“I can’t remember all the times I’ve 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 all the shenanigans that went down in crazy town (i.e. my life in a nutshell).  So here it is for February 2018!

Recipe love:

Here are a few must-share recipes from the month of February from my favorite spots around the web!

Naturally-Sweetened Coconut Cream from Scratch from The Kitchen McCabe {I use so much coconut cream I can’t wait to make my own}!

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges with Asian Peanut Sauce from Dishing out Health {Plant-based heaven}

Easy Homemade Salsa from House of Yumm {BETTER than any restaurant}!

Cookie Dough Protein Bars from Feasting on Fruit {Protein in cookie dough form?! Sign me up}!

Maple Potato & Sausage Breakfast Skillet with Kale from Healthy Seasonal Recipes {Who else loves the sausage/maple syrup combo}?!

New Recipe Videos

Here are the videos we produced for you in February! More to come in March!

Dairy-Free Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix 

Healthy Peanut Butter Blondies

Blender Spinach Banana Muffins 

Life with my tribe:

Mara Hope

Mara now has six teeth and looks a little less like a sabertooth tiger! They did not come easily for her though, and we had a stretch of super crabby days while those pesky little chompers grew in.

One new adorable little thing that Mara does is “share” her toys with me. It started with her lovie, and has progressed to anything she gets her hands on. She holds the toy in her hands, stretches it out to my face and puts it on my cheek. Then she smiles and giggles as I say, “Aww Mara! Thank you for sharing your lovie {or insert toy name here} with me!” She thinks it’s a riot, and so do I!

Baby sign language 

Mara has also started making more sounds than just “Ma ma ma.” She has figured out how to say, “da” and “la” as well! It’s amazing how excited we get over such a little bit of progress. But it’s just so fun! I also started introducing sign language to her! She thinks it’s hilarious when we all sign “more please” between each bite of her meals, but she started to get it and sometimes will do the signs herself! I have taught all of our kids sign language starting between 8 and 10 months. It is a game changer because they learn to communicate what they want/need well before they can speak. I start with more, please, night night, and thank you. Then we move on to eat, food, all done, milk, etc. etc.

Finger foods

UGH. Mara is the WORST at eating finger foods. I literally had to break one baby puff into four individual pieces to make it manageable for her to eat without choking. I am not a safety-crazed person, but when it comes to choking I truly believe you cannot be too careful. So I give into the gimmick and buy those baby puffs to feed to my kids as their first food.  They dissolve so easily and are almost impossible to choke on {or so I thought, LOL}!  I’m happy to say that she did graduate to whole puffs, but still isn’t super great at eating them. Since I have started the weaning process {which I am SO sad about, like HOW will Mara be ONE next month?!}, I am trying to get her to start eating regular food more often. So we’ll see how she does with some other softer finger foods in March! ::: Fingers crossed ::::

 

Visiting Chicago

We flew back to our hometown in the suburbs of Chicago on Valentine’s Day for a wedding {which is why you I am not posting all of our super cute Valentine’s Day celebrations this month, because there were none to speak of lol}! The intern that lived with us before Mara was born and worked with Ritch for most of 2017 got married, and is moving back to Utah with his beautiful bride to continue doing ministry with us! {YAY}!

Ritch officiated the wedding, Gabe was the ring bearer and Bethany & Naomi were the flower girls. Even though Naomi’s dress was 2 sizes too big {what I get for ordering it online and not having her try it on until the morning of the wedding}, they all looked adorable and did a great job! After the wedding someone asked Ritch, “Were one of the kids in the wedding party yours?” His answer, “Nope, ALL of them are mine!” 😉

After the ceremony we dropped the kids off at my Mom’s and got to have a little mini wedding date! Some of our closest friends from Utah flew out for the wedding, and my BFF from Chicago was there. It was wonderful catching up with old friends! We saw so many people from all different seasons of life, and had an amazing day! However, much to my chagrin my husband refused to trim his beard before the wedding. Someone even told him he looked OLD! LOL!

A few of my favorite things…

Daniel Wellington Watch

I did a little collaboration with Daniel Wellington this month on Instagram and they sent me this rose gold beauty. I always wanted a nice watch to wear when we go out so that I’m not tied to checking my phone for the time. However, I never saw it as a need. Now that I have one I am so glad, and can’t believe I went without it for so long! It’s so much prettier {and much less sweaty} than the running watch that I use every morning! 😉

If you’re in the market for a nice watch, you can use code JOYFOOD15 on the Daniel Wellington website to get 15% off your order!

 

Vince Camuto Booties

I have raved about these before…but I just have to bring them up again! I have a similar style to these and I wear them almost every day! They are adorable AND comfortable and transcend the seasons. I’d say they were one of my top 3 best purchases in the last 5 years! No joke!

Lululemon Align Crop

Another item I have discussed before, except I only had the longer version, which I have worn every single day this week. No I’m not kidding. These are the best pants in the world, so I purchased the crops for spring!

 

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

Here are a few recipes I made in February!

Healthy Skillet Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie 

I made this recipe for us on Super Bowl Sunday! It’s one of my favorites. Just be SUPER careful not to over-bake it! I did and it was a sad, sad day!

Homemade Pizza Dough & Sauce 

We had friends over so I made triple batches of both of these recipes!

I also made pizza for the Super Bowl and tried to form it into the shape of a football. Tried being the operative word in that sentence. The kids thought it was awesome, so that’s all that matters to me! 😉

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

Every. Single. Day.

Well that’s all she wrote! I’d love to hear a highlight from your February! What are you looking forward to in March!?