Birthdays All Around...

I had a great birthday this year and everyone made me feel super special.  Russel is so good at taking care of me on my birthdays that I get feeling pretty inadequate when it comes to him.  That's definitely a great talent he has.....and I totally get the benefit from that.  The only thing that kinda didn't rock was that we went to dinner and took a few of the kiddos with us....but right as we got sat down and ordered, he was called to the hospital.  He had to leave immediately which left us at the restaurant, stranded, and in the rain.  Luckily Josh was on his way back from a golf tournament in SLC and came for us.  Otherwise, we would've had a long wet walk in the rain :)

My mom and sister also totally spoiled me and came to Logan for a day of shopping and a yummy lunch.  It was awesome!  We just played all afternoon.  They are the best!! 

 Oh and Buffalo Wild Wings gives you a WHOLE bottle of your favorite sauce on your birthday!  SCORE!

My crazy awesome friends really know how to celebrate and they picked me up one night took me out for dessert....coconut frozen yogurt my fav!!  They are the best friends a girl could have!

We also had a big cousin birthday party this summer.  It was so fun and all the kids loved it!  We decided it would just be easier to get everyone together on one day and party it up.  It was great.  The kids all got their favorite kind of candy and we even had a photo booth with props (thank you Gina).  Grandma's swimming pool can turn any day into a party!!  We even had our cute cous, Makenna, from Arizona at the party!  Poor Josh is a working man now and missed it.  He basically does two things, Golf and Work at the Golf Course.  What a dream life right?  

McKenna Family Reunion at Heber Valley....

What a great time we had with Russel's family at Heber Valley.  Such a beautiful place and the kids always love spending time with cousins.  There was lots to do and lots of good food.  And we really just enjoyed being in the outdoors with family.

Mother's & Father's Day...

Mother's Day was wonderful and Russel and the kids completely spoiled me.  Russel made sure the whole weekend was devoted to treating me.  I was served a very yummy breakfast in bed...a heart attack :)  Russel even cut hearts out of the french toast.  Yum Yum!!

After church we headed to my sister's and met up with the rest of the family for a seriously yummy dinner.  They had smoked ribs with a special rub on them.  YUM-O.  Also, I had a monumental moment that day.  My brother is a constant tease about my gluten free food and always acts like it just awful.....when we all know he would never know the difference if I wasn't eating it.  So I decided to take matters into my own hands.  I was in charge in the dessert so I decided to make a regular angel food cake from a box and then I have a recipe for an gluten free angel food cake that I had perfected.  So the moment of truth arrived.  I took two plates with a piece of each and made my brother try them.  He ate the first piece (mine) and nodded his head in an approving way.  He ate the second piece (regular) and said yep that's the gluten free cake for sure.   HA HA HA!!!  I was jumping and cheering.  Actually everyone opted for my cake over the regular.....so its not all bad once you get it figured out.  :)  

We spent pretty much the week through the weekend in Bear Lake to celebrate Father's Day.  It has been awesome.  We've been missing our time at the cabin and it was so nice to carve out some time to enjoy being by the lake.  Grandma and Grandpa, Gina's family, and Jared's family made it Saturday night just time for Father's day.  The fathers were treated to many raspberry shakes during the week and we just had a darn fun time.  It was a little on the chilly side so we never made it to the lake but I made the executive decision to completely take the Xbox away and you would've thought the boys were dying....for about two hours it was a little painful for me....but by the end of the week they weren't even asking if they could have it back.  They worked on their "fort," played basketball, had water balloon fights, played board games, etc.  That's what it should be like right?  None of this constant screen action.

On Saturday Russel and I went back to Logan to attend a wedding of one of Russel's best friends, Danny.  It was so amazing to see them together and see how happy they are.  His wife is darling and also went to high school with Russel and Danny.  We are just so happy for them.

I'm so lucky to have such wonderful fathers in my life.  My dear sweet dad is such an amazing man and I'm so grateful to him for the way he raised me and taught me about what was important in life.  I always felt his love for me and his strong desire for me to reach my potential.  And now my kids are so blessed to have him as their grandpa.  He makes each one of them feel so special.  Love you Dad! You are the best!!

