THANKSGIVING BIRTHDAY!!!

I can't believe it has been 5 years since my baby twins were born on Thanksgiving Day in 2003. What an amazing day that was in our lives. That year, we had 2 Thanksgiving Dinners (Germany's/Uncle Dan's and dessert at Turners), then the Germany Family Christmas Present Exchange in Park City and of course the annual Germany Family Christmas picture where I look amazing as always. That year we timed the picture in between my contractions. After having endured contractions all day, we left Park City at 9pm, arrived at Alta Hospital at 10pm, and tried to get an epidural in before I was screaming to push. The epidural never took before I was ready to GO.....Kelsey came shooting out with no warning at 11:45pm. Then it was a waiting game for Kayley. But, the chance of her having a different birthday helped her hurry along. Her water broke, she spun around, and we welcomed her, feet first at 11:49pm. PHEW!! Same Birthdays!!! What an amazing experience!!! I thought I would post some pix of their first 5 years. I certainly LOVE these TWO and don't know what I would do without them. They bring so much happiness and laughter to our family. Hope you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving. My Happy Holiday post will come soon!!!!!

ALL INCLUSIVE POST

It's been awhile since I have posted and people are starting to notice and bug me about it. Not that anyone comments on my blog (hint hint), I just didn't realize people were actually looking. First things first.

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to take off my "Mom Hat" and put on my "Rockstar Hat". It was a little dusty, but worth dusting off. My SIL, Lisa, and I had the last minute, awesome opportunity, to blast back to our teenage years at the NKOTB concert here in Salt Lake. What a night!!! We screamed, danced, moved our way up to the 15th row, caught the glance of several NK's and lost our voices all in about 3 hours. It was sooooo much fun. I am glad we finally had the chance to hang out after 10 years Lisa........let's do it again soon!!! I like wearing my "Rockstar Hat" every once in a while!!!! I think I surprised Lisa when the "Mom Hat" came off. I know you are all jealous.






The girls have been busy with their Choir Concerts that start up during the Holiday season. They belong to such a cute performance choir. This is Mackenzie's 2nd year and the 1st for the twins. The twins absolutely LOVE it. I think they wanted to do it just for the costumes. Of course, Mackenzie is in heaven. She loves to perform 24/7. Here they are at their Holiday Premiere. In the next couple of weeks they will be performing at the Festival of Trees, Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and Breakfast with Santa. Good thing Jacob is taking a break from Sports right now.



Since the Turner's are home from their mission (and they have the MTN channel), we went out to watch the BIG GAME at their house. Can you tell who is cheering for who? Poor Grandpa Turner!! He could barely sit in the same room with all the UTE fans. It was a fun day for us. The kids enjoy following in their Dad's footsteps and cheering for the UTES!!!!! GO UTES!





Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I will post about ours soon!!

Somebody's living right!!!

Aloha, Welcome Home!!!!

John Paul's parents have been serving a mission in Honolulu Hawaii for 18 months and just got home last Saturday. Even though we saw them back in February, it was good to see them come home. The kids were especially excited to see Grandma and Grandpa. The twins were just 3 1/2 when they left and they will be turning 5 next week. All the Grandkids have grown up a lot in the past 18 months. It will be fun for the whole family to be together again for Thanksgiving and the Holidays. When I grow up I want to serve a mission in Hawaii too!!!! ALOHA!!!!

PUMPKINS, BIRTHDAY BOY, HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

JACOB TURNS 8..........

THE CHEERLEADER AND THE PENGUIN.............

MY JACOB IS A VAMPIRE.................

CORPSE BRIDE: THIS IS THE CLOSEST SHE WILL GET TO "GIRLY GOTH".......DON'T ASK!!!

Goodbyes and Hellos!!!

Goodbyes......Well, we have lived in Syracuse for almost 3 years now and have made some really good friends. Sadly, we already had to say goodbye to the best neighbors we have had in a long time. The Anderson Family, right next door to us, has twin boys Jacob's age and then another son 11 months younger. Add them to the rest of the kids in the neighborhood and there was always a party at our house or next door. The Andersons moved to South Jordan at the beginning of October to be closer to their jobs and family. This was the first time my kids were old enough to understand what it means to have friends move away. I have never seen them cry so hard. Even the twins shed a few tears. We watched the 3 Anderson boys after school for the past year or so, so we got to know them quite well. They were a part of our family. I was about this age (9-10 yrs old like Mackenzie) when we moved from Bakersfield to Pleasanton. I don't remember how much I cried, but it was an impressionable age, and I kept in touch with 4-5 of my Bakersfield friends all the way through college. It's amazing how much friends mean to you even at that young of an age. I hope we always keep in touch with the Andersons.





And, Hello to Winter???? I hope not. I woke up to Snow last weekend. In my 12 years here in Utah, I have never seen snow before Halloween. I hope this is not a new trend starting, or this California girl is not going to be a happy Utah camper. Thankfully it was warmer this weekend. Please, let the snow take its time. I would like to enjoy the Fall for a little while longer.............

