Moments 04.2023

Website Redesign

I have been working on a website redesign for a few months now – which is live! (which you already know if you are here reading this)!

I’m most excited about being able to better organize the content for you. I have spent some time updating the category pages – like this Desserts Category Page. With more helpful information, better organization, etc. I have a long ways to go in order to really optimize the content, but the framework is there and I look forward to making it great for you! If you have any suggestions or comments please let me know!

Cultivate WP is the team that designed my site. I absolutely loved working with them and highly recommend them!

Easter

We enjoyed celebrating Easter this year as a family. For two weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, we spend our bible time at night using these resurrection eggs to teach our kids about the significance of Easter in an age-appropriate and fun way. We’ve had them since Bethany was a baby and use them every year.

We also participated in our neighborhood’s Easter egg hunt – with a foot of snow on the ground. To say I’m grumpy about this winter is an understatement. However, the kids had a blast and we got to experience some fun with people in our new neighborhood.

On easter we let the kids wake up and search for eggs. We prepared Resurrection Rolls the night before so we could put the marshmallows inside and bake them on Easter morning before church. It’s another great, way for kids to understand the meaning of Easter!

Ritch stayed home before church and participated in our Easter activities. This is not easy for a pastor to do, and I’m grateful he realizes how important it is for him to be present with us on holidays that fall on a Sunday.

I got the kids’ outfits (except for Bethany’s and Gabe’s) from Noralee again this year – I absolutely LOVE their dresses, especially for special occasions like Easter. And their little boys clothes knocked it out of the park – look at Z’s cute little shirt!

Birthdays!

We’re back into “birthday season” in our house! All my kids were born between January and May – so we have some clusters of celebrations every year.

Mara turns 6

First up, we have Mara! She was so excited about her birthday. She requested cinnamon rolls for breakfast – and I happily obliged her request. Then we went to a ninja warrior gym and let the kids play.

She also requested Shake Shack for dinner. It’s so funny because she was afraid to tell me she wanted food from a restaurant for dinner instead of something I made. I reassured her (as I have with all of the kids) that her birthday is about her and if her favorite meal comes from a restaurant it brings me great joy to provide it for her.

Also, something I didn’t explain to the kids because I didn’t want the ones who do like me to cook many complicated dishes for their birthdays to feel bad (like my eldest child who requested 6 appetizers for her dinner haha), I love ordering food from a restaurant! Any reason for me to not cook dinner is A-OK in my book! 😉 Plus, who doesn’t love shake shack?

This year for her cake she requested a “dolphin cake where the dolphin is wearing a crown.” This was a fun and different request than her typical flower or princess cake and I was happy to try my best to make it happen.

We used these chocolate cake and vanilla frosting recipes to make her cake. I colored all the frosting, but ultimately I passed the baton to Ritch to draw the dolphins, because he is significantly more artistic than I am!

She had a great day and is still enjoying playing with all her fun toys, which included an “olden times phone” – meaning a phone just like I had when I was a kid!

Gabe turns 10!

I like to make a big deal of the first double-digit birthday for each child. I don’t do “friend parties” until my kids reach age 10. To say Gabe had been looking forward to his moment in the sun is an understatement! 😉

He chose to take a few of his friends to a place called “Classic Fun Center.” He had the time of his life playing laser tag, rollerblading, playing arcade games, and jumping on inflatables with his best friends.

I’m grateful Ritch was the one who took them and managed the whole party piece that day. He is basically a 10-year-old boy at heart anyway!

Gabe basically had a birthday weekend. Since his actual birthday was on a Sunday, it meant we had to move G’s favorite tradition to Saturday. He has a favorite hike (that we now live 5 minutes from instead of 40 minutes) that we have done every year on his birthday since he was 4.

He loves climbing rocks – and this particular hike delivers in that area. All the kids had a blast and the weather was absolutely beautiful.

On his big day he requested chocolate crepes for breakfast – which are delicious by the way. He fills them with nutella and whipped cream.

For dinner he chose In ‘N Out, which again, I was happy to oblige and get out of cooking!

This is the second year in a row he has asked for this chocolate bundt cake slathered with chocolate buttercream frosting. He’s just like his momma when it comes to dessert – the more chocolate the better!

Gabe is such a special boy. I truly cannot believe he is 10 years old. It feels like only yesterday he was living in my Ergo carrier because he wouldn’t stop crying unless he was snuggled up close with his momma. Oh what I would give to go back to those snuggles even for a moment! But – he is still the sweetest little guy who still loves snuggling his mom! 😉

Church Building!

This is something I haven’t shared publicly, but has been a very significant part of our lives for over 2 years now.

We finally concluded our long and grueling, search for a church building. Our family endured many hiccups, disappointments, and significant losses along the way – and it was incredibly emotionally taxing on me and Ritch.

After finding (and “losing”) two buildings, in the search for our family’s new home (the one we moved into in December) I found this property right in the heart of the city we always felt called to plant our church in since the day we moved to Utah almost 10 years ago.

I was looking for comps for a home we were looking at (and didn’t end up buying), when I saw this listing. I had checked the commercial market multiple times a day (almost obsessively), but never thought to look at residential listings.

