October and November

So it is a new year and i have not blogged in over two months. One of my goals for this year is to continue to get better at taking pictures and then blogging about it. So here is a brief update of what we did in the months of October and November.

In the middle of Ocotber we got to meet our sweet new niece, Mariah Rose. She is such a little doll.

We didn't really do a lot for Halloween because Brayden was busy with homework but I did make these cute candy corn sugar cookies.

In November I had a random urge to make homemade cupcakes and frosting. I then had a little fun decorating them. As you can see I made a good decision to NOT become a cake decorator. haha

Over Thanksgiving break we also went to a Jazz game and had pretty good seats!

Our niece Mia had fun copying Brayden and decided she wanted to play some video games too! haha

A Delicious Mistake

So tonight I made a delicious mistake. We had our friends Mike and Sam over for FHE (family home evening) and I was making dessert. I decided to make some no bake cookies with ice cream over them. Instead of letting the cookies cool and harden you put a scoop of it when it is warm and gooey and then put a scoop or two of ice cream on top. It is SO good! I was excited to share this treat with our friends. Well, when I went to the store earlier today I couldn't find the cocoa so I asked a store clerk. He grabbed a bag and told me it was cocoa and that it was in a bag because it made it a lot cheaper. I didn't think anything of it and went home to prepare our treat. As I was making the cookies I was at the step where you add 3 tablespoons of cocoa. Right after I added it something didn't seem right so I looked at the bag and it said the word "CINNAMON"!!! I yelled "NOOOO" and everyone asked what was wrong. I told them my dilemma and they said well lets see what it tastes like with cinnamon. I was a little skeptical but I didn't want to throw it all away and waste all the ingredients. I decided that there was wayyy too much cinnamon in there so I took as much as I could out of it. I would say it ended up being about 1 tablespoon of cinnamon. We also didn't put any peanut butter in. Peanut butter and cinnamon didn't sound too good. haha I was sooo excited when we tried it and it was actually delicious! It was actually kinda perfect because it tasted like a Fall dessert with the cinnamon.

So, if you need a new spin on your regular no bake cookies try this recipe! I'm trying to think of a good name for these. Here are a couple that we thought of: "Cinnamon No Bake Cookies", "CinnaBakes", "Oops... CinnaBakes", "No Bake Cookie Twist". What's your favorite? Any other good names that you can think of?

Ingredients:
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter/margarine
1t. vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 T cinnamon
3-4 cups quick oatmeal

Directions:
Combine sugar, milk, butter, cinnamon in saucepan. Bring to boil for 3 min and stir. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients. Stir and spoon onto wax paper to cool OR spoon into bowl and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

WARNING: These are very rich so you are only going to need a small scoop of it because if you put too much then it becomes a bit of a sugar overload.

Hope you enjoy this yummy Fall treat!

Pumpkin Carving

Last night Brayden and I carved pumpkins with our friends Mike and Sam Hall. Brayden was companions and roommates with Mike and is one of his best friends. I hadn't carved a pumpkin in a while and it seems like all the times I can remember carving one someone else had done most of it. This time Brayden and I each got a pumpkin and carved our own. I was a little nervous that I was going to ruin mine because I'm not the most artsy, creative, or patient person when it comes to that kind of thing. I was very happy when it actually turned out pretty good. We are still putting the finishing touches on them and haven't put candles in them yet but here is a little sneak peak...

 This ones mine!

Here is Brayden's pumpkin. Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a CLUE. He still has to do the writing on top of it but he is of course very proud of representing his team. Now Brayden and I are still trying to decide what we should be for Halloween. Any ideas??