Mackenzie and the Twins' Choir Performance

Mackenzie's 10th was on the 10th

So, I am a little late at this post. A lot has been going on lately. The kids are off track for the next 3 weeks (we go to year round school), so I thought I would catch up on my blogging. Mackenzie had a friend party this year for her birthday. She chose a Rock Star theme. Are you surprised? This girl is all Rock Star. Somedays I think she really believes she is a famous Rock Star and I am her Manager. She sure bosses me around like one. Anyways, as usual our cake designer, JP, went all out and made a Guitar cake for her. She absolutely loved it. Who wouldn't?? And of course the girls received their own inflatable guitars, rock star tattoos, and rock star bracelets. They played high school musical sing a long on the playstation and sang some cheetah girls and hannah montana karaoke. I think they had a good time. It's always quite the production. Thank goodness we only do friend parties every other year. I have 2 years till the next one!!!

Mackenzie finally made it on the big screen!!!

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First Day Of School!!!

I know they started school a couple of weeks ago, (actually, Mackenzie and Jacob have been in school since the end of July), but things have been crazy around here. I can't believe my little ones are in preschool for one last year. THEN KINDERGARTEN!! AHHH!!! Why does the time fly by so fast? I found a preschool that would let me teach part time so that my twinners could go for FREE, cuz heaven for bid am I paying for preschool for 2. I barely wanted to pay for one when I had the chance. That is why I taught out of my home. FREE preschool. Kelsey and Kayley absolutely love school. They get to go 3 days a week but wish it was everyday. I am glad for the breaks when I can still play with them at home. They have become the neighborhood socialites. They ride their 2-wheelers up and down the street looking for friends. One day a neighbor down the street called to say they had knocked on her door and wanted to play with her daughter. I didn't even know this neighbor had a daughter their age. They ended up playing for an hour. They have no fear and will do just about anything (except the things I ask them to do). I am having such a great time with them at home. I don't know what I am going to do when they are ALL in school!!!! I definitely will take advantage of this year with them at home.

16+ Meals in ONE Day!!!

I have been struggling lately with ideas for dinners. Because of my lia sophia schedule, I can be gone 2-3 times a week at night. That leaves poor JP with 4 kids and dinner. If I am really good and on top of things I will have a crock pot dinner ready for them. But, that is a rare occasion. Or, I will buy one of those Betty Crocker Dinners in a box. Now, how good and nutritional is that?? I am sure my kids, including JP, are just dying for a great home cooked meal. No wonder they like Grandmas house so much. Pizza, pancakes and cereal only last so long at our house.

So, I saw this infommerical on TV one night. It was for 30 meals in One Day. Apparently they have this system that helps you shop for, cook and freeze 30 meals all in ONE day. YEAH RIGHT!!! I can barely cook ONE meal in ONE day. I decided to buy the book/cd and give it a try. My mom was interested too, so we dedicated one day to put all the meals together. NO, we did not make 30 meals in one day, but we did manage to make 16 meals. 8 for her family and 8 for my family. Plus the dinners made so much, we might have leftovers. My mom printed all the shopping lists and recipes and brought all the food to my house. What an adventure!!! It took us 5 hours. My kids thought we were crazy. I have never cooked so much in my life. We could barely stand by the 3rd hour. But, we had a great time talking and laughing at each other. Two old women in the kitchen can be quite the comedy. The dinners will be a welcome treat to my hubby and kids when I am gone. AND, it only cost us $100 for 16 meals. So, $50 each. Cool huh??? I might do this once a month to save money and to help JP out when I am out doing my jewelry parties. Bon Apetite!!!!

Here is all the food we bought (minus the 10 lbs of chicken already cooking)!!!!!!!



Here we are after 5 hours of cooking (with our Diet Cokes of course)!!!!!!

We love Bear Lake!!!

A couple of weekends ago, we went with some friends to Bear Lake for their famous Raspberry Days. We ate lunch on the beach, swam all day, had yummy Bear Lake pizza for dinner and topped it all off with a Raspberry shake. This year we even had chocolate covered raspberries. Yummy!!!! The weather was perfect and it was a great way to get away from our everyday hustle and bustle. Thank goodness for small weekend adventures. Thanks mom and dad for letting us stay at your house.

JP is Cookie Dough???

I Am Vanilla??

Football and Goodbyes!!!

Jacob started football a couple of weeks ago and is loving it. He has only complained once about being too tired. I don't blame him. They practice everyday for 90 minutes, out in the heat. I would quit after 10 minutes. They run lots of drills and get to tackle each other. I think he likes wearing the uniform the best, but not running around in it for that long. It makes me tired just watching. Games start next week and go for 7 weeks. Should be a fun season. I just can't believe he is old enough to be doing this. My little boy is growing up!!!





This week we had to say goodbye to my brother Glenn. He has finally made it out of BYU and is heading to law school in California. Now we are down to 2 Germany Kids left in Utah plus my parents. My kids absolutely adore Glenn, especially Mackenzie. Glenn was only 13 or so when Mackenzie was born. Time flies by so fast. We are really going to miss him!! We are proud of you Buddy!!! We'll come visit soon, we love you!!!!!