A Weekend in Mississippi

So it's Wednesday. 

I had originally planned to post this on Monday. 

And then when the ridiculous Sunday night storms had me delayed and getting home after midnight, I've just kind of been behind ever since. 

BUT - this weekend was a pretty special one, so I wanted to make sure to get it posted. 

Every July, my dad's side of the family gets together for our annual family reunion, also known as Camp Meeting. If you missed my recap from last year (shaving cream fights, hayrides, Jeff's belly flop off the creek swing, etc.), you can read about it here.

Since this July I'll be on a different continent, I wanted to make sure I got over to Mississippi beforehand just to hang out with my grandmama. So that's exactly what I did! 

Three generations on a porch swing :)

I really hate to miss this camp meeting because....drum roll....this will be our first camp meeting in our very own cabin! AND I'M SO EXCITED! I think at Camp Meeting last year my dad realized that our immediate family was growing to the point where we needed a space of our own. Not to mention Amy has kiddos, and kiddos come with lots of stuff. So sometimes it's nice to have a place to put said stuff. I'm super sad I'm missing out on the first summer in the cabin, but still excited nonetheless!

And this is my excited pose. That actually looks like a Rangerette pose. 

Look at our new little cabin! It still has a ways to go before it's liveable - you know, walls and such, but the boys are working hard to get it finished (and my mom is picking out countertops, curtains, and color schemes). So they'll get it done! 

I can't wait to park it on a swing on that porch. 

Speaking of porch swings, this is my contribution to the cabin:

My dad built this porch swing and I helped him stain it. He said he wanted to get a picture of me with the barn in the background, but I really think he just wanted documentation of me working. Touche, dad. :) 

PS - isn't the swing just beautiful? He's also made rocking benches, a vanity for the bathroom, an island for the kitchen - this man is a wonder with wood working. 

Ya know what else we did a lot of that weekend? 

Eating. 

Lord have mercy. I brought yoga pants in anticipation (you know, no buttons, zippers, clasps, etc.), but after my grandmama's cooking, even the elastic was getting a run for its money. I copied down recipe after recipe to try to bring a little Mississippi back to Texas. 

One thing my grandmama is known for is her fried okra. Please hear me when I say this: it is the best fried okra in the entire world. There's something magical to it. All the grands and great-grands will back me up on this. Even Jeff thought so. There's just something about the way she makes fried okra. 

So naturally I had her give me lessons. 

I took notes, I took pictures, I did everything I could think of to try to recreate what she does. I haven't given it a try on my own yet (I'm scared!) but I have to perfect it. I have to!

I walked into the kitchen at one point and these were on the stove. This is a southern stove right here: fried okra and boiled peanuts. I'll take both, please. 

On Sunday after church, we went out to celebrate my birthday/Father's Day at the Dinner Bell. I had never been there before this weekend (we don't go out to eat much in MS), but I LOVED this place! You sit at a giant round table with a huge lazy susan (my mom hates that term) in the middle, and the waiters bring out SO many southern foods for you to just chow down. So it's basically a buffet, but the buffet is constantly spinning in front of your face the whole time. 

You know what that is? Fun. You know what else that is? Stressful. I ate so fast I had indigestion. But my plate kept getting full but food kept whizzing by and I had to keep eating so I had more room! That's a southern stress case right there. 

We drove around, saw where my dad was born, went to high school, jumped off roofs, etc. And then there was more of this to be had:

The blueberry pie. Praise be to the Lord for a blueberry pie. 

And then my dad was all like this:

I wish I could tell you he was kidding, but the man was full-on snoring. 

The rest of the weekend was a lot of porch swinging, reading, looking at old photo albums, and eating. Oh the eating. 

I was really sad to leave, and kept getting pangs of sadness that I won't be there when the whole family is in town, but I'm glad I got a little one on one time with my MS family. 

Love this place. 

Until next time,
Katy