My mother.....

helped me yesterday.  I got home around noon and got right to work, cleaning my house.  Although some major cleaning had been done as we moved furniture back onto the wood floors, the rest of the house has been ignored except for the basics of laundry and vacuuming.  Even though no one else sees it, I was a bit embarrassed, finding some dirty walls and dusty cobwebs around.  And then I remembered my mother.  She told me once (when she would have been in her fifties) that she was surprised to find cobwebs behind her countertop microwave. She said, "I never thought of myself as much of a housekeeper, but when you all were little (I am the oldest of eight), I don't think I had cobwebs on my kitchen counter.  I hope I am doing more important things."

My mom was always doing the more important things.  She was amazing.  I could go on and on about her.

But yesterday, I remembered and I wasn't embarrassed about my cobwebs and dirty walls.  It didn't matter, the world had not ended, and even my neighbors didn't know.  I know that I don't always use my time the most wisely and this was a month of sickness for me as well, but I have done some of the important things--been with family, read some good books, prepared some Primary lessons, helped some parents and children enjoy each other just a bit better, and even occasionally cooked dinner for Gary and Jena.  Far from perfect, but more important than cobwebs and some dirty walls.

Once thinking about my mom, I spent my afternoon cleaning my house, listening to Pandora on my TV, and some of my memories of my mom.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon---hopefully it will last until the next time I have a free afternoon.

Thank you, Mom.  I needed that reminder.

My mom and dad at our last family reunion before she passed away in 1995.

Meanwhile on the home front....

Gary and Jena headed up to Logan for the Special Olympics Swim Meet.  It has been about 2 1/2 years since Jena has been involved in swimming.  Gary said that she had excellent form, but not as much speed as in the past.  It will take some practice.  She said she had fun, which is the important part--and the exercise, being with friends, and be a good swimmer.  Gary taped her races, but I don't know how to add good video here, especially as I print the blog each year and videos don't transfer at all.  Trust me, she was the cutest swimmer there.  :)

Gary was racing back to make it to a 4:00 Church meeting with Pres. Oaks, but it didn't work.  By the time he dropped Jena home and got ready, it was after 4:00.  By the time he got near to the stake center where the meeting was being held, there were cars parked everywhere (it was a leadership meeting for all six stakes.)  A 20 minutes hike from a parking spot just wasn't going to work. 

He headed home, grabbed some dinner, and then we both headed to the General Stake Meeting which was held at our Stake Center.  We had a video feed of the meeting from the other stake center.  It was a very sweet meeting about "ministering" and Pres. Oaks was more relaxed and personable that I had ever seen him.  I always enjoy his talks at conference, but this was just a little sweeter and personal.  It was the first time since 1964 or 65 that a member of the First Presidency has held a meeting in Syracuse.  It was a privilege to be there.  Again, what an exciting time to be a member of the Church.

And that was yesterday, so I am caught up on the blog....mostly!

Hall Women Weekend............

Each year since my father-in-law passed away, we have tried to celebrate Mother Hall's birthday with a little get-away with his sisters and me.  Over Christmas weekend, I asked her where she wanted to go this year and she immediately said, "The Tulip Festival."  It is in April instead of August, but I was so excited to plan a weekend in a place she really wanted to go.  So we made a plan, tried to pick a good weekend, and then life happened........

Gary's sister, Charon, injured her foot and had to have surgery two weeks ago.  She was on crutches and unsure if she was really to adventure away from her house so long.  

Then the Monday before the trip, we got an email from our stake president inviting us to a special meeting on Saturday for all members 14 and older with Pres. Dallin Oaks.  Well, we were planning to be in Lehi for two nights, but we cancelled Saturday night as we didn't want to miss Pres. Oaks coming to Syracuse. 

Then on Wednesday before we were planning to go, Vonette's husband had a doctor's visit and he was set up with an angiogram for Thursday...not knowing what the results were going to be, we weren't sure that she would be able to leave him for an overnight trip.

Luckily, things went fairly well for Gary and his heart looked fine.  Nikki was there to stay with him, so Friday morning, we all gathered and headed for Lehi. 

