I hope you’ve all been doing well, staying safe, and (hopefully) getting back to some glimpse of normal. I know normal is a relative term, and I swear, I still have moments where I am hit with this strong “What just happened?!?” feeling regarding the past couple of months. What a time. I hope things continue to get better—for you, for your family, for the world.   On the ranch, the kids and I are going to continue to shoot our own shows for awhile. My regular film crew is from the UK, and since they aren’t unable to travel this way just yet, we are filming all the footage ourselves and th ..read more

There’s a new episode of “Staying Home” on today (Saturday morning!) It’s the fifth kid-shot episode, and three of my kids (plus my nephew) are behind the cameras!   When I say “cameras” I mean “iPhones!” It’s amazing what they can do these days.   I remember getting a Kodak Disk camera when I was in sixth or seventh grade, so I still have an old fashioned perspective on photography. Raise your hand if you had one!   Paige and Alex usually alternate filming with the main camera, which is the one that I speak directly to.   Stuart helps with the wide shot, which captures mos ..read more

Is it just me, or did it feel as if January lasted 519 days? Wait, I know it’s not just me. On social media, at church, everywhere I’ve come in contact with other humans, I kept hearing the same sentiment: Please let January be over! Here on the ranch, it was a cold, wet, muddy January, and our cars became almost undrivable because of the mud that was up in the tires. The dogs and I were developing relationship issues because we were cooped up together for so long, and I started to empathize with sun-starved residents of Seattle. I’m so glad February is here! Even though it’s raining this mor ..read more

In case ya missed it, I got to participate in a holiday special with the cast of The Brady Bunch! If you have read this website for any length of time, you know how much I loved The Brady Bunch. This was a serious highlight of my life.     The first two Brady kids that I met were Mike Lookinland (Bobby) and Maureen McCormick (Marcia.) Mike and I actually shared a car from the hotel to the Brady house, and he was the perfect introduction to the group–he was warm, friendly, and so sweet. Marcia was the fist cast member to walk into the house, the first one I got to hug and say hello to. It wa ..read more

We had a good Thanksgiving. It was Ladd, me, our four kids, and two extras…and I can’t remember the last time I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for eight people (well, and six dogs, obviously.) It was so relaxing and so enjoyable, and while I will always prefer to have the larger, whole fam damily together on Thanksgiving, it was nice to breathe and chill a bit. The only problem is, it was so relaxing that I was pretty much ready to serve the meal an hour before we had planned to serve the meal, and we were still waiting on our eighth guest to arrive. But I was so chill that I didn’t care! I was so ..read more

We are lucky enough to have a longtime Pawhuska mom (and grandmother) come to our home games and take photos of the boys. The Friday before Veteran’s Day, she took this photo of Bryce during the National Anthem. It’s a framer!   She gets great action shots! This is Bryce running the ball—love how there’s a chain of players trying to take the other down! High school football is so exciting.     This year has been so wonderful. After going 0 and 10 just two years ago, we went 9 and 1 in our regular season this year. Our new coach started last year, and he’s been such a great asset (and mentor ..read more

I thought you’d get a kick out of Paige’s Halloween costume this year! It made me laugh. I told her she should have worn a floral top and much more eyeliner…but at least it showed me she was thinking about me at college! Also, it has cured me of any notion I’ve been playing with that I should go a little more red with my hair. Ha. Hope you all had a wonderful, safe Halloween! Is it November already? Not possible! Here are some random things on my mind today: 1. I’m about seven episodes away from being finished with The Handmaid’s Tale. How will I exercise, what will I watch on the rowing mac ..read more

Last Saturday was a fun, special day in Pawhuska. I had my hometown cookbook signing, which was really a fun time…     And we had our second annual Halloween Hangout, where families wear their costumes, paint pumpkins, and have a ghoulishly good time.     I love this time of year!     The kids really turned up and represented. The costumes were amazing.     I can’t handle this. Cuteness overload!     The kids were dressed up everywhere! Outside at the Halloween Hangout, and inside at the cookbook signing.     Hi, Jasmine! Welcome to Pawhuska!     This guy basically melted my heart ..read more

Hi, friends! I thought I’d check in about what I’ve been up to. Ladd and I celebrated our anniversary in September, for one! It was the big 2-3, and you know what they say: Once you get over that 23-year hump, it’s all smooth sailing from there! Ha.     I hope you were able to catch my episode of The Pioneer Woman that I shot at the Brady Bunch house! I had this same grin on my face the entire time, because this was basically a dream come true.     I just launched some new things at Walmart, and I love it all. It’s so fun to see the patterns and colors we developed over a year ago finally ..read more

I received the very first copy of my new cookbook a week or so ago. It was so hot off the press, I burned my hand! Just kidding, I didn’t burn my hand. Only my index finger! Okay, it wasn’t really hot and I didn’t burn anything. But I was burning with excitement! Does that count?     Four weeks from today (if you have preordered the cookbook, anyway!) this will be burning a hole in your mailbox. And four weeks from today, I’ll be on the TODAY Show, probably shaking from nervousness since still, to this day, probably ten years after I was first on live TV, I still get nervous before any sort ..read more