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!!!

Fall Fun

Beckett with his Great Uncle Tad (Jill's brother) in Colorado...


Well, Beckett and I are holding down the fort this weekend while Kyle and Natalie are in Laramie for a Cowboys game. Go Pokes! They left this morning with Grandma and Grandpa to meet Karrie and Madison. It should be a lot of fun. Beckett still doesn't travel all that well, despite our many road trips, so I stayed with him to catch up on some things around here (beading along with cleaning). We'll make it to a game next fall.

The last two weeks have been busy with a trip to Colorado to visit the McMillan side of the family and then to Pinedale less than a week later to visit some good friends of mine. Beckett just fusses the whole time unless he's asleep, but I actually got pretty used to it by the end of the Pinedale trip. He can definitely wear on the nerves, though. When I told Natalie we were going to Pinedale she asked if Beckett was coming, and I said yes (Kyle was up hunting for a week). She then politely said she doesn't like it when he's in the car! I'm glad our friends got to see my kids before they head east for the winter, and the drive was beautiful with changing leaves over the mountains.

After Daddy got home from a week of bow hunting (he wounded a tree, so all live animals were spared!) I headed to Billings by myself FOR TWO DAYS to visit my college mommas and do some birthday shopping for Natalie. Well, we had so much fun and I ended up getting all the Christmas shopping done too! It was great to be able to catch up on things with Suzi and Lauren and visit with their cute babies. I got home in the evening and Kyle said he had fun with the kiddos (this was the longest he'd had them by himself) and was glad I got to go...but he just needed to go have a quick beer to get away from the kids for a while! I laughed so hard and he gave me the cutest sheepish grin...he said now he understands how tiring it can be to be a single parent for more than a day! I told him next time I was going for a week...

Anyway, not much else is new...fall nights and chilly mornings are here, and I love them. Definitely good chili and soup weather. A funny note on Miss Natalie...she was outside playing today and Kyle noticed he hadn't heard her in a few minutes, so he called out for her. He finally found her in our cabin THAT WE HAVE RENTED OUT eating Ted's chips! I guess the back door wasn't locked and she let herself in...wonder how long she's been pulling that? Here are some pictures of our travels. Have a good weekend!

Uncle Tad with Grandma Jill and the cousins
Uncle Tad and Aunt Deb's family...

They have a new litter of kittens that Natalie was so happy she could pick up. They were actually very tolerant...I guess Daniel is a bit bigger at 18 pounds. She can only get his front end off the ground.

Nattie with my longtime friend Grant. He and his wife Abie used to have kids out every summer to their ranch, and it's a big part of the reason I wanted to move to Wyoming. They always made it feel like home to me, and to this day the ranch still seems like part of my childhood fairytale.

Grant and Abie with Natalie and Beckett. Their last name is Beck, so I immediately liked the name Beckett because it reminded me of them.

Me and the kids at the ranch (Wind River Mountains in the back)

Beckett playing the greeter at my good friend Emi's bed and breakfast in town.

Emi and her friend John who helps run things for her (Bird the dog, too). Emi and I met at the Beck's ranch when I was 11 and she was 10. We have been faithful pen pals and friends since then. She grew up in Boston and ended up living in Pinedale after college.

And here is proof that crossing and moving one's feet at night is genetic! My dad and sister do it, as do Natalie and me, and now Beckett.