(This is Donovan's new trick taught to him by his Uncle Scott. Thanks!)

Sorry about our long period of no posts. We have been busy people. Some of our reccent highlights include...

My Mom coming to visit last month ( and spoiling us the whole time!) This picture was funny because my Mom had just taken us on the train ride at Griffith Park and Donovan liked it so much that he cried when we had to leave. Hence his pouty face.

We also ha a great beach day at Newport beach. Donovan has been getting braver and braver with the waves at the beach. It's cute but a little scary. We had so much fun having my Mom out here! We can't wait to do it again!

Our next fun thing was that Donovan and I flew to Seattle for a week. My brother who has been working in Kuwaitt since January decided to take his two week vacation in Seattle last month. I found some great ticket prices online and away we went. It was wonderful getting to see and talk to my brother after him being away for so long.

One of the most memorable things on the trip was going sailing with my Dad, Stepmom and Scott. We all had so much fun! We sailed to an island where we anchored the boat, took the dingy over to buy some groceries and look around, later came back to the boat to grill Salmon and then got rocked to sleep by the waves. Here is one of my favorite pictures of the guys while we were sailing.

We also went to the LA fair last month. We took Donovan's best friend Zoe and our good friend Jane along with us. The only thing that dampened our fair experience was the fact that it was 100 degrees outside! Much too hot for two toddlers. So even though we didn't stay very long we still really enjoyed ourselves. We learned several important lessons at the fair... 1. Toddlers may be deathly afraid of goats. 2. Sterling should remember to bring his sunglasses so he doesn't have to wear women's sunglasses. 3. When posing as the farmer and his wife make sure to give yourself a neck.








I can't forget to mention that Sterling got promoted! He is now a Senior Associate at PWC. I am so proud of him! He works so hard and I'm glad that is getting recognized. Also he has passed 3 of the 4 parts of the CPA exam. Yay! He is taking the last part either in October or November and we can't wait for him to be an official CPA!

Last but not least we are moving! We have been wanting to move to a two bedroom apartment for a while now and finally found one we fell in love with. It is still here in Arcadia, which we are thankful for because we love our ward and friends. The big moving day is October 17th and we can't wait! If you have any extra boxes bring them over!

Dono does Disney

On Monday we went to Disneyland with Kathleen, Leah and Zoe. We all had so much fun going on rides, walking around and even watching the Playhouse Disney show. But the most fun the kids had was when we let them run around together in an open sitting area we found. They had a blast! Mostly Zoe would run around and Donovan would run after her yelling. Then every once and a while they would stop to babble with each other or kiss. They even found a pond with some ducks to watch and yell at. They really enjoy the simple things in life. I think that's a good lesson to glean from a couple of one year olds. 

He's not a baby anymore. (sniff sniff)

Well I think Donovan officially graduated to toddlerhood. He got his haircut this week. All his beautiful blonde baby curls went bye bye. We weren't planning on getting it cut for months but the last few weeks this hair has been so unruly and sloppy looking. We decided it was time for a cut. He took him to a cute place in Pasadena called Little Kuts. It had a really fun child friendly atmosphere. I was curious to see how he would do while his hair was being cut. He turned out to be quite the champ! He just sat there and let the hairdresser do her work. We were both so proud of him! We wanted to take him to get his hair cut professionally for his first cut so we could watch how to do it ourselves for next time. Poor Donovan might end up with some crazy haircuts from Mom and Dad down the road. Here our some pictures from the haircutting adventure. 

At home before the haircut. Note all of his curls sticking out.

Wearing his cute haircutting cape. He was so serious through the whole thing. 

Sporting his new do with Daddy.

With Mommy in front of the salon. 

Outside afterward, looking up at the balloon they gave him. 

Here's a short clip to show how awesome Donovan was during his haircut. Yes I know it's sideways. Sadly I don't know how to fix that. If anyone has any advice let me know. 

