Favorite Family Places: Utah: The Thanksgiving Point Gardens

We've decided, as we're leaving Utah, that we are going to do a series of posts related to our "favorite family places" in Utah. (I imagine we'll continue the tradition when we go other places too)

Now, I've grown up in Utah, so there are many places that I could put on here if this were a blog related to only me (Kyle), but as it is a family blog the posts in this series will be concentrated on those places that are special for "our family" ... basically, the places that have come to be special for us since we got married (especially in the last year)

Fittingly, the place that has become probably the most special for our family is the Thanksgiving Point Gardens:

About 9-10 months ago, at the end of last summer, we were getting really restless. Up to that point in our married life, Christy had always been working during the day, and becoming a full-time stay at home mom had started to weigh on her. Christy and Gabbie were spending all of their time in the house during the day, and whenever I would get home from work or school, they would always beg me to go somewhere.

It got to be hard to go anywhere, because everywhere that we thought of either cost money, or just didn't have enough to keep our interest going there very much (parks with playgrounds are only so fun when you have an 8 month old)

We started looking into memberships and found that for a family of three (with a child under 2) a Thanksgiving Point membership wasn't too expensive. It gave us unlimited access to the Dinosaur Museum, the Animal Farm, and the TP Gardens. We didn't know much at the time, but we figured that even if we only went there once a month in the year that we had the pass it would pay for it.

Little did we know that we would love the place as much as we did... especially the garden.

Before it closed for winter last year, we found ourselves going to the Garden two times a week just to give us a place to get out of the house and get some exercise.

It was so peaceful.

When it opened up this year we looked forward to it so much... we were one of the few who went on the first day (before the flowers were even in bloom)

We've gotten to where we call it "our garden" and when tulip festival came around we got kinda upset... like I imagine frequent gym goers do around New Year's Resolution time.

Last week, we went to the gardens again. It was nice because the crowds had died down a bit from the tulip festival.

I think this was one of the best times that we've had at the garden.

One thing new that we did this time, was to just sit down on the amphitheater and have some fun family time.

... that was until Gabs got restless...

...All that green grass, and she didn't know what to do with herself...
... I can't blame her... in fact... I kinda egged her on!

We had so much fun. I gave her a piggy back ride. We danced on the stage together. She pushed me down the hill. She ran as fast as she could just to fall. I taught her how to roll down...

It was a blast!

After that, we went to the horseshoe place and Momma taught Gabs how to smell flowers. They were so beautiful playing together.

These (the following) were my favorite pictures... they really show Gabs' personality. Christy is really tender when it comes to teaching our children. Especially when it comes to teaching them about God's creation. It really is one of her greatest talents (teaching children)

These pictures are ones that I think are some of the most beautiful pictures I've ever seen. The prettiest flowers are the

One of the reasons why I think this trip to Thanksgiving Point was so fun, was because we decided to let Gabs lead the way for a lot of the time.

She thought it was so fun to have so much freedom and to be the one to lead the way!

That is... until she realized that we were going slower than she was and that it was kinda scary running by yourself...

I think this time was the first time that she noticed that there were horseys on the Carousel.

After Momma taught her about the right way to smell and look at flowers she was an old pro.

Everywhere she went she found a new flower to smell.
(I think she actually was more interested in looking into the middle of the flower to see if it looked the same or different than the last ones)

What's a trip to the gardens without a seat on "Gabbie's bench"

(if you notice in this picture, Gabs is concentrating pretty hard on something. With all the freedom that we gave her, she found a rock and decided she wanted to figure out what it tastes like. She was pretty upset when I wouldn't let her keep sucking on it.)

This was also the first time that they had the fountains going in the secret garden this year. Gabs thought it was soo cool.

When I took her over to the actual fountain and showed her what fun it was to put her hands in it, she couldn't keep her hands out... sometimes parents would save themselves so much hassle if they just wouldn't ever teach their kids stuff (hehe).

Look at Gabbie's face and hand in these pictures in progression:

We sure love "our gardens"

Stay tuned for our next "Favorite Family Places: Utah" posts about Animal Farm and Bridal Veil Falls.