For Heidi

I got tagged to complete the following assignment; and I am supposed to tag other people to fulfill the assignment as well...I don't know that I have that many people who regularly read my blog but if any of you do, repost the picture, come up with 11 random things about yourself and answer the questions I did, only change the last one to your favorite Eli or Tate story. I am talking to you Chelsea Maughan, Ashley Spencer, Joanna Martinez, Jordan Roberts, Heather Taylor, Oliva Burr, Ashley Salo Burr...I think those are the only people who ever look at my blog. But if anyone else does and wants to be tagged, tag yourself please!

11 random facts:

1- I have a half brown, half blue eye

2-I hate saying goodbye. Like really. I would so much rather slip out unnoticed without ceremony.

3-I like to argue for fun but I don't like real confrontation.

4-My kids are crazy and I get satisfaction out of other people acknowledging so...makes me feel less crazy.

5-Lake Powell is hands down the greatest place on earth as far as I am concerned.

6-I love to read

7-I love to run. Especially up Provo Canyon with my mom and sister

8-I am not very nice...I am lots of good things, but nice is not one of them.

9-I love to cook but I am still blaming my lack of doing so regularly on the fact that it was really hot in my house due to no A/C...its January.

10-My husband rocks. He made German pancakes and played legos with two boys fighting continuously over legos while listening to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir while I slept in until 8:30.

11-Nearly every part of my body hurts right now. And Adam keeps posing hypothetical situations where I am pregnant for a much longer period of time in exchange for some outrageous reward; my answer is always "no."

1. When was the last time you brushed your teeth? Uh...this morning. Isn't that the last time everyone brushed at 4pm???

2. How many days per week do you make your bed? ZERO. I hope my mom doesn't read this. I just really don't see the point.

3. What does the last text you received say? "I am soo excited for you! Seriously nothing better in this entire world than a baby girl! Let me know." From my aunt Christie.

4. If you could do anything you wanted for a day, what would that be? Go on a long run, get a big ddp with lime, sit by a pool with a wonderful book, fall asleep by the pool, get a pedicure, go to dinner with my husband...preferably in Hawaii. Or snowboarding instead of pool.

5. Are most of your friends real or virtual? Real. I don't virtual friendships that aren't real first.

6. With how many adults have you spoken in person today? 2, which is a lot for me. Sad.

7. What did you have for lunch (or your last meal) today? Fudge graham zone bar and crackers with cottage cheese.

8. If you could go to lunch with anyone, with whom would you dine? My mom and sister.

9. Are you hungry yet? Or craving grown-up conversation? Always.

10. If your toenails are painted, what color are they? A lovely fuscia.

11. What's your favorite Gavin story? Oh it's gotta be the fresh clean towels loaded into the bathtub... After Heidi had just washed all the household towels, she found them all soaking in Gavin's tub. My favorite part is the "just because," as in, "Why WOULDN'T I throw all of the towels my mom just washed into the bath with me?" I remember when I first read that story just laughing my guts out and realizing that I encounter similar ridiculousness all the time and I DEFINITELY don't react by laughing. It's just always funny when someone else's kid does it. I know this is not Gavin's most maddening or destructive episode but I love it because I just know the bewilderment and astonishment that ensues in your brain when a kid does, even mostly innocuous, things like this...it happens to me less than it used to but I am soooo familiar with the scenario and it is fun to read about it and laugh rather than stumble upon it in your home and go blue in the face yelling! I mean, speak softly and calmly but in a firm voice that he should not have done that.

Funny stuff my kids say

Eli to Tate, ever so subtly criticizing his backwards shooting pattern in Angry Birds, "Why don't you want to win?"

Tate, after being forced to wait until almost 8pm to eat dinner on the way to Utah "Please get Tate a food."

Tate, upon climbing into bed with us and seeing Adam, uncharacteristically, wearing a hoodie "Mommy, is that a guy?" Me: "Um...yeah. He also happens to be your dad." ***I find this amusing for multiple, obvious reasons, but mostly because if I WERE going to cheat on my husband, it would definitely be in the 9th month of pregnancy.

This is more sad than funny, but while sledding on my birthday, Tate kept asking me if I wanted to sled with him and seemed pacified by my brothers and Dad and Adam until just near the end; he looked up at me and very seriously said, "Mommy. You don't want to go with me?" It just about broke my heart. Unfortunately, a two year old isn't quite capable of understanding the complexities of being 9 months pregnant and how unenjoyable it is to sit in a moving car, nevermind a moving sled down a bumpy hill. Oh, AND I would have to walk back up. But it was still sad the way he said it.

I asked Eli if he would come visit me and the baby in the hospital. His response: "Ummm, I'm not sure. Can I bring the X-box?" Actually, not a terrible idea...