I'm also so grateful for Russel's Dad.  Even though I have never met him and he died when Russel was just 8 years old, his influence in those short 8 years of Russel's life was enough to last a lifetime.  He shaped and molded Russel and laid the foundation of what a wonderful father should be.  Russel would do anything for our kids and is always encouraging them to be the very best they can be.  He is such a good provider and works so hard to take care of our family.  He also loves to the play with the kids and can be very much like a kid himself.   Thank you Papa Russel (as Abi's friends call him) for all you do for us!  Happy Father's Day! Love you forever!

Oh and here's one of the gifts the kids got him.  Russel said it will get put to very good use.  The shirt says it all! :)

Spring Sports, Recitals, Activities...

This spring was absolutely insane.  I didn't know if I was coming or going or if I would even survive.  The kids were all heavily involved in different activities and while it was super fun and great to see them all do so well, I can't say I was sad to see June peak it's little beady head.  Thank goodness for good friends and neighbors to help with carpool or there is absolutely no way I could've gotten children everywhere that they needed to be.

J.D. and Nick both played Lacrosse this year and had a great time.  J.D. really enjoyed it and his team did awesome.  Nick was basically going through what J.D. did last year.  He loved it but was still trying to learn the game as it was his first year and at times didn't quite know if it was his passion.  But by the end of the season, Nick was getting into his groove and really starting to get the hang of things.  I told him he really needs to give it at least two years before he decides for sure if he loves it or not.  Nick's team did really well also and he had tons of friends on the team which made it even better.  Nick is #56 and J.D. is 78 (red shorts).  Way to go boys!!  Take a look at the Box Elder giant boy that Nick is just plowing into.  No intimidation on size with my Nick :)

They also had a fun camp a little later on and cousin Andrew was able to come.  They had a great time!  Such great coaches and helpers. 

Abi had a great season in volleyball this year and really enjoyed playing for Mountain West.  She was able to make the #1 team for her age group at tryouts and was on a team with all her friends and also made some really awesome friends too.  She loves it and is getting super excited and super nervous to tryout for the SkyView freshman team this fall.  She is going to attend a volleyball camp up at USU in July to help her prepare.  Just do your best baby girl!  We are so proud of you.  

Abi also got to go to Yellowstone this spring for a school trip.  She had a fabulous time and learned lots of cool things.  Of course I think they played way more than they studied but what a fun thing her school does.  

Meili was also involved doing spring recitals for ballet and Tavaci.  Both recitals were so much fun and we thoroughly enjoyed watching her fun personality sparkle in each of these events.  Sometimes Russel and I just giggle because she is just so dang adorable and has no inhibitions about performing in front of people.  It's awesome!  She is a true performer.

Oh and I definitely have to tell a little story about this performance.  It was hilarious.  There was a little song they performed where they wore top hats and had little cane/stick type things.  It was a song set to the tune of "New York, New York."  Well the singing teachers don't really tell us about what props the kids will be using etc.  I thought it would be fabulous to put Meili's hair in two messy buns to hold her hairband in place better.  They are awful and slip and slide everywhere and usually the kids are messing with them during the songs, etc.  Anyway I was feeling pretty smart about her hairband staying in so well until they went up on stage and had these top hats.  I thought Oh no but she managed to offset it to one side and smash it on her head.  I breathed a sigh of relief thinking we were safe but nope, not even close.  They had to take the hat on and off about 50 times during that song.  Well after it had fallen off about 3 times, she stops mid song, looks right at me, leans forward, sticks her little butt back, and sticks her tongue out as far as she can and shakes her little head.  Russel and I just bust up laughing.  I figured she was just so sick of and just letting us know she was frustrated.  I didn't realize it was TOTALLY directed at me for doing her hair like that until the next day when, out of the blue, she says "mommy I'm so sorry for sticking my tongue out at you for fixing my hair like that."  Well, apparently I won't be doing messy buns in the future!

Josh was also very involved this spring.  He was the girls golf manager again which basically means he gets to golf during 5th hour.  There isn't much managing going on.  He was also able to get a job at the golf course so the two fit quite nicely this spring.  Here's a pic from an early morning when Russel & Josh hit the course.

He also organized  a basketball team to play in the rec league at his school.  We didn't get very many pictures but I had him do some modeling for my professional photographer, Abi, for the blog.