I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee...

Yesterday we drove to North Alabama to meet my former, just-a-blog-friend, Valarie. We spent the day with her family (minus her eldest). When we met and began talking it was like we had been friends for years already. And through out the day, it began to feel like we were family.

When we arrived we quickly learned something very ironic. Derrick was wearing all of his UGA gear. Val's hubby was wearing all of his Auburn gear. AND...UGA & Auburn were playing yesterday. We watched the game, and it was very friendly.

We also had some deeeeee-lish-uuuuuuus food. Chili, white chicken chili, potato soup and grilled bologna. For dessert we had buttermilk pie and cookies. Oh it was some good eatin'.

Here are some pics from the day...




Syd & my little girl feeding the cows.




Enjoying her hot chocolate, which was topped off with spoons of chocolate icing.





Syd & my sweet baby boy. When she said she called dibs, she meant it. They definitely love each other :-).




The grilled bologna. It looks charred, but it was so dang good!



The UGA/Auburn fans.

Lil Logan and my lil man became instant, deer-hunting friends.

Cannon was trying to get some buttermilk pie. He wasn't successful.

Valarie & my baby.

Playing the Wii.

Valarie & Valarie.

For more pictures and to read the other Valarie's perspective on the visit, go here.

We know that we drove away from their house with lifelong friends. I feel like I have known her my entire life. Now I can refer to her as my friend, and not give the long explanation behind the term "blog friend".

Oh, I totally forgot to take a picture of my present that she made for me. I'll explain. She made us coasters with the letter 'B' on it, for our last name. They are beautiful and are much needed on our unfinished, rustic, Mexican furniture. We brought them some Mexican coffee, Mexican vanilla (which was used in the buttermilk pies BTW), and some adorable glass earrings.

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I have some good news and bad news. Bad news first. On the way home from Val's house, our car had some trouble. Pretty much, we don't have 3rd gear. We had to drive home in 2nd gear, ON THE EXPRESS WAY! What would've taken us 1 1/2 hours, took us 3 hours. Blah.

Good news. I went to a grocery store for the first time since we've been in the States. I just love American grocery stores. They don't smell like fish. There are choices. Sometimes that is hard, though. I almost got a migraine trying to pick a body wash.