a whole new family...

what a life changing experience for me...

it all started with these 6 siblings...

my dad is the oldest of 6 kids and i met them all for the first time this weekend!!

what an amazing experience!!

left to right: front row: evelyn, michele and sue. back row: roland, don and my dad, rick.

i just have to say that i was extremely nervous going into this weekend... but each one of my aunts and uncles made me feel so welcome and loved. they were incredibly kind to abbi and i! they were each amazing!!

this was everyone!! in our cool reunion shirts!!

lori was amazing to help with abbi so much!!

we loved riding on the hellgate speed boat excursion! even though the first half of the trip was raining and cold...

aunt michele with all of her nieces and nephews that were at the reunion... loved her!!

proud papa with abbi!

we went golfing!! i even golfed one hole!! :)

the whole group at the hellgate brunch!!

it begins and ends with family! i am so honored to call these 3 men family!

my youngest brother, marcus. my dad, rick. me and my older brother, rick jr. and little miss abbs.... voted miss congeniality of the whole weekend!! :)

my older brother...

this is rick jr... my older brother!!

i met him for the first time last weekend! what a wonderful experience!! he is an incredible man and i am so excited to met him face to face!!

this is his beautiful wife lori! she is awesome!! so kind and sweet!

and this... is my dad and my 2 brothers...

first time we have all been together!!

this was a life changing weekend!!

loved loved loved it!!

a roadtrip and a wedding!!

my really good friend, jeff, got married over mother's day weekend!

jeff and heidi are so great together! whirl wind courtship, but i am excited for them!!

the Little family took a roadtrip to Mesquite, NV for the wedding!!

we had a blast!!

abbi's first hotel stay...

which was free because jeff's new in laws have hotel connections!! wahoo!! abbi loved playing on the bed with daddy!!

sporting her new swimming suit, coverup and sandals!! sooooooo cute!! :)

abbi loved loved loved the water!!

first time swimming!!

splashing girl!!

family photo!

taking a rest in the shade after swimming!!

my goodness!! i love this little girl!! she is so fun!!

so worn out after swimming in the big pool!! she ended up falling asleep in the stroller on the way back to our room. we just kept the stroller tilted and let her sleep...

all dressed up for the wedding

abbi loves babies, kids... pretty much anyone small!! :)

jeff's little niece, megan, was so fun to "play" with!!

love this pic!!

jeff with his parents, russ and sharon

the beautiful and happy couple...

may they live happily ever after!!

9 wonderful years...

Happy anniversary to my

fabulous, super cute husband!!

9 years!!

love it!!

look how young we look...

we have had an amazing journey thus far...

4 residences

a baby

purchased a home

12 ish jobs... (kev mostly... :) )

family and friends living with us off and on

laughter and tears

sadness and tears

fun adventures!!

i wouldn't trade any of it for where we are now!

i love you kev!

you are my sweet huban!

the grandmother i never met...

Jeannine A. Soucy

i never met my fathers mother. i wished i could have...

my mom always told me that she was a lovely women.

she passed away last month and i wanted to tribute her somehow...

Jeannine A. Soucy, 84, of Grants Pass died surrounded by family in her home on February 17, 2011.All who knew, loved & took care of Jeannine are welcome to come celebrate her life with us at Spring Village on February 27, 2011 at 1:30pm.

Jeannine was born to Joseph & Dorilda LeBlanc on 12/7/1926 in Lewiston Maine. On October 4, 1947 in Auburn Maine, She married Marcel Soucy who preceded her in death in 1999.

(my dad and jeannine)

They moved to Southern California in 1951, then to Grants Pass in 1970. Jeannine & Marcel retired to Southern California in 1997. And in 2002 Jeannine returned to Grants Pass and became a resident of Spring Village.

She was an active member in the Emblem club and a member of the Sweet Adalines. She loved her family & friends. She enjoyed cooking, singing, dancing, playing cards, bowling, golfing & of course - bingo.

She is survived by 3 sons & 3 daughters. Richard Soucy of Brighton Michigan, Donald Soucy of Grants Pass, Roland Soucy of Concord New Hampshire, Susan Parker of Canyon Lake California, Michele Monteleone of Riverside California, Evelyn Pittman of Grants Pass, 12 grandchildren & 8 great grandchildren.

i will meet you someday... until then... i love you.

Abbigail Grace Little...

she is here!!!

we are very proud to announce...

Abbigail Grace Little

Born Friday July 16, 2010 at 5pm

She weighed 8 lbs 5 oz

20 1/2 inches long

we couldn't be more happy! she is an amazing little girl!

and in all honesty... the most beautiful baby on the planet! we are totally in love!

i will share abbi's arrival story later, but for now just enjoy her cuteness. :)

something to share...

well, kevin and i have some very exciting news!!!

WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!

we are so excited... a miracle for sure!!

we are due july 14th-ish...

let the fun begin!!

more to come later... :)

wow...

i know! it has been a really long time since i have done just a good old fashioned post! here you go... ;) random thoughts mixed with a few events!

my birthday was great! we made my all time favorite dessert: chocolate delight!

it was amazing... as usual! the bad part was that i had to share with my mom... cuz she loves it too! usually i get most of it to myself! ha!

my good friend jeff went to hawaii with his sister in october too! what fun for them! here is one of the many pics he sent me while he was there!

i would have never guessed he was a tourist! lol!

nice shirt and shoes there buddy. :) looking good!!

my best friend's brother and his family also came out to visit! it was sooooo much fun to see them!

he has 3 girls and they have all grown up so fast! and are so beautiful!

this picture is: kevin, his wife robin, and their oldest daughter kenzie.

and another visitor too!!! my mom's cousin and his wife came to visit too! what a fun month of friends and family visits!!

