A surprise visit from President Eyring!

We had a great Christmas surprise in our ward. The sunday before Christmas Albert called me at 8:30 from the church (our ward starts at 9:30) and told me to hurry up and get to church with the kids to get a seat. He said that President Eyring was going to be there and word was just starting to get out. So the kids and I raced into high gear getting ready and were there by nine o'clock. I was so excited in anticipation as I waited in my seat and then when he walked in the side door, I was amazed at his very presence. We don't often get these kinds of experiences here in California. He spoke during sacrament meeting and then afterward came to primary just to speak to the children. Gavin and I were walking in the hall as he passed and I was crouched down to Gavin's ear telling him who he was and pointing him out to Gavin and President Eyring stopped and leaned down and smiled right to Gavin and shook his hand. We all were able to shake his hand and Albert shook his hand four times! Then, another surprise was just yesterday again at church--he was there again! He was spending time here with his family on a little vacation (who wouldn't want to vacation here!) and his cousin who is in our ward. We didn't think he would be here two weeks in a row! This time he spoke again in sacrament meeting and then spoke to the youth the third hour so Jacen had the opportunity to ask questions in a small group environment with the other youth. He is such an amazing man and with such a powerful spirit! I can't imagine how one could ever doubt his testimony when he speaks with such power and such a strong spirit. I'm so grateful that our family was able to experience meeting him and hearing several times his testimony in such a close atmosphere. It was an amazing christmas present!

(For those who don't know, President Eyring is the first counselor in the first presidency of the church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. We revere him as a prophet of God and he serves under the direction of the prophet and president of our church, President Monson.)

(This is the christmas letter I sent out with my christmas cards this year.)

December 2008

“When we have the spirit of Christmas, we remember Him whose birth we commemorate
at this season of the year. We contemplate that first Christmas day,
foretold by the prophets of old. You, with me, recall the words from Isaiah:
‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,
and shall call his name Immanuel—‘God with us’.”

Our Dear Family and Friends,
We recently listened to a Christmas address from our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson. He spoke of the story of the innkeeper who turned a young couple away because there was no room in the inn. He commented that the innkeeper wouldn’t have turned them away for all the gold and silver in the world, had he known who they were. He then went on to speak of the love and service we can give to those around us. We are striving to reach out to others. This is the spirit of Christmas and, I believe, why the world is enveloped in a special feeling this time of year. We strive to be a little more like Christ, of whose life we celebrate. There is much we can do through the small acts of service we give.
Our family has had an exciting year. We have moved to a new home in the neighboring community of Pacific Grove—our favorite spot in the world--and also now expecting our fourth child to be born in early June. We feel so blessed with these changes. It’s been a year of growth for our family.
Albert continues to work for Nova Management in Monterey and enjoying that. When he’s not working he enjoys spending time with our family. I’m so grateful that he loves to be with us at home. When the kids hear him open the front door a little after 5 o’clock, they run and laugh and try to get to him first. They are so happy he is home. He is a wonderful husband and father and so supportive of our needs and desires. I feel truly blessed for him. The longer we are married, the more I feel we are so perfectly compatible. In his extra time he enjoys playing sports, weight lifting, playing computer games, going for walks and bike rides with our family. He is completing his Masters degree this month and will begin his doctoral program in administrative leadership in May of 2009. I’m so proud of him for accomplishing that.
I stay busy with my family. I love having the opportunity to be a homemaker and involved with my children and all the things they do. I’m grateful to my loving husband and his support in enabling me to raise and teach my children in a time when it is very difficult to have one income. It is so very rewarding for me and beneficial to our children. Besides that, I am continually working slowly on my bachelor’s degree online. I’m so grateful that I can complete my degree online at my own pace. It has not always been easy but has worked out well and I am grateful for that opportunity. In my extra time I love to play the piano and my flute and work on my blog. I am so happy about the new addition that will come into our family. We are all eagerly anticipating what June will bring.
Jacen is twelve now. He is growing up so quickly! He is in 7th grade and in middle school. He is a good student with excellent grades and so responsible with completing his assignments. He is really very self-motivated. He loves to read and write. He is making plans about when he will publish his first book. He is also active in his church deacon’s quorum in the presidency and very responsible that way as well. He has been enjoying boy scouts and will be completing and achieving his second class this month. The scout and youth leaders in the ward here are great and take the boys on many adventures: hikes, camping trips, kayaking excursions, cave exploring, and rock climbing. The effort they put forth is amazing and Jacen is learning and growing so much. The group of boys he associates with are amazing too. Jacen continues to better himself on his trumpet—listening to him play has become one of my favorite things. He sounds really good and practices so faithfully. He definitely has a talent for it.
Linnea is my sweet, helpful, kind 8 year old. She was baptized this summer and we are so proud of her in making that faithful step. It was a beautiful baptism and it was so nice for so much family to come and support her on that big day. She is in third grade and excited about more extensive writing this year and learning her multiplication tables and even dabbling in division. Her teacher recently told me that she is the perfect student. She has had a wonderful example to follow in her older brother and she is a wonderful student. She is a good friend and kind to everyone. She is helpful at home and such a sweet little “caretaker” for her little brother. When Gavin has a problem, so often she knows just what to say or do to help him and it’s so nice to watch. She is talented in that way and, I believe, is better at that than I am. She will make such a wonderful mother someday. She has been taking piano lessons and I love to hear her play. She is a very musical little girl.
Gavin is growing up into a big four and a half year old! He loves to go to preschool twice a week and is so excited about when he will start kindergarten and get to go to school with Linnea. He is social and has many friends and is such a good boy at school. I love spending time with him during the day and teaching him little things and going on outings with him. He loves to go to the aquarium and the beach and for walks. He is so affectionate and just wraps his little arms around me and tells me how much he loves me. He says, “I love you more, Mom.” He won’t hear of it any other way. He wants to marry me and is upset if I tell him anything otherwise. (I remember when Jacen used to say that and now it’s quite another story!) One of his exciting feats this year is learning to ride his two-wheeler bike. He never had training wheels but went straight to the big bike and one push and he was off! He has his daddy’s skills! Since then, we have enjoyed riding bikes to take Linnea to school and family bike rides.
We hope this time of year brings you many happy memories and please know that our thoughts and prayers are with each of you. We think of you all year long.

