We got to do the coolest thing for Young Women last week.  I had ran into Ida Buie at Costco a couple of months ago and she was telling me that they had moved their insurance business out to Thanksgiving Point.  She said she would be able to get our young women  group in to see the gardens there for free!  I talked to our presidency about it and they thought it would be great so I tried to contact Ida through her son who is on face book.  (kind of a round about way, but that's what she  said to do)  So I sent her son a message and asked him to contact me, but he never replied.  I kind of forgot about it until I ran into Ida again at Easter time up at the Joseph Smith building.  She said she  had asked her son if he had heard from me and he was like uhhhh yeah...I forgot to tell you.  So anyway, I got Ida's phone number and we worked out the details. She told me all the best gardens to see and how to get to them.  She called me that afternoon and said she wasn't going to be able to meet up with us because she had an appointment, but would leave the tickets at the front desk there. 

This place is amazing!  The timing worked out perfect for us to see the tulip festival.  There are lots of different gardens and this place is spread out over acres  and acres of land.  I had no idea how big it was!  It was just so beautiful...perfectly groomed lawns and flower beds over the whole area.  There were themed gardens like a fragrance garden ( smelled like heaven!) a butterfly garden,  a secret garden, a children's garden..and on and on!

 They had lots of fun in the children's garden...chess, checkers, backgammon, and lots of posing...Donna and Marv Armstrong came by in a golf cart while we were there and hollered at me.   It was great to see them and get to visit for a bit.

 My favorite by far though was the Sacred Garden.  It was a display of statues of Christ.  They were pretty incredible. You just wanted to stop and take them all in. The girls loved it!  They were talking about it all the way home.  Made the whole trip worthwhile.

 To finish it off, the girls all rolled down the hill...about 20 times! Oh to be 12 again!  ( I love that they didn't care if you played on their beautifully manicured lawns!)   It was a wonderful warm day and a perfect activity.  Many thanks to Ida Buie for her generosity and making it possible!