family, family, family

The last month and a little more has been all about family!  Donovan had a very busy 9th month full of wonderful memories!  We headed back to WI at the end of July to spend some time at my parent's home in Door County.  We had a blast.  Kevin had to head home a little early but Donovan and I got to spend just about a full week back home.  It was so much fun.  We were spoiled with love from family and friends the entire time.  It worked out perfectly because my cousin's were already planning to come up to Door County and camp in my parent's back yard so we got to spend lots of time with them too.  Donovan got to have his first sleepover.  Our friends Ambar and Paul came up with their little one Jack who is just a couple weeks older than Donovan.  Us parents went out and enjoyed a fun evening complete with a concert while grandma and grandpa along with my aunts, great aunts and lots of cousins tackled putting both boys to bed.  It sounded like boys kept everyone busy but when we got home they were both fast asleep! Well done everyone! :)  My parent's hosted a wonderful Sunday brunch so that they could show off Donovan.  Lots of family and friends came up for it which made it really special and fun.  A lot of our family even came up for the whole weekend which gave us even more time to spend with them.  My friend Amanda came up with her 2 year old boy Eli and 5 month old baby girl Dia along with a very surprise guest, my friend Jess.  Jess and I were the two that moved out to Colorado together and Jess and Kevin worked together...thus how I met Kevin:)  I hadn't seen Jess for a few years until she showed up at the farm.  We convinced them to stay the night and Donovan got to have his second sleepover.  This time we had the two babies in one crib and with one pacifier.  In the morning, Kevin did not forget to ask me how I really thought that was going to work.  Donovan is not a shy guy and must have decided to put the moves on Dia which she didn't appreciate because they both woke up screaming in the middle of the night.  I wish I would have taken a picture of them sharing the crib because it was just priceless.   Lets see, how else did we spend our time in WI...we brought Donovan to the beach a couple times, enjoyed cheese and custard (Donovan loves both), went to a petting zoo and even fit in a bike ride.  I am sure there is plenty I am missing but I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story.  Of course the time went by way too quickly but we feel so blessed to have gotten to spend so much time with family and friends.

He did great on all of the fights to and from WI.

Maria was so good to Donovan and kept very good tabs on what he was up to.

The camping crew!

Donovan loves the water

But not so much the sun in his baby blue eyes.

Baby Jack and Ambar

Donvan and Jack loved their sleepover!

And even more so all their play time together.

Donovan, Dia and Eli

What a sweet baby girl!

I tell you he couldn't keep his hands off her :)

Ella, the BEST babysitter EVER!

Ella taking Maria and Eli for a ride on the farm.

all smiles!!!

Donovan taking a ride with Grandpa with Eli in tote.

Donovan's high chair was my father's from Germany.  It even has a hole in it to double as a potty chair!  You never know when you may have to go :)

Donovan could not get enough of the sand.

Grandma and Donovan playing in the water.

He had his first meal off the kids menu in Door County.  Spoiled much?!

Ready for our bike ride!

It's JESS!!!

Love these Girls!!!

And then I got to see Dusty too!!!

