Burt Family Year in Review

King-ing up the Goose-t

Ok, so I woke up yesterday morning to a little boy singing "booooooooooo...goose-t" over and over again. I poked my head through the door to find Porter hiding under his blanket. I had to stifle a laugh to get a picture before he heard me. I guess I know what Porter will be for Halloween next year.

We went to Costco this weekend, and I caught a glimpse of a day-in-the-life of Andy & Porter, when, after standing in line at the photo center (along with everyone else in southern Utah), I found the boys in the vision center trying on glasses. According to Andy, this is a normal afternoon activity whenever they go to Wal-Mart.

After all the shopping fun, we went home to do a little holiday baking. After giving Porter a beater covered in choclate, I carried him into the bathroom to give him a bath. When he looked in the mirror, he started crying because he was "messy." He kept screaming "king-up" until he was in the bath and I'd washed his face.

And what Burt-family weekend would be complete without a little trauma? Porter and I were dancing around the living room to a little Bing Crosby when he after spinning around, he stumbled into the Christmas tree. Judging from his face, the tree won.

And yes, this blemish bothered him too. Every time he notices it, he grabs his cheek and asks me to "king-up." Much to Andy's dismay, it looks like Porter got my OCD clean-gene. I hope it lasts through those stinky teenage years.

Diablo

Ha, Ha!!!

Jen made the mistake of showing me how to update the blog. I hope you are all ready for my ever so brilliant musings. I'll be running the show from now on (well more of it anyway). You'll be hearing more from me soon...

Half-way There

Christmas is fast upon us, but before we get to that, here's a quick update on the first half of our Holiday season (better known as Thanksgiving).

We spent Thanksgiving with Jen's family...all FIVE generations of us.

From left to right, Jen, Porter, Great-Grandma Godwin (Porter's great-great-grandma), Dad Steve (Porter's grandpa) & Grandma June (Porter's great-grandma)

We also enjoyed the extended autumn weather. Leave-stomping has become a family-favorite.

Porter's love for "tuuuuuuuunnellllllllls" continues to grow thanks to an early Christmas gift from Grandma & Grandpa.

And, of course, the piano became the new alarm clock in a house full of visitors who would have probably rather slept in. It's a good thing Porter's the only grandchild/nephew...the novelty hasn't worn off just yet (We hope!).

We bribed Porter at the mall on Black Friday

And probably should have ridden the carousel again after a not-so-pleasant visit with 'Ol St. Nick.

Throw in "mash-a-mow"-roasting by the "fie-ya" in lieu of pumpkin pie,

And a rush to get the Christmas lights up before the snow (we're still waiting), and that sums up our first half of the holiday season.

Stayed tuned for Part Two!

Random Tagging

Ok, thanks to my oldest friend, Melinda, I have to spill the beans on the Jen & Andy love affair.

1. What is his name: Andrew Bryan Burt
2. How long have you been married: 4 years, 3 months & 5 days (yes, I did have to look at a calendar)
3. How long did you date: 4 years exactly. Our first date was September 12, 1999, and we got married September 12, 2003.
4. Who eats more: Andy eats larger meals, but I eat more snacks than he does.
5. Who said 'I love you' first: I don't remember? Eeek. We both say it now though.
6. Who sings better: Neither one of us is stellar, but we can both carry a tune (except in the mornings, at night, and on a full moon). Ok, we're both equally bad.
7. Who is taller: Andy.
8. Whose temper is worse: Hmm...Andy's temper is worse when it does surface, but I tend to be more vocal about my grievances.
9. Who does the laundry? I do the bulk of it on the weekends, but Andy does a random load here and there during the week.
10. Who does the dishes: Andy. Eat your heart out ladies.
11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: I do.
12. Who does the cooking: I do. It gets me out of doing the dishes.
13. Who is more stubborn: Andy would say me, I'd say him.
14. Who proposed: Andy.
15. Who is more likely to admit when they are wrong: Sadly, me. So to re-answer number 13, Andy is more stubborn. Definitely. I guess I can't have a husband who does the dishes AND apologizes, right?
16. Whose parents do you see the most: Mine, but we're going to see the Burts in Milwaukee for Christmas!
17. Who pays the bills: Me. I'm more organized than Andy is.
18. Who wears the pants in the family: Porter.
19. Why do you love your husband: Because he makes me laugh when I'm stressed/sad/mad; is a great dad, brother and son; is always up for an adventure; and best of all, he keeps me from taking life too seriously.

Ok, it's my turn to tag someone: Tiff, you're it.

I-O

Not much of a story to go along with these photos. They're just our little man at his best.

One fun thing: Porter has just started to say "I love you, " except he cuts out all the filler and just says "I-O."

It melts my heart every time.

I-O from the Burts to all our friends and fam.

CAnnNnnGeeeeeeY!

Halloween in the Burt home started a few weeks ago when we took Porter to the pumpkin patch. We arrived full of hopes to find The Great Pumpkin, but soon found we were a week or so too late. The pumpkins had started to rot, and were a little too cushy for me to want to dig my hand into for carving. We did let Porter walk around for a while though. Once he figured out he couldn't pick up the pumkins (after three failed attempts, complete with grunting, and one slimy sleeve from a much too soggy pumpkin), he decided to use them all as chairs, running from one "kum-kin" to the next while yelling "siiiiit."

