Chewy Oatmeal Fudge Bars

I promised a lot of people that I would get this recipe up on my blog from Kortney's baby shower. I apologize that it has taken me so long.

Oatmeal Mixture

Cream together: 1 cup margarine, 2 eggs, 2 cups brown sugar, 2 tsp vanilla. Set aside.

Mix 2 and 1/2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp baking soda....then add to the above mixture and then add 3 cups oatmeal.

Chocolate Mixture

1 package 12 oz chocolate chips, 1 cup sweetened condensed milk, 2 T margarine, and 1/2 tsp salt. Melt in microwave and stir until well blended. Then add 2 tsp vanilla and 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts.( You can add the nuts if you want. I didn't add them when I made it)

Spread 2/3 oatmeal mixture in greased cookie sheet. (helps if your hands are greased because the oatmeal mixture sticks to them)

Cover with the chocolate mixture.

Dot spoon rest of oatmeal mixture on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

December

I just love the month of December. I love putting up Christmas decorations. I love the Christmas lights. I love Christmas parties. I love shopping for Christmas gifts for my kids.

I especially love seeing the excitement of Christmas on my kids' faces.

This past month was so much fun. Here is what we have been up to.

We got to have the Anderson Christmas party at my in-laws cabin. Here's a picture of all the cousins.

Carson loves to take his shirt off and he throws a fit when I try and put it back on. I guess he was just trying to show off his muscles with all his girl cousins around. It's amazing how a ping pong ball can make him so happy.

One night for family home evening we put together a gingerbread house.

On Christmas Eve night, Santa decided to drop off a little surprise early. He brought pj's for everyone. Kelli and Carson were so excited.

And yes, Carson has his shirt off again.

Their new pajamas.

And here they are on Christmas morning.

One of the things I gave Chris for Christmas was an oil painting. I started it probably back in the spring. I decided to get it finished and framed for him for Christmas. I spent a big portion of December trying to get it finished on time. So here is the finished product. It is probably one of my favorites.

What a day!

Friday morning of last week was quite the day. Our dog Millie got spayed 2 days before on Wednesday. We woke up Friday morning and I went downstairs to let Millie outside. I could smell a horrible smell coming up the stairs. I thought "oh no!" I went to Millie's kennel and she had diarrhea and vomit all over in her kennel. Not to mention that it was all over the cone she has to wear to keep her from messing with her incision. (Well, Carson wakes up early so of course he was with me. He also likes to eat shortly after waking up.) I had to put Carson down so I could get Millie outside and clean her kennel. All while I was cleaning Millie's kennel, I was dry heaving. I can't stand dog poop smell. Carson was also screaming because he wanted me or wanted to eat. Then I went outside to clean Millie off. Well, her cone was covered in dog poop and vomit. I had to get my hands in it to get it off of her so I could clean it off. I finally got it cleaned off. Then I had to sponge bathe Millie's paws off because she had stepped in it. Keep in mind that I couldn't bath her otherwise I would have done that right off. Finally, amongst all the dry heaving and screaming from Carson, I got it all cleaned up. I lit a candle and sprayed my house with febreeze because my house reeked.

Shortly after that, Kelli wakes up and wants to eat. So I start to get her food ready. While I was getting Kelli's food ready, Millie goes to the door. She does that when she needs to relieve herself. So I stopped what I was doing and took Millie outside. Meanwhile, Kelli opens the door and Carson goes outside. It is freezing cold and Carson is running outside in his pajamas and into the street. At the same time, Millie is going diarrhea again. When Millie is finished, I run over to get Carson. Then at the same time, another dog is outside and Millie is going crazy. I have her on a leash and she is pulling me and wrapping around me while I am trying to pick up Carson. Finally I manage to get everyone inside. Once I get inside, Kelli starts crying and wondering why I haven't got her food yet. That pushed me over the edge. I just lost it right then and I yelled and said, "What do you think I have been trying to do this morning?" Then I yelled, " I am fed up with you! I am fed up with Carson! And I am fed up with Millie!" Then I left everyone and went up the stairs to cool off. After a few minutes, I went back downstairs, apologized to Kelli and finished getting her food. Talk about a morning. That morning pretty much topped them all. I probably sound like a horrible mom for yelling at my kids.

Anyway, a couple of days later, I had to take Millie to the Vet again, because some lumps were forming around her incision. The Vet told me that one of her stitches had ripped and her intestines were poking though hence the lumps around her incision. Then it turned out later that it was an allergic reaction instead which caused swelling and blood pooling around her incision. Good thing it wasn't as bad, but it gave me an understanding for all the diarrhea she had the past couple of days. How awful. Now things are going better with Millie and hopefully she will get better.

