We kicked off 2025 with two birthdays, lots of travel and skiing!

“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. This is when I pause my usual recipe content, and take time to share our family’s favorite moments from the month!

Here are some highlights from January 2025!

Follow Along on Instagram!

Now that Z is 4 – I’m trying to be more present in my business – for you! I have been posting more organic and personal reels on Instagram, and I’d love for you to pop on over and follow along!

People don’t talk about how difficult it can be to start sharing yourself and your life on social media, but I really hope it serves you all well. I love connecting with you and I feel like that is just the best place to do it!

Check out these reels:

• Making No Knead Bread
• How to Line Cake Pans
• Green Smoothie Reel

Also, my daughter said I was “quirky in a good way” when we were filming together – sooo I’m sure we’ll have some fun! 😉

Things I’m Loving

Here are some things that have made my life easier this month! Don’t forget I always share my favorites in my Amazon Profile!

• Hair Mister Bottles. SinceI have 4 daughters, I use these mist bottles every single day. I just re-ordered a few extras to keep in their bathrooms!
• Baking sheet with wire rack. I love this baking sheet set. It’s high-quality and use it for so many things!
• Red Spatula. I am a huge advocate for using colored spatulas when you are mixing colorful food. We’ve been making a lot of pizza lately and so I just have to re-recommend this red spatula!
• Mesh Laundry Bags. My best friend told me about these laundry bags and I love them. I put more delicate pieces of clothing in them to both wash and dry and they help keep them looking new!

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

We celebrated two birthdays this month, so here are the recipes the kids picked for their celebrations:

• Potato Soup (Bethany’s birthday dinner – it’s insanely delicious)
• Cinnamon Rolls (Bethany’s birthday breakfast)
• Chocolate Cake (Zach’s cake)
• Eclair Cake (Bethany’s birthday dessert)
• Chocolate Frosting (for Zach’s cake)
• Vanilla Frosting (for Zach’s cake)

Snapshots

Zach turned FOUR this month. How is my tiny baby boy not a baby at all anymore? I can’t believe I could have gotten a college degree in the time that has passed since he has been born, it definitely doesn’t feel like it at all.

He wanted a dinosaur cake with a blue volcano and my husband (who is more creative and artistic than I am) took on that task and did an incredible job. Zach absolutely loved it.

However Zach being four comes with it’s perks – like our family skiing together for the first time! The first run all 8 of us did together is seared into my heart as a core memory I will never forget. We laughed so hard the entire time we were making our way down the mountain.

We even had our first day where Zach wasn’t in lessons at all. Ritch got quite the workout that day, but Zach made massive improvements just skiing with him as opposed to being in a class because we’re not afraid to let him kind of go rogue and try new things.

Bethany turned 14! She is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. She had some friends over and I made her all her favorite foods.

She also got braces a few days after her birthday – and she just seems so grown up. I am so grateful to get to be her mom. We filmed making her birthday cinnamon rolls together, and I’ll be sharing it on Instagram soon!

Well, that’s all she wrote! I traveled a lot for work this month and am excited about all the things coming to JoyFoodSunshine in the future!

What was your January like?! Tell me about it, I love hearing from you!