Picture of Family

Hey Yall! Here's a recent picture of our family at Christmas and the other one is from last thanksgiving :). Hope your all doing well! Love Lydi!

Calling all Students & Teachers!!!

This post is for the students and teachers. In this comment section can you let us know when your last week of school is for 2010. Maybe we can plan it then and the peach partners can see about getting away for one week early on in the summer. With the various school schedules it will be impossible to get one week that will work for everyone. FYI - I did call RCI and of course the week/location will determine $$$, I also asked about cruises (Feb.&March were reasonable $650 p/p all-inclusive 7 day Mexico Cruise - I've even seen some specials around $350 p/p).

Once we can nail down our week then we can gather all sorts of vacation package info. And yes, Aunt Marge is our genius in this area! So calling all students and teachers, we want to hear from you!!!

~Andrea

All-Inclusive

Hey Everyone,

So I thought if I am to assist in coordinating this, I better start throwing out some information. I did a google search on all-inclusive vacations. I found out that you can book these through Expedia or Obitz, etc – did everyone know that? The closest that I could see to California is Mexico. How does everyone feel about Mexico? And the prices were really reasonable.

Our date is going to be the trickiest. It looks like we are narrowing down to February, March or Spring (before peach picking). The date is our priority, it looks like either the teacher camp or student camp will have to give in. In either case, it will be such a magnificent time that it will be well worth the time off for all of us!

I would like to create a tally in this comment section for

• 1. All-inclusive in Mexico
• 2. Beach house in San Diego, CA
• 3. Beach house in Pismo, CA
• 4. Other Please insert idea: ______________________).

FYI, my vote is for Mexico or SanDiego. ~ Andrea

My vote..

Hey Guys! For our 2010 extravaganza, I don't have a strong opinion on where we go. It could be absolutely anywhere and we would have an amazing time. Well actually, I just need it to be hot, and preferably by water.. then I am ALL set. Now the time is a little bit more tricky. The teachers of the family will need it to be either their March Break or the summer. The university students, (at least Ali and I) would need it to be during our reading week in February or Spring/Summer. I believe everyone could do it July/August, but I've heard that's peach season? Anyway.. just throwing all that out there. Love you all and hope you're having a good day! em

RENT 1

So here is the first "rent" response...yes, yes, yes, anywhere, anytime, anyplace except where I have to have a passport! HP votes for SD over LA area. And Pismo is a good option too. West coast is his choice. Napa is beautiful. HP thinks 4 days is good, I think 2 weeks sounds good. So there you have it. -Margie

New Zealand

Hey you all wonderful people, I want to keep this short but sweet (very hard for me sometimes as you already know!). But I really want to let my dear family know some of my struggle but yet at the same time, very exciting moments in my life: Yesterday I said goodbye or I rather a "see you later" to my boyfriend of 5 months, well more like 6 months when it was getting pretty serious. For those who don't know his name is Mike (Wilson if you want to make sure he's not mennonite but just to be clear - he's not lol!) He really is a great guy and some of you guys got a chance to get to know him last week and that's really special to me. He really liked you all! So thanks for making him feel so invited and really took an interest to get to know him. So it's going to be hard but thankfully we've learned to communicate very well as that's what our year (oh yeah, key information - he's going for a year for teachers college) is going to be all about. Thankfully, technology is amazing - so skype, email, some phone calls (expensive!) and good old fashion letters will make this year a real growing experience for us both I believe. For those who need more of a visual (there's been some pictures that Mike has been in but here's a few more just so you can put a face to name!) I'd really appreciate yours prayers as our God can do more than I can even think and imagine - how exciting! Love you all, Ali

Hi Y’all! First, Congratulations to Emily on the new pad and to you Aaron for your terrific accomplishment! I know you sacrificed a lot for the season, and I hear you can now foot the P10 bill for us! Yeah! =) I am sorry that I missed everyone in Canada. I of course asked Jon about all of the details and sounds like you all had a blast! I have been faithfully reading everyone’s posts and comments and I agree with everyone else, what a wonderful family! So Jon volunteered me did he? Well I am sure it will be a team effort, but however I can help. I would say that the P10 Location will be determined on time of year. I know when we engaged this conversation when Jon and I were there last year, we were talking March (Trish’s school break), and that seems to also help the peach problem. I don’t know how warm the West Coast Ocean will be then, but we could go further down South to San Diego and there is a lot to do there and we could even walk over to Mexico for a day. Sounds like some favor Pismo where you went in the past, so the sooner we know how many and where, it would be smart for us to book something since we will need numerous reservations or need to rent a couple of party homes. I would also like to recruit for a “Non-Penner-I’ve been grafted in-and CAN’T sing anything I want” group for the talent show. Seeing from the posts, Trish can I count on you? And knowing from past experience I petition Blake and Allie! Anyone else who would like to join? Looking forward to P10! Will write again soon, Andrea

Aaron Passed!

