Penner Reunion in Maui

Hi All. Cherie and I showed up to the famiily reunion in Maui last week with our families. Where were the rest of you??

Actually, it was just a coincidence but it was great to see each other!  We were both vacationing in Hawaii at the same time, so we met up for lunch and play time at Cherie & Blake's resort.  The kids loved it and were so cute together.  Two of them had never even met!  They grow way too fast...

Thanks Uncle Harold and Dad for hooking us up!!

Fresno is multiplying...

We just wanted to make sure you knew who all the new Penner faces were in Fresno.  :)   Some of us cousins got together on Halloween to take pictures of the little cousins.  You can check out my blog for further details about our Halloween fun...

Make sure you check out these posts (click on the links below):

Pumpkins on their...

We are multiplying!! (From 2-7)

And just to leave you with my favorite two sneak peeks...

These kids below might not all be Penner's by name,
but they ALL have Penner blood running thick!  :)

Actually, come to think of it only the Bulldog is a Penner (Jesse and Allie's little guy Jed).  Go Jed!

Yes, we really did this.  You guys in Canada do anything like this?????  HA!

Love you guys!

-Blake, Cherie, Aubrey Rose and Austin

Ali & Mike's Wedding Photos!

Hey Everyone, I thought you all needed to see some AMAZING pictures of Ali and Mike's big day! It was unbelievable and deserves a full rundown, however, for the time being here are some great pictures:) This is the link for the photographers' photos - a sneakpeak, really. More photos are to come on facebook! (Ali's account) http://windingviolets.com/weddings/alison-mike-east-lake-prince-edward-county Here's just one more gem to give the Penner blog a little splash:) Enjoy:) Love you all! Love, Emily

My Semester Abroad!

Hey Family!

I love all the updates recently. This blog definitely has more life to it, yet! To contribute to this renewed movement, here is my update:)

So this semester was amaaaazing for me. I got to study abroad in Paris, France! So much fun. I was gone for just over four months. I missed everyone at home but I was also just sooo happy where I was. The program was based from my university here - it was 24 students that all went over and took classes in Paris. We were still based from our home university instead of enrolled in a university in Paris. A professor came over with us, and our other classes were taught by professors living permanently in Paris. I had pretty much saved up my electives for the past 2 1/2 years in order for my potential exchange, so it won't hurt me moving forward! We took classes like history, literature, cinema, and architecture (...that was a three hour walking tour every Thursday!) All of it was in English, of course, as my 'Bonjour', 'oui!', 'merci' and 'C'est bon' really doesn't suffice in the classroom setting:) Classes were from Tuesday-Thursday giving us a four day weekend EVERY weekend.

A friend of mine took this one.. I love it!

Galleries LaFayette - the biggest store you've ever seen - seven floors all in this layout with the biggest labels. Not a big deal to see a 1000 euro dress. ...so at least it's fun to look in!

Clearly, with those four day weekends, class really wasn't the focus of this semester! People ask if I went to class this semester... I do recall several books being read and quite an intense paper-writing last couple of weeks, but really, there are much more interesting things to discuss about my semester! First off, I absolutely love Paris! The city is amazing. So beautiful, so many amazing spaces within the city, very walkable, interesting, vibrant, cafes at every corner, then bakeries in between... it's an amazing city! All of the iconic 'pictures' of Paris don't disappoint.. the Eifel Tower still amazes me, Notre Dame is gorgeous, the Louvre is just ridiculous, etc., but I also love all the little things now too... particular shopping streets, favourite restaurants, the best 'cafe cremes'.. these are the things I'm dieing to go back to! If ANYBODY is going to Paris (and not taking me with them) get a list of must-sees from me!

My mum came over her break in March for ten days. It was so great! She had been already a couple years ago, so though we kept up a pretty good pace, there wasn't any major rush or frenzy to the week. We went on a few day trips - out to Versailles (Marie Antoinette's chateau... among other French aristocrats) and Chartre (a small French country-ish town). These were great. But then we also just walked the city, shopped a little, ate well, etc. It was so good! She took me to a concert at Saint Chapelle (one of the most beautiful churches in Paris... small with the most unbelievable stained glass covering all the walls) which was such a highlight for me - it was a string quartet playing Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'. Amaaazing.