With Love,
Albert, Jaime, Jacen, Linnea and Gavin Zuniga

You wouldn't believe it....

You wouldn't believe that we actually had hail! It has hailed here before several years ago but not often! Yesterday I was at Trader Joes thinking about and hoping that Jacen was waiting in a dry place for me to pick him up, when he called me and asked me to pick him up in front of his school because it was hailing. I thought, of course, that he was exaggerating about the hail and told him I was checking out my groceries and would be there soon. When I went outside, sure enough, it was hailing. I drove down Forest Avenue towards his school and there he was, standing right out by the street completely drenched and loving it actually. Boys! During the night the hail woke me up and this morning our front yard was covered with it. When I took Linnea to school, hail covered the ground along side of the road and looked like snow and several cars were covered with it. Talk about excitement in a small California beach town!

Gingerbread Houses

We have a tradition in which we make gingerbread houses with the kids each Christmas. In some years past I have used graham crackers and have even made the gingerbread pieces myself but this year I needed to make it a little easier, so thank goodness for Costco and their easy gingerbread kits. I felt a little like I was cheating but the kids loved it. Even so, Albert was the one who underwent the project and did almost all of the work helping them. He's such a great dad. They all had fun with it and will probably have even more fun eating them after Christmas!

Snow in the Park

Linnea and Gavin here--I never did get a picture of Jacen as he was way up on top playing rough with the big boys.

We had a fun weekend at the annual snow-in-the-park festival here in town. The kids look forward to it all year. The city brings in a big truck and makes a HUGE pile of snow right in the park that the children play on all day long and sled down and make snow men. Here in this part of the country where we hardly ever see snow, this is quite the exciting activity! The funny thing is that it is totally warm (quite possibly a good beach day!) when this was going on. After the kids got a little wet and cold, they had fun jumping in the bounce houses, going on pony rides, horse drawn carriage rides, petting zoo, Santa and the Snow Queen. (The part I love is that it's all free!) The kids have so much fun with the snow but I think this is just about all the snow I want to have. It's so pretty but also so cold! I don't know what I would do if I had to bundle up three children every day to go out in the snow!

Thankful for Family...

Unfortunately my camera was lost last weekend. Unfortunately also was the fact that it was lost because it was buried in my messy house. Someday I will have a clean house... I used to be so clean and organized... then I had kids and now I am pregnant and well... I digress. We had a great Thanksgiving at Grampa Neufeld's house with him and Tera and Jared and their family and my parents. I ordered all of my share of the meal from Whole Foods. (I'm in no position to cook!) I was able to eat however. Leif and Jen and their family were in town having thanksgiving with Jen's side of the family (her brother is serving in the military in Monterey). We were able to see them Friday and Saturday and Sydney got to spend the night which was the highlight of the weekend for Linnea. (I still heard them up sneaking clementine oranges when I went to bed at eleven). It's so fun to have cousins. Saturday we went to the butterfly sanctuary with them and my parents and saw all the butterflies which was pretty amazing. Of course I missed my buried camera. Then we all went out to lunch to Chinese and spent the afternoon visiting and then out again for dinner for pizza before they had to head back home. We're so glad to have their family back in the state and be able to see them more often. My family is so special to me and to my children. We were also able to visit with my oldest sister and her husband and catch up a little with them! It was very exciting--the kids were so excited at their house that they were running up and down the stairs and everywhere! Spending time with our family is such a precious time for us. Although I am sorry I don't have any pictures to post, the good news is that I did find my camera (which also means I did clean my house) and will get that to use soon.