ian and sara were on their way to california for the month of november and stopped here! we were so lucky to see them!

such a fun weekend!

in other news and events...

my mom flew out to indiana this morning to spend thanksgiving with my uncle steve and aunt paula! when they were her visiting last month they invited her to come out! i am very excited for her! she hasn't been back "home" to indiana since 1991! she is going to have such a fun visit! and i am a tad jealous! i love indiana and visiting my fabulous family out there! all 3 of my cousins still live in the area and i would love to see them too!

yesterday we had an early celebration of thanksgiving with our friends since mom will be gone for thanksgiving! it was so fun! we ate and laughed and play games all day! i am so blessed to have them in my life!

i am feeling a little bit overwhelmed with all of the projects i have going on! i am in the middle of making my christmas cards! they are very cute... but more time consuming than i realized they would be!

i have started 3 t-shirt quilts! one of them is from all of my creating keepsake shirts i wore when i travelled with them. another is just random shirts of mine over the years and the last one is random shirts of kevins! geez! i really need to get these done so i can have my living room back!!

and my last project i have is my christmas gifts for my family and friends. a couple of weeks ago we had a craft night at church and i bought a ton of this particular craft to make. well... i went a little over board! ha! they are really cute and fairly simple, i just need to find the time to do them!

i am also hosting bunco in december! i am excited and nervous! excited because i love bunco and i do think its fun to shop and plan a party! plus in december we usually go potluck, so the only thing i have to cook is the ham!! easy! but i am nervous because i am not sure where i am going to put everyone! i will have my christmas tree up and i have too much furniture in my living room! so there might be some major remodeling during the christmas season to accommodate my tree! ha!

well... i better go work on those christmas cards... :) have a good day!

a sneak peek...

yesterday we had a photo shoot for our christmas cards.

oh. my. goodness.

i love them!!!

a friend of mine, julianne howes, did the pics!

she is really amazing!

here are just a couple of our fav's...
can't show you the one we have chosen for the christmas card... cuz that one is a surprise!

love... love... love... them!

the wonderful visit!!

we had such an amazing time last weekend!

my uncle steve and aunt paula were in utah!! they live in indiana and we hadn't seen them in several years!

they were here for a librarian conference (they both are librarians) in slc and took some time to see us too!

friday steve came up and spent the day with us! we visited for a bit and then made picnic lunches and took them up the canyon. the leaves were very pretty so it was a nice day for a drive. on the way back we stopped at aggie ice cream for a little treat! delish!!

we then headed over to cox honey to check out what cool stuff they have. steve is a bee keeper and since he was visiting the "beehive" state, this was a must! :)

after checking out the yummy honey we went home to visit some more. we pulled out lots of pics and chatted about the haps in each others lives. it was a fabulous afternoon!

for dinner we decided to go to the beehive grill. super good food and a great atsmosphere!

we had a fun day! it was so great to see him!

sunday morning steve flew home but paula stayed for the closing lecture. after it ended mom and i picked her up and we went to lunch at sego lily cafe in bountiful- very cool place. paula is an amazing woman and it was wonderful to be able to just sit and chat with her for a few hours before she needed to get to the airport.

i sure love these 2 people! they are cream of the crop in my book! :)

my mommy...

today is my cute mommy's birthday!

we had a fun weekend with friends!

it is so great to have her here for her special day! :)

love you mommy!

the week of change...

ok... so i know i haven't posted on here for awhile... we have had a pretty busy couple of weeks...

last week...

i was out of town every day. going to 4 of the other clubs in our region to help with their inventories! it was fun... i really enjoy going. i always learn a ton.. what to do and not to do. i took my team a couple of days. it is nice to do something a little different every now and again.

now this week...

my mom called me on tuesday in tears. she told me that she was going to leave her husband. after talking to her for a few minutes we decided that kevin and i would drive down to salt lake to get her and bring her home with us. when we got there we filled both her car and our car. kevin drove her car and she came with me in our car. we had a good talk coming back home. she is doing well, all things considered. she feels at peace with her decision even though she is extremely sad about it all. they have been married for almost 14 years.

in all honesty, i am not surprised that this happened... he is not the nicest person in the world. but i am shocked. even though i knew that i could never be in a relationship like that, i thought it was working for them. it makes me sad that dreams are being shattered, but i know that she made the right decision.

after a few days of going back and forth moving all of her stuff here we are almost done! i think only one more short trip at the end of the month and she will be 100% here! so, needless to say, my house is a bit packed at the moment! lol! we are so happy to have her here with us, but it is a huge adjustment for all of us.

we will all survive this! and be better for it!

happy birthday carrie!

Happy Birthday Carrie!!!today is my beautiful cousins birthday!

she is 25 today!

we are super close! and i am so grateful for her and our friendship!

love ya carrie!

happy valentine's day!!!

happy valentine's day!

i will admit, that before i was married i hated this day! i protested the whole month for that matter! i wore black all month, but was decked from head to toe in black on the 14th! to top it all off! i worked at a hallmark store! the land of love!

ok... so when i got married, i gave in.

but i think it is more than that! i changed my way of thinking! today i look at february 14th as a day of love... not only for a sweetheart, but for family and friends!

today is a day i like to recognize my friends... let them know i love them. tell my family i am thinking about them.

my sweet husband was out of town this weekend, and didn't come home until late tonight. but he wanted to make sure that i knew he remembered me!

he sent flowers! beautiful roses! and the UPS guy brought them! how cool is that!

i married a wonderful man!

today, i tell each of you... remember the ones you love... you don't have to be married, dating or even in love to enjoy Valentine's Day...

you just have to tell those in your life that you love them!

i hope you had a good day, i did!