The LAST lost tooth

Tuesday, October 28th, 2025. 

The day my last child 

lost her last tooth. 

So exciting. 

So sad. 

No more tooth fairy. 

No more standing outside the bathroom

 (my kids like privacy when they pull their teeth) 

asking "did you get it?"

It's the end of an era.

 

Lost and Found

I lost my wedding ring last week. The worst. I had taken if off to knead some bread dough (which turned out very mediocre I am sad to say) and I put it on the base of the kitchen-aid stand. A random place for sure but I knew where it was and since there was 0% chance someone besides me would clean up the kitchen in anyway shape or form, I figured it was a safe place.

I remembered that very safe place the next morning but when I went to get my ring, it was gone. It was nowhere. Not on the base, not on the counter. Not even behind the fridge ( I know because I checked...and then vacuumed back there because...gross)

I was 100% certain that I had put it on the kitchen-aid but after asking (interrogating) everyone else about it, it seemed that no one had touched it and I must have remembered wrong. I didn't really believe that, but decided to look EVERYWHERE while assuming that it was very likely that someone had absentmindedly picked it up and moved it somewhere else without even realizing it. So I checked everywhere. It wasn't on my nightstand. It was't in my car. It wasn't under my bed. It wasn't on my bathroom counter, tub ledge, or jewelry jar.

Other places it was not:

kitchen garbage sack #1

kitchen garbage sack #2 (much messier than sack #1)

recycling bin

pile of random papers on my desk

game drawer

dog bed

dog bowls

dishwasher

garbage disposal

behind the washer and dryer

in the washing machine

lint catcher in the dryer

bottom of laundry basket

every pocket of everything I'd worn that week

under that couch

on top of the alexa (sometimes I put it there...)

behind the computer

on the piano

It wasn't anywhere. I started to panic when 2 days went by and my frantic searching, prayers, and $50 reward offer didn't produce any results.

Later...

My sister Kate's 3 adorable kids spent the night on Saturday. They were teasing Grant who was hiding under a blanket on the couch. I came to help them in their teasing and being the good mom that I am, sat on Grant... which put me at the perfect angle to see something shiny and sparkly tucked between the sections of the wicker basket on our coffee table.

FOUND IT!!!!

I screamed out loud and literally jumped up and down with joy!

I LOVE this ring and all it represents.

Two 20-something aged babies who fell in love, made promises to each other and God and through college and law school, and moves across the country, and babies, and careers, and more babies (sometimes two at a time) and happy times and hard times and all the times in between...this ring encompasses all of that for me. I am really NOT a sentimental person...especially about physical things, but my wedding ring is definitely the exception.

p.s. someone definitely moved my ring. 

I will for sure never find out who. Just as I will for sure never leave it out again ;)

Mountain Biking in Gunnison

These girls had their region mountain bike race in Gunnison last weekend. Where is Gunnison you ask? Well, it is a pretty remote town in central eastern Utah and the drive there (and the drive between the race course and our hotel in Richfield) was STUNNING!

I love the friendships that mountain biking has created for all my kids

These girls work and ride SO HARD!!!

Marian has raced varsity this year and I am sooo impressed! For most races she does 4 laps which is over an hour of racing!

Go Lucy go!!!

So much grit and determination is required of these kids.

There is so much beauty in the backdrop of these races.

It was a little cold during staging...but I think they would take that over excessive heat any day!

Lucy rode so hard and held her 5th place spot the entire race!!! Just before the finish line she got passed and it looked like she would come in 6th but she dug deep and gutted it out and pulled in ahead by 5 100ths of a second!!!! Way to go Lucy girl!!!! 

Making podiums is a BIG DEAL and Lucy has worked so hard and wanted this so bad so it was SOOO fun to celebrate her success and hard work!!!

 

And All That Jazz!

See that cute dinosaur up there? That's my Grace! She plays trumpet in the school Jazz band (and the concert band) and it is pretty much my favorite thing in the world. The Jazz band is surprisingly good for a middle school band and their Halloween concert last week was awesome! Grace surprised us all with a trumpet solo!!!!! I was so proud of her and I love seeing my kids do things they love!

So fun to have my parents come and enjoy the show. Grant is SUCH a good brother and always comes to support Grace.

I can't believe my babies are this big! When did this happen?

 

NYC with Marian day 3

French pastries for breakfast: check!

Triple check!