The 'Hall of Mirrors' in Versaille

I did get around to some other places too! The first somewhat spontaneous weekend was to Edinburgh - flying within Europe is SO cheap. I think this flight (through Ryanair) came to thirty euros round trip?! So we were pretty much like, "Whooooo wants to go to Edinburgh?!" It was a really great weekend. We were in rainy Scotland but got one gorgeous day. It was really fun to be in the UK... food was way cheaper which we were excited about! Our hostel was in the heart of the city on the 'Royal Mile' so everything was so close. We went on walking tours, went through the castle, shopped, ate, and stopped for lots of coffees! It was wonderful:)

Our break in February was one of my favourite times of the whole semester. My roommate and I, Margot, went to Italy for twelve days. We stretched it out as long as possible! We left the Thursday that classes ended, and arrived back the Tuesday that they began again. It was awesome! We spent four nights in Rome (with a family friend of mine from home!), two nights in Siena, three nights in Florence, and two nights in Milan. I can't even begin to tell you my favourite place - they were all so good! Rome was amazing with so much to see... Siena was a wonderful, more quiet and authentic town - especially nice after the hype of the big-city Rome, Florence had so much art and culture (plus Tuscany thrown in there!) and Milan had shopping to die for. Food was a highlight of this trip! My best plate of pasta was in Siena, followed closely by the meal we had on a day-trip in Tuscany (had lunch in a private villa!) The pizza was phenominal, followed by the at-least-daily helping of gelato. We saw a lot of art, walked through many, many churches, sat in countless piazzas, shopped, admired, and spent most of the week in awe! There's still so many things in Italy that I want to see, but that's for the next trip, I suppose!

The view at the Michelangelo Piazza in Florence

At the Roman Forum

Inside St. Peter's in Rome... the scale and all the ornate detail... absolutely amazing.

There were some other trips in there... smaller ones and a ton of things done in Paris, but the next big trip was to Belgium, Germany, and Holland. My good friend from high school, Leslie, joined me for this. She had been in Ghana, Africa for eight months and came through Europe on her way home. We had the best time! We always stayed with people we knew - not one night was spent at a hostel or a hotel. This was amazing because a) saved a lot of money and b) we had the most wonderful hosts who made the places we were staying. Each one was so good to us.

The Canals in Amsterdam

Leslie and I

After the trip with Leslie I went back to Paris for a few days, then headed for Barcelona to meet up with Margot (my roommate), her friend that she was travelling with, and a few other friends that were also in Barcelona at the time. This was the perfect way to end the semester. Barcelona is an amazing city - tropical Europe! It had a beautiful beach, as well as all the culture that you expect from Europe.

After Barcelona I came back to Paris, stayed with a friend, and then flew home the next day! It's still quite strange to be back. SO good to see everyone, but I miss Paris/Europe a lot! I'm not sure that I can stay put for too long... we'll have to see what's next!

If you're not too bored/saturated with this post, there are way more pictures on my facebook of each trip. Thanks for the updates that have been shared so far! I love reading them!

Love and miss you all!

Em

Happy Birthday Aunt Rose!!!

We sure wish we were celebrating all together today. Wow how dearly we all miss Aunt Rose. It seems like it was just this last Christmas we were all together, yet 3 years have already passed since that sweet, sweet Christmas that still brings tears to my eyes. Little did we know only a few days later would be our last time together with her on Earth. Such a short life. Such a HUGE impact on us all! Better yet, I wish we were all in Heaven experiencing the most AMAZING birthday celebration along side not only Aunt Rose, Grandma and Grandpa, but our Heavenly Father as well!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT ROSE!!!

Big Birthday Party Coming Up!

2 posts in one day...I'm really on a roll! I thought I would let you all (ie, Cherie) know that my dad celebrated his 60th birthday on April 5th. We're having the big birthday party on April 30th at Brian & Trish's house and of course you're all invited! If you can't make it, feel free to send an inspirational (or preferably just funny) message we can pass on to him at the party. I'll send you an update afterwards. TTFN!

