Big Girl

Nora is very interested in sitting on her potty. She has not *used* it, per se, but she likes hanging out there with a book. (She also likes to wear a hat.)

Also, Nora recently had her first trip to the dentist, and while she did not enjoy the brushing and fluoride treatment at all, afterwards she loved talking about having her teeth brushed, and how nice and clean they felt.

Sunset Park

 Last weekend we visited Sunset Park, which is full of giant geese and swans and ducks. Mike and I were both kind of scared of the birds, but Nora just wanted to get closer.

On this particular trip to the park, Nora would have kept swinging all day long. We were there pretty early, before it got too hot. But once it hit 90 degrees at about 8:30 a.m., Nora's mean parents loaded her in the car and took her home.

July 4th (and Nora is 18 months old)

Nora is 18 months old, has strong opinions on many things, a vast and rapidly expanding vocabulary, and amazing curly hair. 

Star spangled girl in St. George, Utah

First ride on a carousel

Family photo at Grandma & Grandpa Brough's house

With Great-Grandma Brough

Mommy's girl

Too little for sparklers, but not too little for glow-sticks! Thanks, Aunt Kim!

When we get soy cheese at Trader Joe's, Nora has to keep it "wif you" (with her) in the cart. This is what it looks like when she says "cheese."

The American Library Association (ALA) annual conference was in Las Vegas at the end of June and we got to see lots of friends from Wyoming and from Illinois. This is Nora's new friend, Oscar, whose mom is my good friend from library school.

While Uncle Nick was visiting we went to the Mob Museum.

We've had some really hot days -- this was one of them. A person kind of wants to melt when it's 110 degrees.

Nora loves Nick and his "tar" (guitar)

Nora got to spend a day with her grandma and grandpa while we went up to Cedar City to the Shakespeare Festival. We had lunch with friends and then saw "Into the Woods." It was fabulous!

Note: Speaking of musicals, we also saw "Book of Mormon" in Las Vegas in June and really enjoyed it. The singing and dancing were fantastic! Let me know if you want to talk more about that one. ;)

Family Fun Times

We try to go do something new and fun each weekend, and Nora is a very willing adventurer. Last weekend we went hiking at Red Rock Canyon. Nora was so delighted to be in the backpack on Mike's back, she kept exclaiming, "Yay!" and "Happy!" Also on the hike, we saw a snake, and Nora could not stop talking about it. She was quite fascinated.

This weekend, Family Fun Time took us to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. Nora is walking more confidently every day, and she did a lot of walking around in the dinosaur and egg exhibit. My favorite part was where she got to put on a dinosaur costume.

 We have so much fun with Nora!

Visit from Grandma & Grandpa

We were all so happy to see my parents last weekend, and grateful that they came from Idaho to visit us.

We had a great time at the park

We visited the Springs Preserve and the Nevada History Museum

Grandma & Grandpa brought Nora a pretty new dress

The grown-ups had a great night out at Zarkana, a show by Cirque du Soleil

 We also visited the strip and saw the Bellagio Conservatory 

We ate some good food, celebrated my birthday, and Mom and I went shopping one afternoon while Nora and Grandpa napped. We had a wonderful time!

After Grandma and Grandpa left, Nora asked about them daily and we had this conversation several times:

Mother's Day, Anniversary, Commencement

May tends to be a month full of celebrations for us, which makes it very fun!

Mike and I celebrated our anniversary with our first Las Vegas night out on the town. (Let's be honest: we were home by 9. But it was still fantastic to get out!

Mike sent me these beautiful tulips to celebrate 7 years of wedded bliss.

And dessert at Cafe Bellagio included this lovely creme brulee.

We celebrated Mother's Day with some friends from the library by going to the conservatory at the Bellagio and seeing the seasonal flowers there. Nora's favorite part was watching the fish in the koi pond.

Yesterday I went to UNLV's commencement. I was thinking about my own college graduation 10 years ago and the last commencement I went to, which was my graduation from library school 5 years ago. I love celebrating new graduates! They've worked so hard and have so many interesting things ahead of them. 

Commencement selfie

Since the semester wrapped up at UNLV, the semester also concluded at UNLV preschool. Nora is moving on to a new class!

This giant owl is in the lending library at the preschool, and every day when we leave Nora says hi. Friday she wanted to hug the owl.