What I'm Reading

I love getting recommendations from other people about good books, so here's opinion on the matter.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This one is about a paralyzed man and his care giver. Best book I've read in a while



Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist. This one is about hospitality and sharing your store around a table including some recipes I'm excited to try



A Fault in Our Stars by John Green. Apparently I like depressing stories. This is about childhood cancer but was really good.



Carry On Warrior by Glennon Melton. A memoir on her journey out of drug addiction



The Husbands Secret by Liane Moriarty. Chick lit quick read



That's my round up for today. I am picking up Wonder from the library today. I'll let you know if it's good.

As of late...

Life has been jam packed lately. What we've been up to...

-lots of parties for my 2 engaged siblings. A total blast. We are loving every bit of it and spending our weekends traveling to various events. Our most recent was to tupelo, ms, for Ben and Rachel's engagement party. We also spent the night in Birmingham with my sweet friend Jessica. We had a blast!

-I lost my sweet grandma this month. I've been dreading that day for most of my life. :) She was 98 and and lived a beautiful life. I had a wonderful relationship with her and my grandpa and am so thankful for the legacy they left us. A legacy of faith, family, and hard work. Liam's middle name, Setter, is my grandma's maiden name. I'm thankful they got to see each other several times. I know grandpa and grandma are dancing again in heaven. 

Grandpa and grandma on their wedding day

Our last trip to Fargo 

Liam was EXHAUSTED from playing with my cousin's kids. It was his first time with the big kids and it made him seem so old to me!

Annika, Halle, and Johanna

One year for Christmas G&G made us all sequence boards so we had a tournament. Fun memories.

-Lauren and I have been getting together with our BFFs Liam and Evan or "eban" as Liam says

Rachel and Ben's Engagement

Ben and Rachel got engaged in vail. I'll let them tell the story...

According to Rachel:

My side of the story is simple: I got a surprise visitor (Ben) to my favorite place in the world (Vail). He asked me to marry him in a beautiful chapel on the mountain, and I said “yes” as fast as I could!

According to Ben:

My original plan was to propose at the Auburn/MissouriSEC Football Championship Game in Atlanta at half-time surrounded by both Auburn’s and Missouri’s marching band and all of it broadcasted on the jumbo-tron and national TV.  Instead, I chose to propose in a quiet, quaint chapel in the mountains of Colorado where Rachel loves to seek peace and solitude.  Smart decision.  Rachel was in Colorado with her family (who were all in on the secret) for Christmas break and unbeknownst to her, I flew out there Saturday morning, December 21.  Her family distracted her at one ski resort while I hung around another nearby resort town.  The “bait” was for all the Lundeens to have a nice family dinner that Saturday evening and to stop by the special chapel beforehand for pictures.  As Rachel walked in, there I was standing at the altar with a big grin on my face and yes, sweating as usual.  After some private, alone time together, we were greeted outside of the chapel by her family with sparklers and champagne.  It all happened just as I had planned it! 

Jackson Hole

We had a great trip to Jackson Hole in January with kiersten, cam, and Jenny. They spoiled us and kept Liam at night so we could sleep. It was amazing. 

They got tons of snow while we were there. Liam loves the snow and has seen tons of it!

Jenny always the multitasker. We got pedicures one day.

They even let us ski one day. I wore all kiersten's clothes and gear. Jackson Hole is hard mountain! I felt like I could fall with every turn.

We ate waffles at the top of the tram.

Cheered on auburn in the national championship. Unfortunately it didn't go our way. 

We played lots of games all week and enjoyed the relaxation

Liam and I snow shoed in Teton national park. We went 3 miles and he did great!

Just a great time to spend with my aunt and cousins!

Liam- 18 Months

18 months! Holy cow. Liam is so so fun! He's a super good little boy and goes with the flow. At his doctor's appointment he was in the 70% on everything. His little body caught up with his head. :)

Liam eats a healthier version of everything we eat. He has lots of eggs, waffles (wa wa), beans, strawberries, berries, mango smoothies, tortilla, his current favorite is bananas (nananana) on repeat.

