Swiss Dayz

I'm thinkin' she didn't like the Owl hat ... too cute though.

Saturday was a success, If success is a hot mess covered with lovely wrapping paper. Maybe I have that backwards…. Saturday ended up being a great day but the little things that got us there could have been problematic.

Warning... this is a long post... don't say I didn't warn you.

Jake left at 8 am to build guns. He was back by 1. While he was gone I managed to make about half of the top side of Sophie’s “winter” bedspread. I’m still looking for the perfect lime green damask to use as a border. I wonder if this project will ever get done. She was good for most of the morning so I was happy with the progress. When Jake got back I was ready to rock n roll. We left and went to Midway for Swiss Days. Hmm… I’m still wondering if it was an effective trip or a waste of time. I’m leaning towards waste. It was one of the most beautifully warm days I’ve had lately- and I’m sure one of the last ones we’ll have this year. We got up to midway in decent time. When we passed the church and then the terror set in. There were people everywhere. Too many people for me… so that means approx. double too many people for Jake. Eek. This wasn’t looking good. We decided the best route was in the back way – off of Street lane. good move. We paid to park close, but it still wasn’t that close. By the time we got to the main part of the park, it was time to use the restroom and then eat- in that order.

First issue of the day- price of food. Two thumbs down. I understand that these vendors have to make money but 7.00 for a sandwich seems a little steep and I came prepared to pay a little more than usual. I guess I just wasn’t thinking Movie Theater pricing. The chicken was decent but I think what made me a little turned off to the situation (besides the price) was that you couldn’t just get the sandwich; you had to get the MEAL. Ew. I didn’t what the cookie, drink, or the lays potato chips (original style in the yellow bag… you know the one only old people like). Another thumb down. While we were standing in line, someone passed us with a delicious looking scone that was the size of a tire. Mmm. For sure we needed that a little later. After we picked at our chicken meal we made the rounds looking at all of the items the vendors had up for grabs.

Funny how some vendors were marketing things as “Swiss Days Pricing” or “Sale” those phrases were just laughable because there were no such bargains to be had. I guess when I think of sale, I’m expecting DI pricing, but hey- a girls gotta budget. After a few booths … they all started looking the same. Strike two. I was impressed with the fine art vendors though. There were a few booths that had some cool paintings with the original artists in the booths signing the canvases, one thumb up.

There was another vendor who had some flippin sweet furniture that I could totally see myself owning Or even making for that matter. I envisioned a boutique with similar items in it,

they all had a touch of Ash in them.
It was a good moment. One thumb up. While we were on our 8 ten thousandanth isle Jake opted to go get us a scone at the food booth....while I took the baby around as many other booths as I could until he got back (I’d have to say it was a record number of booths we ran by).

Just a friendly reminder to note here: any MAN who doesn’t have some kind of fit or lapse in patience while at an event such as Swiss Days may be of questionable character. That being said I was not surprised when upon meeting up to eat our scone Jake had mentioned his need to punch someone in the face. Apparently this person had been saving a whole table for her family while they were in line for food. It wasn’t the seat saving that got him, it was how rude this old bag was when Jake went to sit on the very end, not knowing that she had explicitly “reserved” the whole area for her herd. She was rude about giving him the scoop and that was the straw. Two thumbs down.

IT was kinda hot... so daddy helped water the monster.

I was impressed that he didn’t say anything to the lady about how rude she was. That’s the second time this week my husband has really made in impression on me with his patience. –Or controlling the lack-there-of, rather. The first time was when we were at Archibalds (restaurant at the Gardner Village in West Jordan … another place real dudes have no interest in going unless it’s to eat). Anywhoo, after we finished our dinner we wanted to walk around to get the muscles going a bit, try and burn off some calories. We went up to the boutique that is attached to the dining area because I wanted to check out the old mill part and see if there was anything I needed to buy to put into Sophie’s new room. While we were thus occupied, two flaming homosexuals came walking in to the where we were at. I say flaming because the one fella actually had flames on his pants. No joke. His outfit couldn’t have been more ironic.
He and his extremely loud partner were holding hands, kissing, & fondling each other in the most brash way possible. Even if these two would have been heterosexual, it would have been too much PDA for such a public and family place. My eyes opened to the size of a dinner plate. As they carried on I thought to myself that I needed to get us away and fast. I must have been more aware of the situation than my husband because he was busy on his phone in another section of the store texting Matt about some woman who punched a bear to save her dog. The behavior of these two individuals had me somewhere between intrigued and stunned.
I wondered what their thought process was….