Some of my favorite July Donovan photos

Our little Donovan is 15 months old now. He's really on the move now, walking, trying to run, dancing and jumping on furniture. He's been very verbal lately. His favorite things to say are "Dada" "Yea" "No" and "Doggy." He's so funny and full of life I just love spending everyday with him. I'm so grateful to have a camera and be able to capture all this adventures on film. 

Donovan getting kissed to death by a friends dog(he kept going back for more).

At the arboretum in Arcadia. 

Being cute on our bed (his favorite play place).

Funny face!

He was playing a game with me where he closed the bedroom door, laughed and then opened it and came out and jumped on me. He's a silly boy.

Donovan loves his Elmo.

Post nap hair. (I love this photo!)

Splashing at our friend's water table.

He made me laugh when I saw him sleeping like this.

Hanging out at the Harmon's pool with our friends Leah and Zoe.

Trying to share the rubber ducky with Donovans dog friends Jack and Phoebe. 

Cuddling with teddy.

Big Kiss

Donovan has been on this kissing kick lately. Whenever I ask him for a kiss he leans over with an open mouth and plants one on me. It is very sweet. But in the last couple days he leans over to kiss me without having me ask. So when Donovan and Zoe got together yesterday it was hilarious how much they were kissing each other.  We had taken them to the play area at the mall and every few minutes during their playing they would just stop what they were doing turn to each other and kiss.  Here's the best picture from the outing...

WHo doesn't love a good museum?

Ever since I found out LA had a Natural History museum I've been dying to go. I have this great memory as a kid of going to the Natural History museum in Victoria, Canada with my family. I love getting to see all the animals in the beautifully created habitats and get to see all different kinds of animals I've never seen before. That said, on Friday we loaded up the car and headed out for some fun at the museum. It was a blast. The exhibits were gorgeous! Donovan loved getting to run around the huge halls and also get to explore the hands on discovery section. There was a polar bear at the museum that the kids could touch and play on. Donovan kept going back to the polar bear and crawling through his legs. It was adorable. They had a mini cave for him to play in, animals for him to touch and bugs to watch. We all had lots of fun and I'm glad there was a lot of things that Donovan could enjoy. 

I love this photo of Donovan reaching up to the bear! "Hello up there!"

Here's Dono by the polar bear butt. He LOVED the polar bear!

This is Donovan's new thing he does. He sits on our feet in public if he gets shy. We call him our baby penguin. 

Exploring the cave.

In the grass out front

Family portrait. Donovan never looks in group photos. 

Here's a little clip of him crawling around his friend Mr. Polar Bear.

4th of July

Last Saturday we really had fun enjoying our day together as a family. In the morning he headed over to our ward pancake breakfast at a local park. The food was great but the best part of just talking with all our friends. We both realize that if and when we move out of California we will miss all the friends we have made a church the most. At the park Donovan enjoyed walking all around and getting some of the other kids to play with him. He's getting pretty social and interested in other people now. He's still not running thankfully, but he is an excellent walker. 

Later in the day we went to our friends house for a BBQ. They have a pool  so Sterling and Donovan decided to go for a dip. AT first Donovan really didn't like swimming there but later he really got into it and was splashing and playing all around. Their pool was so warm that it really felt more like a bath, it was great. The other neat thing was that Grant had setup a zip line over the pool. So you could get on it at the tree house across the yard and then sail over the grass to the pool and drop into the water. I was excited for Sterling to try it out. He did and really enjoyed it. All and all it was a lot of fun eating burgers, playing frisbee, letting Donovan play with all their fun kid toys and talking with friends. Here are some pictures we took. 

Donovan getting ready for the pool. I love the over sized life vest!

Daddy and Dono swimming. Donovan's face says it all. 

Donovan had fun playing on this Barbie bike. 

Donovan and his buddy Eli were splashing around in the hot tube (it wasn't very hot). 

The two of us under the peach tree. Donovan is chewing on a piece of fake bread in this shot. He got it from the pretend kitchen and wouldn't let it go for the longest time. I'm sure he thought it was real. 

Sterling on the zip line getting ready to drop into the pool.