He sleeps from 7:30-7:30 or 8. Praise Jesus. He goes down easily ( nigh nigh) and sometimes cries around midnight but usually falls back to sleep within minutes. He sleeps in a sleep sack with his light up frog. We do a bath then play a little in his room and FaceTime with Mimi and grand daddy then to bed. We're trying to get to 1 nap but he usually takes two 45 min snoozes. I can't get past that 45 min mark. 

He has lots of words now and has a new one or more every day. Some I can think of are banana (nanna), apple, a version of Cheerios, nigh nigh, mama, dada, Mimi, dachie for sachie, Kiki for kiersten, wawat for water, milk, ight for light (those are still favorites), lots of animal noises like ruff ruff, quack, etc, bath, hat (obsessed with those), car, and many more. 

His loves music and his favorite song is I'm bring home a baby bumble bee. He does the motions then has a version of ouch he stung me. I melt every time. Can do motions for the wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider, patacake. For the spider he holds on finger and twists it. I also love it when he makes his L for patacake.

The boy loves life outside. We recently had a ice storm and he would just stand by the door and point. He gives great hugs on demand and loves to kiss and hug Colby. Colby tolerates him ok most days.

 I LOVE being this precious baby's mom and thank The Lord every day for him. I'll say it again...he is such a joy.

Liam- 15 Months

What, What? I am totally that mom....15 months??? No way. I don't know how this happened. My precious little pumpkin baby is 15 months. Holy. I love him beyond words. He is my heart. He continues to be such a joy. He's happy and smiley and perfect. He's an easy little guy and we can bring him anywhere. The only thing he doesn't like is another child screaming or child getting too much in his personal space. Other than that, he's fab.

Liam started walking at about 14 months. He totally has it now and is basically running. We loved the first little bit of walking because he really looked like a zombie holding his arms up and moving around.  Adam really wanted him to be a zombie for Halloween but unfortunately he's walking really well now so I don't know that it would be as funny. Sorry Adam.

He's huge into pointing and points to everything usually with a grunt. Or a "dis" or "dat." He doesn't have many words yet but is saying "Mama" (Yes!) more consistently and says it whenever Adam answers the phone. I'm taking that as associating the phone and my voice to me. A stretch? Maybe but I'm going with it.

We had a great visit with Granddaddy and Mimi for Carson-Newman Homecoming. It was good to be there for the parade and to see friends and family. And of course we loved showing off Liam. I think Granddaddy got an especially big kick out of it. They watched the whole parade together pointing and laughing.

Liam is surprisingly still very into fans and lights. The fan got his first smile and it really has not waned since then. He really loves it. Every day we point at the lights and fans and oh and ahh. He can now turn on and off the light so that is always interesting too. Electrical engineer?? Andrew is clearly equally intrigued.

Liam LOVES his Mimi. They talk daily on FaceTime (she's especially handy if we are sick of entertaining him). He gets a huge smile when she comes on the screen and she is usually already singing "skitama rink i dink y dink" or "the wheels on the bus" before she even comes clear on our side. He likes to do the ruff ruff when the dog on the bus part starts. They can talk to each other a long time and just entertain each other. I think they may just entertain each other and we don't even have to be there. 

Adam's cousin Abby got married in North Carolina in September. We had a great time visiting family. Liam had his first fever there though and unfortunately threw up for his first time...on uncle Andrew. Poor little guy and poor Andrew.

He still loves cheerios. Adam posted this picture while I was working one day and said, "Dear God, thank you for these cheerios." I laughed out loud and still think it's hilarious.

Liam has been giving great hugs lately. It is my favorite. He just opens his arms wide and collapses into your arms. Adorable. We went to the park yesterday, just me and him, and had such a great time playing in the grass. He would walk away from me and explore then come right back and give me a huge hug. I just want to remember that feeling forever. Priceless.

He loves the shopping cart. I'm so glad because that could be frustrating shopping. I'm sure our time is coming.

We stopped at the Dickens' house, Adam's cousin Liz and family, in Charlotte at some point this summer because Liz was about to have baby Isaac. She was super pregnant and so cute. The picture has her kids Lilly and Quinn in it. Liam loved their water table.

I need to do this more often. I enjoyed recounting all my favorite things about my baby.

One Year Pictures

The very talented Paige Knudsen did Liam's one year pictures. We LOVED our newborn pics by her and we LOVE the one year. We feel like she captures Liam so well. Here are some of our favorites. There's a lot...