I wouldn't count this as a failed activity though. It was a warm fall day, Porter loved the "dut" (dirt), and all the running around was enough to wear him out for a nice, long nap. Besides, it turns out the grocery store's pumpkins are just as orange (and much more firm). Here's a pic from project kum-kin take two. Porter didn't love the slimy guts, and after several tries, decided he didn't like the slimy pupmkin seeds either.

As for a costume, we thought we'd dress Porter up as Groucho Marx, but the mustache didn't last long. Porter's Grandma Burt and Uncle Jeff sent enough to last the next five Halloweens though, so maybe next year (Per Andy's instructions, we saved the handlebar for when Porter is a bit older).

Porter was a lion for his first "real" Halloween.
Did Porter trick-or-treat at eighteen months? Of course.

I told Andy if Porter's old enough to know what candy is, he's old enough to go trick-or-treating:

1. The child is like a bat, and can hear you open the candy jar in the kitchen when he's upstairs playing in his bedroom.


2. Whenever you're chewing, and Porter has not seen the source, he immediately assumes you're hiding something, yelling "cannnnnngeeeeeeee" at the top of his lungs.

Although he was initially a bit timid, as soon as the first neighbor shoved a giant bowl of Dots and Snickers in his face, Porter was in heaven. I tried to get him to say "tick-tee" (trick or treat) when people opened their doors, but he felt "cannngeee" would work much better. Six doors, six deliberations over the perfect treat (he gets that from me), and six fights to save the candy until we got home later, we were all eating pumpkin-shaped "pat-zee" (pizza) and getting ready for SUU Basketball's season opener.

Ready for the kicker? I gave Porter a little piece of bubble gum after dinner, and he was still chewing it at toothbrushing time after we'd returned from the game. I think that's the sign of a successful first canngeee-fest.

Catching Up

Summer is gone, and now autumn is almost over as well. Looks like it's time for another update. One of these days, I'll become a blogging queen with new posts every week, but for now, you get a Burt Family marathon full of the last two months of fun. You'll want to click on the October link in the right-hand column to make sure you see all 5 of our new entries.

This is the only picture I've got from the last two months with all three of us in it, so I thought it was as good as any to welcome you back to the Burt Family Blog.

For anyone interested, this was taken at the Living Planet Aquarium in Salt Lake. I liked the squid, Andy liked the sea monkeys (brine shrimp), and Porter liked them all, repeating "Fiiiiiiiiish" over and over again.

Rough Housing

This one's pretty self-explanatory: Andy has taught Porter how to wrestle his stuffed animals. It was bear's turn tonight.

Along with wrestling, Porter also likes to "golf" by hitting a plastic bat (thank you Uncle Chris & Aunt Lori) into any small toy that's lying around. Also, he's just recently learned how to kick, and now runs back and forth between our living room and kitchen chasing-more-than-kicking a ball until he gets so dizzy or tired that he either falls on top of the ball or finds a "pil-ya" (pillow) for a rest.

Porter also loves dressing up in anything that isn't: a) his, or b) clothing.

Here he is in my pink headband,

The hat is his "ful-u-fly" catching net from his Elefun game,

And here he is in Andy's jacket.

And the fun doesn't stop there. Dinner time becomes more exciting (read: messy) every night. Porter's latest trick is to ask for both milk and water at dinner. Once both cups are filled and on the table, he builds towers with them, yells "top", and then knocks them over. He also likes to hold his empty plate in front of his face to hide from Andy and I.

Coloring

For the last few months, Porter has thrown a fit every time either Andy or I writes with a ballpoint pen. He grabs at your arm and whines "cu-loooor" over and over again until you finally cave. I'd been telling Andy it was time to introduce Porter to crayons for some real coloring, but not wanting to deal with the mess, he was fairly resistant. In all fairness, I did throw in finger paints every time I rallied for crayons, so I may have been overshooting the target. Anyhow, Andy finally caved, and Porter's new favorite past time (Besides talking to the ground and dancing) is coloring. Here are a few pics from his first date with Crayolas. "Ti-N-gles" are his favorite thing to draw, although they're just the two-sided version.

Pime Tomes in Bryce

Bryce Canyon has become our new hot spot for family fun. We went hiking there again a few weeks ago, and while Andy and I really enjoyed the crisp autumn air, the giant mountains and trees, and the changing leaves, Porter's favorite part of the day was in the lodge parking lot--he loved the tour busses.

He's also very fond of pine cones. Much of our time was spent following Porter as he ran from one pine cone to the next, yelling "pime-tome" with each one he picked up.

Look closely for Andy and Porter (below). It's not just a photo of a giant tree.

Bath Time

I know, I know, a bath is not really noteworthy, but Porter has started using his bath toys as cups, and I think it's hilarious (and only mildly disturbing), so I'm passing the laughs along to all of you.
We're not sure why he started doing this, but it's become a challenge as of late to find toys Porter won't drink from. He'll even go so far as to squeeze the water out of his rubber duck and into his mouth. So for now, at least I know my son is well-hydrated.

Our Summer in a Nutshell

Packing

Driving

Visiting

Hiking

Swimming

Grabbing

Laughing

Smiling

Screaming

Sleeping