Here’s our monthly moments post, Moments November 2018, on JoyFoodSunshine! We had a great month celebrating Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas!

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. At the end of every month I share a recap of all the shenanigans that went down in crazy town (i.e. our life in a nutshell).  So here it is for November 2018!

Recipe love:

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

Roasted Butternut Squash with Garlic & Herbs from Cooking Classy {Love this savory side}!

Pumpkin Caramel Pie from The Kitchen McCabe {Gorgeous & Delicious}!

Peanut Butter White Chocolate Christmas Pretzels from Oh Sweet Basil {An easy Christmas treat}!

Peppermint Brownie Truffles from Also the Crumbs Please {Perfect holiday gift}!

How to Make Star Bread from Sally’s Baking Addiction {Festive & fun}!

Vitamix Giveaway!

I’ve partnered with my friends at Vitamix to giveaway an Ascent 3500 Blender just in time for the holidays! The giveaway runs from today, 11/30 until Tuesday 12/4! There are two ways to enter:

1. On Instagram. Go to my Instagram Page, look for this photo below, and follow the instructions in the caption!
2. Blog Comments/Ratings. You can earn bonus entries by leaving a rating and comment on a recipe post on my website (not on instagram, on the actual recipe post itself)! No need to mention the giveaway, I will be keeping track of all the ratings/comments left between 11/30 and 12/2!

This giveaway is open to US residents only! Good Luck!

New Recipe Videos

Here are the videos we produced for you in November! More to come in December!

Vitamix Comparison and Buying Guide (in time for Christmas)!

Homemade Butter Pie Crust

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate 

A few of my favorite things…

Here are a few products I have used over and over again in November! Also, don’t forget to check out my Best Kitchen Gifts Guide, for all the things I LOVE in my kitchen, that would make great gifts for the chef, foodie, or hostess in your life!

Sorel Boots

Oh my word I feel like I need to pause and take a moment of silence for these boots! I needed a warm winter shoe that I could wear with just about everything, and these boots totally fit the billet. Plus, they are SO COMFY they feel like slippers, that are acceptable to wear in public. I have the felt sided boots, but they are out of stock in many places in many sizes. All of these are SO cute. I did order half a size UP, which ended up being perfect because I like to wear warm cozy socks in the winter! Buy on amazon: Sorel Out and About Boots Plus

Faux Suede Jacket

I needed a jacket to wear over a dress to an event this month (The Winter Deer Valley Menu tasting, more on that below), and all of the ones I owned looked silly and odd with my giant pregnant belly! 😉 I found this Drape Front Faux Suede Jacket and I LOVE it. I wore it with a dress, and also with a black top and maternity jeans and it is so comfy and flattering. Plus, it looks great pregnant due to the drape front, and will also work after this baby girl is born! A definite winner! I got the olive color which I reallllly love!  But I probably would’ve gone with the blush if it was in stock in my size at the time!

Kevin Murphy Dry Shampoo

You guys! This dry shampoo is a total miracle product! I have tried other dry shampoos and hated them! I am very picky about my hair feeling clean, and have just recently (per the advice of my amazing hair stylist), got on board with not washing it every day. Well, I’m trying to make my color last longer and wash it less, and she gave me a travel-size sample of this dry shampoo to test out. Less than a week later I bought the full-sized product because I had to have it! My hair feels just as clean as it does when it’s washed, and I only spray a little bit near the front of my hair and my roots! One of my new favorite products!

Deer Valley Winter Menu Tasting

I have mentioned before that Deer Valley Resort is one of our favorite places in Utah! Ritch and I have celebrated every wedding anniversary we’ve had since moving to Utah with a stay at Deer Valley, and we’ve taken the kids there for a couple family getaways!

This year I had the privilege of attending the Winter Menu Tasting and it was one of my favorite nights of the season so far!

The dinner was held at the Empire Lodge which was an absolutely beautiful venue, complete with a warm cozy fireplace and stunning table-scape.

We had the privilege of sampling dishes from the seventeen Deer Valley Restaurants, and they were all delicious! My favorite was a gnocchi in a smoked gouda sauce…which I still dream about daily! 🙂

They took care of everything so beautifully, and even sent us home with a box full of goodies from the Deer Valley Grocery Cafe, which my kids all couldn’t wait to break into with me!

I can’t wait to get back to Deer Valley with Ritch for a fun little getaway before this baby girl is born! He will ski and I will enjoy some R&R at the most beautiful place in Utah!

Life with my tribe

November was a full month! We had some great family time and were able to reflect on all the things we are thankful for!

I love this photo below because I came downstairs after getting dressed for church on Sunday (yes, I wait until the very last second to change into my “wear out of the house” clothes…just in case), and Bethany said, “MOM! Come take a picture of your cute kids!”

They had arranged themselves like this on the chair and were giggling like crazy because they were so proud of themselves for their accomplishment. Of course I had to snap a few pics! They’re the best!

Mara 19 months!

Oh my word my sweet little Mara has picked up some adorable habits this month, and has learned to say a few new words!

Lovie. 

This girl adores her lovie more than any of my other kids. She asks for it alllll day long. We have a rule that the lovie is just for sleeping (which has worked wonders for our kids’ nap/nighttime sleeping habits), so this is a “conversation” we have many times a day,

Mara: Lovie! (as she points upstairs)

Me: You can’t have your lovie right now Mara.

Mara: Whyyy? (Yes she learned how to say why, more on that later).