So, for those of you who don't know, Aaron gave up about six months of his life (from May to October) to study for this huge engineering exam. 16 hours of testing over 2 days. The poor guy actually came home with blisters on his hands from all the frantic calculations and writing that is required. Only about 200 engineers qualify to take it each year in California and there's usually only a 20%-30% passing rate. AND GUESS WHO PASSED ON HIS FIRST TRY!! I was working from home yesterday and went to check the mail. And there was the letter we have been waiting for during the past 3 months! I drove straight to his office to have him open it (please note the self control that took!). Anyways, the first line said congratulations and thanks to me the entire office knew very quickly that my husband had passed his exam! He's now the only guy in his office under the age of 50 who has achieved this license. It has been a long time goal to pass this exam and officially be a licensed structural engineer by the time he was 30. And he squeaked by with a month to spare! Anyways, if you can't tell I'm proud and wanted to share! - Christy

Tardy pix ;)

What 's happening Penner squad ...and all those grafted in!?! Here are some of the mvp's from my camera. Sadly some of the olympic size snowball fights and others were taken on other cameras, so if you are the owners of such photos...please post immediately ;) Also notice the monument picture at the bottom...that was taken for Brian's reminder for ages to come. lol

Anyways...miss you all and am looking forward to the 2010 extravaganza!

Stay Near to God,

Jon

Hey guys! I am so glad that we got this blog going! It is such a great way for all of us to keep in touch. Anyways , I have been really busy these past few days cetching up with my school work. Turned out that I missed two summatives and two unit tests when I was away :S! But I am all caught up know. I just finished my last exams yesterday. I had four exams in two days one in french , geography , English and my Grade four singing exam. Jon you never did help me with that ..since you promised my Mom in the list of agreements! Haha just joking! Well love you guys and hope you are doing well! Love Lydia.

hey!!

Hi everyone, First of all I need to say that man, we have one darn goodlooking family!! Cherie I loved all the pics you sent out. I so wish I could have been there with you guys in Ontario. This is such a good idea to keep in touch. I love reading everyones blogs! I'm intrigued by this 2010 event..it would be awesome to get everyone together. Anyway, just wanted to say hi to all and I miss you all lots! Jemina

We Haven't Heard from Andrea

Ok Andrea. You may not know this but Jon volunteered you to organize the Penner 2010 event. You already have a promotional manager (Jesse) and it sounds like people are leaning toward doing it in California instead of down south (I was overruled). Soo....I'm going to try a little poll here on the blog. I want to hear from every family: Who/how many would actually seriously consider attending this event? What time of the year would you prefer? Where and how long? (California and a southern All Inclusive have been tabled, but other suggestions are welcome) Please answer on behalf of your computer illiterate relatives. Hope everyone responds! Thanks, Sheri

AUBURILLO!!!

just wanted to post a pic of when auburillo was just a little one... how cute is she!!!!!! she just keeps getting better :) love you all.. Chelsey & Cherie

Blake Hanging Out with Jack and LeBron

This was taken off the TV. Blake has some sweet seats at the Laker's game. I think Blake was rubbing Jack's head. Posted by some jealous Fresnian's

Go Lakers and Blake!!!

If you don’t have anything better to do tonight, watch the Laker’s vs. Cavilers.  Blake and his dad are at the game and have pretty dang good seats.  They are right behind the announcers table in Row A, which is like 4 or 5 seats (and one row up) away from Jack Nicholson's front row seat! Blake is wearing a bright yellow shirt.  You can't miss him!  Blake was sooooooo excited...Kobe vs. Lebron.  He brought the camera, so we will have to post pictures later.  Go Laker’s!!!

Love ya all!

