Swiss Miss

Welcome to Midway, Utah. Home of the annual trip of Swiss Days and my weekend adventures. I had such a wonderful weekend and am trying not to focus on the realities of mom-hood coming alive at 5:45am this morning (especially after staying up late for show-and-tell with Tyler.) By the time I am writing this post I have already fought the wardrobe fight, finished a procrastinated GATE project, and dropped the girls off at school. I figure that gives me a couple more hours while Caylee is at kindergarten to get my wits about me.

Really, the weekend was FABULOUS. For the first time (this is the 4th annual trip) we (me, my sister (Erin), adopted sister (Terry), my dad, and Matt (Terry's husband who drives his own car) left on Thursday night and got to Provo to stay at the Mohler's townhouse about 2am-ish. I LOVE driving on a roadtrip when there's great conversation and thanks to Senator Craig from Idaho we had plenty to discuss. And special thanks to Daniel for his insight and wisdom. Friday morning we headed up to Midway to check out the craft booths, shops, and yummy eating opportunities. There were so many people. Seriously. So. Many. People. But, who cares? We had an extra day to meander (sp?) the booths. Stacy (my SIL) met us and it was high-fives all around as the trip wasn't getting much better. Oh, wait, then we ate :) We hung out in Midway until dinner, ate again, and stopped by Roberts (the first of two visits over the weekend) before getting back to Provo. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, but that may be because my memory wasn't saved on my battery :) Julina came to visit and ended up getting a authentic wheel boot for parking in the wrong spot. What a racket! That's pretty much my only issue with Provo, the parking nazis. Other than that I love, love, love the vibe of the college town, the clean campus, the endless shopping opportunities, etc. {Friday's purchases: New iron hanging rod, Swiss chicken sandwich, marble solitaire game, wrapping paper, marshmellow guns for the boys, yard shepherd's crook, iron Welcome sculpture, ties, Swiss Navajo taco, two scones, a carmel apple, and some scrapbook supplies}

After a slumber party (three grown women trying to sleep in one bed), we all met Julina at Village Inn for breakfast Saturday morning and shopped at The Quilted Bear. I found a couple cute things, but this was my favorite purchase of the morning (made by Stacy):
So then we got back up to Midway to re-shop the craft booths. Okay, actually we were more concerned about eating again. They have THE yummiest BBQ dinner and last year we missed it (thanks to some bad advice :( ) so we wanted to make sure we were at the beginning of the gravy train instead of the end. We met up with Dave and Hilma Bellessa and his kids (Greg, Lizzie, and Kelly) and thier kids (Anna and Emma). I wasn't feeling 100% (thank you leftover UTI), so I sat and people-watched for a couple hours. I did manage to also fit in some pumpkin pie and ice cream (which helped me feel better. Bloated, but better.) Let me just make this observation about craft fairs in Utah. Those shoppers sure do run the spectrum from trashy and sleazy to la-tee-da big hair/boob-ed. It was very interesting. We went back to the Bellessas to visit for a bit and then back down the canyon were I maneuvered around dead deer in the road. Nice, huh. {Saturday's purchases: Biscuits and gravy, Halloween skeleton, Turkey bobble-head, Family home evening packets, 2 Halloween hollograms, BBQ dinner, pumpkin pie/ice cream, a "Welcome friends" plaque} Here's the whole group at the BBQ dinner, minus Matt who was taking the picture. Starting from the bottom, counter clockwise: Lizzie, Kelly, Hilma, Emma, Greg, Dave, Terry, Stacy, Erin, Me, and Dad.

Sunday morning was super-casual, which I love. Sleeping in until I wake up is a rare priveledge and who can say enough about pillow talk with the girls?! We didn't really have an observe-the-Sabbath type day, so if that offends anyone, skip to Monday and pretend we went to church and bore our testimonies of the tender mercies of a Swiss Day vacation. We DID go to breakfast at Mimi's. Here's a typical moment of loving this trip's reality on Sunday morning: My BIGGEST decision I HAD to make was whether or not I would order breakfast or lunch. I didn't have to get all the kids ready that morning. Instead, I was able to shower, do my hair, wear make-up AND jewelry. And none of my conversations included sending someone to their room (however, I do think Stacy was almost kicked out of the car for dissing on BYU.) After brunch we stopped at IKEA (yes, yes, the angels DO sing there on Sunday). I got a bunch of stuff to organize our master closet. Then Stacy left us to return to her folks' in Huntsville to see Zoee again. It was a sad departure as I love spending time with her and she's so stinkin' funny. Again, high five, Stac. It was rainy Sunday afternoon by the time we headed back to Midway after stopping to pick up dessert pies at Costco. Dinner with the Bellessas was AMAZING. Hilma really put on a spread for us with fresh vegetables and fruit from her garden. AND the table was beautifully set. AND there were wonderful people there (except Matt and Terry, who TOTALLY missed out, but whatev, they snuck in a baseball game and Applebees instead.) After the food had settled and the conversation dwindled, we headed back down to Provo once again and the sad reality of our last evening in Utah was kindof a bummer. Here's some pictures on Sunday while we were eating. I'm noticing most of the pictures I took were whilst we were eating. It could be that we ate so stinkin' much, so the time we were at a food opportunity was often.

At Mimi's

Standing around the dining table/kitchen at Hilma's. Seriously, study the details.

Presentation IS everything. {Sunday's purchases: Chicken pot pie, dishtowels, a strainer, storage boxes, hangers, oven mitts, and photo frames.}

Monday morning dawned bright and sunny, but it was bittersweet that it was coming to an end again. Matt had his fill of us by the time we had cleaned the townhouse and packed up, so he headed back to Vegas while we headed up to TaiPan Trading Company. Of course, any Swiss Days trip wouldn't be complete without going to the creamery, so we that's were we had breakfast. TaiPan was a blast. I was an immediate fan and spent most of my time trying to figure out what to do with the stuff I loved. "Would this fit?" "Where could that go?" "How can I not buy this good deal?" "Is Tyler gonna pass out when he sees all this stuff?" It was great fun for me, but I AM a sucker for home decor. We then hit up a few fruit stands to take home some peaches and tomatoes, had lunch at Kneaders, and got on the road sometime that afternoon. We made a couple of stops, one in Cedar to see Erin's new niece and at Cafe Rio for dinner:

Because, really, who are we to resist one more opportunity to eat out? I am sure I have put on several pounds at the end of this trip, but every bit of it is worth it. I had a great time. {Monday's purchases: baskets and filler for ScrapFest, Thanksgiving pilgrims, fall stuffed pumpkins, a planter container, yard frog, darling lantern, ornaments, box of peaches, box of tomatoes, pork salad.}

When we got home, of course I had to show all my goodies to Tyler. He just kept shaking his head. I couldn't help but remind him how frugle I was since ALL of the stuff was such a good deal. And it didn't all seem so bad once you consider that I was just organized enough to pre-buy some of the holiday stuff I'd be needing anyway. He didn't seem to buy into it, just kept shaking his head. This is what all that looks like stacked up on the dining table:

So, in summary of this long post. I LOVE Swiss Days. It is a great tradition and the experience has made me a better person . . . well, made me a better shopped person with a lot of funny memories. I'm glad we had to walk as much as we did so's my hiney isn't the size of Utah (again, from all the good food). It was all worth it, though, and I CANNOT wait for next year!

I do have to say I was sorry to miss Elsa's blessing on Sunday. I am sure it was beautiful was special even though I wasn't there, but I want to send a shout out of love to the Christiansens and their special week-end. Alright. Enough is enough. Hope y'alls Labor Day weekend was also a labor of love :)