will you be mine?

we had a fun valentines! the kids made valentines for their friends, bubbles for the girls and staches for connor. i got to help at mabel's class party. i was in charge of the sugar cookie decorating station. the kids loved their traditional flip flops. they are always a hit!

i sewed the flip flops in wrapping paper shaped as hearts! 

turned out super cute and easy, fun way to wrap.

i tried my hand at making a heart pizza. 

it turned out looking great and tasting yummy!

eagle day 2014.

we love going to eagle day each year. i hope the kids never tire of admiring the beautiful creatures/world around us. this year grandpa packer came with us. it's always fun when he joins us on our adventures! there weren't very many eagles because they aren't leaving out the dead carp for them to eat. they are worried about the sickness that's been showing up throughout the state with the bald eagles. we did see a handful or so. no pheasants this time, but we did see quite a few pelicans fly over.

it was a bit dangerous out here! 

{snow and ice + rain = one slippery mess}

i don't think i've ever walked on ice so slippery!!

feeling the animal pelts.

making animal footprints with grandpa.

checking out a barn owl pellet.

one of the few eagles we saw. {it's the black dot on the ice}

2 birds were brought in for the morning. 

this great-horned owl and a red-tailed hawk. 

they are such beautiful creatures!!

getting excited for the olympics.

a while ago, we got so excited about the olympics as we went to the short track olympic qualifying races! it was so fun!! it was at the olympic oval. the 2002 olympics happened while i was on my mission, so this gave me a glimpse of what i missed. it was so fun for all of us! we watched some races and then tried our hand at hockey, curling, and riding skeleton during the intermission. we also got to sit in one of the bmw bobsleds. it was a fun, fun day!

those clappers were very exciting!!

shooting the pucks into the net.

it was pretty cool, they had a gun that timed how fast the puck was going.

connor on the skeleton.

mabel would only go if cory went too!

this one is so blurry, but you can see how happy mabel is! that girl loves to go fast!!

showing off their face painting. elsie's face kills me!

the year of the horse.

happy chinese new year!! this year is the year of the horse. we had a really fun fireworks on friday and then went down to salt lake to j wongs for a yummy dinner followed by traditional lion dance. i took lots of pics, but the lighting wasn't great, and i was kind of disappointed. but true to form, just as we got to the car, elsie had to go to the bathroom. so after we walked back to the restaurant and did our business, the group of people who came to do the lion dance were outside. so we got to talk to them and the kids got to see the lion's head up close. it was pretty cool! there is lots of symbolism in the dance and in the lion's head. there is a round mirror between the eyes to scare away evil spirits as they see their reflection. the black fir around the eyes means it is a young lion and also shows through his wild, energy-filled dancing {those poor dancers ~ that is hard work!} red stands for courage. at the first of the dance the body of the lion wakes up and shakes wildly to get the evil off. you feed the lion red envelopes filled with money for good luck. at the end, the lion eats the lettuce and then throws it around and if you get hit by the lettuce, it's extra good luck and good fortune. we've decided we want the lettuce to land on us next year! 

building the tower with the snow from the snow fort. they cut the fort up and it had some pretty good chucks to stack on top of each other.

our tallest "frosty," "totem pole" yet. 

it was probably 8-9 feet tall.

the boys lighting the sparklers.

happy chinese new year!!

elsie's princess castle.

we went up to midway last week to see the ice castles. they are such a beautiful and incredible sight! we made it up there before the sun went down and then went to dinner and returned after to see the castle with the lights underneath. this year they had more tunnels than they did last time we went a few years ago. they also had a slide that mabel and connor went down. it was melting a bit and i forgot the kids' snow pants. so, needless to say, the kids got soaked! but they didn't seem to mind too much. it was so fun!

of course, elsie had to wear her princess dress since we were going to {her} castle.

elsie refused to be in this pic.

elsie had a meltdown just as we were getting ready to leave. kept saying she wasn't ready to leave yet and seemed like she was looking for something. cory was so patient and walked around with her until she found what she was looking for. it turned out to be this beautiful wall of ice with sukison {the moon} up above.