Me: Because it’s not time to go to sleep.

Mara: Oh. (Conversation over).

She is just so cute! And when she gets her lovie she just hunkers down and sucks her thumb and wants to snuggle.

Naptime Snuggles. 

Mara still falls asleep on me every day when I snuggle her and put her down for her nap. I spend a good half hour soaking in her smell, feeling her sweet little body against mine and studying the curves of her peaceful little face. Truth be told, sometimes I fall asleep with her (hello I’m 30 weeks pregnant), and I look forward to this time we have together every day.

Talking

My sweet baby has started talking so much more this month. I think my favorite word she learned to say is, “WHY?” And it’s pretty clear that she knows what it means because she always asks it at appropriate times. And whatever my answer is to her “why,” she replies in one of two ways….”oh” or “ok.” So cute.

She also loves to say the names of everyone in our family. Usually when she wakes up it’s the first thing she does! She says, “Nay nay (Naomi), Gabe, Boppies (Bethany), Daddy, Mommy!” in the happiest little voice. I usually pause after each one and say, “Nay nay loves you! Gabe loves you! etc. etc. I think she just likes the reassurance that everyone adores her. 😉

“I’m cold.” Ok this is another amazingly adorable thing that Mara started saying. I mentioned last month that her favorite book is Ten in the Bed, and that is still just as true now as it was 30 days ago. Well, at the end the little boy (after violently throwing all of his stuffed animals out of his bed lol) says, “I’m cold, I miss you.” We read the book in a sing-song voice and have a particular way we say, “I’m cold.” Well, now Mara says it all.the.time. And she usually expects to be covered with a blanket ASAP. 😉

She can pretty much mimic any word that we say and it’s just so fun watching her blossom and be able to communicate with us!

Thanksgiving 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! We start every Thanksgiving by running a 5K as a family in the morning. This tradition started for me in my hometown 15 years ago, and we have kept it alive ever since.

Our favorite race in the SLC area on Thanksgiving Day is the Thankful 13 in Lehi, Utah. There’s a half marathon and a 5k (we obviously run the 5K), along a really beautiful trail near a river with views of the mountains on all sides.

This year we only had to run with one stroller (as opposed to two like last year)! Naomi and Mara were cute, and for the most part, content little riders. There is always so much going on and so many people to watch during the race that they are usually occupied. Naomi started getting antsy towards the end, but had lots of fun!

Bethany and Gabe both ran this year. Bethany, just like last year, was a total champ. She never wined about being tired and ran the entire thing (except for the few times we stopped to walk for her little bro).

Gabe, on the other hand, got a little close to a meltdown and we had to toss him in the front of the stroller for a few minutes for him to calm down and get back in the race. We really want this tradition to be fun for our kids, so we go slow and let them walk when necessary, but also encourage them to keep going because they can!

Since I was 30 weeks pregnant this year, and haven’t really been running much, I was 110% great with a slower pace and a little bit of walking mixed in. They always end the race with pie and hot chocolate, which my kids love!

After the race we went home and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, which we really love doing as a family. Then we started cooking! I had done most of the preparation the day before, but we just needed to take the turkeys out of the brine and prepare them to be roasted in the oven!

We had our friends over who have a large family (9 kids), and our other two friends, so our house was filled with our favorite people! It was really a great and delicious day!

I made this Classic Pumpkin Pie recipe for dessert….

And a quadruple batch of our favorite homemade cranberry sauce.

Plus turkey, stuffing, Apple Cider Green Beans (which I didn’t get a picture of) and we bought a french silk pie this year (which, by the way, I will never do again! Homemade is so much better)!

We had so much fun that I didn’t snap one picture of the meal, our friends, etc. I wish I had remembered but it’s always better to be present than to have pictures, in my opinion! 😉

Christmas Season is HERE!

Our tradition is to decorate for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving (no Black Friday shopping for us, unless it’s online)! We have a minimal number of decorations so it doesn’t take us long and we have a lot of fun!

We’ve had this little people nativity set since before Bethany was born, and it’s a favorite toy every Christmas. A couple years ago I bought 24 Christmas books and wrapped them. Then I put a new one under the tree every morning until Christmas day. It was a really fun year, and now my kids get to experience the fun of pulling out the large bin of Christmas books every year! Reading is their favorite, and they enjoy the books all month long!

First Snow!

It was actually pretty perfect that the day after we decorated for Christmas we got the first significant snowfall of the season! The kids were dying to get outside and play! As you can see in the photo below, I wasn’t super prepared with their footwear…but I have since acquired the appropriate sized snow boots and gear for all of them! They grow so much in a year it’s hard to keep up and remember what we have!

They stayed outside for over an hour playing and shoveling. Mara absolutely adored playing in the snow, which none of my other kids have at her age. She cried and threw a pretty epic fit when it was time to bring her inside for lunch. I’m glad she enjoyed it so much!

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

Here are a few recipes we enjoyed in November!

Slow Cooker Thai Ground Turkey

Honey Mustard Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad

Homemade Pizza Dough & Homemade Pizza Sauce 

Flourless Brownies

IF YOU MAKE SOMETHING FROM JOYFOODSUNSHINE I WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOUR CREATIONS! DON’T FORGET TO RATE THIS RECIPE AND LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW! ALSO, FOLLOW ALONG WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, FACEBOOK AND TWITTER FOR MORE RECIPE INSPIRATION AND A GLIMPSE INTO OUR EVERYDAY LIFE!