Don & Pam - Having a Very Zehner Christmas 2010

So, some of you have been wondering what Don and I have been up to! Well, this past August Don and I celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary! I gave him a nice watch....even had it engraved! He gave me a beautiful diamond yesterday, today, and tomorrow ring! This impressed me greatly for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it gave me hope for the future! After all, would Don Zehner invest in something like that if he wasn't serious about the commitment? I don't think so! He did tarnish the gift a little when he mentioned that it would be a great family heirloom to give to one of the girls after my death. Ha, you all thought I was the only one to espouse inappropriate things with bad timing! At least I am usually trying to be funny....Don was serious!

Anyway, yes, thirty years! So many things happened to Don and I in 1980 too. We both graduated from college, got married, began our careers, and then just a month later found out we were pregnant! Wow! Neither of us had insurance with our jobs, so there went all the money we earned immediately to the hospital and doctors! Back in those days they made you stay in the hospital five days too! That was crazy, they made us watch video's of all different types of things that they wanted us to know before bringing the baby home. Now, you are lucky to be in the hospital for a complete 48 hours! As you know that was only the beginning, now we have had six kids and thirty years of wedded bliss! Well, at least some of the time was bliss! Raising kids can really put the pressure on a marriage....especially the teenage years, and we aren't done yet! We really haven't even slowed down!

Now, don't get me wrong, I'd like to slow down. In fact, I had some great birthday girly trips with three of my best girly friends, Gretchen, Mary Jane and Linda, to Peoria, Culver, Fair Oaks Dairy and even Mustang Island, Texas, (It wasn't even anyone's birthday when we went to Texas!), where I absolutely slowed down to almost a crawl! Well, not exactly a crawl, the girls insist on some sort of exercise where ever we are, beach walking for exercise in Texas, but we always eat enough to void out any benefit we may get from the exercise, I am pretty sure! We now refer to ourselves as the four "Beaches". Sounds better than "Bitches", a moniker that one of the husbands gave us! I'm ready to go again girls! It was a great time and I really am ready to go again as soon as I get all this Christmas paid off and tax season is over! Where to next? Another friend, Bev, and I made another girly trip to our Dental Hygiene 30th alumni luncheon in Fort Wayne. All of us graduates that could make it met after the luncheon for further remembering, and I think I can safely say we all had a great time! Nancy and Cynthia even spent the night with us! I knew I liked those girls 30 years ago for some reason....now I remember why, they were/are a blast! Love you girls....I'm ready for another girly outing with you all too, Colorado, cruising, whatever we can all manage! I've even had some great get together's with old high school buds and other friends at the lake, Susan and Bud Thews are always up for something whether it be eating or cruising on the pontoon we own together. Another bunch of high school friends met just a few months ago when our friend Cindy King came up from Texas for a visit! Hey, Jodie and Tim, when are we going to do our Indi weekend too by the way, Kelly you want to come??? Cindy, you could always fly home too....well, maybe not...does Dan have you grounded again?

Speaking of trips, I also got to go visit Jordan in Spain with my sister Jackie and Aunt Lynne in March. I love all my family trips! I have a great group of kids, aunts, cousins, my sister and a sister-in-law that are way fun to travel with at any time! Spain was so cool! It is an amazing country....so different in geography, climate and people just as you travel from north to south! We did so many things! We visited the graves of Ferdinand and Isabella in Granada and saw many Easter rituals. The Moorish influence was strong there as it was so close to Morocco! The Alhambra was a huge fortress that was amazingly preserved and was a Moors stronghold until 1492. There were caves in the mountain/hill sides occupied by modern day Spanish hippies there too. We enjoyed amazing food everywhere, especially the olives, almonds, wine and olive oil! We did the "Tapas Walk" from bar to bar, drinking our Sangria or Beer with Fanta and eating the free tapas or appetizers as we went. We totally loved Toledo with it's old city, knife blades, and jewelry/carvings. We saw a bull fight in Madrid and famous paintings at the local art museum. We saw Roman ruins right behind Jordan's apartment in Talavera del la Reina and also many fine ceramics of which that area is known. We even got to meet some of the kids Jordan taught as well as some of her fellow teachers. All in all it was a very unforgettable experience, perhaps we will get to return some day! By-the-way, I took the Kindle that I got for last Christmas with me and it was great! I never ran out of a book and I was able to check my email, send email, and didn't even need wifi. I love my Kindle for so many reasons, the fact that I am addicted to books is just one of the reasons as I can download a new one anytime anywhere!

