2012: The First 6 Months

We've had a lot of fun during the first 6 months of 2012. Here's a small preview:

January

Kate is afraid of getting in the tub when there are morps (her word).  Morps apparently are any little floaties that show up in the water such as toe-jam, belly button lint, etc.

We had a little mishap on our carpet when I brought home all of the paint for the play room.  I had the cans stacked (oops) in the corner by the stairs when somebody knocked one over and its lid popped right off.  Note: my niece Brynlee in the picture is NOT the culprit...

 I took Ada and Kate to a bunch of the Utah basketball games this year.  Even though the Utes rarely won, the girls were good sports.

We went to the Jordan World Circus at the Davis County Fairgrounds.  The girls loved the elephants, bears, acrobats and tigers.

February

 This is Ada and Kate's favorite pastime.  Every day they will spend time coloring and drawing.

Kate is our little chocoholic.  On Valentine's Day we had chocolate fondue and she was in heaven.

We took a short weekend trip to La Verkin and had a nice hike in Zions.

Another pic from a Utes basketball game.

March

At the beginning of March, Alison, Lyla and I took a trip to Houston, Texas to visit Alison's sister Angie and her husband Hyrum.  More on that trip in a dedicated post.

Lyla had a fun time playing in the Barbie house in the newly finished play room.

I took a boys trip to Portland, Oregon for the NCAA Tournament second and third round games.  Read more about that trip here (the post isn't quite finished yet...).

April

As is usually the case at Easter, the girls all had new dresses to show off.

I took a short trip to Oakland/Berkeley to visit a manufacturer's lighting design center.  It's fun to be wined and dined.  Our VIP bus had a stripped pole (that luckily remained unused), although I did make the mistake of touching it.  Can you imagine the cooties I must have?

 We stayed in a hotel at the Berkeley marina.  This was our view of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The view of San Francisco as we flew home.

May

We bought a new car in May.  We both love minimizing our dependance on fossil fuels. Here's my earlier post about our new Volt.

Check out those delicious cinnamon rolls I made.

The girls were excited to play outside more.  Kate must have still expected the weather to be frigid.  In the background is my beloved Prizm (or Lurp Truck II if you would prefer).  We sold that car with 198,500 miles and it still ran like a champ.  I couldn't hold off not getting the Volt any longer.

Ada had her year-end ballet performance with the Bountiful School of Ballet.  Sadly, she wasn't interested in continuing on next year.

Kate had her year-end preschool program.  She'll have one more year with Miss Missy.

We were so excited to take train up to the Air Show at Hill Air Force Base.  

 It was a cool day with a chance of rain, but we weren't too worried.  We had an umbrella after all.

 It turns out that a major storm came through and halted the air show for a few hours.  We were all freezing, drenched and absolutely miserable.  We had to wait for over an hour for the shuttle to take us back to the Frontrunner station.  Alison, Ada and Kate are huddled under that blanket with the truck blocking the rain.  I had Lyla in a front-pack with the umbrella. It was a couple of the most miserable hours of my life!

We were bored over Memorial Day weekend so we took our chances on Priceline and got hooked up with a suite at the Canyons.

We were also able to squeeze in a Real Salt Lake game. They have a great stadium, but the location is ridiculous. I wish it had been built downtown.

June

 Ada graduated from kindergarten and her first year of French Immersion.  The 3-year-old school had 196 kindergarteners and has transitioned to a year-round school beginning with this school year (Ada already started first grade on July 25).

 We went to Jordanelle for free fishing day.

Can you believe it though?  We were completely skunked.  Not even a nibble.  Power bait has failed us.

Our Pass of All Passes got us free admission to MotoX at the Rocky Mountain Raceway.  The highlight was watching the little kids on their dirt bikes.

We had another awesome block party with a bounce house, fire truck, ambulance and three police cars. 

It was all fun and games until somebody broke out the FLINGER!

 As a good father, it was my duty to introduce Lyla to lemons.  She didn't seem to mind too much...

 Ada and her cousins playing dress-up/Halloween in June.

As you can see, the girls loved their first Bees game of the season (actually Ada was mad that she didn't get a Snowie).

Ada made her first attempt at waterskiing.  She got up for a moment, but we'll have to work on it a bit with her still.

Me and Ada (I swear its Ada) reenacting the noodle scene from Lady and the Tramp with a stringy piece of melted cheese.

Lyla.

We took a last minute trip to Houston (this time we took all the girls) and had a fantastic time.  That's another trip that will get a post of its own.