31 flavors of VaRonica

I wanted to describe myself for my own birthday… and since I am turning 31 today I decided that I would come up with 31 flavors of who I am

31. hungry

30. tired all the time (now that Alice has joined us)

29. busy

28. someone who loves my job

27. productive (most of the time)

26. talkative (which is good for my job)

25. loud (I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of being quiet)

24. someone who loves to laugh

23. a person who loves to nap

22. snarky

21. vacation lover (I would spend all of my money on vacations if I could get the time off)

20. consumer of trash TV

19. future/ closet biker babe

18. Pug tamer

17. movie lover

16. baker

15. an exceptional stacker

14. an “I’ll try anything once” type of girl

13. crazy/ funny singer

12. jokester

11. lover of animals

10. a person who actually likes change

9. an adventure seeker

8. a texter

7. friend who loves

6. an avid reader

5. aunt

4. sister (in-law mostly)

3. daughter

2. wife

1. A fist time MOM!

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Memorial Day 2012

I have struggled this past year with a lot of loss.  I can't begin to describe the feelings that arise when I start to think of all of the wonderful, amazing, talented and loving people there are in my life and to lose any of them sucks!  I have lost two amazing people in my life within the past month and that is who I wold like to focus this entry on today.

Jamaica.  Where to even begin.  Jamaica is my cousin, she is 6 days younger than I am.  Jamaica is so talented in many different area's.  She played piano, tumbled, danced, cheered, wrote poetry, taught herself different languages and truly loved people.  Jamaica is beautiful beyond description, funny and smart.  I was and always will be jealous of Jamaica and the things that she is.  I was saddened to hear that she died at the young age of 30.  She had so many things in life that she wanted to accomplish and so much that she already had.  I will miss you Jake and all of your passion.

Joel.  I am sad to say that I have only known Joel for a few years.  I met Joel when we were both in graduate school at the University of Utah together for our Masters in Social Work degrees.  He was quiet and funny in classes and would always encourage me and invite me to play basketball with him and a friend (a horrible sight to see).  Joel graduated with me and subsequently got a job at Valley where I work.  I began working with him in February of 2011.  We had so much fun at work.  We would compare notes on supervision, run idea's past each other about treatment options and would talk about our "outside lives".  Joel is an amazing musician, a funny funny guy who would always find the lighter side to every situation and a smart man.  I was shocked and upset when I found out of Joel's passing at the young age of 30 this year.  He left behind a wonderful and beautiful wife and two dogs that he loved dearly.  Joel accomplished so much in his short life and definitely lived life with no regrets.  I learned a lot from him and will miss him.

On this memorial day I am thinking of many that I have lost over the years but most of all I am thinking of these two wonderful people who I lost at 30.  I have had extreme high points during this, my 30th year of life, but the loss of these two have really made this year miserable as well.

Gender Reveal Party!!!

So many people have been interested in what this whole party thing is all about. Well thanks to my amazing, creative and always down for a party sister-in-law, Jessica Sellers, I now know what a gender reveal party is. Apparently it is a new trend that I personally think is awesome! Parents to be head in for the ultrasound and gain all the information with the exception of the gender. The doctor or tech is asked to write the gender of the baby in a card and seal it in an envelope. The parents then either ask a friend or family member to help with the party, or they just take the card straight to a bakery. There are different ways to reveal the gender but it seems that hiding the gender of the baby in the center of a cake or cupcake has been the most popular. Then everyone, family friends and parents all get to find out the gender together when the cake is cut or the cupcakes are eaten.

When Jessi told me about this type of party I knew that we had to have one. Nathan agreed that it would be fun (really I am sure that he just agreed because his pregnant wife wanted to do it, but either way he agreed J ) so we started planning. We invited some of our close friends and family to attend, we also enlisted a sister-in-law in Montana, Rebekah Little, to also help in our little plan. Rebekah and Jessi were in charge of knowing the gender, not telling anyone and getting a cake with either blue or pink icing inside to the big events one in Salt Lake City and one in Montana. I don’t have any pictures of the Montana festivities yet but here are some from the Utah party.