~Cherie

JHP First Post

In this, my inaugural post, I would like to say that I am honored to have been given the user name and password to this cherished site.  What a privilege and honor.  When I learned about this website, all of five minutes ago, and when I learned about our Penner vacation I got pretty excited.  As my excitement built I realized that this event in 2010 ought to have a name so that it can be easily referenced.  We should also probably develop a logo of some sort so that we can put it on our snazzy SWAG (look it up in the urban dictionary if you don't know what that is). Being that I have absolutely no gifting in this regard, and that I do not want to be the first one to throw out a lame idea that gets thrown out by the rest of the group, I suggest that this blog turn it's focus toward developing a name and logo.  Please keep me updated on your progress.  

Also, based upon Sheri's post from a while back, I have come to the understanding that this event might include a talent show.  Since Luke, Chels, Alison, and Emily are all already in a group presenting "Colors (no "u" here in America) of your love", I would like to announce that I am holding auditions for other cousins to be apart of my talent presentation.  For those of you who have any gifts and talents please contact me at 559-230-1212.  Since I have no plan for my show at the current time, I am really open to using your talents in their rawest form.  Don't hesitate to call.  Really! No Seriously please call me.  I don't have many friends.  Please!!!

Jesse Harold Penner     

HIIIII BUDDIES!!!

so i am back in 70 degree weather... and loving the fact that almost everyone here is wearing flip flops as well :) i can not tell all yall canooks how much i enjoyed being in ontario!! i am sitting in Cheries kitchen getting ready to eat lunch with her and auburillo, christy, aunt margie & uncle harold and Phil.. yep he flew down from candada to hang out! o Uncle Harold wants to say hi to everyone... anyways.. if any of you heard about my flights back im sure you were entertained. my 1st flight got cancelled so the only way to get home by sat was to take 5 connections on 3 different airlines. i made a lot of friends on that journey... but i cant wait till 2010... i mean seriously.. do you know how much fun we are going to have?? all of us together?? we prob wont be able to have snow ball fights.. but then again me and sheri kicked biscuits!! wouldnt want to embarass you guys again. (sheri i love the use of biscuits...) ok well im going to go be social.. but i will update again soon! love you alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll!!! Chelsey Mac (i would be the older chelsey for all of you who got as confused as i did this week.)

Aid for Survival

Just so we all know, this blog brings me much joy and comfort in my excruciatingly long 'Controversial Issues in Life Sciences' class. So keep on posting!

love,

em

p.s. I have signed a lease on a house! When I got back to school last night we had a meeting with the landlord, and I officially have a place to live next year. There are six of us living together.. all girls.. all really good friends.. and I've met them all this year through living in res. Our house is really nice.. I love it. Six bedrooms, a family room and also a living room.. a dishwasher (haha... yess.) and a pond! Yes, we have a pond in the backyard. So come and visit. I can't cook a thing yet, but a fellow roommate is a future Martha Stewart, so I think it's ok.

This is the group of us that are living together.. in our hallway.. Sorry, I don't have a picture of the outside of the house.

AHHH, I just LOVE you guys!!

Okay, I just got home and I thought...hmmm....let's look at the blog and see if anyone has posted anything. I could not believe it!! You guys are the best! I haven't even sent out the email yet with the login info. Gosh, Grandma and Grandpa blessed us with smart genes that is for sure! I haven't yet downloaded my pictures. I will get to that. It is so nice to be home. You Canadians are absolutely crazy living in that freezing cold weather. Blake was telling me he had to put on shorts today in Fresno. That is what I am talking about! I don't think I will be wearing shorts, but I know I won't have to put Aubrey Rose in a bunting bag. Praise the Lord! Actually I loved seeing Aubrey in that adorable bunting bag. She couldn't even move. I would stand her up and she would just slide down on her bum and fall over. Good memories! Thank you sooooooo much Scott and Sheri (and Maddy) for letting us use that. I am sure that bunting bag saved us from many runny noses or worse. Thank you again! So, yes, I will be getting to the pictures, I promise. I loved looking at the pictures that were updated on here because I thought...oh, I have that picture, and that picture, oh that one too....and then I realized they were my pictures! You already did the updating for me!! Thanks girls! I will send all of them though, through email. We just had the best time this past week. Thanks everyone for the wonderful memories and also for being so great to Aubrey Rose. It was such a joy to see all of you with her. Chelsey asked me what my one highlight would be and I said the evening at Scott and Sheri's. Everyone was there...the busyness had passed...we were able to just relax and enjoy time together. That was a sweet, sweet night. If you could pick one highlight...I know that is pretty much impossible....but, only one, what memory is your highlight from this past week? I JUST LOVE OUR FAMILY!!!! Love, Cherie

hi guys, i had a bit of an accident in august. some of you mentioned you were curious how my car fared. here are some pics if you're interested. missing all of you, joyce the offending truck and my trusty black vibe. apparently where the helicopter landed. mom searching for my ipod, glasses and anything else that'd flown out of the car. where my car landed. poor little trees.

