Fair Trade

The other day I came down into our basement and found Brighton sitting on our couch just like this.

He has been growing out his red beard until all of our summer adventures are over. I told him I think he looks like a homeless man when he is wearing all of his sweats and eating all hunched over. I also told him that if he didn't have to shave his face I didn't have to shave my legs. I think it is a fair trade. :)

Good Genes

It was my Uncle Norman's 90Th birthday. He is my Grandpa's brother, but we have always called him Uncle Norman. I am pretty sure good genes run in my grandpas side of the family because my grandpa is 94 now his brother is 90 and his other brothers seem to be following in his footsteps.

My Uncle Norman is the man in the top right of this picture.

This is my Uncle Norman with all six of his children.

And to make sure we all got the same genes as the Yates side of the family, they had chili dogs for lunch. Lets just say, they are messy and my sister and I had a fun time trying to see who could be the messiest while eating these. Unfortunately we only got a picture of me. :)

Happy Birthday Uncle Norm!!!

Cake Decorating

Last October we wanted to make a cake for my sister's birthday. We decided to try out fondant. We stayed up till two in the morning trying to make a cake and it turned out TERRIBLE! I was so embarrassed of it that I didn't even take a picture. My sister took it well but it looked like a pile of brown and pink poo. So after we got over our terrible attempt at making a fondant cake Brighton and I decided to take a cake decorating class. I unfortunately don't have to many fun pictures of the cakes we made but I do have some pictures. The one picture I took of a cake was Brighton's cake. My cakes were awful. We made a total of three each. Maybe I am just not cut out for cake decorating.
The course we started out with is the basics of cake making and decorating. It was all done with regular icing and then after we passed that course we could take decorating with fondant. Hopefully I will do better in that class. Only time can tell.

Brighton preparing the 1st cake layer for the homemade mousse feeling he made. (Homemade?!?! Show off.)

The mousse feeling. However, in the picture it does look like peanut butter. Look how concentrated he is. Maybe that is why his cake looks better. I am taking the pictures and he is actually doing the work!

This cake so far is going much better then my sister's birthday cake! The layers are even!

Icing. I learned that there is an art to icing a cake. Who knew?

Our cakes in the fridge, waiting to go to class. :) Brighton's is obviously on the top and mine is on the bottom. This is the ONLY picture you will see of my cake attempts. And after you see it, you will understand why.

Brighton decorating his cake.

TaDa! All done! I would like to take credit for this cake, but nope. It was Brighton's. Who knew he would be so good at decorating cakes!

Our certificates proving WE passed!

We actually did learn a lot from this course and we can't wait to take course number two! I will hopefully take more fun pictures that time around. And hopefully my cakes will look better too!

Tour de Cure - Diabetes!

Dear Fellow Friends!!

On June 12th Brighton and I will be joining more the 50,000 fellow riders from across the country in this year's Tour de Cure to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. I, as a Type I diabetic myself (and have been since 7th grade) have decided to challenge myself and some of my family members and join other bikers in training and riding the 25 mile distance.

Brighton and I are asking for all of your help by making a donation on my behalf. You will be helping the American Diabetes Association further their research on diabetes care, and someday to find a cure!

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not properly or produce use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. There are 23.6 million American living with diabetes and I am one of them.

We are hoping that our participation in this year's Tour de Cure will help make a little bit of difference, with your support. With the help of people like all of you our goal is to raise $150.00 each! PLEASE help us reach our goals by supporting us for this year's Tour de Cure. Please either go to mine http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/UtahArea?px=5979817&pg=personal&fr_id=6894 or Brighton's website http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/UtahArea?px=5991988&pg=personal&fr_id=6894, to make a secure donation. If you do not want to donate online, please make your checks payable to American Diabetes Association and include your donation in the same envelope. Please mail your contribution to either Brighton or I! Email me for our address. brookellyn16@hotmail.com

Please help us in stopping diabetes, pedaling one mile at a time!!

