May was a wonderful month for our family. We enjoyed a getaway to southern Utah, celebrated Mother’s Day and Naomi’s Birthday and went mini golfing as a family for the first time!

“I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass.”

Welcome to “Moments” here on JoyFoodSunshine. At the end of every month I share a recap of our family’s favorite moments!  Here’s a snapshot of our life from May 2021!

Life lately

May was a wonderful month for our family. We enjoyed a getaway to southern Utah, celebrated Mother’s Day and Naomi’s Birthday and went mini golfing as a family for the first time!

Baby Zach (4months)!

My sweet baby boy is 4 months old and I couldn’t be more in love with him. Zach has started smiling like crazy, and giggles and coos for us as well.

He still isn’t my best sleeper – and I’m pretty tired! LOL! He wakes up randomly between 2 and 3 am about 2 nights a week. Ritch rocks him back to sleep and then I feed him when he wakes up around 4:30-5 AM and I’m up for the day.

I still haven’t even started pumping to create a stockpile of breastmilk – which I had by this point with all my other kids because I’m usually waking them up at 5 AM by this age to feed them so I know they’re not hungry. I need to start soon!

He still loves sleeping on me though, and will snuggle up and snooze any time I put him in a wrap or carrier. He loves sleeping on mommy, especially while hiking or during church! 😉

Towards the end of the month we decided to stop swaddling him and switch to a sleep sack. He’s a thumb sucker so we thought that if he could self-soothe he’d be more likely to sleep well. It turns out we were correct and the first unswaddled night he slept better than he had on weeks!

Southern UT getaway

I felt like we had been doing the same thing day in and day out for forever. So I planned a very low-key get away to a town in southern Utah. Our kids really enjoy the High School Musical movies, so we booked a stay at the resort where #2 was filmed.

We had an absolute blast. I really needed a break from our routine – especially since Zach has been born every day pretty much looks like the one before it. Nurse, homeschool, nurse, rock a baby to sleep, nurse, try to sleep myself. So going somewhere warm and fun was just what we needed as a family.

The kids were in kid heaven and they loved climbing and hiking all over the place. We bought walkie talkies so that the big kids could go off climbing and we could easily find them.
We swam a lot and ate great food. It was wonderful.

On our drive home we stopped at a well-known ice cream shop and had ice cream for lunch. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful week.

Mother’s Day

Also on the way home, Ritch told me that he had planned to have another pastor preach the sermon on Mother’s Day so that we could drive to AND FROM church together. As a pastor’s wife I cannot tell you how special that gift was, and I cried when he told me.

I often miss getting to just be a family on Sunday morning and worshipping together without the added stress of Ritch being the pastor. Especially since our church has grown so much this year we had to go to two services, which is wonderful, but it means that we never arrive and leave at the same time since I only stay for the early service and then have to get home before the kids melt down!

He planned the entire day so well. We woke up together and he made breakfast. We went to church then went out to lunch as a family (amazing). Then we came home and I napped while he and Bethany made dinner (pizza and burrata salad). They made me thoughtful cards and got me some sweet gifts. It was the best Mother’s Day I’ve ever had – and I felt so loved and appreciated thanks to my amazing hubby and kids.

Mini Golf

Ok, this needs it’s own section because we took all of our kids mini golfing for the first time and had the best day ever.

Our cleaner was coming to clean the house and I like to get out when she’s here to give her space. So we chose to go mini golfing and it was a total blast. The kids had so much fun, and we did too – just soaking in their cuteness and how each one of their unique personalities chose to enjoy the activity was so amazing.

Bethany was the score keeper – of course. Gabe wanted to make sure everyone was following the rules (haha). Naomi was free-spirited and fun. Mara took the technique of her golf stance and swing very seriously. And Keilah played by her own rules, picking up the ball and putting it wherever she wanted.

Naomi’s Birthday

Naomi means “sweet” in Hebrew – and this little girl embodies her name in every way. I swear a little piece of sunshine was woven into her tiny body when God created her because she is just pure light and happiness.

For her Birthday she really wanted to go to a water park and swim. We made the trek to a waterpark we have seasons passes to and she had a blast. She wanted chocolate chip pancakes with berry syrup and whipped cream for breakfast, BLTs for lunch and dinner from her favorite restaurant (Spitz) – all of which we made happen.

She opened her presents and loved every one of them. She kept saying thank you over and over to all of us for her gifts.

This year she asked for a castle cake. I am pretty comfortable with rosettes but castles are totally out of my wheelhouse. Add the fact that we are against fondant (homemade frosting only) and I didn’t want any part of the cake to be inedible (e.g. no toilet paper rolls on our cake haha) – this was a little bit of a challenge. And while I didn’t care too much for how it looked Naomi LOVED it – which is literally the only thing that matters.

Just a note here and a little rant after coming out of our birthday season (all of my kids’ birthdays are between January and May): I feel like social media has “ruined” kids’ birthdays. Moms everywhere are chasing photo ops instead of the things that truly make our kids the happiest. I realized this when Bethany was 2. I was planning her birthday and it was getting more and more elaborate until I realized what I was doing and put the kibosh on all of it. All she wanted was cake for breakfast and presents – so that’s what she got and it was stress-free and amazing.

So, while I sometimes start slipping into the trap I have to stop remember that it doesn’t matter what their cakes look like (e.g. if it’s not going to be repinned 1.4 million times), as long as my kids love them. I decorate cakes for them because it makes them feel loved and special – so as long as that is the result nothing else matters! So remember, live in the moments and be present with your babies while you can – because the best moments aren’t “Pinterest worthy.”

A few of my favorite things…

Here are a few things I’m loving this month.

Dreft Scent!

If you’ve been having babies long enough to have experienced the change in the draft formula then this is for you!! It changed when I had Keilah and I have been missing the newborn scent so much I may have shed a few tears over it.
Well, I found this and it made me irrationally happy. It’s the scent I missed and my last baby experience is now complete. You just put a few of these in the wash and your clothes will have that fresh newborn scent.

Nespresso

I took a poll in my Instagram stories about espresso machines because Ritch and I were looking to get one to recreate our favorite coffee house drinks at home. I was looking at the whole range of machines, but after hearing from droves of people I decided to get a Nespresso. So far we love it! It’s perfect for our season of life because I don’t have time to master the art of espresso making. We have started to make Saturday mornings our latte mornings for the older kids and it has been so fun. I can see myself getting a “real” espresso machine one day, but for now this Nespresso is great.

Walkie Talkies

Ok Ritch bought these walkie talkies and I LOVE them. It is a great way to keep track of my kids during the summer months when they’re running around with friends without feeling the need to give them a phone or some other device.

They’re a little more “serious” than your typical kids’ walkie talkie. They’re rechargeable and transmit a pretty far distance. I highly recommend them!

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

Here are a few recipes I made this month! I actually tested a whole bunch of new recipes that will be coming later on in the year (think Thanksgiving and Christmas) but made a few favorites.

Burrata salad – always my favorite.

Pretzel Bread – always Ritch’s favorite

Snapshots

Here are some snapshots of our life this month! 

The place where they filmed High School Musical 2. We had our favorite dinner here at the restaurant.

The kids scrambling around a slot canyon.

On a bridge where Mara’s favorite scene was filmed.

More rock climbing!

Bethany gives Zach a batch every night. She loves doing it and he loves her for it.

Cute morning K

N must be a restless sleeper because she often wakes up like this!

Baby Z loves the baby swing!

Still snuggling this girl to sleep every day.

Those braids. That dress. Too cute.

Swim lessons!

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