Colorado State Fair

Last Saturday Craig and I visited the Colorado State Fair. I am a huge fan of fairs (more specifically, fair food). The first experience I had with a state fair was the Del Mar Fair in San Diego and more recently I visited the Wyoming County Fair in northern PA with my best friend Jackie. There's just something about the combination of farm animals, carnival rides and incredibly unhealthy food that make for an amazing experience! The Colorado State Fair was a lot of fun! Tons of animals and food stands everywhere. We were a little disappointed with the carnival ride selection, but the tilt-a-whirl guy let us ride for the price of one and let us stay on for two rounds!

Yummy Fair Food!

Giant Corn Dog

Petting Zoo!

Sweet little doe

What are you looking at?

Shy turtle

Baby zebra

Kangaroo

Nascar Craig!

We caught a wild animal show....this guy was pretty crazy, but the tiger was beautiful!

Another beautiful tiger!

The infamous bunny cow :)

Glad we had the chance to experience the Colorado State Fair! The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed eating our way around the fair: corn dogs, lemonade, fresh roasted corn and ice cream!

Back East- Part 3

The last few days of our trip home were spent with Craig's sister and her family. Bev and Greg have been married for six years and have two beautiful girls named Carlee (4) and Peyton (7 months). Craig finally got to meet Peyton! It was so nice to spend a few days with them and Craig's brother Doug came down to hangout too....it was a sibling reunion weekend for the Miller kids :) Greg's parents have a boat and they were nice enough to let us borrow it two days in a row and watch the kids! Bev and her family live in Delaware, but they are only about 15 minutes away from the Maryland border and the Chesapeake Bay. The weather was absolutely beautiful and cruising around on the boat was so fun!

Miller Sibling Reunion Weekend- L-R Doug, Craig and Bev

Ready for some tubing

Craig and I on the boat

Beautiful day!

Greg on the tube enjoying an Arnold Palmer

Chesapeake City, MD

The gross horrible sand at Hollywood Beach...we did not stay there long

Laney and Carlee sharing a blanket

Laney just now realizing there's a little girl under there

The adorable Ms. Peyton!

She is the cutest!

And the sweetest!

I've said it before and I'll say it again....we had such a great time at home with family and friends. Even though we love our life in Colorado, nothing beats spending quality time with the people you love. Hopefully we'll be home again soon!

Back East- Part 2

The first half of our trip home was spent in Bethlehem and the second half of our trip was spent in New Jersey and Delaware/Maryland. Craig's grandmother lives in Brick, New Jersey and she's just a few minutes away from the beach! We got to see even more family because Craig's Uncle Brian and Aunt Nadine came to visit and his Aunt Sherry lives in New Jersey as well. So we got to see A LOT of family in a short amount of time! Laney also experienced her first trip to the beach and she loved it!

Laney loved hanging out at Grandmom's house

Sharing pictures

Rainy day at the beach

Thank goodness the skies cleared and Laney was able to get her paws wet!

A little apprehensive

Beach time with Uncle Brian and Aunt Nadine

She loved digging holes in the sand!

And sticking her head in them :)

Laney loved the beach!

Thanks to Uncle Brian, I discovered a black and blue...guinness and blue moon...perfect after a day at the beach :)

I love living in Colorado, but I definitely miss living driving distance from the beach! The mountain lifestyle is great, but I wouldn't mind getting a taste of the beach life someday.

Back East- Part 1

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit two clients in Pennsylvania over a two week period. I love when that happens because I get to visit family and friends while I'm out there. Since I was going to be in PA for so long, Craig decided to take some time off from work and fly out for the second half of my business trip. I'm really glad he got the chance to visit home because he hasn't seen anyone since the wedding! It was a wonderful time spent with family and friends and we can't wait to come back!

First time meeting Ms. Mackenzie Jade...Love her!!!

So sweet

Mackenzie and Mom

Dinner with Jackie at Belgium Cafe in Philly

Dessert with Anny at Garces Trading Company in Philly

Laney making herself at home at Craig's parents' house

Bridal games at Amanda's (Craig's cousin) bridal shower in New Jersey

Relaxing at my parent's house

Laney making herself at home in Maggie's bed...she is way to big for it!

It was a jam packed weekend of visiting friends, the twins 1st birthday party (unfortunately no pictures to document the fun time we had), Amanda's bridal shower and time spent with family. It's so convenient that our parents live in the same neighborhood! We were able to spend quality time with both sides. Laney had blast getting spoiled by her "grandparents" :)

More pictures to come from the second half of our trip- beach time in New Jersey and boating in Maryland!

The Best Snickerdoodles

 *Sorry I haven't posted anything in ages! Craig and I just got back to Colorado after spending a week back east visiting family and friends. I was actually out there for two weeks since I had back to back clients. It was wonderful to see everyone, but now we are exhausted! We're looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend at home! I started writing this post before I left for my work trips, but never finished it...so here it is:

A few weeks ago while I was working from home, I had a huge craving for cookies. I really wanted something homemade, but I knew I didn't have any chocolate chips....so what kind of cookie could I bake with the ingredients in my kitchen. The winner was Snickerdoodles!

I did some Googling and came across a recipe that was seemed easy. Since moving to Colorado Springs, I've been apprehensive about baking because the altitude messes with it, but I came across a newspaper article that had all the adjustments for certain ingredients. Making the appropriate adjustments worked wonders! The cookies came out soft and tasted really good!

Soft Snickerdoodle Cookies
Click on link for recipe

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons cinammon

Cinnamon and sugar

Fresh out of the oven....need to remember to roll the dough a little better for a more even distribution of cinnamon/sugar :)

Cooling....can't wait to eat them!

Laney relaxing while the cookies are baking

The cookies were so good! I brought some to a picnic we had with friends and they were a big hit! I'm glad they were easy to make because I definitely plan on making them again.