Ever since a very horrible biting incident on a very, ahem, sensitive part of Tate's body, we DO NOT taking biting by Eli lightly at all. So when I asked Eli about an alleged biting incident he committed at Adam's parents house, and got the following response, it was difficult to remain stern:" Well. We were all playing in the bounce house. Eliza was there. She is older. My friends were there, and....that's all!" When I asked if we should go ask Jonah what happened, he yelled, "NO!!!"

The grand finale: While building an awesome Domino tower during church, Tate was unusually pacified and quiet. That is until Leila came over to help at the same time one of the boys came to sit down by us after passing the Sacrament. SOMEONE (Leila) knocked down the tower, but Tate attributed the crime to the unknown boy now seated to Adam's left. Tate calmly stood up and announced "I'll go hit that guy." Adam whispered, "Um, no!" Tate repeated the ultimatum several times while Adam restrained his advances. He was persistent about administering punishment but we thought we had him distracted until ten minutes later when he marched right past Adam, who by then had let his guard down, and wound his arm back to smack the kid. Adam grabbed him in time to stop the arm, but, unfortunately for the kid, not the leg. Tate managed to mete out justice by kicking the kid in the arm. We decided not to tell him that it was actually sweet little Leila who was responsible for the destruction of the tower.

There are plenty of legit reasons why I haven't kept my blogging promise...

actually only one: we have one functioning computer on which a person can accomplish exactly ONE task before it freezes up and fritzes out. So, typically, I check my email and/or pay bills when absolutely necessary. We bought a new one from Costco but hated it and took it back. I think we might just be getting old and irritable at the idea of anything new, but I sincerely hated the format of Windows 8, chronically mistyped on the flat keyboard and was just too tempted by Costco's return policy. So anyway...I have other reasons too, like I am lazy. And fat. And sooooo sick of being pregnant. And I am sort of incapable of writing (to say nothing of thinking) about ANYTHING besides how sick of being pregnant I am, which isn't all that uplifting or fun to read about. So hopefully as soon as new little Nora decides to show up (tonight????) I will be more eager to blog about things less depressing than the discomfort and misery of the end of pregnancy. I have good intel that predicts she will be born this Friday or Saturday, when the weather and pressure changes. That would be perfect! I can wait that long...and I have a ward shower on Thursday night and then Adam wouldn't have to cancel any of his patients. So here is to hoping for a happy birthday on Friday January 11th! Or tonight.

Christmas...

was lovely. We went to dinner at Tucano's on Christmas Eve and I made kick butt pork enchiladas and cinnamon rolls for Christmas day. We had fresh snow, all day to just hang in our pajamas and play with new toys and it was just really really nice. I will admit- Adam was thrilled about spending our first Christmas all by ourselves, in our own home and I was a little sad. I think it had more to do with feelings of confinement and, well, handicappedness...like I COULDN'T go anywhere more than anything. But it was quiet and pleasant and perfect. I love having my husband home for days in a row because he gets restless and starts fixing things. And we watched football and took naps and got the house ready for baby and it was just plain great. And in the end, I pulled the executive "I-am-pregnant-and-miserable-and-I-really-want-to-see-my-sister" card and we ended up going to Utah anyway for my birthday, my cousin Jordan's wedding and just to hang. It was a short but awesome trip. And I couldn't have pre-ordered a better birthday: A fresh beautiful blanket of sparkling snow, a sunny day, a walk (painful though it was) with my mom and sister, a big old Holiday DDP, sledding with my whole family, a nap and dinner at Tucano's, again, followed by a pedicure from my mom. Well, I guess I could have NOT been pregnant and that would have been better, but other than that it was perfect.

Christmas card

When my cousin, who graciously shot this picture, passed it along, he did so with disappointment that it didn’t

turn out that great…I disagree. This picture represents a measurable amount of behavioral progress from last year’s Christmas card; sure, one of us is at an awkwardly pregnant stage, one of us is in the middle of picking his nose/grabbing himself, and one looks strangely like an alien gazing off into space. However, if you will recall last year’s debacle, all four of us were looking NOT at the camera and two of us were screaming and writhing. So I am pleased with what we have accomplished this year by way of photography etiquette. This year marks the third consecutive Christmas living in a different state for us. Since our attempts at voting in two swing states during the election proved unsuccessful, we have decided to stay put for a while! Truly, we enjoy Colorado and are so happy to be back in the West. Eli(5) and Tate(2) are still as wild as ever. Yesterday, as I winced while ineffectively chasing Tate up onto the stand at church, (which everyone else seemed to find amusing) I seriously wondered what we are going to do with a third child—who just so happens to be a baby girl and should be here near the end of January. Adam says it will be fine because we pre-ordered her to be nice and sweet and calm and to never break anything or run away from us. So that should be great and we are all excited to meet her. We are grateful this time of year for the friends and family we have, of whom you are, that make celebrating the birth of the Savior all the more meaningful; we wish you a Merry Christmas and wish you the peace and comfort that comes through him. Love, The Burr Family

