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!

Winter Is Here!

Well, we had a few nice fall days this past week, complete with a beautiful double rainbow. I guess we blinked too fast because winter is here now! We got several inches of snow today and will get more tonight, but it's supposed to warm up again into the 50's again next week. Maybe we'll get a few more fall days before it hits the perma-frost, but who knows.

Our fall double rainbow (second one on left is not very visible in this photo)...

Here is Beckett Lee at five weeks old (notice the onesie). This soft musical frog he has next to him is the first toy he's been interested in. Just this week he's started smiling a little and making some cooing noises. I just can't believe he's not a newborn any more!

Natalie and Beckett goofing off on the couch...

And big sister still loves to hold her little brother.

So far Beckett's eyes are still blue, but not a really light shade, so I'm still not convinced they'll stay blue. Kyle left Monday for North Dakota again, and he's supposed to be back this Monday, but I'll believe it when I see it! My mom was planning on starting her drive back tomorrow, but will wait another day or two until the weather warms up a bit (fair weather driver!). Not much else is new here with us, just taking it easy this week. Next week we're going to head to the pumpkin patch with Mandy and get ready for Natalie's third birthday party next weekend! Yes, our little baby is growing up so fast. She still loves school and all of her play dates and is quite the independant young lady now. She is as beautiful as can be, but equally demanding sometimes! We had a rough few days when Kyle left because she's gotten so used to seeing him every day over the last 6 weeks. She really is a daddy's girl and misses him a lot when he's gone.

On an exciting note...welcome to the world Leyah!!! Our dear friends Mariah and Yshai in Portland had a beautiful baby girl early this morning after a long labor. Congrats to you and new Grandma Anne and all of Little Leyah's aunties and uncle. This child will be loved beyond belief! We can't wait to meet her in November.

Hope you all are staying warm and dry and not getting too upset about the stock market...Kyle had to calm me down a few times today. Thanks, honey...you are the love of my life and I miss you terribly! XOXOXO

A Week of Fun

Wow, another week has flown by! Kyle and I had a great night in Cody, complete with a prime rib dinner at the Irma. The weather has been gorgeous again, and I had fun walking around town with Beckett in our new stroller and just visiting shops I never have time to look in when I'm there for a quick Wal Mart run! We are still having lots of great help from Grammie, and Madison and Karrie came for a visit. The girls had tons of fun playing and fighting, and it was really funny to watch them interact for a whole two days.

Natalie and Madison having a tea party...

Aunt Karrie and Daddy with Little Man Beckett...

Madison is a little hesitant to get close to the big animals, but she did try to feed them apples with Natalie and even sat on Momma Stormy (Natalie's horse) for about 5 seconds!

Grammie and Natalie have made fishing poles out of our garden bean poles to use in the empty pond off the patio...they have been catching some real whoppers!

And here is my baby Beckett...he will be one month old already tomorrow! (Yes, that is a tear in my eye you detect)...

Not much else is new with us, just enjoying the nice weather while we still have it. I think it's supposed to turn next week, so we'll be bringing in the rest of our green tomatoes. Mom and I mad esome great pesto with my left over herbs yesterday to freeze for the winter, and we still have enough to make more today. I absolutely love fresh basil, and I put parsley in it too. I think Grammie will stay about another week, then I will be on my own! We're headed to lunch with a play group today and then we'll watch the homecoming parade! We are all doing great, but please send prayers for Pastor Jack who has been very sick with an infection this week and our friend's daughter who is also very sick and was sent to Billings. She is not even three, and they can't determine what's wrong with her, so it is a very scary situation. She's been in the hospital since Monday night. We hope all is well with you all and that you have a great week. Hugs and love!

P.S. I sent photos of the kids to most of you relatives far away this week, so look for them in the mail!

"I am constantly amazed how my love for my children can transform me in every way." ~J.B.T.