June was the best – we continued celebrating Naomi’s birthday, I went on a trip for work, and our church put on an epic kids camp for the community!

“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 June 2026!

My​Favorite Things​– June

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

• This $8 ​salt shaker i​s my all-time favorite (filled with this ​Redmond fine sea salt ​which I use in all my cooking & baking)
• These oven mitts are still on sale $11 for the pair and they’re the BEST! Silicone so you don’t burn your hands.
• ​Caraway 12″ fry pan. ​ I use this literally every single day.
• This tank top is ribbed and perfect to wear with high waisted shorts without being cropped.
• This highlighter – my teenage daughter got it for me on my birthday in October and I use it every time I use my makeup mixed with blush!
• Arencia Vitamin C Booster – I use this and love it to help reduce puffy eyes and just give an all around summer glow.
• Collagen Protein Powder. My fave and still on sale. I put it in my morning smoothie every day.

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

Banana Bread | Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies | Burrata Salad | Chocolate Chip Cookies | Oreo Pie |Peanut Butter Banana Baked Oatmeal | Baked Scrambled Eggs (recipe coming soon)!

New June Recipes

mug cookie | berry trifle | strawberry smoothie | Italian salad &Italian dressing | s’mores brownies | vegan oatmeal cookies | coconut brownies

Charleston Trip

I went on a work trip to Charleston in early June. It was fun to see a new place and spend time with some inspiring people! While Charleston isn’t a city I’d visit again (just not my cup of tea – Chicago has my heart always and forever) the hotel we stayed at (The Cooper, SC) was absolutely incredible. The hospitality, service and atmosphere was top tier in every way.

I love getting time away from my daily routine to talk with other women who are thriving, growing their businesses and inspire me to be better. I always leave these trips with a list a mile long of ways I want to improve both personally and professionally. If you need trusted (non-AI) sources for recipes be sure to check out The Modern Proper, A Couple Cooks, Spend with Pennies and Love and Lemons!

Kids Camp

The biggest part of our month was our church’s kids camp. We plan for this all year long. The theme this year was star wars inspired and my husband spent months building droids, writing scripts, and planning the event with an amazing team from our local church, and from the church we attended in Chicago before moving to Utah.

It’s my kids’ favorite week of summer. We had well over 400 kids in attendance this year – and it was so exciting and fun!

The team from IL stayed at our house one night. Ritch led everyone in worship and I just cried because it was so beautiful seeing these young people who wholly love Jesus, serve sacrificially and are growing in their faith. Some of these students have been coming on this trip to help us with our camp for 5 years, and it’s been incredible to see them grow into young men and women.

Plus, the adult leaders of the trip are close friends of ours, and it’s always a breath of fresh air to get to serve alongside them, learn from them and just spend time together.

One of my friends who came to our very first kids camp 12 years ago, but has since moved away, brought her kids to participate this year. She was my very first friend in Utah, we homeschooled together, had babies together, and it was such a gift to get to catch up and see her amazing kids.

Snapshots

Summer is in full swing, we always kick it off with a trip to our town’s fair. It’s one of my favorite nights of the summer because the kids just run wild and have a blast with their friends.

ZACH is doing swim team this year and is absolutely rocking it. I just can’t believe he is old enough for this already. In the last few weeks he also lost a tooth and learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. Time moves so fast.

One of our favorite restaurants started serving afternoon tea, so I took my girls and it was so fun! The tea service is only $40 for four people – and it’s so worth it for a fun afternoon treat!

Little miss K got her haircut super short and I think she looks so cute! We also had our annual summer day at a local water park for Naomi’s birthday celebration. We were there from open to close and had the best time.

June thoughts!

Well, that’s all she wrote for June! I can’t believe it’s already July – I wish summer would slow down!