My mom is a wizard

So everyone who knows my mom knows that she is a doer. She just goes and goes and gets things done. And she does them well...not like Ashley style, like improvise everything just to get it done asap so that nothing bad happens while I am "busy getting something done." She does things but she also does them impeccably, perfectly well. So she came for Halloween last week. And so that Adam and I could go to Taos, NM for the weekend. The whole thing was such a brilliant idea and even more brilliantly executed: Not only did she get to spend Halloween with the kids, not only did we design the baby's room and buy fabric WITH boys in tow, not only did we go away and find that she had made EVERYTHING while we were gone, not only did we have a fantastically wonderful and relaxing weekend away while someone who loves our children was in charge, but my kids were also alive when I got home!! Total win win win for everyone, but mostly me.

Oh, and after a monumental tantrum in which Tate threw up from freaking out so much over his costume at the ward trunk or treat, I had zero desire to press the issue on Halloween night. So he went trick or treating, sans costume, and marched right into each resident's house to find the toys in the basement. Yeah...he is a really delightful 2 year old at the moment.

Also. This is Adam and me at the Rio Grande bridge in NM, which just so happens to be the original bridge to nowhere. Pretty sweet. I tried real hard to find a picture of my face that does not look so pregnant. Alas, this is what it has come to and one was not to be found. But how cute is Nora's room and how awesome is my mom?

To own or not to own a home? I say "TO NOT!"

So after a long fought battle to obtain a short sale for the home we bought when we moved to California, we finally closed and became proud non-homeowners on Halloween. Anyone who has not been through this miserable process can’t begin to fathom how much brain damage and emotional trauma is involved. So I will spare you. But I can’t express how happy I am to no longer be a homeowner, landlord, have no ties to CA, and mostly just be responsible for the house I live in!

So now begins the “Should we buy a house because it is the smart thing to do?” debate. A few weeks ago we went out to visit the home of one of Adam’s work associates. She lives about 30 minutes away from us on a decently sized piece of land…let’s be honest, anything more than the 1/10th of an acre plot that the mass produced homes in our neighborhood sit on is decently sized. But I mean like 15 acres. She has horses and goats and cats and dogs and all sorts of animals that I have no interest in. But I do have interest in the land and space and living a little removed and the ability to open my door and say “GO” to my children.

The boys had a blast, obviously. I mean literally, they were in heaven. It was sort of like being in Lake Powell where I just had this feeling of “ahh, we were meant to be here. This is what boys are supposed to do all day: run, run, run, jump, climb, run, get dirty, chase animals, throw rocks, sword fight with sticks, etc. “ They each got a turn to ride Starr, the nice old well broken in horse who wouldn’t kick even if a certain two year old refused to abide by rule number one of horse interaction: do NOT walk behind and ESPECIALLY underneath the horse. Apparently Tate missed (actually, rather ignored) that memo and spent most of the time running back and forth underneath the horse’s legs. Harmless, really.

So Adam and I go back and forth about what we really want when we have “our” house. The truth is, we may not really need to even discuss the pros and cons because by the time we are ready for “our” house, our kids will be parents themselves and looking for rest homes for us to die in. But nonetheless, we go back and forth about whether we want the land and the space and the freedom or the neighborhood and amenities and social activities for our kids. I really really like where we live. We are renting a home less than a mile away from Adam’s work, Target, Eli’s school, the bank, parks, community center complete with gym and childcare…literally, most days I don’t go anywhere more than a mile from my home and Adam comes home for lunch more days than not. Its awesome. I love the elementary school, and I love that Eli can go outside and find friends to play with. I love how well laid out and efficient the house is built; it makes practical sense on almost every level and isn’t too bad to look at. The yard is small and easy to care for.

But I hate that there is one or two or three of my same house on every carefully laid out street. I hate that my home is six inches away from either of my neighbors, which means they can probably hear me yelling at my kids. I don’t like that everything in the house is generic and practical, even though it makes perfect sense. I hate feeling like everything I do is on display and that I am “supposed” to be friends with everyone here…I know that sounds very cynical and antisocial, but I just don’t always want to be friendly ok????!!!!!! Sometimes ( a lot of times, actually) I just want to be left alone. And I will never buy another house in a homeowner’s association. Been there done that…unless it just makes too much sense not to, in which case….I don’t know.