This was a busy month with two birthdays, a knee injury and wrapping up our school year!

“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 interrupt my typical recipe content, and take time to share our family’s favorite moments from the month! Here it is for April 2026!

My​Favorite Things​– April

Here are my 7 favorite things for April. Find ​all my favorite things here ​or in ​my Amazon shop.

• Wire cooling rack. whenever people see this in my videos they ask about it. I’ve had mine forever, you can buy it at target or on Amazon!
• These socks. I love these socks so much because they don’t fall into my shoes when I run, and they’re big enough for my huge feet! haha!
• This sports bra – so comfy.
• This cast iron loaf pan. I started making sourdough bread. I’m hooked. I love this pan to make loaves for sandwiches.
• Also on the list is this bread lame. It makes cutting beautiful slits so easy.
• This tank top. this has become my go-to, comfy top for warm days and long walks. I have it in 3 colors! It’s a cross between a tank top and sports bra for people who don’t like “squeezy” clothing. 😉
• These shorts. Just like my favorite pants, they’re wrinkle free and so comfy.

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

Here are some of the recipes I made this month. It was the month of cakes for me that’s for sure!

chocolate buttercream frosting | chocolate chip cookies | yogurt parfaits | coconut cake (favorite recipe) | breakfast cookies | vanilla frosting and chocolate cake | chocolate bundt cake

New April Recipes

banana bread french toast | strawberry sauce | chocolate chip cashew cookies | easy rice pudding | carrot fruit smoothie | how to make a latte at home | pico de gallo recipe | gluten-free brownies | homemade queso

Instagram Highlight

This eclair cake video was fun to make – eclair cake is my family’s favorite dessert and this one was for K’s birthday!

Life Lately

A lot of life happened this month! A lot. Ritch tore his ACL skiing, and got surgery all this month. He’s on the road to recovery but it’s a long one!

Baby Teeth

Ritch and I haven’t cried over a kid losing a tooth ever – except for this month when Keilah lost her first front tooth. Once a kid’s baby teeth come out – especially those front ones – their smile changes forever. She is our “baby” girl and when we realized we would never see a baby girl’s baby smile anymore – the waterworks started flowing. Thankfully Ritch reminded me to snap a picture right before he pulled it out. I’m just not ready for her to grow up!

Easter

We had a great Easter as a family which included church, brunch and then home to find their easter baskets and some eggs – which they didn’t seem to care about as much this year and we’re still finding them today! haha!

We got the best surprise Easter weekend – our old friends came into town, so we got to see them on Good Friday and Easter Sunday! Sadie is a friend I cherish. She was the first real friend I made when I moved to Utah. We had a few babies together, homeschooled together, and just learned our way through motherhood – together. They moved away years ago, and getting to see all of our kids pick right back up where they left off was just the greatest gift.

Mara Turns 9

My sweet spunky Mara entered her last year in single digits. She is my sweet, justice-loving, fiercely loyal, opinionated, wonderful girl and I am so blessed to be her mom.

She chose to go to the Ninja Gym to play, and the kids all had a blast. This year she wanted a dolphin birthday cake (chocolate cake with vanilla frosting) and I think Ritch did a great job.

We had the best time celebrating her!

G turns 13!

My boy is a teenager! I am so, so proud to be his mom. He is a sweet, selfless young man and the best big brother to his siblings. He still calls me “momma” and will often just stop what he’s doing and say, “I love you momma.”

He’s growing in his faith, diligent in his work and so fun to be around. He chose to do his favorite hike – which he has done every year since he was 4! This time he brought a friend along since Ritch can’t hike due to his torn ACL, and we all had a blast.

We have a tradition that every birthday, during dinner, the family goes around the table and takes turns sharing what they love about the birthday person. This year, a few of us got emotional talking about how wonderful Gabe is, because he really is just the sweetest. He chose chocolate muffins for breakfast along with BLTs for lunch. Then a chocolate bundt cake with “light” chocolate buttercream frosting.

Snapshots

Naomi and I went on a mommy daughter date to dinner and ice cream. I love every minute I get to spend with that sweetie pie.

Then, I took the kids to the tulip festival, which is our favorite spring event!

I started my sourdough journey and I’m pumped. I’ve been so burnt out in the kitchen, and making sourdough recipes has breathed fresh life into me! My first loaf turned out a bit wonky, but since then I feel like I’ve got it down. Let me know what sourdough recipes you want to see in the future!

Ritch post-op with his snuggle buddy. Praying for quick and complete healing for him!

Well, that’s all she wrote! A busy month full of so many good things.