Another year down, and somehow everyone in this house is taller, busier, and doing cooler things than we are.
Well, everyone except Annie and Ellie. They're both busier and doing far, far cooler things, but are no taller, with Owen gaining on them fast.
Before we head into 2026, I wanted to look back and gather up the moments, both big and small, that made 2025 what it was.
Annie is thriving in college and saying yes to every opportunity that comes her way -- including moving to a small tropical island for a month this Summer and spending more time in the water than out of it. Ellie is deep in her senior-year whirlwind of ceramics, college classes and applications, and preparing for adventures ahead. Isaac is embracing both work and school with his usual brilliance, learning everything he can about cooking, and is somehow the single most pleasant 15-year-old boy the world has known. Owen is living his best middle-school life surrounded by friends, theater, and DnD, and is an amazing cousin and friend and is adored by all of his teachers. Greg and I are still doing what we do best, juggling the schedules, cheering from the sidelines, and being endlessly grateful for this stage of life and these humans we get to raise.
Here’s our year—full of good people, good memories, and a lot of love.
January
We rang in the new year with a 5:20 a.m. flight to San Diego—because nothing says “fresh start” like shuffling sleepy humans through airport security before sunrise. The ocean was freezing, but that never stops my kids from launching themselves straight into hypothermia and as much time in the ocean as they can squeeze in.
Annie kicked off her first of multiple winter camping trips with college friends. She is making the most of college! Ellie braved the Sweethearts Dance in a full-on blizzard, surviving both the drive and the coldest dance photos in history.
Owen wrapped up the month by being named Diamondback of the Quarter. His teachers described him as attentive, engaged, thoughtful, encouraging… basically a tiny golden retriever in human form. One teacher even joked she doesn’t usually make it to early morning award ceremonies—especially post-newborn—but for Owen she practically ran red lights.
February
We met up with cousins at the Planetarium, where Annie conveniently hopped off Trax like a seasoned city commuter she is now. The kids entered a homemade pasta obsession—zero complaints from me, except maybe for the noodle-making-cleanup.
After a vile hate group made an appearance in our town, we joined the counter-protest to bring some love and light back into the world.
Ellie kept pounding away at Calculus while juggling six college classes her junior year. She often felt like she wasn’t doing anything well enough, but at Parent-Teacher Conference, one teacher tearfully told me how much she had learned from Ellie about kindness and inclusion. “Be proud,” she said. (I am. And also: Ellie truly came this way.)
Isaac spent February happily welding and metal-working with Greg in the garage, building a new desk that now lives in his room. In fact, nearly everyone who lives in my house but me spends a lot of time out in that garage. My van on the other hand lives in the driveway to make room for all of the wood and metal shop tools.
March
Annie continued her camping era and found college to be everything she ever hoped for and more. She earned her second Chick-fil-A scholarship and picks up shifts whenever she is home.
Everyone else at home got miserably sick, but we eventually emerged from quarantine to hang with cousins again.
Ellie bought her very own ceramic wheel — her dream come true — and promptly vanished into the garage for hours at a time (the garage now houses metal working, wood working, and a pottery studio. I really never will park in a garage again.)
April
April was big on posters and protests—my markers have never worked harder.
Annie presented her science poster for the ACCESS Scholar program. It was fun to see all of her college friends show up at the symposium to support her. If you’re dying to learn how salinity and viscosity shifts in the Great Salt Lake affect the D. salina living there, she’s your girl.
We did Easter with cousins, built fairy gardens, and took the boys to Wicked at Eccles, where Owen practically levitated with excitement. Ellie closed out junior year dances with Junior Prom.
May
May had me extra emotional as Annie wrapped up her freshman year. She began college in a state of crushing grief after losing her best friend, Sarajayne, the day before classes started—yet she showed such remarkable resilience that I still cry when I think about it. She built deep new friendships, tackled a demanding engineering program, and kept choosing joy. After move-out, she headed straight to Moab with friends (which included not one but two Instacare visits… neither of them Annie, thank heavens).
We soaked up a few precious weeks with all four kids under one roof, celebrated Mother’s Day and all the girls’ birthdays, and went to a Night Lights Lantern Festival the night before Annie flew to Utila—a beautiful tribute to Sarajayne.
And then the big one: Annie left for a month in Honduras for a marine science diving internship with one of her best friends from school, living on a tiny island world-renowned for its incredible scuba diving. She spent her first week in dive school and sent me nightly updates, casually mentioning things like eating Skittles on the ocean floor to learn how colors appear underwater and diving down 100 feet. Totally normal things. I wasn’t stressed at all.
Isaac ended the school year with the Outstanding Academic Award in Spanish.
June
June revolved around Annie’s nightly updates from Honduras, once she made it back to her housing and in Wi-Fi range. Each message felt like a tiny window into her happiest self. She loved her best island life: maintaining coral nurseries, hunting invasive lionfish, cleaning beaches, learning hundreds of species of marine animals, exploring the ocean and the island, diving nonstop, befriending people from all over the world, and thriving at island living.
Ellie got promoted to Team Lead at work, which gave her bragging rights for being promoted younger than Annie was.
