Moments 06.2024

Posted Jul 05, 2024

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We have had a wonderful summer so far, here’s what’s been going on behind the scenes at JFS in May and June 2024!

“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. Today I’ll share a bit about our May and June 2024.

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Things I’m loving

Here are some things I’ve been loving lately:

Serving dish. I use a very similar white dish with handles to serve salads (see Burrata salad below), and it’s my favorite. I finally found a similar one back in stock at Crate and Barrel and I bought it right away! Here’s a similar one on amazon as well.
Knee ice pack. Somehow I hurt my knee in May. I think it was an IT band issue, but I started seeing my chiropractor as well as icing it profusely in order to help it heal (and I’m almost 100% now)! This ice pack made for knees or other joints has been a total game changer. It’s easy to use and I love the soft-lined side.
Cold Therapy Metal Roller. This has been a game-changer and a huge part of healing my knee. I roll my knee after exercising, and a few additional times every day and I have noticed a huge improvement. It works anywhere you have sore muscles, I’ve used it on my neck too!

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

Here are some recipe I’ve been making on repeat (along with our chocolate chip cookies, of course).

Black bean brownies – one of my favorite healthy desserts.
Burrata Salad – I make this at least once a week in the summer. Sometimes for company, sometimes just for our family.

Eclair cake – I’ve made this for a handful of birthdays this year!
Ham sliders – I’ve made this three times to bring to friends this month! It’s so easy to prepare and is a total crowd pleaser recipe.

Life Lately

Some of you noticed I haven’t written a post in a couple months, that’s because life has just been busy! So here are some highlights from May and June.

Naomi’s Birthday

My sweet girl had a birthday! She is the last of our 6 kids to celebrate her birthday in a year (everyone was born between January and May).

Her name means “sweet” in Hebrew, and that is exactly what she is. On her special day she wanted to go mini golfing, so we picked up her bestie and took everyone out for a fun round of mini golf, then out to lunch.

For dinner she chose shake shack and an eclair cake for dessert! We had so much fun celebrating this amazing girl who is a complete joy and blessing in all of our lives.

Chicago

My husband and I were born and raised in the western suburbs of Chicago. We moved to Utah 11 years ago, and hadn’t been back to IL together in 8 years! It was a busy trip packed to the gills with fun and fellowship.

We took some time as a family to enjoy the city. Salt Lake is so small compared to Chicago, and the kids were floored to get to experience the magic of the Windy City!

We walked all over and ate so much delicious food. I was nervous about taking them to such a busy city, but the kids were amazing and it was one of the most fun things we did as a family so far this year! I can’t wait to take them to explore other cities now!

We stayed at an amazing hotel in a perfect location which was so fun. We also visited with family and the kids got to meet their new cousin!

After a couple days we drove out to the suburbs to stay with friends. Our first stop was a visit to my childhood best friend – who I’ve known for over 35 years!

I cannot express how wonderful it was to spend time with Casey and her family. Some people are just so much a part of who you are that being with them feels like home – and that’s how I feel about her.

She is the common denominator of all of my best moments and memories from childhood – and I just absolutely cherished the time we got to spend together.

Also – watching our kids become instant friends made my heart so happy. I had to hold back tears when I saw them playing spoons at the dining room table – because a good portion of my summers (and every rainy day) Casey and I spent playing cards together!

We visited some of my favorite places – including the best ice cream shop in the entire world. The midwest has the most delicious ice cream, hands down.

We also attended my 20 year high school reunion, which started off with a tour of my old high school where I both attended and taught at after college.

Seeing the pool felt like going back in a time machine – nothing had changed in that room. Since my kids are homeschooled, they loved getting to see such big high school.

On Sunday, we visited the church Ritch was a pastor at for 7 years before moving to Utah. Seeing so many people we know and love, and being back there was very emotional!

Ministry there was so safe and comfortable – which is the exact opposite of ministry in Utah. Many people we love deeply still attend, and it was a gift for the kids to get to see the place where our lives together began.

Life & Faith

A lot of introspection, reflection and conversations were had this month.

It has been one year since we went through the most profound betrayal we have ever experienced, and the “anniversary” of that fell while we were in Illinois. Being surrounded by our loving support system and friends who have stood behind us and prayed for us for almost 20 years was wonderful – while also making us realize how much we gave up to move to Utah.

I am grateful for those people and the foundation of love and grace they laid in our lives during our time in IL. I’m grateful to be reminded of where we came from and that even though we deeply love and miss it sometimes, we know we are where God called us and wants us to serve Him.

A lot about the last year doesn’t make sense to me. And my biggest learning recently is that I am grateful that none of it makes sense. I have lost count of the number of times I have questioned, “How could they?” and “why would they?” and the Lord finally helped me realize how good it is to feel that way. I have stopped asking and when those thoughts creep into my mind instead I say, “Thank you Lord, that I don’t understand.” He has granted me so much peace and I’m thankful.

Snapshots

Date night to celebrate my beautiful friend’s birthday! Our double dates are my favorite!

Kicking off the summer hiking with friends. I am so grateful to live here.

Brothers enjoying the sunset – a photo that I’ll cherish for a long time!

We drove up to Deer Valley for a day to hike and enjoy some good food!

We get free scenic lift rides with our ski passes, so it was really fun to just go up there and enjoy summer in the mountains. Look at my girls on the lift! I hope they recreate this photo in 10 years! 😉

Ritch “practice camped” with the kids before we have our church campout this month. We often do test runs of potentially stressful activities with the kids to 1) make sure they can handle them and 2) prepare them with proper expectations. They all had a blast.