Scandinavian Festival in Ephraim, Utah



Oj Oj Oj!  Today we went to the Scandinavian Festival in Ephraim.

Varan Lilla Viking





We all wore yellow and blue today




Min lilla Svenska Amerikanare




The Festival




A good Swedish lunch



Among the few authentic Swedish highlights at the Scandinavian Festival in Ephraim today:

1)  a Swedish lunch booth:  meatballs, inlagd gurka, marzipan tarta, etc.

2)  two (out of dozens and dozens of the booths) did offer real Scandinavian items: Carl Larsson prints, viking magnets, lingon preserves, handpainted dala-hast art, reindeer knick-knacks, Swedish music CDs, books and jewelry; Christmas tomtar 

3) a few people wore viking helmets which were also for sale (not authentic, of course, but funny) in either crochet or plastic (inside it read:  made in China).  One lady wore a Danish flag T-shirt.  But our family was the only family I saw dressed up all in the colors of their country.  The only one!

And more than 90% of the booths were un-Scandinavian.  They had every kind of American craft for sale, including some beautiful quilts, and deep-fried everything (fried oreos, fried twinkies, fried coke --yes, really);  and they had every kind of American fair item for sale, plus other countries' things, such as Himalayan clothing, Peruvian hats, Italian Ices, I have to say that I feel a bit sad that these thousands of ancestors of the Scandinavian pioneers of Sanpete County do not know what it really means to be Scandinavian.  This festival was barely Scandinavian, yet we thoroughly enjoyed the parts that were.




 

 

CE and the meatball lunch

Swedish painter

pioneer games

Viking baby

Random viking in the street

I bought a little Sami reindeer-leather necklace for C.E., 

The reindeer leather necklace for C.E.

a big, handpainted dalahast for my wall, 

The giant dalahast for my wall

a viking helmet for Baby H., and a Chinese dragon for A.J.  (Dala-Draken, we named him). 

Dala-Draken

Vegetables

This is our sweet 8 month old baby, who loves vegetables. He rejected the baby peaches!  He rejected the baby barley!  He can barely take in the oats-and-pears.  But loves those veggies.

In these pictures, we're seeing a sweet potato moment.  He also loves peas.  Most surprisingly, he loves Swiss Chard!  I had never even cooked it, or even eaten it, I think, until this week.  It came, unannounced, in my co-op basket from Bountiful Baskets, and I looked up a recipe online, cooking it with olive oil, some garlic salt and onion salt, and wow.  I liked it, and C.E. and the baby liked it a TON!  (A.J. and D.H. were not so enthusiastic.)

Hogle Zoo and Red Butte Gardens

We celebrated our anniversary yesterday, D.H. (and the baby) and I. 

  First, we went to the Hogle Zoo--

Our Creator must have had so much fun creating this world and everything in it: like elephants!

This zoo is where we had one of our most memorable first-dates.



Giraffes are my favorite creature.  Gorgeous and strange and so dang tall!




D.H. wanted the baby to notice the animals, and not just the gates below.  But the baby is pretty impressed with just about everything in life.  A plastic straw is as intriguing as an orangutan.



Kangaroo

This monkey was toting around a toy monkey.  I thought it was adorable!

 So, we ate at D.H.'s favorite restaurant: The Spaghetti Factory.  :)

 Then we went to Red Butte Gardens-- heavenly place!



The baby looks like an Eskimo baby when he smiles with his eyes.





These Honeysuckle smelled so good.  The baby tried to get them in his mouth.





I liked the moose sculptures in the water.





There were enchanting trails.





The sound of the waterfall is as pretty as it looks.