Anybody out there?!

So it has been a minute ... is this thing still on?!

I'd like to say I have been sooo busy the last few years, but I am just not one of those people. I am not busy. I am lazy. I have been too lazy to keep up with the blog because it is just another step and another place and another thing that cuts into my Netflix or naptime. But I thought about the blog the other day, and as I read back through some of the old postings it made me wish I had been better the last 6 years.

So I will try. I am not committing - I am still lazy. But I will try. 

Ryder has grown up, while Trent and I have grown out!

Ryder was 3 when I last posted, and he is now 9 1/2. It has been a wild and crazy 6 years raising this boy, and I cannot possibly catch you up on all that in one post, but I can tell you he is a smart, sweet, fun, charming, amazing 45 year old man in a 9 year old's body. He makes me laugh, he makes me think, he makes me crazy, and occasionally he makes me cry, but this journey of motherhood is like none other and I am so glad I get to do it as his mama.

Stay tuned for adventures of the Red Dirt Drennans.

Drive Thru

Ryder's Favorite videos to watch on my phone. Maybe we spend too much time in the drive thru ...

Spring is Springing

We have had a long, painful winter and spring has been late in arriving so Ryder and I took advantage of the first nice day and hit the Blanchard park after work. I think I know the perfect birthday present for a certain little boy ... I so wish swing sets came assembled!

Bottle Baby Fudge

Freckles the cow gave birth to a bouncing baby boy. Problem is that Freckles seems to have run a little short on milk. This doesn't bode well for Freckles future, and it means that we now have a new bottle calf.

Meet Fudge. Ryder is a big fan. Ryder has not yet realized Fudge requires 2 bottles a day. Thank goodness Papa is retired!

Riding the 40

There is just something about this picture that makes my heart smile.

Nothing makes the little man (and the big one) happier than to be checking cows on horseback.

Three Amigos

I have such great memories of time spent with my cousins while growing up. I hope these three are the same way. Coop and Konner are so great with Ryder, and even though there is a pretty big age gap I shutter to think at the trouble they will get in over the next 20 years!

Buddy

It took him a while to remember his name, but once he did, they have become fast best friends.

Meet Me in Montanta

My big 40th birthday party was in Montana. Because that seemed handy.

Every year  bunch of the cousins and their families gather at Kiel's house for President's Day weekend, since Kiel is the cool cousin who lives in a ski town. Since that falls in February, it seemed like a good enough excuse to turn it into a birthday party.

Ryder did great on the plane. I don't think he really noticed we were on one, and he didn't especially care. Now if we could have figured out a way to get a tractor in the air we could have peaked his interest. As long as Cars is playing, that kid would do anything. We met mom at the Denver airport and flew together into Billings.

 We spent the first night at Carla's in Billings and then ventured out to Roberts where Kiel lives. Everyone was up on the mountain skiing so we had the place to ourselves for a while until Kayleen and Lola came back to hang out with us. Ryder and Lola got along better than I thought they would both being only children. They shared some of Gramma Jill's sugar cookies and had a staring contest.

Kiel's house is fabulous, but the views are even better. This is view off his back deck. Those are the ski runs at Red Lodge Mountain. You can see like 4 mountain ranges from his house, and there is a farm right across the road. It is peaceful and beautiful, and if it wasn't for the snow I am certain I could get Trent to move there.

Kiel cooked us breakfast every morning, and did a lot better with a house full of 17 people than I thought a bachelor would. Here is is teaching Ty and Tucker his secret to a perfectly cooked slice of bacon.

Kayleen got Ryder hooked on a Kindle (we had to buy one when we got home) and Lola and Ryder modeled their snowpants with Gramma Jill one day when we went up on the mountain and watched the big kids ski. Needless to say the Okies didn't participate.

 Mom, Carla, and Terry came to Kiel's on Saturday so the grown-ups could go out to dinner. Of course Ryder had to get some loves in before we went.

 

Kiel and Carla making sure Carly and Emma didn't go hungry

 Birthday dinner at Carbon County Steakhouse. It was SO GOOD!

 Kiel and Heidi and Shawn and Shelly

 Wade and Jill and Carla and Terry

 Kayleen and Chris and Mom and Trent

 My selfie

And then a select few of us went to the bar. Apparently at least one of us forgot we were 40 and not 21.

The next day while every one skiied (again) we went exploring. We did some shopping in Red Lodge and took in all the beauty that is Montana in the winter.

Ryder was convinced he was going to Montana to shoot a bear, but this guy at Scheels was as close as he got. Sure he was convinced he saw a black bear behind Aunt Carla's house, but for their sake we are hoping he was fibbing.

The trip lasted a day longer than we planned due to some drama with a United Flight and some wind sheer inbound from Denver (4 people taken off the plane on stretchers) but we enjoyed the extra time with mom, Carla and Terry. It was a great birthday trip and I am so thankful for such a great family who helped me ring in old age in such a great way!

Welcome to the Family, Buddy

We have been looking for a horse for Ryder for a little while now. Today we went to Duncan to the horse sale and we came home with Buddy.

Buddy cost more than my first car. The auctioneer said if you like your kid buy him a 4-wheeler, if you love your kid buy him a horse. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. Buddy will be with us forever, because once Ryder outgrows him I am going to break him to pull my old lazy ass around in a buggy.