Now, what was Don doing during all this time? Well, Don doesn't travel....in fact, he tells me it is totally unnecessary as you can get on you-tube and see just about anything anywhere! So, he worked on some projects....even got a couple of them done, well at least one anyway. Let's see...here are some of his projects started just since the spring: he finished a landscaping project on the back pond, he began digging, stocking and deepening the front pond, he started insulating and reorganizing the basement...including a new "intranet" service, server cabinet and all, he began a repaint of the entire office building with new guttering, new paint colors, and a total tuck pointing of all the exterior glazed brick, he is presently having the farm ground divided off the "house" ground for a refinance, and he helped me with labels and this blog, as well as fixing my computer so it ran a little faster than molasses, he also put in new brakes, and fixed the door on a couple of the vehicles.  Oh, I almost forgot....he did go on a trip too, in fact two of them! He went with Bryan on his 8th grade class bus trip to Washington D.C., and he went on a family trip to Madison, Wisconsin. We all wanted to see where Jordan would be going to school. Madison is awesome, four lakes, the University, and the state capital are all there! Plenty of cool places to eat, walk, and hang too! I just hope Jordan has some time to enjoy it, and I hope she can stay warm!! I hear it can get quite frigid there! We had to tell her that they have a pretty good football team there but I don't think she has taken the time to see them for herself yet.

That is a little hint of the types of things Don occupies himself with through out the year! He also has all his technology to keep himself busy. He is up to 6 monitors at the office, four at home, three at the lake, one netbook, two laptops, his iphone, and his most recent "toy"/work tool is his new ipad. And that brings us to work....now he can do it anywhere, anytime, with several different devices! Good thing he enjoys his work because he spends an awful lot of hours there! I about had a cow when he added the exercise area and wii room to the office downtown!  I thought it was bad enough that he has a couch, fireplace, shower, and change of clothes there already! Now, some of you may believe he is just avoiding me and those teenagers but really it is a job that requires a lot of hours! He still has both the Logansport and Plymouth offices and has clients all over the U.S. and even a couple of International ones! One is a model who we are all very proud of, we knew her when she was just a model for us, her neighbors, and her American Girl dolls! Go Madeline, keep up the good work! Anyway, he is always busy, especially between Nov. and June. He likes to pretend he is only busy three months out of the year, but the reality is that he is busy always! Just way over busy during "the season". So, keep us all in your prayers that time of year as it is here already!! And with that I think I will end this part of the blog! Needless to say, there is always something happening to keep us both busy! My favorites are going to watch the kids, and now grandkids, and traveling! Dons....well judge for yourself, but I do know he really loves us all... all the time, no matter which computer/gadget he is sitting in front of! Love ya honey!! We love you all too!! PZ

Having a Very Zehner Christmas 2010 - Original Letter

Having a Very Zehner Christmas

2010

Hello and Merry Christmas to All!  First of all I want you all to note the size of this Christmas letter! It is the front and back of one page only with an agreeable sized font! Is it not one of the smallest ones you’ve seen from us in a while? Probably the only one smaller is the year that I used the graph to tell of the kids’ activities. (I loved that one!) Well, for those of you who know me best, you are aware that every year I threaten never to write another one of these things!  Seriously, who really wants to read’em anyway! Well, according to several of you….you do! In fact, some of you have stated that you really even look forward to them! I have also had some other well meaning comments about them like, “put more in them about you and Don”, and “use a bigger font, geech!” The best one happened recently at my 30 year college reunion just last month. One of the ladies was making fun of just these types of letters, then noticed me right behind her and said, “Oops!!” It was absolutely hilarious, and I think she did it on purpose! But, also it was a true commentary on these things; they are long and sometimes even laborious to get through!!! Yet, they can be fun and entertaining, and you get to catch up on all the various Zehner activities. So, how to please both types of friends and family?

