and he arrives :)

the time came when our little man was ready to meet us. June 25, 2011 changed our lives forever and we couldn't be happier about that. henry michael nothum arrived at 4:47 am at 7lbs 6 oz and 21 inches. he was perfect. so now i will tell the best 24 hours of my life. if you do not enjoy hearing someone's birth story then please don't continue, my feelings will not be hurt. So it all began at about 5:30pm on June 24th with mild cramping happening every 15 minutes. I thought that it would pass and i would continue on my friday night as usual, wow was i wrong. the mild cramping turned into contractions in about an hour and a half. the contractions starting coming every 5 minutes from then on. At about 7:00pm Spencer and I went for a walk outside (i wanted to make sure that these contractions were the real thing). the contractions started increasing in intensity very quickly. I got inside at about 8:00pm and Spencer was more than ready to head to the hospital. I had a different plan in mind. on a side note..you would have thought that we would have talked about our "plan" when the time came for the baby to come but i guess that slipped by us. My plan=me laboring at home before heading to the hospital. Spencers plan=going to the hospital immediately. Anyway, I won and I labored at home. Spencer rubbed my back, i got into the bathtub (which i recommend) and i continued to breath and walk until about 10:00pm. I think those hours were the worst couple hours for Spencer, poor guy! We arrived at the hospital at 10:20 and we were admitted to labor and delivery. I was a whopping 6 cm. and was not slowing down. My water broke at 1:00am and our precious henry was born at 4:47am. it was more than i could have imagined. So many emotions. I am so blessed to have been able to go through that experience and so blessed to be a mother.

sunny california

So I finished my last day of work and Spencer finished his last day of school (not forever :( just for the semester) and we were packed up and headed to California. This was my second time to the beautiful state of California, the first being with our bff's the Perdue's to their hometown which let me tell you was one of the best times i have ever had and am counting down the days until we reunite with them there! We were off to visit Spencer's aunt, uncle and cousin. They live in Hermosa Beach which is just a little south of LA. We had a BLAST! We went to the beach everyday which was heaven, i love the beach and could go there everyday..hmm...maybe that will be the next place we live? But anyway it was so much fun. Who said being 35 weeks pregnant wasn't fun? yes, i was huge on that vacation. Believe it or not I did take pictures.....well spencer did. I am horrible at taking pictures, but that too I will be improving on. So enjoy..

good bye beautiful mountains and friends....hello st. louis

After much thought Spencer and I decided that moving back home would be most beneficial to our little family. He would be able to work for his dad, go to school, and we would be able to live with my mom while all of this was going on so we could save money and i could stay at home with our baby who was arriving soon. At the time I was so excited to be back home and did not think twice about leaving the place we called home for a year. I now realize how much I miss so many things about Utah. Here is the list.....

first and foremost I MISS OUR FRIENDS, our apartment, the mountains, the temples, BYU basketball, how close everything is, burger supreme, mountain west burrito, cafe rio, summer days and nights, national parks, and believe it or not i miss work!

I know that we are suppose to be here right now but I do miss the west...maybe we will be back someday. So after much thinking I have decided that I love the west and love the midwest..so all in all i have concluded that i would love anywhere i lived as long as my little family was there. We could be happy anywhere and everywhere!

it all begins today...

Ok, so I know that it has been months, well lets say about a half a year since my last post. yes, I know, not ok. I have made a promise to myself, my husband and others that I will be dedicated to updating the family blog. So clearly, much has happened since our last post in December...let me explain (briefly)

Despite all our expectations we had a great Christmas just the two of us, I came home to visit my family in February, we went to California in May, moved back home to St. Louis in May, had our first baby in June, went to Texas in July, Spencer started school in August, and here we are to September. Now, don't worry everyone, I will go into detail about a few of those events since they are pretty significant to us! :) I am happy to be back on my blog and no one worry....I am here to stay.