We had a good lunch at Zuppa's and then headed to the "Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival."  Now I was disappointed that there was not a field of tulips, but the garden were amazing and we had a great afternoon exploring the gardens and enjoying each other, the beauty of the world, and tulips--lots of tulips.  If you ever have a chance, you should come yourselves, but just in case that doesn't seem likely, you can enjoy my fifty plus photos!

Triple tulips (my name for them, not the official one) at the entrance to the gardens.....

Overview from the main building looking down on the gardens....

Although you can walk the paths, we had rented a golf cart for Gary's mom, which turned out to really be for Charon who would not have been able to see the gardens any other way.  The weather was warm with a breeze.  It was a perfect day to be in the gardens.

Greens are beautiful, too.

The waterfalls....

This was the path for most of the way, slightly bumpy, a bit exciting if the driver tore up a hill while you were riding backwards on the golf cart.

 It was a fun site to round the corner and see all of these beach ball like globes hanging from the trees.

It was right here that we parked the golf cart and left Mom Hall and Charon in the shade of a tree while Vonette and I explored the new garden-  "The Light of the World"

The website describes it as :

The Light of the World garden is a two-and-a-half acre garden inside the Ashton Gardens with artwork and themed landscaping donated by the I Am the Light of the World Foundation. Created by Utah artist Angela Johnson, the garden includes a total of 15 scenes and 35 statues, with 14 scenes from the New Testament and one LDS Church-inspired scene depicting Joseph Smith’s First Vision. The sculpture garden offers guests a walk through the life and miracles of Jesus Christ and a space for quiet reflection.

What made it extra special was a friend of mine had served as the president of the Board of Directors for this project and I had heard things about it for the past couple of years.  It was very amazing to walk around with Vonette and talk about the scenes from Christ's life which were depicted there.

The story of the women taken in adultery

close up of the woman

Mary and Martha with Christ

Jesus

The Leper being healed

The woman with the issue of blood touching Jesus as he walks by

another view of that same story

We actually couldn't figure out the story this represented, so I took a picture
of the scripture reference and looked it up.  This is the woman who washed
Jesus's feet with oil and her tears and He forgave her of her sins. The
religious leaders wondered who this person was that forgave sins (that is who
the statue in the middle represents.

 

Woman at the well

Christ walking on the water

 As mentioned in the description, there is also one uniquely LDS scene--"The First Vision".  It is down a little path by itself in a small grove a trees.

Mary and Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus
 

The view between Christ and Mary's hands
as Lazarus is rising from his death bed.

At Gethsemane 

Bearing the physical cross

The Risen Lord with Mary near the Garden Tomb

A close up of Mary's face-
one of my favorite in the garden

It was a sweet thing to share with Vonette as we remember the stories retold in statues.  We are sad that Mom and Charon were unable to make the trek around, but hopefully in the future, we can make another trip.

The tulip festival continued with...

The Italian Garden

Tulips of all different colors and styles lined the paths.

Trees and bushes were also starting to get some color.

Charon shared that this area is the Rose Garden.  She and Mike had visited once when they were all in bloom and the structure in the back was covered with climbing roses and ivy.  We need to go back again in the summer to see that.

A small stream followed along the path and we spotted this whimsical statue of a girl getting ready to step into the stream.  I think most of us have stopped on the side of a stream and got ready to step into what we know is cold water--to look for polliwogs or catch a tiny fish, or maybe just to get to the other side.

Did I mention the tulips!

The mountains to the east still have snow on them.

I didn't get any pictures of us in our golf cart,
but this was a shot of one that followed us for a bit.

One thing that I noticed when we first arrived was some huge bumblebees in the flowers.  On our way back to park the golf cart, we discovered one reason--they had several beehives close by the front of the gardens.

They even had their own sign. 

And there you have it--50+ pictures from the annual Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival.

We headed to the hotel which was only about 5 minutes away and spent the rest of our evening talking, some napping, eating, talking, sleeping, and eating again as we headed back home on Saturday.  It was a quick trip, but we did it and we will have memories of tulips for the ages (except now I really want to go to Holland and see the fields of tulips.)