​I spent the beginning of this month getting the lasts of my long runs done in preparation for my race. One day I ran from Cordera all the way to my PT apt which ended up being 13 miles. I started out at a faster pace and realized I had to keep that pace to get to my apt on time.

​As Madeline and I were walking home from the bus stop one day we had to stop and play in the yellow leaves.

​Emma was struggling with some of her math concepts, so Andrew spent some time helping her out via Zoom.

​Madeline has been doing well at her swim lessons with Ms. Caroline. She can now swim a few strokes on her own before reaching her instructor.

​Mike and I stayed up in Denver and spent the night shopping, eating good food, and laughing at the Jim Gaffigan live show. The next morning, we basked in the unseasonably warm sun and lounged at the pool at the Four Seasons hotel.

​A few days before my race I weighed myself after an awesome run and was shocked to see that I was 107.9. It has been almost 16 years since I have seen that number.

​Emma rode the peloton for the first time during one of her cross-training days.

​It is not often that I find Mike taking a nap but the day after our race really did him in.

​Sometimes we have the most beautiful sunsets and the view from the back of our house is just amazing.

​​My parents sent me a super cool triathlon ornament that they had made by a friend.

​While I flew to Arizona and then Salt Lake City with Emma, Mike drove to Utah with Abby and Madeline for Thanksgiving. Mike spent most of the day on Saturday driving the rest of the way to Utah, unloading Peter’s 3D printer that we brought from home to his dorm room, shopping at the U bookstore, eating lunch with Andrew and then heading to the U of U game vs. Oregon with Peter. It was quite the game to be at and the boys had such a fun time in the muss section with all the other rowdy college kids. At the end of the game, they rushed the field and got to high five the football players. While those two were at the game, Andrew drove to the airport and picked me and Emma up and drove us back to his apartment where we hung out and ate a simple little dinner. Then I took the girls and we drove down to Orem to stay with my parents. Mike stayed the night with Andrew and all three of the boys went to church together. Peter’s ward put on their own “primary program” but with students from their ward. Mike said it was the coolest thing he had ever seen. I drove up to SLC and picked up all the boys and brought them back to the condo. We invited their cousins, Josh and Sam, over for dinner and had fun just talking and laughing with them until way too late. Then Mike drove the boys back to SLC since they had classes the next day.
 
On Monday morning, Mike and I geared up in all our winter biking gear and went out for a ride in the freezing cold. As soon as we got in the open sun on the Murdock trail, we warmed up pretty fast. Then we headed back and got ready to head back to SLC. We left Madeline at home with my parents and Peter met me and the girls on campus so that he could give them a tour. Andrew was supposed to come as well but he got food poisoning so we brought him some provisions before heading to the U campus to meet Peter. The girls were super impressed with the campus and listened to Peter give them advice about college life. Mike met with a realtor while we walked around campus. Then we all headed to dinner at the Copper Onion.
 
On Tuesday we all slept in which was pretty great. I met up with some of my college roommates (Becca and Melissa) for lunch and Mike met up with a missionary companion from his mission. It was so fun to catch up with each other’s lives. Then after we gathered back at the condo, we took Emma and Abby to the BYU campus to shop at the bookstore and roam around campus. We headed to the sports complex so that Emma could see all the XC boards and awards. She loves that. We made sure to stop by the Tanner Building and the JSB which is where Mike and I spent most of our days at BYU. 
 
On Wednesday I got up and ran with Becca on the trails behind her house. Then I spent most of my day making the pies with Emma and prepping for our Thanksgiving dinner. Mike headed back up to SLC to grab the boys since they were done with class for the week and brought them back down to Orem so they could have Thanksgiving with us.
 
Thanksgiving morning I headed out once again to go on a run with Becca and her friend. We ran an easy 3.20 miles on the Murdock trail and had fun talking and doing the challenges that someone had written on the trail. Then it was back to the condo to make the rolls and sweet potatoes, watch the parade and other fun movies. Thanksgiving is so much better when I don’t have to prepare the entire meal. I can’t remember the last time I had Thanksgiving dinner with my parents. It was a lot of fun to be able to have Thanksgiving with all my kids and my parents this year. There is much to be grateful for this year, but good health and the love of family is on the top of my list 
Everyone loved the dinner and the pies! 
 
On Friday morning, Mike got up and drove Peter to Delta, UT to spend the weekend with his cousins and grandpa. The rest of us just relaxed around the condo for most of the day. We headed to the mall in the afternoon so that we could participate in the Giving Machine. The Giving Machine is a way to help others around the world put on by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Each of the kids got to pick something to give. Between the kids and my parents, we bought six chickens, a goat, polio vaccines for 100 kids, art supplies, menstrual care kits, and take-home meals for children. It was truly a humbling experience. We ended our evening and our week long Thanksgiving break in Utah by being treated to a wonderful Indian dinner by my parents. 
 

It is usually our tradition to put up Christmas decorations and decorate the Christmas tree during Thanksgiving break. Since we were headed to Utah this year for Thanksgiving, we decided to do the tree before we left. I spent the day decorating the house with all our Christmas décor and making our traditional poppyseed bread. When Mike got home from work, I gave the girls their new Christmas pjs and let them decorate the tree. Emma and Abby were the most excited to continue to tradition to put up the Danny DeVito ornament. It is now a huge inside joke in our family that started when Andrew and Peter put Danny DeVito’s picture in one of their framed ornaments one year. They put it on the tree and waited to see how long it took me to find it. When I realized what they had done I just laughed. Now Danny DaVito adorns our tree every year. While the girls decorated the tree, we listened to Christmas music and enjoyed eating the poppyseed bread. Although, I must admit that we have already been listening to Christmas music for the last two weeks. We just love Christmas in the Wilhelm house.