I figured it had to be something like this : 1. Lets go out to dinner.
2. Let’s hit up the local boutique and comment on every piece that is in the store.
3. Let’s make everyone stare at us because we will be so loud and obnoxious that they can’t help but give us their attention (unless they are texting their brother about a woman who bunches a bear to save her dog- because that’s way more entertaining than us).
4. Let’s make out on the display sofa in front of all the other shoppers who now cannot deny our presence.
5. Let’s make all the kids who are in the shop with their parents question why two boys are kissing on the sofa.

Sigh… I guess I just don’t get it. While Jake finished his conversation I asked him if he had anything to say about what just happened (mind you he really didn’t get the whole effect because he was on the phone texting about a bear punching woman.. yes that's 3 times i've mentioned it here because I can't get over how funny it was) and he was like... They can be gay, Just as long as I don’t have to be gay too. Classic Jake. Something tells me that if he would have experienced what I saw he would have an inkling to talk to those two and asked them to take their private behavior into a private setting (in not so many words). Sigh…. I was impressed at his reaction.

Ok back to Swiss Days…

Taking a dude to this kind of event thinking that it will be a perfect family outing is like forcing a guy to attend the extreme scrapbooking expo and not expecting him to not kick and scream his way out like a little kid.

It’s like stuffing a wild honey loving badger into a thin canvas bag. Yes you should be getting a visual of something like a cartoon Tasmanian devil about now. So I did the best I could to keep the feeling up beat. We eventually found a seat and began to dig into our divine looking scone.

***BOO on the scone makers for making it look so delicious and then having it turn out so incredibly bad.***

Who ever made this particular scone stretched the dough out so thin that when we went to cut into the thing, there was nothing in the middle but air. TWO BIG THUMBS WAY DOWN. It didn’t taste remotely like It looked. And It was 4.00. Crap. Four bucks of crap. LAME.

If we would have chose cinnamon and sugar as toppings it would have been more closely related to a Churro.

Another thumb down. Swiss = Mexican. At this point I was wishing that Swiss = Navajo … at least for their tacos. (which are neither Navajo nor Tacos to begin with but that’s another post). But alas, neither hypothetical’s would be coming true.

We finished up checking out the other artists and their works. I heard a familiar background music start to play. It was James Earl Miner- the same guy who came to the VC (Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center) and had a few concerts. He was now on stage performing. Pretty good stuff. It temporarily flashed me back to some good times. Think 4th of July, red white and blue, and singing sister missionaries. Oh the times. Because of the disappointing scone and previous lunch I felt the need for a magnum bar. That was pretty much the highlight of the food scene. Pretty sad. We worked our way back to the truck and drove home.

Fav. artists of the entire Swiss Dayz- in order...

Furniture Grandprize winner (yep, I said it- grand freaking prize)
Fiber & Fire
www.fiberandfire.blogspot.com

If my brain could project what it wants into furniture it would be this. My eyes dilate with adoration when I think of their awesome chairs.

YES PLEASE.

CAN I HAS ONE ?

This is delicious! Can I have more please ?



Sandra B Rast- love the yellow!

http://sandrabrast.blogspot.com/
I love the Temple painting.

Winborg art- another awesome vendor.

Photography winner (ya i just decided now that I would award winners on my blog)
www.dotirolf.com

Art winner (for little girls room) -Winborg Sisters

www.winborgdesign.etsy.com
www.winborgdesign.blogspot.com

Honorable mention for Jewelry...

scottjamesjewelry.com

only honorable mention because his website opens with RAGNAR stuff.
seriously Utah, let's get over the trendy "I run" crap. quit advertising it and just run.
His baby stuff ( under "forget me not" tab) is way cuter but you have to navigate through hippie territory to get to it. Boo.

All in all, I would have rather gone to the Sheep Dog championships at Soldier Hollow. That was awesome when we went last year. Seriously, those pups have talent. There was also an air show going on in Heber that we thought about going to but the baby told us it was time to go home. It was a pretty warm day and she spent most of it sitting in her car seat or stroller. I really wanted the day to go better but it seemed that the force was not with us. We got an E for effort at least. Maybe next week the stars will align. I’m thinking rafting down the Provo River. State Fair is on Friday and then Jake and I are heading to Fountain Green to break in “The Rascal.” I’m pretty excited about that. Looking forward to Monday (Labor Day) because after that we won’t have to listen to the drunken people in our backyard yell their conversations to each other. Does alcohol make everyone louder or just deaf so they feel that it’s necessary to yell? I guess I’ll never know. Anyway I’ll add one more thumb down to them because they make our dogs bark and that wakes up the baby.