Breakfast & Southern Charm

The next day, Stephanie invited me over for breakfast. She actually cooked ME breakfast. What a treat! We had toast with homemade peach jam (Frieda made), scrambled eggs, bacon, homemade cinnamon rolls, and GRITS! It's a southern thing, and Stephanie said that I had to try them.

 

They are made from corn, and are very mild tasting. I didn't realize how many ways you can make them. She had hers mixed with her bacon and eggs. I just added cheese to mine. I'm glad that I got to try them!

 

 Then, Stephanie took me and the kids for a little trip around the property in the "Boom Boom". It was kind of like a golf cart but had a bed in the back that you could either sit in or haul stuff in. Her Dad - Bubba (grandkids nick named him that), uses the heck out of this thing.

 

First off was the garden. And, it is a GARDEN. There are these tall wires that look like they have a marshmallow on the end of them sticking out in parts of the garden. I was told that they are to help keep the deer out of there. She said that she didn't think they were working though, cuz the deer have been eating everything in there.

There are grapes in here that were growing on the vines. Her Dad had trellises up so that they could stay up off the ground. There were tons on there!

 They had a lot of strawberries too. And, there were raspberries. It was really cool to see all of the fruit that they had included in their garden. (There is Dallin sneaking a peak at me - but doesn't want me to hold him). :)

 

 They even had blueberries! Bryson & Kyli picked some of them right off of the bush for me to try. For those of you who know me, know that I don't eat blue foods. Bryson argued with me telling me that these were blueberries and that they were definitely blue. And, he was right. But I told him that they looked kind of purple to me, so I would eat them. And, I'm glad that I did. They were delicious! I have never tried a fresh blueberry right off of the bush before.

Stephanie told me that her Mom would pick these and then freeze them, and use them for pancakes and other delicious homemade goodies.

 Then, there is a huge tree in their front yard that is a fig tree. They weren't ready to eat yet, but I am told that they are wonderful. Even the kids like them. This is what they look like. I have only tried a fig newton - is that the same thing?

 They have pear trees too. This variety don't taste so good though - so I'm told.

 

 They also have one of my favorite trees - the Magnolia. They are pretty popular around here, but I never get tired of looking at them.

 Bubba has made all kinds of fun things for the kids to play on - young and old. Also, this little playground can work double duty as a tree stand for Rhett to shoot deer from. The tree on the left has a squirrel box on it. When Stephanie's Dad had to have back surgery, he would sit upstairs in his house, and then shoot the squirrels from his window. Pesky varmints!

They even have a fire pit and a swimming pool. No wonder Stephanie likes to come back here. They have everything they need!

 

 Some of her Uncles live close by too. This is one of them on the other side of the pond. Then there is another to the right of this place.

 

Bryson noticed the ducks that were across the way walking down the little path.

 

Stephanie told me a cute story about this pond. When she was little, she was wearing a silver bracelet. When she was throwing something out into the water, the bracelet flew off. She looked and looked but couldn't find it anywhere. The next day her Dad came back out and trudged through the water, mud and slime for quite awhile and yep - found her bracelet! She still has it to this day! How cool is that? 

 

Also, a few years back, he made a cool slip and slide. Not just any slip & slide, but an awesome one. It started at the top of the hill, and ran all the way down to the pond. The kids had a blast!

 Stephanie continued her little drive around the place. Her Dad had put down some kind of gravel so that there is a "paved" area to drive the Boom Boom on. It took us all over the property, and the view was really pretty. Here you can see my car at the top of the hill through the trees.

 Another thing that I thought was cool, was everything is sentimental. This pretty flower plant was given to Stephanie when she had surgery a few years back. Well, her Dad planted it there, and it has thrived and is huge now. Bubba also fixed a bunch of old toys that their kids played with when they were little so that the grandkids can now play with them. Southern charm - I love it!

So, Stephanie suggested a bucket list of foods & places that I need to try:
1.  Catfish
2.  Hardees for biscuits & gravy
3. Waffle House
4. Krystals
5. Chick fil a

I promise that I will try all of these Stephanie!

Oh, and after playing with Dallin in the van, he finally came to me when I was getting ready to leave. Score!