Silverthorne

by Erica

We went up to Silverthorne with our good friends, the Higgins, this past weekend. We stayed in a beautiful house that accommodated our families wonderfully. We went to Breckenridge on Saturday and spent a couple hours in the pool. The girls loved jumping off the edge of the pool into our arms. Other than that, we played some games, but mostly just relaxed and enjoyed our time away.
We started hanging out with Steve and Pauline before their first daughter was born. That was a over five years ago. Now, both our families have grown and there are four girls running around and playing together. It can get loud and crazy at times, but these are the days that we will cherish forever.

Camping

by Erica

We just got back from a two day camping trip with our friends, the Scheuerman's. We went up to Lake Dillon and stayed at Heaton Bay. The site was nice for our two families. The only complaint we had was that we could hear I70 traffic at night. Heaton Bay wasn't exactly as remote as we would have liked it to be. If you know of a better place to camp in the Dillon/Silverthorne/ Breckenridge area, we would love to know about it.

The loop we stayed on was right near the lake so we took the canoe with us. The kids really enjoyed being out on the water. Ashlyn was a great little camper! She did wake up both nights in the middle of the night. We weren't sure if she woke up from being cold or from teething pain. Although it took some time to get her comforted, both Jason and I enjoyed the chance to get to cuddle with her for the remainder of the night.

Fondant Cakes

by Erica

I decided to give fondant a try. This form of icing has become popular in the US in the past few years. It is a lot of fun to work with. The consistency is similar to pie crust and you work with it like you would play dough. Most people agree that the store bought fondant doesn't taste the best. I found a recipe for marshmallow fondant that tastes a lot better, but is very sweet.
My first fondant cake
Grace's 5th birthday cake

4th of July Weekend

by Erica

We had a great holiday weekend! Karisa came into town on Wednesday night and stayed until Monday. We went to the fireworks in town. We were not sure how Ashlyn would like them, but it turned out that she loved them! I had more fun watching her reaction to them than watching the fireworks myself.

Karisa was a big help to us on Friday. Because of her help with taking care of Ashlyn, we were able to finish the basement! This is a very big deal! The entire project took us 19 months to complete--a little longer than originally planned, but isn't that usually true of most house projects? Here, Jason is nailing in the very last nail. Yeah!

Saturday we went to the Renaissance Festival with the Hudson's. This is something I have never done before. It was nice to see something new. I enjoyed the jousting most. The people watching was also entertaining (to say the least). A very tired Princess

On Monday, we walked along Boulder Creek in Boulder. I can't believe that I have never done that before. They have both a paved trail and a dirt trail. We stopped on Pearl Street and enjoyed delicious smoothies at Ed's Juice Joint. I recommend the Chai Tea smoothie. Ashlyn loved having her Auntie Karisa here. Karisa even got a special kiss to prove it!