Boating with "the other Munyers"

On July 9, Jacob's cousin, Trent, invited us out on his boat for an evening. His wife wasn't feeling well, but he had his daughter's Ava and Zara with him. Carlos, Colomba and Diego also joined us. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed boating around Lake Coeur d' Alene for a while before docking near an outdoor bar/grill called Eddie's. The kids had fun going back and forth underneath the boat where the girls had a supply of barbies to play with!


This is before the boat ride. Carlos turned out to be Ziya's true hero for the evening. He saved her from drowning!

While we ordered and waited for our food at Eddie's, the kids had fun splashing in the water. Somehow, Ziya slipped and fell and her head went under the water. Carlos was the closest. He ran into the water, fully clothed, and saved her! She was quite shook up (as we all were!) and she obviously wasn't too excited about going into the water any more. We're thankful that our little Ziya was truly being watched over!

Ziya and Zara - they're only about five or six months apart. It's weird that they look so alike, especially since this is their first time meeting... but they are cousins! Dinner after water-play is always a good thing!
Colomba and I... Kenai is in the picture, too! He's nursing under the blanket.

Acasia Turns 9!

On July 7, my niece Acasia turned 9 years old. Her family invited us over to celebrate with her. The scrumptious ice cream cake turned in to presents and then the basement for some hilariously funny karaoke. The hit of the night was a Kermit the Frog meets Frank Sinatra version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" performed by none other than Jacob and Craig, my brother-in-law. They had us all crying - we were laughing so hard. Unfortunately, the video I took is too large to upload to blogger.

Smores with the Vernons

We didn't get to hang out with Liliana's (my older sister) family for the Fourth of July, so they invited us over the next day to have smores, jump on the trampoline and play soccer in the yard. My kids truly are in heaven. I kept sitting back and just feeling grateful (once again) to be with my family. Many people wondered why we moved away from blessed Alaska at such a difficult economic time. This is why. I love my family. I love hearing the laughs and seeing the sincere joy on my children's faces when they are playing with their cousins and spending time with aunts, uncles and grandparents.




Aitana and Acasia are really in to soccer - so are Ammon and Abraham. They had a lot of fun playing. The second video is of Aitana doing this crazy trick that she taught herself to do after watching it on a YouTube video. It's a unique way of throwing the ball back in to play - this just gets it a lot farther in to the field. Crazy, huh?

4th of July

This was a very exciting 4th of July for my kids. Now that we actually see darkness (in Alaska, it's a bit pointless to do fireworks on the 4th of July because it never really gets dark enough!), we were able to go to Hayden Lake with Colomba and her family and my mom to watch an amazing fireworks show. We trespassed onto somebody's boat dock and just made ourselves at home on it - front row seats to the show that was done from a platform in the middle of the lake. Ziya was scared at first, but as long as Jacob was holding her, she was o.k., and Kenai simply nursed through the whole show (our solution to anything that might upset him!).

I enjoyed sitting a bit off to the side and reflecting on how grateful I am for my parents. Many years ago, they left Mexico in hopes of giving their soon-to-be four girls (my mom was pregnant when we moved) bounteous opportunities for a blessed life. They left everything that was comfortable for them and took a huge step into the unknown. Now all four of their daughters have a college education, are active in the Church and have healthy, happy families. I'm sure that we would have been o.k. in Mexico, but I am very proud to be an American. The next day in Church, I enjoyed singing my gratitude through some of our patriotic hymns. It was a good 4th of July.

Kenai Turns Two Months Old

Kenai turned two months old on July 3. He has lived through a lot in just two months! My mom immediately noticed that he seems a lot happier in Idaho - and I agree! The poor baby was born at a very stressful time in his family's lives, and now I'm convinced that he also felt that stress. He did manage though to have fun camping with bears, going to a Girls' All-nighter with me, surviving all the preparations for a huge move and finally hopping on a plane and moving to Rathdrum, Idaho. What a busy little guy!

At one point, I worried that he might actually be blind because he didn't respond or even flinch when I moved around right in front of his face. He did finally start reacting and smiling shortly before we left Kenai. Now he smiles and even does little laughs all the time! He loves to be held by his brothers and sister, but he's still very, very attached to mami.

Grandpa Stephen in Idaho

Jacob's dad was a sport and flew up to Kenai to help him make the long drive down the Alcan. From what I understand, he was very, very patient about traveling with two cooped-up-in-a-car-for-six-days rambunctious little boys. Here he is enjoying some finally-outside-of-the-car fun with Ammon and Abraham.



Grandpa Stephen got to meet Trent Munyer. He's Jacob's cousin who lives in Coeur d' Alene. We didn't even know that he and his family lived here until after we left for Alaska. His wife made the discovery when she went to put her kids in Playland at Fred Meyer and realized that there were other Munyers in the area. They had fun comparing family stories over breakfast.

Cousin Fun in Rathdrum, Idaho

The first cousin Ziya and Kenai got to meet was little Diego. He is Carlos and Colomba's 4 year old son. My sister Colomba is a chef and even in his young years, Diego has already learned a lot from her. Here are Diego and Ziya making a breakfast milkshake.

This is my youngest sister, Colomba. She immediately fell in love with Kenai (and he certainly is not complaining that he has aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents that constantly want to hold him!).
So there's not a cousin in this picture, but the pajamas and the purse are wonderful hand-me-down gifts from Ziya's only girl cousins, Aitana and Acasia, who live just about 15 minutes away. Ziya has scored an arsenal of barbie toys, fun little girl clothes, a pink Disney TV, her own big-girl bed and lots of other fun stuff. The three girls hit it off instantly. I think Ziya is relieved to finally have some girls to play with (even though the girls are 12 and 9 - they are absolutely wonderful with Ziya).

The same day that Jacob and the boys finally rolled in from their long 6-day drive, Diego broke his leg. He got a walker, but he only used it for about a day. His cool green cast with a train track drawn on it didn't stop him from playing and playing and playing! Just like Ziya is excited to have some girl cousins, Diego is excited to have some boy cousins to hang out with! They talked Jacob into setting up the tent in the back yard (just what he wanted to do after camping for a whole week straight!) and having a boy slumber party.

Aitana and Acasia came over to spend the day with us. We picked strawberries from my mom's garden and made strawberry freezer jam.


And then of course, there is plain ole' TV watching fun!