Thanksgiving 2012

Around October, my sister and mom who are more hard core runners than my wanna be self talked me into doing a run on Thanksgiving morning. Since I had just barely completed my first 10K (6 miles), I was not about to try and train for 13, especially on Thanksgiving! So I signed up for the 5K with my sister Monica and my Aunt Rosie. This was the one race I was sadly unprepared for. The sunny sky behind us poorly represented the temperatures that morning/day. I can't imagine how chilly it must have been for my mom and Shelene an hour earlier when their race began! It wasn't until about mile 1.5 that I started to warm up. Since 

 I had been training and trying to increase my running distance, my sister Monica was a good sport and jogged/walked the 3.1 miles with my aunt while I "sprinted" ahead. Mark was a good sport and despite the cold, waited out in the wind for me to cross the finish line and take a picture. I finished in about 35 minutes, while I may have had a few better times, I managed to run the entire course without having to walk--a feat I am proud of. Not that I was rushing by at lightning speed, but it felt good to pass people and not be the one being passed this time. 

 After I finished, I walked back about a half mile and waited to cheer on Monica and my aunt to the finish line.

 Funny story about these medals. Someone's kid was assigned to hand out the medals. From what I can tell, they started giving out the half-marathon medals (bigger in size) rather than tell people with marked bibs that their medals would be mailed to them. So I got the right metal, but my sister and aunt who came in later ended up with medals from the half marathon. I think they also grossly miscounted the 5K participants as well. We didn't realize it until after we took this picture, walked over to where they had fruit and hot chocolate. When we went back to try and get them the right ones, they just told them to keep them. Go figure, I came in with a better time and they got the larger medals! =)  (Also, gotta love us Wyckhuyses and our sunglasses!)

 Despite the biting wind, we stuck it out to cheer in Shelene and my mom as they finished their half marathon. From what we heard, the course was brutal with more hills than slopes. Add that with the wind and cold and you had a lot of runners disappointed in their times. Monica was the biggest cheerleader and not only ran into the finish line (again) with Shelene, but also again with my mom. Next year though, I think all of us will consider the shorter, more friendly course.
After the race, we enjoyed the afternoon and evening with my family at my parents' house. With only 14 of us it was a rather small and uneventful Thanksgiving. As usual, we hung out long after my other siblings left and got to help my parents put up their tree and the first of many Christmas decorations in their house.  

Fast forward to Friday: after I went out for some Black Friday shopping, we headed up to Salt Lake for a little getaway. We stayed again at our favorite hotel The Little America. That night they also turned on the lights at temple square. While it was SUPER crowded, we enjoyed holding hands and and looking at the lights and enjoying the beginnings of the Christmas holiday (me more than Mark).

I managed to get this mostly unobstructed picture of the temple from the east side.  Seriously, how much more beautiful and peaceful can you get? With it being opening night, we hoped to be caught in the corner of a news report but from what we can tell online, no luck!

 This spot is incredibly prominent for wedding photos. Since we were married in LA, we feel somewhat excluded from the Salt Lake Wedding photo shot. So now, we're in the cool kids club.

On Saturday morning, we miraculously slept in and enjoyed a light breakfast at their cute coffee shop. Afterwards, we headed down to the Riverton area to visit Mark's cousin Emily and her family. She has two cute little boys who seem to like us pretty well. We like them a lot too. It's definitely odd to play with so many legos and superhero toys, but they make it fun regardless.
Afterwards, we made one last stop at Ikea (of course!) No trip to Salt Lake City is ever complete unless we stop there on the way home. We went in looking for "abstract" art for our super plain and boring bathroom. Instead we came out with 2 puppets, 2 cube boxes (so I can finally get rid of my big bag of shoes in my closet and have it look more organized), and 6 short glasses. Plus the usual 6 Ikea cinnamon rolls.  Another successful shopping trip at Ikea, yet totally unintentional.
Although our trip to Salt Lake was mostly things we had done and seen before, it was still great to get away, spend some time together, and even get to see some family we don't see as often as well!