Friends and Family

 The boys enjoyed their hike on the Bell Canyon Trail a couple of weeks ago.  We were joined by our friend Jessenia and three of her four kids as well as Angi and her two girls.  The kids all had a great time, we all got some exercise and we enjoyed the beauty of living so close to these beautiful mountains.  We decided to try and go hiking every Wednesday this summer and will therefor not regret not getting out more often once the weather turns cold.

 Because of the warm, dry weather we have had already this summer; the hiking trails are extremely dry and dusty.  It is pretty hard for the kids to keep clean.

 Lucas and Landon had their little friend Sean Armstrong over to our house for a sleepover.  We all rode bikes to the park where they boys played tennis and I enjoyed some quiet time in the shade.  We also got to take in a ReAL Soccer game that night.  The McCormack family enjoys watching the Salt Lake team in person and on television as well.  As I type this, Landon is roaming around the house singing the ReAL song that we all know so well.  Just today Landon had Steve add the short little chant to his music player.  :)

 This particular night the ReAL lost to the San Jose Earthquakes but we still enjoyed being there, eating hot dogs and pop corn and cheering them on.

 Landon is getting a lot better at riding his big bike, even though the first couple of nights we encouraged him to wear his knee and elbow pads.  He fell off multiple times but each time got right up and said "I'm O.K."  and jumped back on his bike.  One Sunday he even managed to ride his bike with Lucas and I all the way to Grandma Judy's house.  Even though most of the ride is downhill, 3 miles is quit a ways for his little legs. 

 Lucas may not pick his nose but he picks everything else.  This was a black and white soccer ball he got for Christmas that he picked to pieces.

Reasons to Celebrate

As a special treat for finishing up the school year, Sarah and I took our kids to Hollywood Connection where they had hours of fun.  They rode the rides including the roller coaster and the bumper cars, played a few rounds of miniature golf, and then spent a good hour playing games and picking out prizes.  I love the mustache Lucas chose, he was so cute.  It was nice to get to hang out with Sarah and Bel while the four older kids were entertained.

We had our first guest of the summer, Rob Evanoff, in town for one weekend.  Steve met Rob back in Chicago some 25 years ago when they both worked at the same grocery store.  The last time we saw Rob was in 2002 during the Olympics but after spending the weekend with us he was part of the family.  Steve and Rob spent all day Saturday at the Warped Tour Concert and then Sunday we all met up with some of Robs friends for a yummy Fathers Day brunch at The Park Cafe.  While drawing a picture for Steve for Fathers Day, Landon drew 5 people and I asked him who the fifth member of our family was and he said Rob.  By Sunday the boys were referring to our friend as Uncle Rob and said they look forward to making a trip out to L.A. to visit him.

Once again the boys entertained themselves for quit some time while the adults got to visit with Rob, Grandma Judy and Papa Joe.

 We spent a warm summer night at Rocky Mountain Raceway where the boys watched the Motorcross event.  Lucas got a little freaked out at one point when he could not find mom and dad (even though Matt Armstrong and the Armstrong kids were right there) but other than that the night was a lot of fun.

 We are having such a warm, dry summer that the boys will do just about anything to try to keep cool.  They love the water balloon tank because they can fill up their own balloons (they just need to learn how to tie them now.  ;))

 Nothing like sticking your feet in cool sand.  Ahhhhhh.