We had so much fun and at the party and Skypeing with the Montana family during their party!!! We had everyone pick what gender they thought the baby would be and wear the corresponding blue or pink. In Utah we had a little competition between the pink and blue team, each team had to pop balloons to find baby items written inside, the first team to get everything needed to change a diaper and bring it to the judge, me, won. Now the winning team gets their picture first on this blog!!!

And finally for the big reveal…

And the new addition to the Little family is a GIRL!!!!!

Catch up on 2011

It’s about time to catch everyone up on what has been happening in the life of the Little family. We have been so bad about blogging and I am not sure how that happened or who is to blame, so lets just say I am working on it! So this is going to be a wrap up of 2011 up to this point!

January

We bought a house, no big deal right hahaha. We love our little house and have been slowly but surely working towards making it all ours through and through. Don’t get me wrong, we are still working on some things, but getting closer!

Oh yeah and Sir had to have 7 bits of cancer (small tumors) removed from all over his little body. He has had this done before, but never so many at once and he was not happy about having to wear his collar of shame while he healed.

February

I changed jobs. After working at Valley Mental Health ARTEC for 7 ½ years I was transferred to Valley Mental Health ASAP. I was super nervous about this switch, but it was just what I needed to grow and keep my drive up as a substance abuse therapist! I love my co-workers and have been so lucky to have kept a job while so many in the company were laid off.

We had a pipe coming off of our main line at the house break, and spendy thing to have happen when you just buy a house, but we got it taken care of! (Thanks McKay)

March

Reed and Saundra had come to Utah a few times throughout the start of the year but Saundra was able to spend her birthday with us, which we enjoyed very much!!!

April

Sir was able to go to Puppy Prom and ... he won Prom King! We were so proud of our little man!!!

May, this one was a big month.

Nathan and I celebrated our 4^th wedding anniversary. We have been so happy and lucky to have found each other that sometimes we forget that we have only been married such a short time.

Quinn turned one! This is a huge deal for our family and to celebrate we were able to participate in the March of Dimes walk for babies to honor her huge success in not only beating the odds but doing it in style!

This is also the month that my best friend Misty told me that she was engaged! Let the planning begin!!!!

My dad went into the hospital for a knee replacement. Now this turns into a long story that will definitely be told in another blog.

June

I began preparing our yard to be less of a crazy jungle and more of a put together livable and calm place to hang out. I spent just about every weekend out in the sun weeding, trimming and planting so that we could have something that fit us better!

July

Wedding prep for Misty was in full bloom! I hosted a bridal shower, bachelorette party and a weekend trip to Vegas. I was all about having a month of Misty!

August, another big one.

Now here is where things started to get a little crazy… I hadn’t been feeling good and didn’t want to celebrate my big 30^th birthday, but this ended up being for the best. It was a bitter sweet day on August 5^th when we celebrated my life we had to mourn the loss of our amazing Grandma Little. Grandma had lived a wonderful life and was always so giving, kind and loving. We miss her and think of her often.

Next was Misty’s wedding. I am sure that I will be posting more on this in another blog, so lets just say it was unforgettable!

Sir had to have his 4th surgery of his short life. He had to have his knee worked on and is still recovering from this, but has been a champ throughout the whole process!

Nathan’s birthday picked up the rear of the month, Nathan doesn’t celebrate his birthday, ever, and this year was no exception however he got some amazing gifts that I am sure will be shared in future blogs as well.

September

Finally we are here and catching up for the year and I guess the only thing to say about this month so far is this…

WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!

That’s right peeps we are expecting a new addition to the Little family, coming in March if all goes as planned. We are so excited that this little “parasite”, as Nathan calls it, has decided to join our lives!!!

I am 13 weeks along and have been sick to say the least. I am starting to feel a little better now and hope that this is a new trend and not just a fluke. (we found out at the start of July but the news just didn't seem to fit in there so we waited until now to share with everyone)

Well that will end this super long catch up, but I felt it was important to let everyone know what has been going on in our Little life!