Rock Climbing Santa with Susie McEntire

What a day!  Remember the rock climbers from my chapel on Wednesday?  They came to church today and demonstrated their skill.  In fact, Nate did this dressed as Santa, and then rappelled down during the song "Here Comes Santa Clause".  Confused yet?

Here is Sarah starting the climb across the ceiling.

And here is "Santa" during his turn.

Why was Santa visiting in October?

Why would Sarah do this during a church service?

And why would Susie McEntire (Reba's little sister) be singing Christmas songs?

She came by to film the Christmas special for RFD TV (and her husband Mark Eaton even joined in!) on the day we happened to have the rock climbing missionaries in service.  It only made sense to have him rappel down in a Santa costume.  How would you have handled that?

It was a great service, and I am sure the Christmas special will be wonderful when it airs!

Pecan Pie Cobbler

Very rarely do I find myself in the mood to bake.  But yet, all of the sudden, I had the urge. I checked my pinterest page to see what I had pinned recently, and sure enough, I found something that both looked good, and that I happened to have all the ingredients to.  (Well, almost.)

As it turns out, I thought I only needed 1/2 cup of brown sugar, but I actually needed 2 1/2 cups.  Oops!  Rachel strikes again!  The only ingredient variation I made to the recipe was that I used 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 1/2 cups of white sugar since I noticed this error while in the middle of preparation.

The other difficulty I had baking this-our oven decides how hot it wants to heat up to, regardless of what temperature you set it on.  Thankfully, I noticed just how hot the oven was about 15 minutes before it should have been done baking, and I pulled it out of the oven early.  You can see a handful of the pecans on top are a little darker than they should be, but thankfully it was cooked throughout, and still tasted quite good-a bit stickier than I prefer (but keep in mind I don't like caramel because it's too sticky-so just know I can't be trusted in most instances when sticky food is being evaluated).  And perhaps had I used the actual brown sugar as called for this issue may have been eliminated.

The bottom line-yes, I will cook this again-but only for a crowd.  It was much too much food for my family!  Here is the original recipe-originally from the Betty Crocker website:

1

box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

2

1/2 cups light corn syrup

2

1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

4 1/2

teaspoons vanilla

6

eggs, slightly beaten

2

cups coarsely chopped pecans

Butter-flavor cooking spray

2

cups pecan halves

Vanilla ice cream, if desired

• 1Heat oven to 425°F. Grease 13x9- inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with shortening or cooking spray. Remove 1 pie crust from pouch; unroll on work surface. Roll into 13x9-inch rectangle; trim sides to fit baking dish. Place crust in dish.
• 2In large bowl, stir corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs with wire whisk. Stir in chopped pecans. Spoon half of filling into pastry-lined dish. Remove second pie crust from pouch; unroll on work surface. Roll into 13x9-inch rectangle; trim sides to fit baking dish. Place crust over filling. Spray crust with cooking spray.
• 3Bake 14 to 16 minutes or until browned. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
• 4Carefully spoon remaining filling over baked pastry; arrange pecan halves on top in decorative fashion. Bake 30 minutes longer or until set. Cool 20 minutes on cooling rack. Serve warm cobbler with vanilla ice cream.

Cute Girl

Another trip down south, and I got to see my niece again!  Isn't she just so adorable?  She will hardly sit still for a picture, though, so I have to take them fast.

Here she is waiting for her catfish.  She is so much fun!

Huckleberry Lemonade

Normally when we go out to eat I order either water or unsweet tea.  Occasionally, if I am feeling daring, I might order a lemonade.  Today my hubby and I stopped by Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, and while we were waiting for the waiter to come take our drink order, I perused the menu, and happened to notice that among their varieties of lemonade, they had Huckleberry Lemonade.  This is something I had never heard of before.  In fact, when I hear the word Huckleberry, I have visions of a poor, young kid floating down the Mississippi River or whitewashing a fence.  Never has it occurred to me that a huckleberry could also be an actual berry.  I asked my hubby about it, and he assured me it was an actual berry, so I ordered the drink.  It was quite good-as you can tell from my empty glass!

Apple & Ginger Ale

I love Ginger Ale.  It is just amazing-the drier the better.  When I tell people it is probably my favorite soda, I sometimes get a reaction like, "That isn't really even a soda!"  I also love fresh apple juice and cider-emphasis on the fresh.  Simply Apple makes a great Apple Juice (which in turn makes a fantastic Apple Cider).  I have never thought about mixing the 2 to make a drink before, though.  That is, until I found this link on pinterest.  Please note, though-I made the non-alcoholic version-by simply eliminating the bourbon.  Fantastic!  I will be drinking this all fall!

Green Parking

Am I the only person who has never noticed this sign before?  I guess when I pull in the parking lot, I notice that there is one of "those" signs posted I assume it is for either handicap, employee of the month, or perhaps pregnant women without bothering to actually read the sign.  Never did it occur to me that I might be eligible for special parking privileges. Truly though, it seems like it must be a joke!

Rock Climbing Missionaries

Today I attended a chapel service, and we heard from some Rock Climbing Missionaries.  What a neat calling-they live out of their van, and work seasonal jobs just like those in the rock climbing community.  Click this link to learn more.