Thanksgiving Point

I ran a half marathon on Saturday April 24Th at Thanksgiving Point. I won't lie, I did not train very well for it and I was super nervous. It was the first time Thanksgiving Point was putting on a marathon and you never know how well these things would be run and last time I ran a half untrained, I threw up. Three times. All over Brighton's driveway. So I was nervous.

But the race went amazing!! If all races went like this one I would run a million of them. The weather was perfect. It wasn't too hot and it wasn't raining (like the day before). I wore a long sleeve shirt the whole time and I didn't freeze to death. Also, Thanksgiving Point put on an amazing 1st half marathon. It was organized so well. They had great shirts, medals, and it was organized better then some of the other halves I have run. I recommend it. The course was beautiful (for the most part) and best of all? I felt great after! I felt so good after I even went mountain biking. I felt like I had just run a 5k. I think it was because the course was not downhill like all of the other halves I have done. It was mainly flat. I didn't feel like I had just pounded the crap out of my legs. My knees felt good, my quads felt good, and my calves felt good. It was such a sigh of relief. It felt great!!!

I also think I enjoyed it because I was not in any rush to get a good time. I really didn't care when I finish. I didn't get my worst time but I didn't get my best time. I decided while I was running that I was going to talk to as many people as I could and see what their stories were. I talked to five different people with five different stories and I loved it. It made time pass by fast. The last mile (always the hardest) was taking forever. So I ended up talking to this girl, who I thought was my age but she was a mom of 4 kids with her oldest being a 7 year old. Her story inspired me and before I knew it the end was right there. It was fun! And Brighton was good enough to be there for me and of course be my picture taker.

Here is a picture of my friend Amanda and I before the race. (Cold!!!)

Right before the finish line.

Amanda and I after the race!! Another one bites the dust.

Salt Lake City Marathon

April 17Th was the Salt Lake City Marathon. I was super excited it for several reasons.

1-I was not running in it. I got to watch it.
2-My friend was running in it.
3-Mile 21 runs right by my Grandpa's house so all I had to do was walk to the end of the street and enjoy the fun!


Well I ended up running along part of the course (to help me train for my half marathon) but after I ran, I got to watch the marathon runners!! My neighbors set up an unofficial aid station at mile 21 so I was lucky enough to help them by handing out food and drinks to the runners. I was surprised at how many runners stopped to get something but my friend who ran it was telling me that it was the only aid station that had food. Crazy!! I won't lie, I was super grateful I was not running it myself. At mile 21, people don't look too fabulous and it brought back a lot of memories. :)

Here is my friend Jason and mile 21. He was so hungry that he stopped to talk to us while he ate.

While watching the finishers and all of the different looks on all of the their faces I couldn't help but think of my own marathon. I went back and read my blog post about it and I just have to apologize because I was so negative about my whole marathon. I still have mixed feelings about it but I am grateful I accomplished my goal of running a marathon! I sometimes think about running another one but it will be a long long long time from now. They are a lot of work. :) I do however, LOVE watching marathons. I was grateful I got the chance to watch the SLC marathon. I am so proud of all of those people!!! I couldn't help but cry as I watched the finishers! Yes I am a baby but I just love it!

On another note we got out our BBQ for the first time this year! We pulled out our little portable grill and grilled some steaks! They were fabulous!! I love Spring, even though it is snowing right now.

Dallas and Mindy

On April 9Th Brighton's brother got married! It was such a busy and crazy day that I did not take many pictures but after the whole party I did manage to get a couple. None of course of the couple or of family but of the car we got to decorate. Dallas, Brighton's brother, said we could decorate his car only and only if we were nice. So my sister in-law Christy and I spent all night blowing up balloons and putting up glow in the dark stars all of the car. We were so proud of ourselves until Dallas came out, said it looked great, and started popping all of the balloons! We just laughed and gave all the balloons to the little kids. We had fun.
In this first pictures you can see Dallas in the front seat popping all of the balloons.

I did manage to get one picture with the bride and my sister in-law, whom I decorated the car with, before Dallas popped all of the balloons.

Congratulations Dallas and Mindy!!