Our van got hit while being towed, leaving us with a hilariously mismatched “Franken-van.” We’re undecided whether to fix it or embrace its freak energy and just leave the large metal stitches that are holding the front bumper together.
Owen and cousin Bailey attended Hogwarts—disguised as the West Jordan Library, which absolutely committed to the bit.
July
The month of all the cousins, all the chaos, all the sunshine.
With Annie home, we enjoyed an epic week of back-to-back extended family visits: Causey Reservoir multiple times, and several days in Eden for the Fourth with Greg’s family.
We squeezed in more lake days and Isaac fully blossomed into a passionate cook. Honestly, it’s my favorite of all kid interests to date.
He also got his learner’s permit. That's three teen drivers at this point.
August
We began the month celebrating what would have been Sarajayne’s 19th birthday, and later, marking one year since losing her. Annie and Ellie honored her by hiking Timpanogos—a tradition from the last few summers with her.
Owen went full-tilt into DnD, even DM’ing his own campaigns for cousins over the summer and helping at the school’s after-school tabletop gaming club.
We squeezed in a last-minute family trip to San Diego for a little more boogie-boarding. Then Annie moved into her new apartment, Isaac started 10th, Ellie started 12th, and Owen became the lone sibling of the middle school as an 8th grader.
September
Everyone settled into the school routine. Annie lived her best college life—football games, nightly dinners at friends’ houses, and general happiness.
Ellie went to Homecoming; Isaac proudly did not.
Isaac’s cooking expanded to grilling, which I fully support because his grilled chicken is chef’s kiss.
October
Ellie and I toured colleges—Utah State is the current favorite—and had a blast wandering campus with her friends.
October was packed with cousin hangouts, work, school, and all the fall things.
Ellie was named Visual Arts Sterling Scholar, which felt especially meaningful because it honors the creative core of who she is. She was invited to interview for five different categories of Sterling Scholar, and I never cease to be amazed by her amazing mind, creative talents, and versatility.
For Fall Break, Annie camped with friends while the rest of us escaped to Mexico for 8 glorious days—Cabo, La Paz, Mazatlán, Puerto Vallarta, beaches, waterfalls, perfection.
We got home just in time for Halloween. Owen is the last trick-or-treat soldier standing.
November
We opened November with fall kickball and sidewalk chalk. Ellie went to Sweethearts (Jurassic theme!), and visiting cousins meant a marathon of activities: the zoo, hot springs, dodgeball, soccer, Murder in the Dark, matching Christmas pajamas, candy-train decorating, and the Wicked movie.
December
December kicked off at full speed. Annie bought herself a season ski pass, and we gifted her used skis and gear for an early Christmas surprise. Opening weekend was her first time ever skiing, and her friends (all black-diamond skiers, naturally) were thrilled to initiate her. She fell approximately a thousand times, discovered muscles she didn’t know she had, and loved every second of it. I’m grateful she squeezed in a half day on the mountain right before finals week, and we’re all counting down to December 13 when she comes home for a few weeks.
Greg, the boys, and I made it to Festival of Trees—my favorite holiday tradition—and spent plenty of time and money wandering through all the displays. The girls couldn’t join us this year, but it was still lovely to go with whoever we’ve got, a concept I’m slowly learning to embrace.
And in true Greg fashion, he just unveiled the second forge he’s built by hand. The first is the large coal forge that lives in our backyard, and this new one is a smaller, portable forge powered by propane that reaches 2,000 degrees. I only have minimal concerns about the house burning down. Truly, I think we might be the only people in the neighborhood with two forges.
Ellie straightened her hair for the first time since Prom, and we were shocked at how long it's gotten. Owen enjoyed his sixth row seats at the Jazz game and there's a real chance they ruined him for future games.
Wrapping Up the Year
Annie is planning a Spring Break trip to Guatemala with college friends, thriving in her engineering program, and loving her life.
Ellie is deep into upping her ceramics portfolio prep game for Sterling Scholar regionals and applying for scholarships while waiting to decide where she’ll go to college next year. She is crushing senior year, taking six college classes, and spending all her spare moments in the ceramics studio. She's also looking forward to AP Gov's trip to Washington DC and the Nerd Tour with her Calc squad team to go behind the scenes at the Kennedy Center and with Imagineers at Disney World.
Isaac continues to amaze everyone with his encyclopedic knowledge, works four days a week at the elementary school, and is taking multiple college classes as a sophomore—including AP Chem with Ellie. They also have Ceramics together -- although he's doing Ceramics 1 work and she's allowed to do whatever she wants with that time since Ceramics 1 was the only class that would work for her schedule and the teacher said she could just create her own curriculum. They are taking the same University of Utah Spanish class, but are in different periods.
Owen is loving 8th grade and is basically a part-time theater/DnD resident, only appearing at home after 5 p.m. several days a week. He has a really great group of friends and is excited for the second half of the school year.
Greg continues with C&W Services and loves the work (even with another few months of night shifts incoming…). I’m loving my Admin Coordinator role at Intermountain and feel grateful every day for the awesome team I get to work with and the variety of projects I get to be a part of.
Mostly, I’m amazed at how fast these kids are growing and how lucky we are to watch them become who they’re meant to be. I’m grateful—for our people, our memories, and this big, busy, beautiful life.
