Holidays at the Ranch!

This is my happy place. Ranch wife, ranch mama. Raising cows and a feral ranch baby on the shores of the Laramie River. Whew… I can’t believe we made it to the year 2025. The year 2024 had many big moments in our life. It’s a little bittersweet moving into the next year, but it happens whether we are ready or not! Here is a quick recap of 2024. From announcing we were having a little one, to finding out we were having a little girl to celebrating our 1-year anniversary in June and welcoming our little one in July, life has been crazy busy. We then spent the fall gathering and shipping calves, which is always busy but feels so nice to get accomplished. To cap off the year, we hosted the holidays here at the ranch and had lots of family travel to us to celebrate! Having a little one in the house made everything much more hectic, but we wouldn’t want it any other way. It was so fun watching little miss get to experience her first round of holidays. Starting with Labor Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, she was the life of every party!

We had visitors travel to us for Thanksgiving from my husband’s side of the family and it was amazing that little miss got a chance to meet her great aunt and uncle. We also had my parents and my brother and his girlfriend with us for Thanksgiving, so the table was packed with family and lots of love. We had a delicious turkey, cooked by my dad and all the trimmings, cooked by my mom and me. We had so much fun including little miss in the cooking and she loved sitting in her highchair in the center of the kitchen, playing with wooden spoons and watching all the action. I can’t wait for her to be old enough to be right in the middle of helping us cook! Some of my earliest memories center around being in the kitchen with my mom, sitting up on the counter helping her stir and measure ingredients! If little miss is anything like me, which I think she is, she will be ready to start cooking in no time at all! It was hard to imagine that this year we have a little one, but no tiny feet running around! By next year, we will be fighting for our lives, trying to keep up with her as she darts from room to room!

Fast forward to Christmas… Little miss was just over 5 months old and ready to get her hands in everything! Here is a little secret about how we survived the hectic holiday with an infant! Lots of deep breaths and even more patience! The ranch is a paradise, nestled along the shores of the Laramie River, but it is especially gorgeous during the holiday season. The year I moved onto the ranch was the first year this house had ever seen outdoor Christmas lights. I just can’t do Christmas without the lights! Even though nobody can see the lights from the road, I feel it needs to be decorated for us to enjoy! Unfortunately, this year we didn’t end up with snow for Christmas (the downside to living in the Wyoming desert), but we made the most of the season, nonetheless. Decorating was much more fun than normal because little miss enjoyed all the sparkles and lights. My husband likes to call her our baby racoon because she loves anything bright and shiny, and it immediately distracts her! She could sit and enjoy the lights and tinsel for hours! Wrapping presents was also an adventure this year! Little miss would sit on the floor with me and play with extra wrapping paper. She loved crinkling the paper and making lots of noise! She also loved when I would bonk myself on the head with the empty wrapping paper roll! She would smile and giggle! It made her so excited to be “helping”. She even helped me with Christmas cards (by playing with an extra card and the stickers that went on the back of the envelopes)! Everything looked a bit different, and she slowed me down a bit this year, but it was so much fun having a little side kick to spend time with while I was getting in the holiday spirit!

We were so blessed to have so much family time during Christmas! Little miss got endless cuddles with her grandma and grandpa for 10 days straight and got lots of time with her uncle for the couple days he was able to visit. We hosted our annual prime rib Christmas Eve supper for my husband’s brother, his wife and their son. It has been a lot of fun seeing how everyone has just jumped right in together and have created a big happy family. Little miss loves her auntie and loves getting snuggles anytime we see her. She got loads on Christmas Eve and even snuck a nap in on her, too! We also had a blast trying new things (dill pickle flavored candy canes) and had so many laughs. And honestly, the dill pickle candy canes weren’t bad at all! My brother-in-law’s favorite part of Christmas Eve are the crab stuffed mushrooms. It’s a super simple recipe, but it’s always a crowd favorite. Who doesn’t love cream cheese and crab stuffed into mushrooms. I’ve always heard that cream cheese makes everything better! And I must say, I totally agree! For Christmas day, we opened stockings and presents in the morning and then spent our day back in the kitchen making all sorts of hors d’oeuvres. From bacon wrapped BBQ sauce smothered jalapeno poppers to good old pigs in blankets to cheeseburger wontons and shrimp with homemade cocktail sauce, we put out a tasty spread that everyone loved snacking on all evening long! We certainly ate too much, laughed more than we thought possible and enjoyed every second of the holiday! It was very sad to see everyone head back home, but we will always treasure the time we had together for little miss’s first Christmas.

Christmas Vacation is our family Christmas movie!

Loving Christmas!

Trying to get little miss back into her routine has been tough, but we are slowly getting there. New Years Eve and New Years Day looked quite a bit different this year, too. Last year, I spent New Years Eve on the floor of the bathroom with horrible nausea. This year, I spent it snuggling my baby girl. Every year, I stay up until midnight, just so I can say a little prayer when the new year starts. This year, we were in bed and sleeping by 10:30. Maybe we are getting old, maybe it’s because we are new parents…I’m guessing a combo of both! The holidays went by super-fast, had moments of chaos, but on the flip side, ended up being the best ones yet and so many amazing memories were made. We are looking forward to this year and the many holidays we get to celebrate with little miss! We are in the downhill slide to her 1-year birthday now, which will be such an incredible celebration! Thanks for sticking with me and I hope to see you back again. This is the Laramie River Ranch Wife, signing off… From my happy place.

Recipes from my kitchen to yours:

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

2 dozen medium sized button portabella mushrooms

2 blocks of cream cheese

1 ½ packages imitation crabmeat, cut or torn in smaller pieces

3 splashes worcestershire sauce

1-2 teaspoons garlic salt

1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove stems from button mushrooms and clean any dirt off. Soften cream cheese, add crab meat, Worcestershire sauce and garlic salt. Stir together until thoroughly mixed. Using your fingers, stuff each mushroom with cream cheese mixture. Then dip tops in shredded cheddar. Placed in a greased glass or foil pan. Cover and cook for 30-40 minutes. Remove cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Using a fork, stab a mushroom to ensure it is soft. Once done, pull out of the oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Use a slotted spoon to scoop out of the pan. Enjoy!

TIP: This recipe goes great with beef as it gives a surf and turf feel, without breaking the bank! The crab stuffing can also be used for appetizer night on its own in a casserole dish with crackers or veggies to dip or the mixture can be used to stuff the large portabella mushrooms and make it a meal of its own.

Jalapeno Poppers

12 large jalapenos

2 - 12 oz packages cream cheese

1 large package of bacon

1 bunch green onions

1 cup cheddar cheese

1 cup BBQ sauce

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place foil on a large cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray. Slice jalapenos in half and remove the seeds. Set aside. After washing green onions, chop the green portion only. Soften cream cheese. Add green onions and cheddar cheese. Using a spoon, spread cream cheese mixture into the jalapeno halves. Wrap each jalapeno with bacon and place on cookie sheet. Spoon BBQ sauce on top of each jalapeno. Cover with foil. Cook for 35 minutes covered. Uncover and continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes to ensure bacon cooks through and becomes crispy. Let set for a couple minutes before serving. Enjoy!

TIP: You can place the bacon wrapped jalapenos on an all-metal cooling rack, placed on top of a foil lined cookie sheet. This allows the bacon that is on the bottom of the jalapeno to cook through and elevates the jalapenos out of the bacon grease. Spray cooling rack if you decide to do it this way.

TIP: Wear gloves when working with the jalapenos. There isn’t a faster way to ruin a day than rubbing someplace important after handling jalapenos! (Not that I am speaking from experience…or am I?)