Quiet Canada

the last of the penner-clan-living-abroad left this morning. ontario's awfully lonely. missing all of you, joycee

You all ROCK!

So I just wanted to say how awesome it was being with you all this week.  From jam sessions to snowball fights...it was so great to be together.  Thanks again to Cherie & Emily for putting together the "cyber tool" to help keep us connected :) 

Soo...I will be post pixs in a sec (once I get a minute to upload them ;)  But I just wanted to send love to you all.

One life at a time,

Jon Shabaglian

profile pic!

Hey all, This is Jessalyn. I was going through some pictures on my computer and I came across a picture of a large number of us from grandma's funeral in May (I think it may have come from Cherie's camera), anyway I thought it would be a great picture to set as our profile pic. Feel free to post a different one if you have one that you think is better!! Sorry to the people that are not in the picture. Me, mom and Dad had quite the interesting drive to Toronto on Weds. It took us 2 and a half hours to get to the airport. We were stuck in a snowstorm on the highway and only going about 30km/hr. Because we were running so late my dad took an exit onto the 407 (I think) and then we became lost and had no idea if we were going the right way. There were no signs pointing to the airport. At this point our flight was leaving in just over an hour. Mom was frantically calling Uncle James and even tried called Brian to get directions. We ended up stopping at a gas station to get directions. When we finally made it to the airport out flight was leaving in about 35 mins (I think). My dad dropped me and my mom off at departures, we got our boarding passes and checked the bags while my dad dropped the rental car off. Luckily, there were no lines and we made it through security, while the plane was boarding. When we got to the gate, we walked straight onto the plane. We were all panicking. We thought for sure we were going to miss our flight! But we didn't, we made it home safe and sound! Anyway, I had such a wonderful time with ALL of you last week. I struggled a lot with the decision to come to grandpa's funeral, whether I should take the time off work and spend the money to go but as soon as I arrived I realized I had made the right decision to come. I feel so blessed to be a part of this family and I am really looking forward to the reunion in California 2010. Love to you all!!

More Family Lovin'

HA! You can barely see Aubrey Rose in this shot but she was sure bundled up! Chelsey is sure great with her! Again - pretty in pink! It is important to note that Chelsey brought only flip flops and flats as well as no winter coat to CANADA in our brutally cold -20 degree Celsius weather at the time (it's rarely this cold truly). For all you Americans - 0 degrees Celsius converts to 32 degrees Fahrenheit!! Anyone know what -20 would be then in Fahrenheit? My converter on my phone doesn't do negatives ha!

What a photogenic baby! So are you Em!

We had a bit of a jam session with the fam on Tuesday night (the day of the funeral) - singing really whatever someone yelled outloud! It started off with Scott handing Mike his guitar case and saying "play"!! We started off with singing a version of "Angels we have heard on high" that we did at a carols by candlelight service we have at our church every year. It's a josh groban and brain mcknight version. Mike is [trying] to be josh groban and I'm [trying] to be Brian Mcknight! Those very gifted artists can sure sing in that high register!! We also hadn't sang it since Christmas so we were a tad bit out of practice with those extremely high notes!

Here's Maddy (Sheri and Scott's cute daughter) and beautiful Aubrey Rose - both pretty in pink!

I couldn't believe how happy this beautiful baby is - I hardly saw her cry...if she did, it was usually because she had to go to bed just like this rest of us!

Aparently Aubrey Rose rathers smiling at us instead of the camera! I think she's looking at Emily by the expression on Emily's face!

It was great to have Dave there too even if he did have to leave first thing Wednesday morning. Great to see you!

So much Love (sounds like dear Oma!)

