Ice Castles

We went to see the Ice Castles at Soldier Hollow and they were fantastic! So amazing. 

Family selfie turned out pretty good. . . 

And the family picture taken by another family passing by turned out even better. 

Nora especially was excited because Elsa is her favorite princess, and she got to go see a real ice castle! She is just so cute in her winter wear. 

We went at dusk and it was perfect. Great pictures in the daylight, and we got to see the lights in the ice come on too.

We waited in a long line to go on the ice slide. The slide was fun and the wait wasn't bad. And the view from the top of the castle wall was really stunning. 

The most breathtaking part for me was looking up the gigantic walls of ice, and seeing all of the individual icicles. Tunnels, canyons, and walls -- it was just incredible. 

We all loved the fountain and I have multiple pictures just like this, but different colors. Purple, green, blue, red, and white, all in time to the music. 

Tubing

We started off 2016 doing something new and fun together as a family - the perfect way to ring in the new year. Aaron and I have been tubing a few times before but it's been a long time. The kids have never been and were thrilled to try it out. 

All bundled up.... when we got there the temperature was exactly 0. Cold winter morning!

 We met Heather and Grandpa on the hill and went down as a group. I think this was our second run. And the last time I saw Zeke for another hour. After that he was up and down the hill as fast as he possibly could go.

Grandpa somehow managed to keep up with him. Perhaps thanks to his neon yellow snow pants!

Nora is the cutest little tuber ever. 

By the time we were finishing up the sun was warm and it was actually pretty comfortable in all of our layers. The views were beautiful. 

Aaron and Zeke heading for the fastest tubing lane for our last run. We clocked 25 mph on our way down - the record of the day. The kids can't wait to go again!

Feeding the Neighbors

Zeke made a bird feeder in Scouts last summer and thus started our adventure in feeding birds. For a while we had our feeder in the wrong place and were feeding a mouse instead (yikes!), but after we got the feeder moved to a better place we started seeing feathered friends. The first few times Zeke saw birds feeding, he said "Hey there neighbor!" and from then forward we have referred to the birds as our 'neighbors'. 

Most of what we saw through the summer and fall were finches. 

We also got 2 other feeders for Christmas and since then our bird population has really grown!

We've seen goldfinches,

and a really pretty pair of flickers,

and juncos (love these ground feeders),

and starlings,

  

and adorable downy woodpeckers

and my favorite, the chickadees.

We've loved watching our feathered neighbors and look forward to meeting more of them.