McKenna Family

(Baptism photo shoot courtesy of Abi....seriously it is the coolest having my own little photographer.....not to mention the photos are fab!) Baptisms and Birthdays for J.D. this past month.  On February 17, our million-dollar-smile boy turned 8.  And yes this was a year for a big party.  J.D. knew exactly what he wanted to do for his party and that was to play basketball.  We planned everything around a basketball theme.  The invitations went out and the countdown started. He was so excited and the weather was just perfect so they could actually play a full on game outside.  I think there were 10 boys, although at times it seemed like 110.  I think it was a bit overwhelming for J.D. and halfway through the party the line from the song "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" kept repeating over and over in my head.  At the end of the party, I told J.D. I was a little disappointed in the way he acted and tried to help him learn a few things from ...

January 24, 2012 We had a wonderful celebration for Chinese New Year.  There is a very large group of families in Cache Valley that have adopted from China.  In fact this group has become an organized group and we meet together occasionally as families for different events.  This year we did a big Chinese New Year Party and had everyone bring their favorite Chinese dishes.  It was a lot of fun to meet others and see their darling children. They also had lots of activities for the kids and Meili thought it was just great!  What great people we are surrounded by.

It's been a painful few months wondering and hoping the NBA would get everything worked out.  We were thrilled when they came to an agreement and even more thrilled that we were lucky enough to have tickets to the first home game.  It was a great night and had a great time with mom and dad.  They of course won against Philadelphia and it was an awesome game. We then had another wonderful night with our good friends, Jenny and Paul Welsh, where the Jazz took on the New Jersey Nets with DERON Williams and Okur!!!  WE trounced them obviously. :)  Great game and even better company.    GO JAZZ!!!! On February 1st, we invited Matt and Melissa to the Jazz vs. the Clippers game.  Melissa is Russel's cousin and both are dear friends of ours.....all the way back to college.  It was awesome to catch up with them and spend some time together.  It was a great game to watch but sadly Jazz lost by 2.  But we came away happy anyway considering how...

We celebrated Russel's 41st birthday this month.  One thing I admire about him is that he fully embraces each one.  I, on the other hand, have heart failure every time I realize how old I am about to turn.  In my head, I'm still 17 :) The last couple of years or so Russel and I have started a little tradition of going to Arizona the weekend of his birthday.  It's the perfect time to get out of the snow and into the sun.  We managed to hit Arizona yet again at a perfect time.  The temperatures were soaring in the high 70s and I couldn't have felt more content.  We took little Mei Mei along and she was just as excited as I was.  She knew there would be some swimming involved.....not to mention she gets pretty excited about the plane ride, although you just can't see the excitement in this picture.   (Just ignore the guy's BEHIND right BEHIND us.....maybe that's why the look of distress on Meili's face.) We mainly just relaxed and did nothing, w...

We had a special night Sunday when Josh was honored at an Eagle Court of Honor where he and three of his best friends all received their Eagle awards.  We are so proud of Josh and his accomplishments as well as the other boys.  If you recall, he held a dinner and raised over $3000.00 for the orphanages in China to purchase much needed supplies such as cleft palate bottles/nipples, vitamins, diapers, bibs, onesies, etc.  He was even able to get a camera donated and many other items that really helped many of the sweet little ones in China.  It pushed him definitely out of his comfort zone as he went door to door selling tickets for the dinner but it was a huge success and he knew what he was doing was helping children just like his little sis.  He had seen first hand those that had done so much for our little angel and knew he could make a difference too. The court of honor turned out so nice.  We were honored to have our local fire department come and post ...