The Festival of Trees

Today, the kids and I went to the Festival of Trees, which is a fundraiser for Primary Children's Medical Center. For the last 40 years, people have created amazing trees, gingerbread houses, wreaths, and other holiday items which they donate to this festival. Each item is then sold, with the proceeds going to Primary Children's. I had never been to the festival before, but many of my friends consider it a holiday tradition. We had a really wonderful time. There was good music and good food. Jack and Anna had a blast looking at all of the different trees. They are all decorated with a theme in mind and many are created as memorials for a family member.  I'll be honest, I choked up a little bit walking through the trees. There were pictures of fathers, mothers, grandparents, and many children set around trees that held favorite items from that person. There were candy trees, sports trees, cartoon character trees, and many trees decorated with angels. What a special way to remember a loved one and also help a wonderful hospital at the same time.  There were a few trees which had not been purchased yet, and that broke my heart a little too, especially when they were memorial trees. I am sure those families will wonder why now one bought their tree. Hopefully they will all be bought by the end of the week. Anyway, here are some pictures from our day.

Checking out the candy amusement park. I think he was drooling a little:)

 Up close view of candy land

 Fishing in the kids play area

 Two crazy reindeer

 This set of trees was amazing! Those are blue trees, filled with fish, that are bent to look like a wave for Santa to surf on. Wish I could have gotten a better angle but it was pretty popular.