Happy Birthday Kelli!

I can't believe I have a 5 year old! Kelli has been so excited for her birthday party ever since her last birthday party last year. This year she wanted a pirate party. We ordered pirate hats that the kids could decorate, pirate patches, treasure boxes with fake gold coins, chocolate gold coins and skull rings. I also bought beaded necklaces, and ring pops to go inside the treasure boxes. I made pirate hooks and a pirate ship cake.

When the guests arrived, they decorated their pirate hats and put on their eye patches. We played pin the treasure chest on the map and then they got their pirate hooks.

Then we had a treasure hunt around the house and they found all their individual treasure chests. They seemed to think they were so cool. After that, another thing I bought were pirate sticker scenes. They sat down and decorated their pirate scenes. After that, we ate cake and ice cream. Then opened presents. Here is the lovely cake.

Happy Birthday Kelli! I sure love you. I can't believe that your 5! Time sure flies.

October Fun

During the 1st part of October, Chris and I, along with our dog Millie went chucker hunting with my dad, brother and nephew. We had success and Millie did a pretty good job for her 1st hunt. Plus we found some deer antlers.

Kelli had a hay day at preschool. She got to dress up. The parents came and the kids sang Halloween songs to them. It was sure cute.

Kelli with her preschool teacher.

Over Halloween weekend, we carved our pumpkin.

Then the highly anticipated day came. Kelli was so excited for Halloween and trick-or-treating.

When the afternoon came, she started complaining about her tummy hurting. Then by dinner time she was throwing up. I was feeling so bad for her. I could remember times when I was little and I was stuck home on the couch with a throw up bowl on Halloween. It was horrible. Well Kelli threw up a few times. I knew she wanted to go trick-or-treating so badly. I asked her how she was feeling and if she still wanted to go. After a bunch of debating, she said that she still wanted to go. I said to her that we could try a couple of houses and see how she was doing. I thought for sure that she wouldn't make it for very long. After we went to a few houses, Kelli started acting like she was feeling better and before long, she was running from house to house and beaming with excitement. I was thrilled she got better so quickly.

My little trick-or-treaters.

Kelli was Rapunzel and Carson was Scooby Doo. Carson also loved the whole trick-or-treating thing. He would run right up to the door and participate with the knocking. He would get so excited about the candy. Carson would pick out his piece of candy and run away with it. I couldn't believe the excitement in that kid that night.

Checking out their loot.

September

September has been a super busy month. At the beginning, I took a trip up the mountains with my dad. It was absolutely gorgeous up there. There were tons of wild flowers. I took some pictures.

For some reason this writing is showing up blue and I can't figure out how to fix it. Anyway, over Labor Day weekend, my parents invited the whole side of my family down to Grover, Utah. We drove down there and stayed in some cabins. We had a hay day going on hikes, fishing, riding in the paddle boats and just hanging out.

Some of us hiked into Blind Lake on the Boulder Mountain and fished. Kelli had so much fun with all the boulders that were all over the place.

Blind Lake

Picture out behind the cabins.

Kelli is now back in her 2nd year of preschool. She absolutely loves it.

And last but not least, I would like to introduce you to our newest member of our family. Meet our new puppy Millie!

We got Millie when she was 9 weeks old. She is now 11 weeks old. She is a Wire Haired Pointing Griffin and is known to be an excellent hunting dog, family dog and house dog. So far those qualities prove to be true.

Happy Birthday Carson!

Today is actually Carson's 1st birthday. We celebrated a little early. Chris made the awesome videos. He did an awesome job. I could never do anything like that. My computer skills are minimal. The video has more of Carson's birthday celebration pictures and some video clips, so enjoy. I can't believe Carson is a year now. Man time flies. Just a little more information on what he is up to....

Carson is starting to walk. He can take 5 to 7 steps by himself. Pretty soon he will be full on walking. He has 8 teeth and eats real food like a champ. There is practically nothing he won't eat. He sleeps well, going to bed at 8:00 and waking up around 6:30/7:00. Carson loves his monkey blanket and won't go to bed without it. He still loves, loves, loves taking baths and hates it when I take him out. If Kelli is taking a bath, Carson will try his absolute hardest to get in with her. He totally hates it when his daddy says "No." He gets so offended and cries his eyes out.

Carson had a hay day when we celebrated his birthday. I gave him a big piece of cake and a slab of ice cream. He downed both of them and grinned with excitement the entire time he ate them. He sucked away on the slab of ice cream. It was hilarious. After he was finished, he got so mad. So we cheered him up with a bath.

Well, Carson, I can't believe you are a year now. I just love you to death and I have had a blast the past year watching you grow! Happy birthday big boy!