The day the music died

I love music. Love. It has always made bad times good and great times better. I like just about everything about music. All different genres...making it, listening to it...it is all good. I have also always used music to motivate myself...I work harder when my favorite tunes are on. My workouts were only as good as my playlist. But then I started training for a marathon. Music was great for a while....but as the mileage climbed higher and the runs got longer, no playlist could keep me going the whole time.

I switched to just running in silence. There was something beautiful about this. Just me and my thoughts in the early morning before the craziness of the day. I was completely alone for a few hours every morning. I loved hitting the dead, empty streets, watching the sun come up, and listening to my breathing and shoes hit the pavement. It was my therapy. Then the mileage went even higher.

I wanted a distraction. It hit me that my dad is always carrying on about the book he is currently listening to. Listening. Brilliant! I used to love to read! College sort of killed that love...all those hours of forced reading changed reading from a pass time to a chore. I asked my dad to load me up with his most recent read. It was Hunger Games. It took about two weeks for me to finish it. Loved it. Even more than the book itself, I loved that I was "reading" again. It was so fun to get lost in a book every morning.

My dad has a rule that he listens to non fiction between every fictional book. I decided why not? My next book was a WWII story about Louis Zamperini. It was amazing. And again, I loved that books were back in my life. I was learning every morning as I ran. I have fallen in love with audio books. I don't have time to sit down and read every single day. Well, I guess it is more than I am not willing to make the time...but now I don't need to.  I now listen to books while cleaning, relaxing, or any other time I have a minute to myself.

Now don't get me wrong. I love my tunes. I still jam regularly. But I am officially converted to audio books for running, driving, and such. I might never go back!

Kyle's Tricks

We finally took some video of Kyle's most recent tricks. I post these for my own documentation so I can look back and watch. He was a little distracted and didn't want to fully perform...but that's how it goes. We love him. Pardon this burp, and the mosquito on his lil' head. 

Motivation and satisfaction

This video is my go to pick me up.

I love it. 

When I first saw it it spoke right to me. I never thought of myself as creative. Then I realized this is why I love hair. Because I can create something. But then I realized creation brings me so much satisfaction in my daily life. Making dinner, creating order, crafting...they are all small forms of creation that I do each day. And that brings me happiness. 

That's why I love this video.

9 months

Its about that time again, monthiversary time! My little man is 9 months old now. I keep thinking each month is my favorite, but he keeps topping himself. He is SO much fun these days. Its crazy how fast time goes, but at the same time I feel like he has been in our family forever. It is hard to remember the "pre-kyle" years. I feel like he has matured quite a bit this last month. I can see him turning into a little boy more each day. Allow me to document some of my favorite things he does.

• When you say "yay" he claps. No matter what. He will drop anything to get to clapping position. 
• He is the fastest seal crawler I have ever seen. He can cross a room in no time at all.
• He is obsessed with standing. He is constantly pulling himself up to stand. Though I think walking is a bit down the road still, he is definitely interested.
• He loves to click his tongue. He will always do it back if you do it first.
• He smacks his lips when he likes his food, spits it out or chucks the spoon when he doesn't.
• He loves gerber puffs, cherry flavor is his fave. He would eat nothing but them if we allowed it.
• He is a social eater. If there is food around he wants a part of it.
• He like to dance. He will start bobbing whenever a song comes on.
• He moved his bed time to 7:30 and appreciates being in his own room with his own bed. 
• He loves fire! Campfires make him squeal with delight.
• He loves to talk, yell, and do anything else with himself that produces noise.
• He prefers to be down where he can move freely. No cuddles from this guy.
• He is a master at getting through any barricade I set up. He is super curious and as a result is a bit destructive and mischievous. Removing outlet covers is his favorite pass time.
•  He continues to love Personal Penguin. The song, the book, and his penguin puppet. He loves them all more than anything else.
• He likes to brush his own teeth.
• He sleeps on his face, just like me:)
• I describe him most often as crazy. He is just very busy all the time.

Of course we think he is the cutest baby to ever live. We also find him hilarious. He is such a happy, go with the flow, always happy to be there kind of guy. You can always count on a smile from Kyle. I don't think I deserve such a fabulous little guy to call my own, but I will take him!! We love you little man! 

And so it begins...

It is about that time again! BYU Football season!!! This has a SERIOUS affect (effect? never get that one right) on the Lundgreen home. Saturday's productivity ceases until January. We are busy and unavailable every weekend until January. We don't wear anything red (unless it is St. Louis Cardinal red), because we wouldn't want to be confused for other fans.We now eat, sleep, and breathe BYU football (among other NFL and college games). And yes, I am 100% totally ok with this. Yesterday was a victory. Go Cougs! 

*Oh, and don't their shirts look great?!

Lately

I haven't been in the mood to blog lately. Not sure why, but I never force it. Don't feel like doing it? Then I don't. I do however like to stay current because I am a total failure at journaling, so I depend on this lil' blog to remember my life. Anyways in the spirit of staying up to date I will do a little recap of recent events.

We have been spending most of our free time camping! We love the great outdoors. We also love our family. SO it really works out when we combine the two. We headed to Heber to camp, canoe, and have some fun with the Lundgreens. Kyle loved the water and I loved that they had a life jacket small enough for him. Seriously adorable. We also had fun on a "challenge course" where I was able to feel adventurous and safe all at the same time. Perfect. Here is a picture recap!

The reunion ended just in time for us to get home and celebrate Ryan's birthday! He is now 26...getting up there:) We went on a hot date and had lots of fun. see? Can't you tell how much fun we are? Happy birthday Ry! What a fabulous guy! 

Now it is back to school, back to work....but the fun will continue!