Merry Christmas 2011

I didn't want to send Christmas cards out this year because I didn't think I had anything great to say but Gerhard encouraged me to put together a picture colleague. After I went through all the pictures for the year, I realized I had alot to be grateful for! It's been a tough year. I spent about four months of the year in Montana staying with my parents. Dad is in a nursing home now and struggling with advanced lung cancer and emphysema. Leaving this world is no fun and watching someone else struggle for every breath is agonizing. But through it all, I believe I gained a better appreciation and love for my parents.

This is one amazing man!! The love of my life!!

I have been married to the most decent, kind, loving man there is!! We have been together for over thirty years and every day with him is a gift. Here's some pictures of what I'm talking about!!

Trip to Malaysia

Gerhard's company got a new project in Penang, Malaysia so he needed to go there for several weeks. He said he'd let me tag along. We got to visit friends we haven't seen in years . . . some of them since we lived there in 1993. It was great to see all of them and see that they are staying on track -- they have strong testimonies of Jesus Christ and are strong disciples. Of course they have trials and adversities that have shaped them and made them stronger. Adversity does that I guess. Sun Fu Chong spent two days taking us all over the place and treating us to some wonderful food. Great to be back.

My kids should recognize this sign. When we lived in Malaysia, they had to know what to look for because alot of signs didn't have the English translation on them!

The malls in Malaysia are amazing . . . and the food courts are unreal!! We had literally hundreds of choices when it came to finding a restaurant.

More of Florida

I've been working on a new rug -- so here's a picture. This rug is totally random. I just chose neautral colors and put the strips together randomly. It's coming along nicely.

Gerhard and I spent the day walking on the river walk in Fort Lauderdale and riding on water taxies. They call Fort Lauderdale the "Venice of America" -- it really was beautiful. We found a nice seafood restaurant and shared an order of crab legs sitting right next to the river. I also had a wonderful steak. What a treat! The last picture was taken from a bridge -- you can see our hotel in the background and the pool where I was napping.

Florida Trip

Gerhard had meetings in Fort Lauderdale, Florida so I tagged along. Feels like all those times when I had to stay home and raise kids while he flew off to work are finally paying off!! I can tag along with him when we have enough air miles to pay for my trip. Very nice to spend the day lounging around in Flordia. The weather is in the mid-70's so I've had pool time. I brought some sheet strips with so I can work on my new hobby -- croqueting rugs. Thanks to my best friend, Marie, I have lots of sheets ready to be croqueted now. This trip was especially important to me because on Thursday, we fly to Salt Lake City where Gerhard has two days of meetings. I will get to see our Utah kids and my grandbabies. The highlight of my life! Here's a few pictures from a recent trip to Utah where we spent time together.

Zack and Chelsey are doing Wii "Just Dance".

Look at that cute baby girl -- Livy is a doll baby.

We love Livy's mom too!! Here's Julie and Livy.

Tribute to Oma

We lost our beloved Oma recently. The Plenert family is forever changed. All of us are trying to learn how to be in the world without the Matriarch of the Plenert family. It has been hardest on Opa of course. He says of all the difficult things he has had to go through in life, this is by far the hardest. That is saying alot considering all he and his family went through during WWII and immigrating to the United States.

We took Opa to the lake house with us for several days. As we sat out on the deck enjoying the beautiful views, Opa gave me the greatest compliment I have ever received. He said, "You know, Renee, you remind me of someone." I asked, "who is that?" He said, "Oma." . . . if I could be half the woman she was . . .

More Family Reunion

Dawnie and her boyfriend, Rob, were our tour guides for the zoo.

Zack and Jessica

Amy and Chelsey

Family Reunion in Portland, Oregon

We have been looking forward to this week for a very long time. Nothing better than spending time with our kids. Here's the first day.

We have Mark & Natasha (their kids Boston 2 & Lincoln 5 mths) from Utah, Rick & Julie (with Livy 2 weeks) from Utah, Zack & Jessica from Utah, Chelsey with friend Justin from California, Dawn from Portland, and Greg & Debby (their kids Lucas 4 & Evan 1) from Portland.

We had a little birthday party for three of the grandkids that had recent birthdays. The next day we all went to the zoo. Since Dawnie is a volunteer there, she was our tour guide and it made the day so easy and fun!