I TeW YeAS OL'

Oh wow how I can't believe my baby boy is already two years old! Wow how the last two years have gone so fast. Jace is an awesome little boy and we love him so much!

Before I show off my fabulous birthday party, I'd like to mention some of Jace's favorite things and what's up in his little life.

Jace is babbling up a storm now. I'm sure he is saying so much more than what we can understand, but he's always just talking up a storm. Even as a small 2 year old you can tell that Jace is going to grow up and be a smart kid ... He loves {wow does he love} books. He doesn't care if they are picture books, or word books. He generally gets irritable when he can't read either Joe's or my books. He loves to just flip through the pages and has recently started asking what things are in the page. (That's the number 14 Jace ... that's the title Jace ... those are words Jace ..... ) To keep his mind well balanced is that he loves puzzles! He does awesome at finding where the pieces go (especially when the picture is on the back of the puzzle). He has started to put together his foam alphabet pieces too. He can find his letter J or Z or K or whatever. That kid has a brain.

Jace is generally a happy kid ... since turning 2, he has turned on a bit of a 2 year old behavior, but he is 9 times out of 10 a happy kid. Jace loves to be outside. We walked to church the other day and was angry when we had to get out of the stroller. He wanted to go back outside. He loves the park (although I feel like it's cruel that we live across the street from the park! He always want to go.) He is awesome and I love him very much

On to our birthday party

We took his grandparents to his favorite restaurant (pho) before the aunt and uncles came over to celebrate. It's not the favorite restaurant for some of his grandparents, but it was fun to be together and Jace loved it!!

We got home in time for all of the rest of our family (and a next door neighbor) to get there, we munched on monsters and just had a darn good time!

Here's some of our pictures from our party ... Here's for another good year Jace-y-boy! We sure love you.

Life is hard ... Celebrate BIG!

I have learned this year that sometimes life just gets you down. Let's face it ... life is tough! Think about your day ... how many different things do you have pulling at your time? In my life, I feel responsible to be a good mother, wife, person, church member, stamper, quilter, crafter, friend, and still find time for me. Sometimes we are thrown curve balls and are knocked down. Life is hard and I have come to realize that I need to fight back! Make the most of EVERY moment! Go BIG or GO HOME ...

So I did ...

I made these

I had a blast playing with these little monsters! It took about 4 hours to bake the cupcakes (I only have 1 set of silicone "tins" that I like so I could only do 12 at a time and there are 47 cupcakes!) and about 4 hours to frost with the help of my {{very patient}} mother in law.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE {{LuuuV}} the way they turned out! I'll do it over and over and over again!!

Handsome Boy

Rayma and Teresa (her sister) made both of their grandsons ties for their birthday ... Teresa's only grandson is just a month older than Jace. He looks SO cute in his new little outfit!! Although the thrill of dressing up my "doll" has long passed, I still like showing off Jace at church. Many little boys just wear clothes ... polos or whatever. I like when Jace dresses up just a bit ... SO FUN! So thanks grandma for the awesome church clothes. They are ADORABLE!! Here's one of his outfits that Grandma gave him ... (feel free to oooh and aaaaw ... they are amazing and I want to learn how to make them myself!)

(He was so into whatever he was doing ... we never got any great pics of this. We'll try again later!)

A Man Sized Hat

Jace's favorite Aunt Sarie made Jace a hat at the beginning of the year. It took him a little while to warm up to it and I was afraid that all of her hard work went to waste. After several tries, he started to learn that this little gray hat meant that he was about to go outside and he LOVES to go outside! Thank You Auntie Sarie for such an awesome gift! We love it (and look how cute he is in it!!!)

Changing

People change. They have experiences in their life that change who they are. I have had one of those experiences recently {sad face} but after some thought, prayers, and many many tears ... I truly believe that my Heavenly Father is giving me these experiences and trials to mold me into what he needs me to be. Nothing happens by chance, and although my heart is still broken, I feel like I am being guided to be a better person.

That being said, I'm not done healing. This last miscarriage has thrown me through a loop! All I want is to add one more to my family. I feel that ache inside of me every day and I try to have the courage to move on ... but some days it's just hard. I don't feel like my mental, emotional, or spiritual strength is where it needs to be because all are being tested right now. I have an overwhelming urge to take the next 6 weeks or so of my life and try to heal. I plan to do the bare minimum outside of my family. No more weight watchers. No more crazy get togethers. Just me. I need to heal. I need to concentrate on growing. I need to go to the temple, read my scriptures, and pour my heart out to my Heavenly Father so he can take what I have inside of me and help me to make it better. I will get through this, and my family will make it. I know we will, but I feel like I need to take the time out of my life to make it happen and not just idly sit by hoping it will.