Sheri - you are truly hilarious! That post made me laugh many times (oh and by the way this is Ali) "Colours of His Love" was the first thing I thought of right when you mentioned Oma and Opa's 50th! And at the reunion in California 2010 I trust (speaking on behalf of emily, lydia, chelsey, luke and jeremy) that we could pull that song off - actions and everything (because clearly the actions are the best part!) just like it was yesterday! If my calculations serve me correctly, I do believe that I would have been approximately 8 (give or take a year) at the time of the 50th. Hey, didn't Jordanna sing and write a song for Grandma and Grandpa as well as Jon? I want to hear both songs again. I'm sure I have a dvd somewhere back home in whitby (I have to specify houses now which is weird because yeah, I have my own pad! Come check it out sometime...I may even feed you in the limited ways I know how!) Anyway, good memories of that time together during the 50th! The 60th was pretty fun too - funny seeing how hot the californians were in our sticky, humid, hard to breath when you walk outside kind of heat! Niagara Falls trip was pretty fun - completely new experience for Aris (sorry if I spelt it wrong, not sure if it's 1 r or 2) I'm pretty sure - maybe Andrea too I forget. As for the snow ball fight/snow fun/nature walk by the creek - I would hardly say that you and chelsey dominated! Just because you have many snowballs to throw doesn't mean they are actually hitting the target ;) which I do believe is the object of a snowball fight!! Gorgeous day it was then - the key to winter survival (in my opinion) is to get in it and enjoy it so that was sure accomplished - and what better to enjoy it with the Californians (who I think secretly really like winter and the beauty, snow, snow fun, etc, etc, etc) even though they were freezing! Ha, can't help but chuckle to myself :) You guys were funny to watch and listen to when you're talking about snow and how cold it is - all your comments are great - "I can't feel my face...I'm numb..If that doesn't wake you up I don't know what will!" Anyways, I'm wrapping this up now - man no limit to these posts? That could be dangerous with me - as one point leads to the next and I go on a tangent! The point is if I had to sum it up - I love you all! And it's not just surface like I enjoy hanging out with you when you're here kind of love ..it's I respect you all for different reasons and I so appreciate and love our relationships as individuals together and collectively as a unit. Our family has grown into something really special. It's unfortunate that death was the "bridge" if you will but it is really awesome to see that amongst the pain and hurt, there can be joy - this reminds me of one of my all time favourite songs my Sara Groves - called "Less like Scars". It's quite an old song but still applies to my life so often. Goodness, the first line of the song is - "it's been a hard year but I'm climbing out of the rubble". How much more can that relate to what our family has been through! Check it out on youtube or something and we can talk about it! Really enjoyed our time together. It was a no brainer for me to take a week off school (just the 2nd week into the new semester) to be around to connect, share and love eachother in the midst of our sadness. Can't wait for so many cool things to come of this Penner blog! Love, Ali

The Penner Week

Hi All! This is Sheri. I just wanted to let everyone know what a great week it was - everyone except Cherie, Aubrey Rose and Aunt Boo Boo have gone home now:( For anyone that missed it, we had a big, disruptive (Penner style) family lunch at Fresco's on Wednesday and then a jam session afterward at Scott St. You'll all be happy to know that I used the old "Henry Penner's grandchildren" line and it still works to get us in to Scott St! Wednesay night was another Penner family meal at Sahla Thai where our own Jon Shabaglian defied death by ordering a spice level 5 meal. Dinner was followed by an awesome girls night (including Scott, Phil and Mike) at my house. Thursday morning was a sleep in (for the Californians only) followed by lunch and snowball fights at my parent's (U Dave & A Marge). Me & Chelsey kicked biscuit. After that, a small contingent went to visit the old stomping grounds at Irvine Road. In the evening, another delicious meal at the Penners (Dave & Marge) followed by an awesome stroll down memory lane watching Gramma & Grampa's 50 wedding anniversity celebration. The cousins were hilarious! I'd love to see a repeat performance of that "Colours of your Love", including actions from Luke, Chels, Jeremy, Emily & Alison. You guys were awesome. And Jon...we expect "Thank you for 50 years" to be on the next album. Maybe you can approach boys 2 men about recording it. This week was awesome. Thanks to everyone who came and made it so special. We are truly blessed to be part of the Penner family. Put it in your calendars...California, 2010!

Our Very First Post!

So as we write this first post, family is all around enjoying each other's company! It is wonderful. So here are some pictures of our time together...