mandy came over to save the day with all her cake decorating tools to help us with the giant caterpillar! It actually turned out really cute..a bug cake for our bug-lover. I also put little candy bugs all around the outside...

Here is Natalie getting ready to blow out the candles...

Here is one from Grammie's visit that I meant to put at the end, but it got stuck in the middle of the birthday pictures. She made it home safe and sound, but we sure do miss her help around here! We can't wait to see everyone in Portland in just a short while for Thanksgiving.

Natalie tries on her new pink cowboy boots from Grandma and Grandpa...

And here is my attempt to get a group picture of all the kids.

This is Little Man Beckett relaxing while Big Sis had all the fun...

Blowing out her three candles...

She was on party overload this morning, so she stayed home with Daddy to play with her new playdough set while Beckett and I went to church. It turned out to be another nice day here, and Im not sure if more snow is in store any time soon. Kyle is headed up the mountain to hunt this week (he did get his buck last week, so now he's on to elk), and if the weather stays nice I'll head up the mountain for a day with the kids to play at camp.

I'm going to try and catch up on some sleep tonight...I went to a scrapbooking party Friday night with about 8 other moms, and I was in the car at 1:30 am driving home when Kyle called and said the job he thought was going to go out Monday got called for 3:30 am Saturday! I stayed late to scrap and chat because I thought I would get a nap with him home Saturday, but the plans changed. I got to bed at 2 am and Miss Natalie got up a little after 5. Once I got my coffee, I really was OK, but now I feel it today! It was so much fun to hang out late (it reminded me of college!) that I wouldn't change a thing. Two others stayed until after 5 am, so it could have been worse! I did get all of my pictures of Beckett done, so he officially has a book now.

Not much else is new here. We hope you all are happy and healthy and have a great week. May those of you who are hunting and traveling be safe. Hugs and blessings to all!

Natalie's First Snowman

The first snows have hit, and since Mom decided to stay another few days, I got to go out and play with Natalie while she and Beckett stayed in. This is the first snow where Natalie has been old enough to build a snowman, so that was our mission today!


Who needs two eyes? We used the tips we cut off of our last garden carrots for the nose and eyes, but they were so rubbery they didn't want to stay stuck!

What a great team! We usually get dry snows, so it was fun to be able to make things actually stay together.

After we were done with the snowman, which Bella destroyed in less than 5 minutes after we came inside, Nattie had fun rolling around. I love how pink her cheeks got!

This picture is for Nana Brooks to show off the big sister shirt she gave Natalie. It is so adorable and is embroidered with a brown-haired girl, which of course is Natalie.

We ventured out to a holiday craft fair at the community center this morning and got a few cute things from local vendors. That's how I prefer to shop, though it's not always possible in a small town. We then came home to play in the snow and make homemade beef barley soup with a roast I cooked yesterday. YUMMY! I love making soups in the winter...at least a pot a week and then just eating leftovers for days.

Not sure we'll make it to church tomorrow with the weather, but we'll be sending good thoughts and prayers out to everyone for a good next week, especially Grammie and Daddy with their long drives home. Hugs to all (and much love to Daddy).

Another new addition...

I forgot to give another congratulations in my last entry to our other good friends in California who just had a baby boy. Welcome Justin Campbell! I can't wait to see more pictures of you, and I'm sure you'll have more than enough people to fight over you with two older brothers and one older sister...we are so hppy for you Erin and Owen, and can't wait to meet him!