Asher is Two!

    It seems unbelievable that Asher is two! Yet, it seems as though he's always been with us. What on earth did we do before we had him? He has filled our lives with such joy! 

   So much has happened between his first and second birthdays. He lost his Papa Sutton and cousin Ryker.  He gained cousins Willow and Rhett, as well as a little Peruvian cousin due in June.  He became a big brother to Jackson Scott in September. He learned to walk (first step on February 22nd). He learned to climb on the coffee table and dance (one of his few words). He went from crying at Bible study to running into his class without telling me bye.  He grew from a baby to a toddler. *sniff sniff*

   Asher has such a sweet spirit. He gives hugs without abandon; everyone is his friend! He almost always gets complimented on his behavior by strangers while we're out running errands. His energy level seems to never fade.  

    Asher's two year old favorites:

       (Real) Food-Spaghetti

       Word- Please 

       Activity- Wagon rides, pretending to drive 

       Sibling- Jackson :)

       Instrument-Piano, but prefers to play it with the drumsticks

       Toy- Trucks

       Day- Sunday (a whole day of socializing is what Asher considers heavenly)

Happy birthday, Asher bud! 

Pecan Pie

    There's something about having visitors that makes trying new recipes seem like a great idea. My parents came up for the Thanksgiving weekend, and they were my gracious guinea pigs for about five new recipes. Pecan pie/crust, buffalo chicken chili, pancake squares, cinnamon pancake squares, chicken pesto pasta (including a new pesto recipe), chocolate cake, chocolate frosting, biscuits and sausage gravy...okay, so technically eleven recipes. I love it when my parents visit! They're such willing guinea pigs, wonderful company, and somehow turn their vacation into a vacation for us. I seriously doubt Asher would notice if Alec and I left while my parents were here, and my kitchen is still basking in the ambiance of my mother's touch.

    To be fair, the true guinea pigs for the pecan pie were our Henson friends. Gotta test Thanksgiving recipes before the big day, right?  This Pioneer Woman recipe is delicious! I might have added a bit more vanilla than Ree recommends...I'm a bit of a vanilla fiend. The pie crust recipe yields quite a tasty concoction. I split it in half, as it created enough dough for two pies. And, as the recipe suggested, I froze the dough. It turned out flakey as promised! As this was only my second attempt at homemade crust, moving the rolled out product from the counter to the pie dish was interesting. 

         Yeah. 

       But, it's fixable!

  

Voila! 

    Tasty tasty. Pecan pie is the bomb diggity!  

    The second time around, Dad helped me transfer the crust dough:

    Much better!

    The final product is pretty similar to the recipe in the back of Karo syrup bottles. This recipe seems to have just a bit more depth. Mayhaps it will show up around Christmas time in miniature pie form!