Brad's Birthday & Update

 Well Brad turned the big 2-3! Wahoo! We both have been looking forward to his birthday for a while :) Unfortunately we both had class/work until about 9pm on his actual birthday, so it was celebrated over a few days instead of the day itself. But it all started with a yummy breakfast and a few little (cycling related) gifts in the morning to tide him over until that night!

I picked up some dinner on the way home from class and Brad and I had a late night meal of his favorite thing on this planet: Chipotle. Haha.

And it was also time to give him the gift I had been so excited about for the past few weeks! Brad got this awesome portrait of Portugal while he was on his mission.  And ever since it has been rolled up in the closet with a twisty-tie. So I kind of stole it and wanted to get it framed for him! The framing places were all asking a ridiculous amount of money because it was oversized and with odd dimensions, so I took matters into my own hands :) My Dad's buddy Andrew does a lot of wood-working as his hobby! You see where this is going... we went out and got all the stuff to build our own frame! And I have to say it turned out awesome. I don't know who was more excited- Brad or I! It was really cool to make it from scratch.  Given, Andrew did a ton, but I helped with all of it and got the matting glass and all that good stuff. Brad was so surprised and so excited! Success :) Now we just have to get it on our wall.... 

And somewhere in the birthday week we went to see the Hunger Games! WooHoo! We are big fans and this movie did not disappoint.  Loved it!

 And then it was conference weekend! What a wonderful weekend.  We relaxed watching the first session on Saturday and then we went a little crazy and did our first sprint triathlon! Are we crazy? Yes, a little bit, but it was a lot of fun.  Now our bodies know what it feels like and now we also have A LOT more respect for Tri-athletes. It was hard!

Us and The Schoumans, they killed it.

 And once the swimming, biking, and running was all over it was finally time for the second session of conference and Brad's traditional Birthday Dinner! Burgers with all the fixins, Cheddar Cheese Ruffles, Lemonade, Potato Salad and of course- Chocolate cake and plenty of milk :) What would this boy do without his milk when he has desserts?? That is a Brown thing, the Schaap thing is ice cream! Haha either way it was delicious!

I loved Brad's birthday celebration week.  We even extended it more by going to Buffalo Wild Wings the next week with The Curtis' and Blackners (Basically the Blackners :) ).  And apparently didn't have time to take a picture in between wings. haha.

 So now we are just doing a lot of this....

 And making a lot of these...

Oh and my new found hobby- Gardening!! I am almost done with school and don't quite know what to do with spare time! My real hobby is cooking (bet you never guessed that), so why not extend that and grow my own ingredients?? I am pumped. Really though.  Cutest garden ever! Now we will probably plant our warm stuff this weekend. YES! 

 AND Happy Easter! Here comes Peter Cotton Tail... Here is an example of what looked like a cute Easter treat. WRONG! Talk about frustrating.  These were the hardest eggs in the world to peel. Tweet Tweet Chomp.

My thoughts exactly.

XOXO

THE bike.

Yes, we finally got THE bike.

The bike that we have looked for in just about every shop in the SL valley.

The bike that they only make 12 of per year.

The bike that accomodates B's large-ness.

*And most importantly, the bike that matches his bike shoes I got him for Christmas :)

Ok maybe that is not the most important, but is never a bad thing to look good!

BEHOLD- The bike!

It really is a thing of beauty, I won't lie. 

2012 Specialized Roubaix Expert, Brand-spanking-new, super nice(fast) Mavic wheels, Ultegra components. Bottom line- Brad got top of the line!! I guess that is a bonus to being so tall. They don't make the crap bikes in tall sizes, only the nicest ones!

And the best part of the bike: The dinky little bell on the handlebars. It instantly takes this perfecly engineered piece of carbon fiber from being a highly respected racing bike--- to a 10 year old girl riding home from school.

And he dings it every chance he gets :) Haha.

The weather was not cooperating for a few weeks after we got it, but since the sun has joined us again, last week we went 5 days in a row! Yes, I even took him on the initiation ride of Emigration Canyon.  And big surprise: He absolutely killed it. Like barely even seemed phased! How annoying! I'm telling you this man was built to ride. He is fast and is only going to get faster. Watch out SLC. Besides his incredibly broad shoulders, he looks like a full-blown cyclist!

However, besides his incredible ability for this sport, we are having a lot of fun TOGETHER.  It is the best to ride together after a full day of work/school! The sun shining, big mama hill climbs, speedy downhills, good times :) What a fantastic hobby for us to do until our legs don't work anymore! But that is far in the future- so for now we he will look something like

THIS

#hellosummer