why don't we live in utah?

It was an idea Jilly and I have kicked around every summer since we've known each other, so this summer when {Shelly} asked if we wanted to rent her adorable little cabin in Midway Utah, we didn't have to think it over.  What could be better than a get a way with my bestie for eight days and seven glorious nights without obligations, media, or the cares of the world?

We decided to take these three just for kicks.   My little {Nino's} cute face has to be blurred for privacy purposes.

As always, me and Jilly love to re-cap the highlights and low lights of our trip.  Please enjoy.

Highlight
Traveling with Jilly for 2,339 miles, not tiring of her for one minute, and not running out of something to talk about.  As a bonus, she drove the WHOLE way!

Highlight
The boys were three well behaved peanuts all the way to Utah, due in part to something I introduced called the FUN bag.  Every hour on the hour, I pulled out a new game and treat from the $ store to keep the munchkins entertained.  On one condition.  F stands for flexible, U stands for understanding, and N stands for nice (and I threw in NO whining).  As long as these boys were obeying the rules of F.U.N, they were rewarded with endless surprises and two very happy moms.  We'll talk about the ride home later.

Highlight 
Meeting up with Mandi of {Vintage Revivals } on our way to Midway in her home town.  We stopped for lunch at her family owned restaurant and devoured yummy, sweet pork salads while we talked about our latest and greatest projects, laughing ourselves silly.  Mandi is the fun bag.  Win. Win. 

Low light
Thinking we could rely on the i phone for directions to Utah and wondering how the heck this happened....

Yes, the boys were slightly bitter when we told them it would take an extra hour to reach our final destination. Until....we told them we'd be covering four states in just one day.  Who would be able to top that on the first day of school?  Pretty soon they were thanking us.

Highlight
The gorgeous weather and the scenery in Utah.  Me and Jilly spotted this quaint little cottage and thought we had arrived in heaven sooner than anticipated.  I'm sure the people inside started getting nervous about the white mini van that kept driving by, dying to spot someone sitting on the porch waiting to give guided tours.

Green fields and little farms as far as the eye could see.  We both agree, Utah is a photographers dream.

The beautiful mountains and light rain fall almost every afternoon.  We hadn't seen a jacket since February and each night when it was cool enough to put on our hoodies, we were giddy with excitement.

Highlight
Meeting up with family and friends we don't get to see very often. 

Enter Uncle Bob and the Nino playing their 76th round of UNO on the 4th of July.  My uncle Bob and Aunt Neva live in a beautiful cabin near Park City, with a million dollar view of the country.  Lucky.

We had dinner with the adorable Katie Hughes and her sis of {Vintage Rose Wraps}, ate at the {Blue Iguana} (best Mexican food in Utah) with Jilly's brother and his family, watched fire works with some great friends that used to live in AZ, and even spent time with Jilly's friend and her family from Denmark.  

Lowlight

Drawing an exorbitant amount of attention while trying to parallel park on the streets of Salt Lake.  Between me peeing my pants laughing and others honking, we were a scene.  Jilly drove every single mile on our trip.  She's always said driving is not my best gift. 

Highlight
CRAFT WARS PARTY!!!

I don't even know if it's legal to have as much fun as we did on the eve of July 3rd 2012.  From getting up close and personal to 150 of Utah's finest DIY-ers and bloggers, to the food, the venue, OH MY GOSH, it was amazing.

It's true, Jilly and Mandi got kicked off the show before their time.  But let's be honest, they're going to do something bigger and better, and I'll still be their biggest cheerleader. 

Now that I think about it, I'll have to compete with the woman who was in tears when she found out they didn't win.  THAT is a fan. 

Can you believe this cake? 

One of the funnest parts (is funnest a word?) about the party was seeing some friends who have moved to Utah from our home town.  Meet Shenise, one of the cutest things you've ever seen.  She came and brought her mom, her sister, and sis-in-law.  They were everything, and more.

We got to meet the freakishly amazing, and sweet, and hilarious, Bridget of {Bridgey Widgey Parties} who hosted the whole thing at her parents mansion.  Jilly and I pulled up to the place and had a pow wow about being on our best behavior so we didn't blow our cover.  We'd only seen places like this on TV.

Bridget immediately made us feel at home as she bounced around setting up cupcake vignettes, Italian ice bars, and swag bags for all 150 guests.  She didn't stop smiling once.

Before the fun was over, 50 ladies walked away with awesome door prizes.  Seriously cool stuff from Krylon paints, treats from local bakeries, Rose Wraps, Purdy paint brushes, and all kinds of other great give-aways.  The whole thing was unforgettable.

Lowlight
Arriving home after the party around 3am and sleeping through one of the best 4th of July parades of the year.  Again we told the boys they didn't miss a thing and not to fret about the candy they didn't get to catch off the giant, sparkly, floats.  Instead we bought a quarter pound (of every single kind) of fudge at the BYU bookstore. WAY better. 

Highlight
I enjoyed my one hotdog of the year at the beloved {J Dawgs}.  Even thought Jilly had been on a meat fast for three months, I talked her in to eating one and she was not disappointed.  If you go, order the polish with everything on it, extra special sauce. 

When it comes to eating establishments I always admire the place that does one thing, and does it good.  Congratulations Mr. J.

As we made our way back to AZ we Googled Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and realized we'd be driving right by the highly recommended Salsa Brava in Flagstaff AZ.  I tried slow-cooked pork glazed in its own juices and fresh orange, Jilly had the lobster and shrimp enchiladas, and the boys swear they've never had better mini chimis.  Wow!

Lowlight

On our way home we realized we'd never stopped bragging about Arizona's weather in November and invited EVERYONE we met to join us for Thanksgiving 2012 in Jilly's backyard. 

We secretly hope everyone makes it!

Thanks Shelly for the most extraordinary time we had at your cabin this summer.  It was so great to meet you and officially give you the title "Slip Cover Master"!  Seriously, if you live in Utah and need anything slip covered, Shelly is your girl.

A LIL SUM'N FOR OUR READERS

If you happen to follow me and Jilly, you could win {Shelly's Custom Pillow e-book}.  If you've ever wanted to learn how to make 5 different kinds of custom pillows including zippers and piping, Shelly will show you how!  She makes it fast, easy, and so simple to learn, anyone can do it.  If you "like" her on FB this month, she'll give you $5 off and you can download instantly.  How sweet is that? 

To enter, please leave a comment at the end of this post.  A random winner will be chosen on Aug 15th.  New followers always welcome!