Easter

We were able to celebrate two Easters with our little baby boy.  I wish it could have been three.  Easter and Jace's birthday are the two celebrations that we only celebrated twice during his life.  All the other holidays we were able to celebrate three times together.  Easter Sunday was bittersweet for me.  I kept trying to keep my mind from imaging what they day should have been like if Jace and Sheldon were alive.  I tried to focus on the Savior and what Easter really represents.  Without our Savior I would not be able to see them again.  Knowing that did not make the day any easier, but did give me comfort.  I went and found the pictures we took from our two Easters together and that made me happy.  Thinking about what could have been is to difficult to deal with.  

Jace's 1st Easter-9 Months Old

We were living in our house in Forest Grove, Oregon.  We bought Jace a new church outfit and his grandma and grandpa bought him some fun new toys.  My parents were visiting us and we went to church, we had a nice Sunday dinner, and we had fun enjoying our Easter gifts and candy.  Sheldon and I gave Jace a basket with some new shoes and socks and empty Easter eggs since he was too small to eat any chocolate or candy.  Jace loved playing with his basket and his eggs.  I also took Jace to get his picture taken in his new church outfit for Easter the week before.  I remember I was sad I couldn't find his black church socks that day, so we made due with navy blue ones.  I remember I was upset about that, but now it's just a fun memory.      

 It looks like he had just eaten some carrot baby food since his face was orange.  That carrot baby food always stained everything, but it was his favorite.

 We had fun watching him play on his new push toy.  We were excited that he could sit on it all by himself.

I think this picture is what prompted his first hair cut.  :)

Jace's Second Easter-22 Months Old

We were living in Lake Havasu City at the time because Sheldon was doing an optometry rotation at Eyes of Arizona.  The yard in our rental house was just rocks, like most yards in the desert.  We colored Easter eggs the night before and Easter morning we hid eggs for Jace while he was sleeping.  We woke him up and had so much fun watching him find his eggs.  Sheldon walked around with Jace and held his bag for him.  As soon as Jace found all his eggs he said, "Again!"  We re-hid the empty eggs everyday for about a week after Easter and Jace found them again and again.  I bought Jace a new Easter outfit and we went to church that day as well.  I also had Jace's picture taken with his new Easter outfit.  I am so grateful I did that.  

 Jace decided he would rather put the stickers on his body than the Easter eggs.

 He was pretty mad about putting on his church clothes.  He pouted on the floor and refused to let me take his picture.  I am glad we got one family shot though.

Easter Without Them

My heat is broken.  I miss them so much.  This Easter I decided to make a small Easter basket in honor of Jace and Sheldon.  I put m&m's in each egg, that was Jace's favorite, and I put a scripture or quote that has helped me through this past month.  I opened one today and this was the scripture I put in that egg.  "And thus God breaketh the bands of death, having gained the victory over death; giving the Son power to make intercession for the children of men."  Mosiah 15:8 (From the Book of Mormon).  In the picture below, the little basket I made is next to Jace's pillow pet and some throw pillows I sewed.  We always had Jace's pillow pet in our living room for him to put his head on when he watched a show.  Jace probably threw those throw pillows on the floor dozens of times and I would always tell him not to do it.  It makes me laugh now.  At the time I didn't think it was too funny.  I am glad that I have that memory when I look at those pillows.  Happy Easter Sheldon and Jace.  I love you and miss you. 

Valentine's Day

We had a fun Valentine's Day at our house.  Jace helped me decorate by gluing pieces of paper on a heart.  I wrote some things we love about Sheldon on some other hearts and we taped them to one of our windows.  I made chicken enchiladas and we very excited for Sheldon to come home so we could show him our gift to him.  We all got some candy and we gave Jace a new scooter.  He was very excited about it.  We also bought one extra scooter so either Sheldon or I can take Jace out scooting.  Sheldon gave me some nice flowers too!  What a fun day to celebrate with my husband and son!!

Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day started out with PRESENTS of course.  Jace was very happy to see his gifts and was instantly drawn to a set of Cars monster trucks.  He wanted them open immediately and played with them for about ten minutes before he noticed any other presents.  He then noticed his big digger given to him by his grandma GG and grandpa Steve and was very anxious for his daddy to get it out of the box.  Jace dumped out his stocking contents and wanted to eat candy right away.  While Jace was distracted with his new gifts Sheldon and I opened our presents.  We headed to church next and it was nice to reflect upon our Savior and all that He has done for us.  When we came back home Sheldon made us super yummy omelets for breakfast, which I am hoping will become a Christmas tradition.  I bought Sheldon a pair of rubber boots so we decided to all take a walk outside even though it was raining and enjoy the beautiful lake view we have in our backyard.  Later that evening we had a delicious ham and funeral potato meal with corn, jello, and rolls.  We also had delicious red velvet cake (also a Christmas tradition in our house) and enjoyed watching Jace play with all his new toys.  We are very blessed and enjoyed spending our Christmas day together.

Here is Jace pointing to his new monster trucks!!  He's been asking for them ever since we moved here and watched Mater Tales on the internet.

We also bought Jace a set of cars from the Cars movie and the wheels didn't roll.  Jace said they were broken.  I guess that present was a bust.

My new Nook!  Wahoo!

Sheldon's new flat screen TV.

Jace did not want to stop playing to get ready for church.  When we made it to church he kept telling us that we needed to go home since his digger was there and he wanted to play.

He looked very handsome in his new Christmas church outfit.

When I was growing up, after unwrapping presents we would always display them and take a picture.  So here's a picture of our loot in honor of a Galler family tradition!

Jace's gifts wouldn't fit on his little toddler bed.

This was Jace's first experience with play dough.  He loved it.

I didn't take any pictures of dinner since I was so busy getting everything ready.  But we had a delicious meal that we will probably enjoy for a few more days.  What a fun Christmas!!