We think we’ve come up with a plan….a very “Zehner-ish” type of plan, one that will make this Christmas a “Very Zehner Christmas” for us! We are going to start a Zehner Holiday Blog! Why not use all that computer knowledge and techno experience that is just waiting to be harnessed around here. This way those of you who are truly interested in all of the comings and goings of us Zehners can log on to it! Others who prefer just a short synopsis can be done after getting through this smaller tome! What do you think? Ingenious is it not? Maybe there will even be pictures and commentary from the kids! Now, let’s hope by the time I finish this letter

someone has set that up for me because Ms. Techno I am not! I am sure you all know that Don and the kids are always on the cutting edge of every type of technology, so I am depending on one or more of them! Why didn’t we think of this before!! Hopefully, at the end of this message you will see the website of the blog where you can log on and check out the longer version of this year! If not…..well, there is always next year!! In the meantime, here is a short preview of the types of things you’ll hopefully be able to read about in the blog, (I have taken the liberty of highlighting the most important thoughts so that even the “skimmers” in the group can get through this particular letter quickly!! I did it with you in mind Linda Smith, LOL!):

Arin, Shawn and Mason are expecting again at the end of January! According to Mason they are having a baby “bruver” for him! It really is another boy according to the ultrasound! The factory Shawn worked at closed its doors in October, but Arin received a promotion at her job in November. Mason started two year old preschool and has basically become a “parrot”. (I’d highly recommend being cautious of what you say around him these days!) All things considered it looks to be a very exciting and busy 2011 for the Shavers!

Jordan returned from Spain in June and headed to the University of Wisconsin in Madison in August. She began working toward a Masters Degree in Spanish almost immediately upon arrival! Her education there is basically all being financed by the University, her only requirement is that she has to teach one class of Spanish 102. She is entirely on her own doing this….no other professor is in class with her. The first thing she learned was that teaching English in Spain for a year did not help her mastery of Spanish grammar! But, the most important thing that has happened is that Jordan has finally come to grips with the fact that she does indeed enjoy teaching kids of any or all ages and nationalities!

     

Lauren is still in the greater Los Angeles area. She had to move from Burbank to Toluca Lake, CA but that was basically only a block away! The story of that adventure would take up a whole page by itself, but for those of you who know her well, you would find it very typically Lauren-esque! She continues to take acting classes, work a bit, and spend her parent’s money! But, she has also gotten an agent and made some nice connections and friends. As a result, she is having a great time and has even begun to audition a little as well as attend some small awards functions. Some of the people she has met and hung out with are cast members from Entourage, Glee and Sunny with a Chance to name a few. Lauren received some great free goodie bags at those awards functions too! Keep working at it Lauren, if anyone can do it you can!

Peyton is a senior in high school this year!! Can you believe it? Those four years of high school go awfully fast! She continues to swim and play tennis at LHS with great success. She is still hopeful that she will be able to continue swimming at the college level, but where is still up in the air! I think her father has convinced her to go into accounting instead of something medical as far as a college goes, as in his words, “she has such a great problem solving mind”. To this end let’s hope she picks the right school! To help the process Peyton has even begun to take her studies a bit more seriously and has finally made it to the top 10% of her class! Another goal in Peyton’s life has always been to achieve things her siblings have not and in this regard she continues to excel! Peyton is her father’s daughter in so many ways!

Bryan is a freshman and is also at LHS. He has finally achieved second tallest honors in the family without any more debate. He comes in at 5’9” and a whole 123 lbs.  He made his début on the high school tennis team playing number one singles J.V. and has improved steadily since then with indoor tennis this fall. He also surprised us all by joining the high school swim team just last week! He told us all it was because Peyton had inspired him in her 100 freestyle race the night before, but who knows with him! We’ll see how that pans out as he quit swimming on the club team at the age of 8!  His best talent is still his video gaming, but as a result of his recent study strategies, or lack there of, he is currently not participating in any of that!!

There you have it, a short prequel to the longer letter! You will find out a little bit more about Don and me too…if you read the new blog. I’ll talk about our summer family trip to Madison, Wisconsin. I’ll also review the Spanish trip I took to visit Jordan in March with my sister Jackie and Aunt Lynne. Perhaps, I will espouse on the continual joy of renting a cabin at Culver/Lake Maxinkuckee for the summer as well. I don’t know as I haven’t written it yet!  To see what else has happened in 2010 you’ll just have to log onto: 

http://zehnerholidayblog.blogspot.com/

Hey…..they did it for me! Now, let me know if it works!! Have a great 2011!! Love to you all!!

From all of us….The Don Zehner Jr., Family

A Very Zehner Christmas 2010 - An Introduction

Hello and Merry Christmas to all! As most of you know we decided to try making a blog instead of a lengthy letter! I know, I know, the letter was still a pretty good size....so maybe you don't even need to log onto here! But...for those ten or twelve who will check this blog out I thought I would explain. My first post will be this introduction followed by a copy of the original letter in the second post! Thirdly and etc. I will add to that information in one or more blogs....depending how it works! I'm a novice, so wish me luck!! Hope you enjoy! If not log off!!! Love ya! Pam