-Sheri

Chris & Jul - trying to keep up with the California Penners on our behalf

I just realized after giving Cherie heck for not updating us, we have something to announce here in Ontario as well! Jul and Chris are doing their part to keep the Penner genes in Canada - Jul delivered they're fourth child on March 13th (at home, of course, while she was cooking dinner for the family and doing laundry...). Not only that, but it was a BOY!!!! We haven't had a Penner boy produced in Canada for a long time, with the exception of Josh. Technically the new baby isn't a Penner but we all know you can't breed that out. So they named him Ethan Christopher and so far he's been very good. We hardly even notice him when all the loud mouth, rambuctious sisters and cousins are running around. Here's a picture of Ethan with Maddie (his cousin). Congratulations Jul & Chris!

-Sheri

Fresno/Clovis Update :)

This post is by Cherie...on behalf of our Fresno/Clovis Penner crew! :)

Sheri, great call. Great call. We are definitely due for updates! Not sure if anyone noticed but our first year we started this blog in 2009 we had 57 posts! Now, in 2011, we only have ONE!!! I realize we are only in April, but I think we need to pick it up a notch. :) Well, I will make it two and hopefully we can count it for like 50 since I will try and update on a bunch of us over here.

One of the biggest and latest news around here is HP is cancer free!! The night we found out, we threw a mini party. Balloons, a sign, poppers and family created the perfect celebration. We even had Christy and Aaron on Facetime on our phones!

Two new babies over here to celebrate! Our little guy, Austin, was born February 27th. He is almost 2 months old now and fitting in perfectly in the family. Jon and Andrea had their little girl, Symphony Marie, a couple of weeks after Austin. We both didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, so it was SUPER exciting to see God's plan work out for both of us. Here is Symphony Marie We have had some big moves too! We are sooooooo sad and miss them sooooooooo much, but Christy and Aaron moved to Alameda, which is an ISLAND close to San Francisco. They seriously live on an island now. They are loving it. Both of them have new jobs. So far so good. Christy travels A LOT! She goes to Dallas, Florida and Denver, since her company has corporate offices at all locations. I am still praying they someday move back to Fresno, but as good as their situation is there, not sure if that will ever happen. But, it doesn't hurt to pray, right?? David and Arris (and their 2 kids...Jadon and Arrielle) just moved back to Fresno!!! HUGE move too. David got a job here and they bought a wonderful house. They have not lived in Fresno since high school days. So what is that? 12 years? 13 years? They have been here for maybe 2 months now. We are loving the play dates and extra family time. I know they are missing their world back in Oakland, but we are praying their roots will continue go deep here in Fresno. Jesse and Allie's little guy, Jed, is 5 months old now. We are having Jed and Austin dedicated to the Lord together on May 15. Symphony is getting dedicated the following weekend...just in case all you Canada family want to join. :) Andrea and I have been still doing our Letter Days. We are LOVING it!! And our little ones might even love it more. Probably not though. We are huge fans! This picture was from our N day. N for Nest! As far as other news...let's see...for the MacAlpine kiddos. They all doing great. Luke and Becca just celebrated one year of marriage. They bought a house and have 2 dogs already. Whoo Hoo! Chelsey, is going to school and being a dang good nanny for a family. I try to get her as often as possible. She is quite a popular girl! She did have a little heartbreak recently. We thought we were hearing wedding bells for her in the near future. God had other plans. Although I am not okay with her heart breaking, selfishly I sure do like seeing her a TON more!! I have missed that girl!!! Jeremy is doing school, working as a server at Cheesecake Factory and is owning his own home. He has a few roommates to help pay the mortgage. Works out well. Uncle Mac, Janice, Luke, Becca, Chelsey and Jeremy are all in Catalina Island on vacation for spring break right now! So jealous of them!

I think Charity is last but not least. Her and Neil are doing great. She is actually throwing a birthday party for Neil this weekend if any of you Canada family want to join. Come on down!! I am sure she doesn't mind me inviting you. :)

And just because I know you would enjoy family stuff like this. Bath time for Jed, meant Family Time at our house! Jeremy, Christy, Allie, Aubrey, Jesse and my mom!

Okay I think that is plenty. Hope you enjoyed!!! If you would like more updates regularly, Blake and my blog is HERE!

Lastly, I am not sure if everyone remembers the password and email to get in to this blog. Should we put it on here or should we send out an email to family? I know I check this on a regular basis and obviously Sheri does too. :) Who else does? Leave a comment on your opinion on how we should do this!! Miss you guys!!