It’s a horse barn on 3.5 acres of land. I immediately sent it to Ritch and the other pastors at our church. They went to look at it and long (long) story short, we closed on the property in March! It’s amazing how God used one situation (our family looking for a new home) to lead us to the place He wanted us to be as a church.

It will take a lot of work to turn a horse barn into a church, and we hope to move in sometime in the fall. But it’s so great to actually have a new home – especially because our lease was supposed to be up already in our current building, and the owners are graciously allowing us to stay there until we can move into our new building.

So, stay tuned, I’m sure I will share some of the process along the way.

Homeschool

Due to the significant toll ministry has taken on our family in the past two years, and because he has never taken one before, Ritch is taking a 2 month sabbatical starting May 1st.

As a result of his sabbatical, I have been very diligent about making sure we didn’t take any time off of school so we could finish early. Well, it has paid off because most of the kids finished by the 3rd week of April and we’re all SO glad to have a break. This is my sweet Mara on the day she finished her first grade math program (which she actually completed in March)!

Our homeschool co-op also ended the last week of April. Bethany and Gabe wrote papers on two historical characters – King Arthur and Joan of Arc.

Ritch made their costumes – for the event where they dress up and read their papers out loud. I think they turned out pretty great. The kids did amazing and their papers were so fun to listen to.

B and G also achieved Memory Master in our co op for the second year in a row. If you are familiar with Classical Conversations, then you know this is no small feat.

They worked so hard and I think they did even better this year than last. They absolutely crushed the geography portion of the material and I was so proud of them!

St. George

We got so sick of the cold, that on Easter Sunday we left right after church and drove down to St. George. We spent a few nights there and it was amazing to finally go outdoors and feel warm. We enjoyed a few hikes and lots of rock climbing.

It was 90 degrees, so we swam all day long and closed the pool down every night. We got sunburn and honestly it felt so good. It was just what we all needed.

Things I’m loving

Here are some things I’ve been loving lately…

• This blog post: 15 confessions from a pastor’s wife. Obviously, no two pastors’ wives’ experiences are identical, but many of her points resonated with me. One thing she put to words that I’ve struggled with expressing over the years is that ministry is different than friendship. This struck me so deeply because it’s a perfect way to describe why being a pastor’s wife is lonely at times. Ministry is pouring out, listening, and bearing the weight of other’s expectations of you (especially as a pastor’s wife). It’s hurt and betrayal from so-called Christians. It’s a lot of people wanting/demanding things from you (and your family) and not offering you the same (grace, patience, basic kindness, etc.) in return. It’s people acting wrongly and never repenting, never humbling themselves- but instead, letting their pride (instead of the truth) reign in and rule their hearts. This has been a difficult season, and I am about as weary from ministry as a person can be. The amount of pain inflicted on our family & church by those who claim christ but neither act like Him or obey his word – has been incredibly difficult to process. This post was helpful. So remember, if you’re a Christian reading this – be kind to your pastor and his wife and their children.
• If you are a pastor’s wife (or go to a church and your pastor has a wife LOL) – I also highly recommend this talk called: How You Can Recover from Ministry PTSD. I imagined a room full of pastor’s wives listening to this talk being shared and felt comforted and less alone. Plus the content is truly helpful for anyone struggling.
• Nail strengthening serum. For some reason (maybe stress, haha), my nails which are usually very strong, have been peeling like crazy. This serum has helped stop the peeling so that the peeling can grow out and my nails can start to heal!
• Spray bottles for hair. I am loving these bottles. They spray a good amount of water on my girls’ hair so I can get it wet and make styling easier.
• This lipstick. I was able to go to the mall sans kids one day. I desperately needed someone to help me pick the perfect lipstick because I have failed many times on my own. I walked up to one of the women behind the counter, asked for help, and she pointed me to this lipstick in the shade “selfless.” I am not a bold lip color person, so it was totally perfect for me. Also, it feels smooth and moisturizing unlike many others I have tried. I think I’ll test out more shades in the future too!

Snapshots

Here are some more snapshots of our life in March and April!

We went bowling one day because we needed to do something fun and it was so, so cold. Zach was the absolute cutest, we all loved watching him bowl.

Z during the Easter egg hunt. He really wasn’t into it at all – he refused to even pick up one egg. Then, his siblings came over and showed him what to do and he finally picked up a few.

We went on a double date with some of our dearest friends. They are also in ministry (pastor and wife of another local church) and I have homeschooled with Britany since we joined CC almost 7 years ago. We had the best time talking and I am just so grateful for their friendship.

I just love this pic of Gabe and his best friend. They are going to be little heartthrobs one day.

I also am grateful for these beautiful friends. We went out to celebrate my friend Kelsey’s birthday and had the best time. We laughed so hard. Time with girlfriends is just good for the soul!

All Z ever wants to do is be outside – he was the happiest ever in St. George.

Unfortunately (hahaha) the skiing is still great.

They’re saying that the resorts might be opened through 4th of July. I think we’re done for the season – but the kids did get one more ski day in.

Z still not loving swim lessons, but he is improving every time!

The 4 kids who achieved memory master in our community.

My boys! <3

I hope you had a great month! Please share what’s going on in your life lately with me in the comments!