When we got back from WI our fun with out of town family and friends did not end.  Our friends Kyle and Sarrah and their little 1 month old princess, Harlow came out for a CO visit.  Sarrah and I used to work together and I miss her terribly.  Their daughter is just perfect and I loved holding a little tiny baby again.  She made realized just how fast Donovan is growing.  Wow is there such a huge difference between 1 and 9 months.  It is just amazing!!  We celebrated Kevin's birthday with a backyard BBQ with neighbors and friends.  That evening, late that evening, Veronica, Tanya, Aiden and Otis arrived!!!  We had been waiting all summer for their visit.  I could not wait for Donovan to get to play with his cousins again!  It was so fun to see them all together.  They aren't all interacting too much yet but they definitely noticed each other, enjoyed each others company and even fought over a few toys here and there.  Tanya stayed at our house which was so nice for Donovan to get to also spend so much time with her.  Tanya is such a great aunt (and sister) and we all really enjoyed having her at the house.  She took Donovan on a nice run just about every morning, played with him, changed him and even did his whole morning routine one time so that Kevin and I could sleep in!  I can't tell you how wonderful that was :)  Otis (the daddy) came in to town a few days later.  I am very impressed with how much we were able to do with 5 adults and 3 babies.  One morning we were all ready and leaving the houses at 10am to spend the day tubing down the river in Golden .  It was so much fun.  Zoe joined us so then 4 people got to tube with 2 stayed at the park and hung out with the boys.  The water was freezing but that did not stop us from having a blast.  I think we all (except Otis who did not tube) had nice bruises on our tushes but well worth it.  We also all went to the butterfly pavilion and then out to a senior dinner (at 4 or so) at one of our favorite brew pubs.  Everyone decided to stay an extra night before heading up to Sidney for the family reunion and we fit in an adults night out.  Our neighbors on either side of us tag teamed for us and watched Donovan and our aunt Angie and uncle Jack watched Otis and Aiden.  We hit up a little gem of a place called the Stampede.  It is a country bar but late at night they mix country with hip-hop.  Most importantly there is TONS of dancing!  We all took a line dancing class earlier in the evening and then stayed and enjoyed ladies night where all us ladies drank for free.  It is such a fun place and it was just a blast to get to go with all our sisters and brothers.  I used to go there a lot when I first moved to Denver and always asked Kevin to come with me but he wasn't too interested in it.  I loved getting him there.  Now if I could only convince him we should take a two step class together...we could really boogie down!

Donovan and Harlow ready for some shopping.

Donovan and Israel

Love Maritza!!!

Helping Daddy open his birthday presents.

What did you get daddy?

The kids at Kev's B-day party with Grandpa.

Kev's cake time!

Cousins!

So strong!

Look at those dance moves!

Tubing!

That was some cold water!!!

Chillin with Daddy

Jason and Carrie flew in from New York on Thursday morning and well headed up to Nebraska for a Mohatt family reunion.  It was nice to get to spend time with all of the family.

He was in good hands with the triplets.

"I'm ready to go home mom"

And to top it all off, Jason and Carrie decided to stay a few extra days so that we got to spend some time with them in Denver as well.  It was so fun to explore some of the parts of the city with them that I had never really been to.  We found a really cute street with lots of cute shops and tasty little lunch spot.  We also took a drive up to Idaho Springs which also has come very cute shops and delicious gelato :)  We made it to the last film on the Rocks at Red Rocks for the year but it wasn't the best movie if you would even call it a movie.  It was a movie of a Beastie Boys concert.  Not so great, but we still had a blast eating our picnic and enjoying the scenery and of course our time with family.

The love birds in Idaho Springs.

Uncle Jason has a good eye on me.

I love rocks!

Red Rocks Rocks!

I miss Uncle Jay Jay

The end of the summer was quite a whirlwind and flew by way too fast but we are so grateful that we have gotten to spend so much time with so many people who are so important to us!!!  Living so far away from so many of our friends and family makes us really appreciate the time we get to spend together.  We are already looking forward to seeing everyone again!  We miss and love you all!

Our first hike

Let's go Deeogee!

total body workout :)

Helping me "gather" the basil for pesto.

Such a big helper!

"I got this too mom"

And just in case anyone was wondering what Donovan has been up to you have come to the right place for a little update.  He is as busy as ever.  He can get anywhere he wants and can even crawl up stairs.  He loves to stand and can cruise across all of our furniture.  He likes to let go and stand by himself but this only lasts a few seconds before his bottom hist the ground.  His personality continues to come out more and more.  He loves attention and loves, loves, loves to make others laugh.  He will pull out all the tricks in his bag to get a smile out of you (which does take much...he is so darn cute!)  He sleeps great at night and takes consistent naps.  There is never a dull moment around our house.  He says "mama" and "da" as names for us and is able to sign "more".  He also seems to have a sound or "word" for Deeogee" but it isn't quite part of the English language.  He is VERY good a making his needs, and even more so, wants known.  He keeps life interesting and I still just can't get enough of him.