Ethan, Ethan, Ethan...

This week, Brian, Nora and I all flew to Denver for Brian's annual draft for his HIL Football League, and a week of precious vacation time!

Our friends Jim and Jenny drove up from Albuquerque this weekend to spend with us, and we met our friends Meg (with sons, Ethan & Reid), and Susan (far left in this picture) with her husband Doug, an old friend of Brian's from Greeley, and their three kids, Louis, Kady and Sam.

All the gals you see in this first picture have all been through a lot to have their babies, and we all appreciate the ones we have so very much. It was incredible to see my friends play with Nora -- as she took to Jenny and Ethan especially (more on THAT little match later!).

Not all are done trying, and yet we got our kids that we do have together and enjoyed a day at The Denver Zoo.


Ethan, who is five, decided to take it upon himself to help Nora find her way through the zoo.

Of course initially I was THRILLED that SOMEBODY, even if it is a kindergartener, could corral Miss Nora and get her to walk in the direction the group was going in...

At one point, Ethan and Nora even gave each other a big hug. It didn't take long before Brian noticed the attention Ethan was giving Nora...






And at some point (after about an hour of watching Nora dump Mommy's hand in favor of reattaching herself to Ethan) Brian quipped "This better not go on too much longer or I'm going to have to kill him." LOL

Nora squeezed between Louis and Ethan for the mini-train ride through the zoo. Ethan even put his arm around Nora during the ride. It was just a hoot!

After the train ride we had lunch in the park, and Brian and I headed out to see Scott & Laura's new twins.

What a great day!