We made a valiant attempt to go to church but the times listed online were wrong so we missed it...shoot!

We rallied and walked down to Chelsea Market on our way to explore the high-line

It was SO BEAUTIFUL!! We absolutely loved it! The gardens, the views (of the city and of peoples cool apartments), the architecture...totally loved it. Especially enjoyable was the mango sticky rice we picked up at Chelsea Market and the High-line summer playlist on SPOTIFY. Well done NYC.

Then it was a quick train ride to the airport, wardrobe change into the requisite I LOVE NYC t-shirts and with that the trip to the "greatest city in the world" was done! 

 

NYC with Marian Day 2

We started off the day right with delicious acai bowls before heading on the subway

 to Battery Park

We took the ferry out to the Statue of Liberty. So cool!

The views from the statue's pedestal were great!

Not a great picture but we opted not to wait in the line of 1 million people to get a picture with the iconic Bull on Wall Street

Possibly the best food we had all weekend.

We spent the afternoon at the 9-11 museum walking tour. Apparently this is the only picture I took. The fountains are such a beautiful memorial. One stream of water for every victim that died in the attacks that day. The rose means it is that persons birthday that day.

Levain cookies did not disappoint. I "accidentally" ordered one of every kind and the chocolate chip walnut was the winner by far.

After cookies a little souvenir shopping, we made our way to Columbus Circle for Dizzy's Jazz club at Lincoln Center. The musicians were amazing. The views of Central Park in the background were amazing. The style of jazz was a little too free-form for me but the experience overall was so cool.

I think the pictures from the Jazz club are on Chad's phone which means we may never see them...but you never know.

After the Jazz club we went to "Top of the Rock" at Rockefeller square. The views!!!! So cool to do it at night!

We were all ready to get in bed and watch a movie (or BYU football game if your name is Chad) and eat the left-over Levain cookies but we made a quick stop at Bryant Park on the walk home because it was just so charming!

Chad stayed up to watch BYU win their game, Marian and I watched about 1.5 Psych episodes before falling asleep with cookies in hand. It was a great day!

NYC with Marian Day 1

For Jack's 18th birthday Chad and I took him to Boston. It was so fun to have that one on one time with our then senior that we decided to make it a tradition. We let Marian choose where she wanted to go and she picked NYC. 

In true teenage fashion she started off the trip exhausted!! This girl goes so hard with school, work, friends, mountain biking, service clubs etc... Good thing she got a nap on the plane because this was NOT a relaxing trip!  Fun...but not relaxing. 

We started off the day right with NY bagels and "shmear" from Ess-a-bagel. Marian and I got the poppyseed bagels and they were delicious

We ate on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art while we waited for Chad who had gone back to the hotel for his sunglasses. We had so much fun people watching and dog watching. There were dog walkers with at least 5 dogs each everywhere.

Once Chad made it we went in for a guided tour. I could spend DAYS at the Met. Some favorites...

Marian was most excited to see Monet's Water Lillies

Chad was most excited to see George Washington

...and A. Ham

Mary Cassatt is my FAVORITE!!!

After the museum we road bikes around Central Park. 

E-bikes are definitely the way to go!

We dropped off the bikes to explore the rest of the park on foot and found the yummiest fresh fruit stand

We paid homage to John Lennon while we listened to a semi-talented Beatles fan pay tribute on his guitar. "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" was his best.

Lots and lots of walking and talking...which I love!!

It was so fun having all that time together with no distractions. So many good conversations and just happiness being together. Being a teenager is rough. Being a parent of a teenager...even AMAZING teenagers is rough. We are all doing our very best and love each other like crazy but we all make mistakes and life and relationships get messy. It was so nice to have this time to just have fun together!

After Central Park, we walked down 5th avenue to check out all the shops and explore more of the city and cool architechture...like this Loius Vuitton store...that looks like a suitcase!!

We didn't buy anything here but it was really fun to look around!

Banana pudding from Magnolia bakery was as good as everyone said it would be!

Grand Central Station! 

We took a ferry over to Brooklyn and the views of the city from the East River were so pretty.

Brooklyn!!!

Pizza at Grimaldi's then a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge before heading uptown for a Broadway show

We finished the night at Hadestown and it was FANTASTIC!! 

I bawled my eyes out but loved every single minute of it! There is something magical about live theater and I am SO glad we got to experience that.

We walked through Times Square and made our way home for the night. It was a very full and fun day!