Merry Christmas from the Ziarnik's - 2009

Happy Holidays,

2009 has been a year full of new adventures and changes for us. We started our year residing in Atlanta, GA and we are ending it residing in Wisconsin; yep just the opposite of 2008.

In January, Mark completed switched career paths and enrolled at the National Personal Training Institute in Georgia. He spent the next 6 months learning all of the muscle groups, developing workout programs, training clients and in July became a certified personal trainer and nutritional consultant.

During February we had our first visitors of the year, our friends Ed and Sue Keppers. In March, we explored some of the entertainment offerings that come with living in a big city. We went to the historic Fox Theater in Atlanta to see comedians Ray Ramano and Brad Garrett; hilarious especially since we’re big fans of the ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ show. We viewed the Titanic Exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium and went to Civic Center to see the King Tut exhibit. Our favorite event thought was the ACC Basketball Tournaments at the Georgia Dome. Oh and one other event happened this month…it snowed in Atlanta! It was only a small dusting but based on the closing of schools you would have thought we were in a Midwest blizzard. :)

April brought our second visitors for the year, my sister Lynn and her daughter Emma (5) came to see us at Easter time. Emma enjoyed her first airplane flight, train ride and Six Flaggs adventure all on the same trip. In May, Mark and I went to Charleston, SC to celebrate my 32nd birthday. Out of all of the costal trips we took in 2008 and 2009, Charleston was our favorite. The beaches were beautiful, the historical buildings and Naval museum were captivating and the seafood was amazing. We would definitely go back there again.

Our next trip was in June to St. Simons Island which is part of the Brunswick Island in Georgia. Then in early July we made a trip back to Wisconsin to visit friends and family. During this time we had a family get together with Mark’s family, visited my parents in Michigan and my sister Janae’s twins (Ada & Jaylynn) had their 1st birthday party. In mid July, we celebrated Mark’s 36th birthday in Tunica, MS at a poker tournament.

August brought a new chapter in my career as well. After 13 years of working at Georgia-Pacific and 18 months in Atlanta, I resigned from GP and we decided it was time to move back to Wisconsin. We missed the wide open green spaces, smaller towns and surprisingly we even missed the snow. Unfortunately as we were leaving Atlanta we learned Mark’s brother Tim and his wife were being transferred from Knoxville to Atlanta for Tim’s job. Funny how the timing of things worked out, often we wish all 4 of us could have lived in Atlanta at the same time.

We have settled in Grafton, WI just north of Milwaukee and are enjoying being closer to family and friends again. Mark is currently working as a personal trainer at the Kohler Sports Core facility in Kohler, WI and I am working as a Business Analyst for a small technology company, Mortgagebot, in Mequon, WI.

In November, Mark’s mom Bridget was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and is currently undergoing chemotherapy. We are grateful to many of our friends and family members who have extended their support and prayers to Bridget and Larry through this difficult time.

As 2009 comes to a close, we recently received news that we will be an Auntie and Uncle for the 6th time next year. My sister Jolynn is expecting her 3rd child in early Fall. The baby will be joining big sister Andie(3) and big brother Trey(2). Mark and I feel very blessed to have an active role in all of our nieces’ and nephew’s lives and look forward to meeting the newest niece or nephew in 2010.
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and many blessings in the New Year…

-Heather and Mark Ziarnik