Festival of Trees

When I was a teenager I remember the first time I visited the Festival of Trees with my Young Women group.  At the time it was being held downtown at the Salt Lake Convention Center.  I went a few more times helping "host" it standing by the trees to keep the people out and answer any questions about certain trees or the people they were made in honor of.  I've always loved the Festival.  So as a mother I've wanted to share the magic with my kids by taking them each year.  Plus I have a little neice who has spent a lot of time at Primary Children's and I really believe in the cause.

I've been really trying to get Spencer some playdates with kids from his school and in November we started trading Fridays with a boy in his class.  Spencer and this boy get along really well so I'm glad they can play each Friday (trading houses), but I've had to re-work Friday fun days to Friday fun evenings.  So instead of going to the Festival right after Spencer's school we went with the whole family after dinner.  It was a lot more crowded than when I usually go and if you know us or read our blog, we don't really like crowds.  I opted to carry/walk with Clara instead of trying to push the stroller through but Tessa was in a real bad mood cuz of the crowds so she whined through most of it.  Spencer really enjoyed seeing the cool themed trees.  Some trees are absolutely beautiful but we really love the themed ones.  Here's a tire tree we liked

The overall favorite of the kids was the Snoopy tree.  They even had Snoopy's doghouse.  This was a very crowded picture site, so I couldn't get a good one of the whole thing but here's what I got:

We also had fun looking at the cool gingerbread houses and watching the dance performances.  It was a fun night, but I think next year I'll stick to going right after Spencer gets off school when it's not as crowded.  That will be more fun and we'll be able to see the trees and gingerbread houses better.