Tulip Festival

On Wednesday the 24th I was able to go to the tulip festival for the first time with my cousin-in-law and friend Sierra and her two kids. We had never been and thought that would be fun to do together before she moves away for a long time. So we met there at 2 and started on the trails. Within a few minutes Evy had tripped and fallen on the stone path and scrapped her knees and elbow up pretty bad, but she was a trooper and was able to shake it off and keep going. Her and Porter ran around on the grass and loved all the pretty flowers. The gardens were beautiful and the day was just as pretty! It wasnt to hot or to cold and the breeze was perfect along with the sunshine :) We walked through the gardens till about 5:30. We went through and saw some really pretty flowers and really cool things. My favorite was a part that had no paths to it but you could go down on the grass down to where it is and there is a bunch of brass sculptures of Christ and his life. It was so amazing... out of the way and it just seemed so quiet and reverent and the sculptures were amazing.  After that we were able to go see the waterfalls and walk over them and then we let the kids play for a while in the kid area and we headed for home. During all this though Evy ended up falling 3 times on the pavement and was pretty beat up. She told me after one of the falls that she was "having a rough day" poor kid. She had a ton of fun though. Aiden enjoyed being out side all day too. He only cried once when he got hungry and was all smiles the rest of the time. I really enjoyed spending time with Sierra and talking with her whiloe we walked. It was such a fun day and I am so glad we were able to get together before she leaves.

This was before we even went in, while we were waiting for Sierra to park I let Evy and Ethan look at the flowers and run on the grass.

My cute kiddos. I still cant believe I have 3.  

Sierra and I took pics of each other at the very first just to make sure we got one to document we were there ;)

Smelling the Tulips

Right before Evy fell for the first time. Silly girl. They sure are having fun right here though :)

Thought this was a pretty sight. I love the red.

Ethan, Porter and Evy

Sierra and I both thought it was really neat how random colors popped up where they weren't supposed to be. They were some of our favorites.

I loved this tree. The blossoms are so pretty.

Hangin out by the little river while the kids played on the bridge

Looking at the water. 

Another shot right before Evy fell for the second time. This was a pretty cool place though and the kids loved running around it.

This is how Aiden looked every time I saw his face. He loved being outside.

In the secret garden area the kids played with the water in the fountain. They loved it and ended up pretty wet afterward.

Ethan would slowly put his finger to the water and then shriek and run away as soon as the water sprayed him. It was pretty funny.

The kids were so excited about everything. 

All three of them wanted a picture in this little gazebo thing. Cute kids.

Just a glimpse of the beautiful flowers we were able to see.

A pretty water fall fountain. 

The boys were so careful and went over to see Jesus feeding the chickens. They just sat there and looked at him. It was pretty cool to see.

Titled "Someone hath touched me" The faces on these are amazing.

Titled "Oh my Father"

The first vision

Gethsemane 

Titled "Because of Love"
Pretty much made me want to cry right there. I love the atonement and I love Christ for suffering for me so I can live with him and My Heavenly Parents again and I know for a fact that the only reason he went through all of that was because of Love, because he loves ME! He knows what I go through and he never judges me. There are no words to describe how much my Savior means to me and how blessed I am to have been born into the true church where I could grow up learning the truths that we have and the blessing that come with it.  

Look at the detail on his face. You can almost feel the pain that Christ was in. I loved this one so much.

Our Tulip kids :)

View from on top of the water falls

Water falls

Kids area where they were able to play for a bit. Sadly this is where Porter and Evy tripped over each other and made fall number 3 for Evy. Luckily they weren't hurt to bad on that one since they both did face dives into the cement. They did have a ton of fun though.
It was a great day and we loved spending time with each other.